Two leading academics will deliver keynote addresses at the annual Charles Sturt University (CSU) conference for its academics, CSUEd 2010, at the University in Bathurst on Wednesday 10 and Thursday 11 November.

 

The Conference Chair, Associate Professor Som Naidu, the Director of Quality Enhancement and Evaluation Services in the CSU Division of Learning and Teaching Services, said, “The two conference keynote addresses will be presented by Professor Jeannie Herbert, Foundation Chair of Indigenous Studies at Charles Sturt University, and Professor Ron Barnett, Emeritus Professor of Higher Education at the University of London in the UK.

 

“They will address the central theme of this year’s conference, Educating for 2020 and beyond.

 

“Because Indigenous education is a key commitment for Charles Sturt University, Professor Herbert’s presentation will take an Indigenous perspective to address an issue that is essential in ensuring educators will have the capacity to deliver a quality service for 2020 and beyond. 

 

“Professor Herbert’s speech is titled, ‘I can see you are listening to me but I wonder if you are really hearing what I’m saying’. She will argue that effective engagement underpins the success of our outcomes as educators, regardless of the challenges, be they curriculum renewal, cultural competence and Indigenous education, practice-based education, or student experience and participation. Professor Herbert will emphasise that engagement is the critical key that will enable Indigenous learners to open the door to their learning futures, and that the importance of open, honest and real engagement is absolutely vital in order to create effective and inclusive learning environments where Indigenous students will be inspired to learn. 

 

“Professor Barnett’s address - Towards an ecological curriculum - will challenge the audience to embrace what he terms ‘an ecological curriculum’. He defines this as a curriculum in which students are helped to develop a sense of themselves as embedded in the interconnectivity of the world. He will ask, ‘What is it to be effective amid a world full of contestation, where all ideas and actions are susceptible to multiple interpretations and evaluations? What kinds of human being does work in this context call for?’. Professor Barnett will argue that ideas such as ‘employability’ and ‘competence’, and even ‘professionalism’ and ‘inquiry’, are quite inadequate when placed against this background of radical instability, and that the notion of an ecological curriculum goes to the heart of shaping the ecological graduate to be a universal citizen.”