Annual Report 2014, Porto

ECER 2014 was a very positive experience for Network 25 with a continued growth in both the numbers of papers submitted to the network and those attending the Network meeting.

Attendance at most of the sessions was good.
 
The sessions this year were as follows:
1. Stakeholder Perspectives(i)
2. Stakeholder Perspectives (ii)
3. Children and Young People and the Research Process
4. Teaching and Pedagogical Issues
5. Children's Rights and Additional Support Needs
6.Citizenship and Democracy
7. UNCRC: Issues, Prospects and Theoretical Frames
8. Exploring the Potential of Social Media to Examine Children's Rights in Educational Research
9. UNCRC and Traditions of Theorising
10. Ethical Issues
11.Participation: : Contexts and Perceptions
12.Refractions of Children and Young People's Human Rights
13. The UNCRC at 25 Critical Reflections on its influence and Impact on Educational Research, Past, Present and Future.


Many of the sessions made explicit linkages to the Conference theme: 'The past, present and future of educational research in Europe.  In particular, this theme was mobilised in relation to speciifc traditions of educational theorising andwithin Europe and how these might enrich further educational discussions within the network.  This is one of the themes that we hope to take forward to next year's conference.
This year we have been more explicit in the criteria used for the successful slection of papers and this appears to have resolved a concern articulated in previous years about the explicit relevance of some papers to a children's rights perspective.
We had hoped to have a pre-conference 'Open Space' session building on a successful session last year.  Unfortunately this proved difficult to organise because of space constraints and availability of rooms with flexible seating arrangements.  We will try and organise a follow-on session within the conference for next year.

Network meeting

1. Experience of the conference.
Network members felt that there was a good coherence between papers in sessions and that the overall quality of papers was high this year.  Members particularly liked sesion where contributors from other networks were invited to take part It was felt that overall the conference was organised very well. Sign-posting for sessions was very clear and the student helpers were very well informed. Members also liked having a central area for breaks as this enabled networking and follow through in regard to issues raised in sessions. Issues that some members thought might be improved included IT support and the possibility next year of having a room with moveable furniture, as the fixed lecture-style format was quite restrictive re. discussions.     

2. Discussion re. possible themes for next year. 
Members identified a number of thematics:  
(i)The complexity of children's rights - how this is acknowledged and ways in which complexity reduction is justified.  
(ii)The possibility of a methodological questions round table.
(iii)A focus on ethics.
(iv)A symposium on a language perspective in relation to children's rights.
(v)What is a specifically educational perspective on children's rights?   

3. We discussed ways of linking members between ECER conferences and will try out a Facebook page, which Louise will take forward.

4. We discussed current publications  and also identified some of the audiences that we might hope to engage in future.  

5. The reviewing process was dicussed and it was resolved that a double blind reviewing process be adopted.