6th World SESC RJ Educational Congress: Mediations of Our Times – Challenges and Potentialities

We live in times of acceleration in which artificial intelligence promises to revolutionize known landscapes, arousing fascination as well as aprehension. In this scenario, we are invited to give a deep thought about the purpose of education. If machines can process information and execute tasks with increasing efficiency, what remains of inherently human in our educational practice? The answer, perhaps, lies on what technology can´t replicate: the rich, complex experience of living.

This congress emerges from the drive to explore an education that dares to go beyond the characteristic productivity goals of our times. We pursuit practices, sometimes discreet, that flourish in the most diverse environments – in the dynamics of an educator, in the setting of a warm space, in the freedom of playing, in the intention of an interaction – and reset the very educational practice as an act of cultivating the Being. We speak about an Education that does not refrain itself before the visible and the mensurable, but dares to take care of the Invisible: of the time that allows the reflection, of the health that sustains learning, of the meanings that weave our identity, of the relationships that constitute us.

In this perspective, innovating in Education is about reframing the role of the educator as an agent of discovery journeys able to operate in environments where knowledge is intertwined with the experience of who we are and how we wish to inhabit the world. This perspective – integral and relational – recognizes everyone as a particular universe, with vast needs and potentialities. We speak about personalizing teaching, about branching out ways of evaluating, about building bridges – either technological or affective – that permit each one to walk their own development path.

The mediation emerges in this context as a central issue. The way knowledge is introduced, discussed, built and spread defines the very nature of the educative experience. Raising awareness to mediation implies recognizing the importance of human interaction, of the educative intentionality and the creation of bridges between knowledges and subjects. Therefore, this congress celebrates and invites the active participation of all educators – from the early education school to college and non formal education, and in all the areas of knowledge – that, by their daily teaching practices, from research or extension projects, explore innovative forms of mediating and broadcasting knowledge, connecting education with society and enhancing the dialogue about the educational process.

This invitation is for a dialogue in which we can discern what still nurtures and what needs to be transformed, integrating approaches for an education that is, at the same time, profoundly human and connected to the challenges of our times. An education that, by taking care of the interpersonal relationships, helps us to flourish, not subordinated to the machines, but as aware, critic human beings, able to raise possibilities towards a more meaningful and fairer future.

May this meeting be a fruitful space for sharing these practices, deepen our comprehension and strenghten our commitment with an education that truly transforms for bonding, taking care and celebrating life in all its complexity.

Axis for the presentation of works

Axis 1: Language and Mediation: Between Words and Presence
This axis explores the language and the many forms of communication as essential practices of mediation, building bridges for ethic, educative, inclusive and plural relationships in a multiple interactive scenario.

Keywords – Mediation, Language, Communication, Ethics, Plurality, Interactions, Knowledges, Empathy, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Digital Language, Artificial Intelligence, Linguistic Technologies, Disinformation, Intercultural Communication, Communication Aesthetics, Language as a Right, Identity, Diversity, Anti-racism, Decoloniality, Multilinguism, Non Formal Education, Meanings

Axis 2: Transdisciplinarity and Broad Knowledge: Dialogues Between Sciences and Humanities
This axis investigates the mediation as a catalyst of the knowledges integration, promoting both inter and transdisciplinarity between sciences, humanities and other areas of knowledge, expanding the learning spaces beyond formal grounds.

Keywords – Transdisciplinarity, Interdisciplinarity, Broad Knowledge, Sciences, Humanities, STEAM, Geosciences, Environmental Education, Non Formal Education, Museums, Cultural Spaces, Articulation of Knowledges, Spirituality, Activism, Educative Practices, Experience of Living

Axis 3: Inclusion, Diversity and Social Justice: Mediations for an Equitable Education
This axis tackles the mediation as an essential tool for building an equitable education that promotes inclusion, values diversity and fights the inequalities, granting rights and dignity to all the educative subjects.

Keywords- Inclusion, Diversity, Social Justice, Equity, Inclusive Education, Education and Gender, Ethnic-Racial Relationships, Anti-racist Education, Decoloniality, Multilinguism, Human Rights, Citizenship, Early Childhood Education, Education and Art, Family in Education, Hospitality, Respect, Dignity.

TIMELINE:
Congress (29 to 31/10) – registration coming soon…