HAPPY NEW 2020!
Dear Colleagues,
At this season, last year, we were together in Australia for our wonderful Conference presided by our estimate colleague Bill Green. As stated in the report prepared by the organizing committee and posted on our page, the conference was a success, with 242 participants from 32 countries. For all of us who were there, lots of memories of complicated conversations around curriculum studies and many other subjects. Since then, throughout this year of 2019, there have been many national meetings we have attended, including those held by IAACS-linked national and transnational (such as the European) organizations. On all these occasions, we celebrate the fact that we have associated ourselves, at the turn of the century, to support a worldwide – but not uniform – field of curriculum studies.
In addition to these moments of face-to-face exchange, we continue to meet in our journal, Transnational Curriculum Inquiry, currently in its 16th issue, created byDr. Noel Gough and currently having Dr. Alice Casimiro Lopes as Managing Editor. This year we had two issues published, totaling 12 articles. Also our page, under the responsibility of Carmen Au, as well as our presence on Facebook, has enabled a faster and more effective communication between us. Not to mention the many emails we exchange with colleagues we know as we joined the IAACS network. For communication to continue to occur, it is important that emails are kept up to date on the TCI website as well as on the IAACS website.
Our next IAACS meeting will take place in 2021 and, as stated in our Constitution, it now falls to Europe to host this gathering. At our Assembly in Australia, we decided that it would be up to the IAACS-affiliated European Association to determine where and when the event will take place. Dr. José Augusto Pacheco, then President of the European Association, informed us that the meeting will be held in Braga, Portugal, in mid-2021. We greatly appreciate the University of Minho’s willingness to host the meeting and the diligent work of Dr. Pacheco to make our 7th Conference another moment of exchange and encouragement from our diverse community.
By mid-2020, this Executive’s term of office will end and further elections will be required. The Nomination Committee was embarrassed by the invaluable loss of our Colleague Bill Doll, who contributed greatly to the consolidation of our Association. To ensure a representative election, the Presidency is appointing Dr. William Pinar as a member of that committee to, together with its other members, conduct the election for the mandate initiating in August of 2020. In addition to the Executive and the various committees, it is important that different countries present
new (or not) representatives to the General Assembly. These researchers are very important in networking our Association, especially in countries and regions that do not have local IAACS-affiliated Associations.
Finally, I would like to, on behalf of IAACS, send best wishes to you all for a peaceful 2020! Happy moments to all of us!
Best wishes,
Beth
Elizabeth Macedo
International Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies
President