Dear Colleague,

As you may be aware, the DICE project works towards the integration of intercultural and development education in initial teacher education. In connection with this work, we are organising a conference, which will take place in Froebel College of Education, Blackrock, on Friday 6th and Saturday 7th of June 2008 .

In an era of digital technology and IPods, people's engagement with knowledge and information is increasingly shaped by sound bites, digitized images and simplified messages. Children and young people today spend more time exposed to television and fast web-based virtual reality games and this presents teachers with specific challenges in terms of facilitating learning that deepens understanding of complex global and social justice issues.  In educating active global citizens the use of audiovisual media necessitates an education that stimulates a critical attitude towards the messages conveyed through diverse digital and other media.  This critical attitude should empower children to see behind an image or a text and ultimately to understand the issues faced by our interdependent world.

With their existing repertoire of teaching methodologies and grounded practices development education and intercultural education have the capacity to address some of the challenges identified by crafting a more dynamic educational engagement by all concerned.  The role of this conference is to further facilitate that process. In doing so, it will challenge perspectives on the role education plays in the 21st century particularly regarding children's teaching and learning as global citizens. The conference will provide insights into how educators may gain the capacity to impart a critical awareness of media representations and thereby resolve some of the challenges posed by the knowledge society

The conference will present a mixture of keynote speakers, presentation of research and practical workshops. We also invite scholars, practitioners and activists to present their work in the form of poster presentations. To reserve a place please contact us on 00353 (0)1 4970033 or email  susannah@diceproject.org .