Call for Proposals

Download the call for proposals as a pdf document here.

Proposals must be submitted exclusively through Conftool using the following link: https://www.conftool.com/icsei2020/. 

The ICSEI 2020 theme – Education, Youth Empowerment, and Sustainable Development: Collaboration between the Global North and South to Improve Education Quality – is an opportunity to create synergy between educators and policy makers across the global north and emerging south. The conference’s six cross-cutting themes are designed to help unpack the interrelations of quality education, youth empowerment, and sustainable development through the lenses of: effective early childhood education; teacher capacity; values education, school leadership, and school governance.

ICSEI’s community of educational researchers, policy makers, and practitioners recognizes that educational challenges as well as opportunities are increasingly transnational. ICSEI 2020 in Africa recognizes the border-crossing nature of 21st century opportunities and threats in their potential impact on schools. It will, therefore, provide the space for exchange, learning, and collaboration between high and low to middle income educators to create enduring personal and institutional partnerships targeted at continuous and solidary educational improvement for all.

The following types of proposals are being sought by the organizing committee:

  •  Individual Paper Presentation: A paper proposal can be submitted by an individual or small group of authors. Authors present abbreviated versions of their papers followed by comments/critique and audience discussion.
    Paper sessions are 90 minutes in length and will include 3-4 papers.

 

  • Symposium: A symposium provides an opportunity to examine specific research issues, problems, or topics from a variety of perspectives. They may present alternative solutions, interpretations, or contrasting points of view on a specific subject, or in relation to a common theme. Frequently interactive, a large portion of the session may be devoted to dialogue among presenters and discussant, questions and discussion among all those present, or small-group interaction.
    Symposia are 90 minutes in length. They include 3-4 presentations.

 

  • Roundtable Discussion: A roundtable session consists of 3-4 individual paper presentations grouped according to a cross-cutting research problem or issue or where researchers, policy makers and practitioners with similar interests would benefit from exchange, discussion and collaboration. Proposals for a roundtable session can be submitted by an individual or small group of authors.
    Roundtables are 90 minutes in length. They include 3-4 presentations.

 

  • Poster: Poster sessions combine the graphic display of materials with the opportunity for individualized, informal discussion of a project in research, policy and/or practice. Individual presenters set up displays in a large area with other presenters.
    Posters should be set up to be visible for the duration of the conference
    Presenters will be expected to be present at designated times

 

  • Learning Walkthrough: Learning walkthroughs are a hybrid of symposia and poster sessions. They are highly interactive and include several presentations related to a common issue or topic. Often a chair introduces the session before the contributing authors briefly pitch their posters/product/work. Then audience members circulate to talk to the authors standing by their posters/product/work. Finally, the session is concluded with a plenary discussion.
    Learning Walkthrough sessions last 90 minutes.

 

  • Innovate: Innovate sessions provide an opportunity to showcase innovative and creative approaches to practice. A proposal for an innovate session should set out the format and approach(es) that will be used in the session to engage participants in the exploration of the area of practice.
    Innovate sessions contain three Innovate presentations and last 90 minutes. Each Innovate presentation is allocated 30 minutes.

 

  • Workshop: Workshops offer a forum for discussion of a broad range of emerging and specialized topics of interest to the ICSEI community. Workshops are more interactive and informal than paper sessions and can involve extended discussion, group brainstorming sessions, mini-tutorials around key ideas, and proof-of-concept demonstration sessions.
    Workshops are 90 minutes in length.

Proposal Selection and Topics: The selection process for all types will be blind refereed.

Conference Themes
Proposals should be submitted in response to one of the following six conference themes:

  1. education and youth empowerment;
  2. education and career readiness;
  3. improving education for marginalized groups (e.g. refugees and migrants, children with special needs);
  4. improving instructional practice;
  5. the role of policy makers, researchers and practitioners in promoting educational change;
  6. lifelong learning and education.

ICSEI Networks
All proposals must indicate the ICSEI network to which the proposal most closely relates. This information will be used in the program to allow participants to more easily identify papers and sessions with different themes. ICSEI consists of six networks:

  • Data Use Network
  • Early Childhood Education and Care Network
  • Educational Leadership Network
  • 3P Network for Policymakers, Politicians, and Practitioners
  • Methods of Researching Educational Effectiveness and Improvement MoR∑) Network
  • The Professional Learning Networks Network

Key Dates for Proposers
Proposals will be accepted from Friday, March 15 through Saturday, June 15, 2019. All persons submitting proposals will be informed as to their acceptance by Tuesday, July 30, 2019. Submit proposals on the ICSEI Conference Proposal Submission link: https://www.conftool.com/icsei2020

Please note that the submitted abstract will be made available to all participants should the proposal be accepted.

Submission Requirements

Note: All submission types will be blind refereed. The evaluators will review all submissions without the names of the authors and presenters (which will be submitted separately). Thus, the names of the organizers and presenters should not appear in the text of the proposals.

Paper Proposal

The paper proposal should be in the form of an abstract comprising a maximum of 500 words excluding references, which will be used to judge the merits of the proposed paper. The proposal should outline the issue being explored or area of research being reported on, the conceptual underpinnings of the paper, its findings and a conclusion. The conference strand the paper connects with should also be indicated. The proposal should address the following as applicable:

  • Objectives or purpose
  • Perspective(s) or theoretical framework
  • Methods, techniques or modes of inquiry
  • Data Sources/evidence
  • Results and conclusions/points of view
  • Educational importance of this study for theory, practice, and/or policy
  • Connection to the conference theme

Symposium Proposal

The symposium proposal should begin with an introductory abstract of maximum 200 words that includes: a statement of the overarching theme of the symposium and the conference strand this relates to; the issue(s) or question(s) to be addressed; and an overview of how these will be addressed. This must be followed by abstracts of each paper, 500 word maximum, excluding references. Each abstract should indicate the issue or question, key ideas or conceptual approach, the main findings and conclusion. The two components of the proposal will be used to judge the merits of the proposed symposium and should, therefore, be submitted as a single document.

The proposal should address the following as applicable:

  • Objectives or purposes of the symposium
  • Educational importance for theory, policy, research, and/or practice
  • For each presentation: role in symposium, contribution to the symposium topic, perspectives, research methods, results or conclusions
  • Explanation of how the session will be organized
  • Connection to the conference theme

Learning Walkthrough

The learning walkthrough proposal should begin with an introductory abstract of maximum 200 words that includes: a statement of the overarching theme of the learning walkthrough and the conference strand this relates to; the issue(s) or question(s) to be addressed; and an overview of how these will be addressed. This must be followed by abstracts of each poster/product/work, 500 word maximum, excluding references. Each abstract should indicate the issue or question, key ideas or conceptual approach, the main findings and conclusion. The whole learning walkthrough should be submitted as a single document.

The proposal should address the following as applicable:

  • Objectives or purposes of the learning walkthrough
  • Educational importance for theory, policy, research, and/or practice
  • For each presentation: role in the session, contribution to the sessions topic, perspectives, research methods, results or conclusions
  • Explanation of how the session will be organized
  • Connection to the conference theme

Roundtable Discussion Proposal

The round table discussion proposal should be in the form of either a joint maximum 500-word starter paper, or two 250-word outlines offering different perspectives. The conference strand the discussion topic connects with should also be indicated. The joint starter paper or the two outlines will be used to judge the merit of the round table discussion. The proposal should contain the following as applicable:

  • Objectives or purpose
  • Perspective(s) or theoretical framework
  • Methods, techniques or modes of inquiry
  • Data Sources/evidence
  • Results and conclusions/points of view
  • Educational importance of this study for theory, practice, and/or policy
  • Connection to the conference theme

Poster Presentation Proposal

A proposal for a poster should be in the form of a maximum 500-word abstract and should include the research question or problem being investigated, overview of key ideas/concepts, methods, findings and conclusions, which will be used to judge the merit of the poster. The conference strand the poster connects with should also be indicated. The following guidelines should be considered for preparing the posters:

  • Size: The poster surface will be approximately 1 meter x 1.5 meters; recommended dimensions of poster are 0.60 m width x 0.85 m height.
  • Poster orientation: Portrait
  • The title of the presentation and the author’s name and affiliation should appear at the top of the poster.
  • All the text and illustrations should be large enough to be viewed from a distance of more than one meter.
  • Figures and tables should be kept as simple as possible to easily communicate the main messages to viewers.
  • A large font size heading of no more than two lines should be provided with each illustration. It is helpful to highlight key points or conclusions in large font type in a distinct area of the proposal.

Innovate Session Proposal

A proposal for an innovate session should be in the form of a 500-word outline that describes the area of practice to be explored during the 30-minute session. The proposal should set out the format and approach(es) that will be used in the session to engage participants in the exploration of the area of practice. The proposal should also identify which conference strand the session connects with. The proposal should address the following as applicable:

  • Objectives or purposes of the session
  • Educational importance for theory, policy, research, and/or practice
  • Connection to the conference theme

Workshop Proposal

A proposal for workshop should be in the form of a 500-word outline that describes the area of practice to be explored during the workshop. Workshop proposals should make clear what knowledge, skills, tools, or insights participants might expect to gain from the session. Interdisciplinary and cross sector workshops are strongly encouraged. The proposal should also identify which conference strand the session connects with. The proposal should address the following as applicable:

  • Objectives or purposes of the session
  • Educational importance for theory, policy, research, and/or practice
  • Connection to the conference theme

Formatting of Proposals: All abstracts, outlines, and references should use the following format specifications:

  • Abstracts:
  • 500-word maximum for proposals of: individual papers; each paper in a symposium; and posters
  • 200-word maximum for all other formats (including the symposium overview)
  • Outlines:
  • 500-word maximum for proposals of: roundtable discussions; innovate sessions; and workshops (other types of proposals don’t require outlines)
  • include outlines as attachments to the proposal submission
  • References are not included in the word counts

Evaluation of proposals

Proposals will be blind reviewed and evaluated by members of the ICSEI Networks and members of the ICSEI 2020 Program Committee. Proposals will be judged in terms of their contribution to educational theory, policy, research, and/or practice, and the quality of explanation of the aims of the presentation, theoretical perspectives, methods of inquiry and analysis, strength of results and conclusions, and connections to the conference theme. Symposium proposals will also be considered in terms of the structure of the symposium format. For proposals based on studies of school effectiveness and improvement policies and practices, the Program Committee will give priority to completed research, or research that has progressed to the point of presenting preliminary findings.