European Conference on Education and Conference on Language Learning Brighton 30 June - 2 July

"The United Nations Declaration in September 2015 on ‘Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ sets challenges for all countries through agreement reached on the Sustainable Development Goals. In particular SDG 4 focuses on ‘Quality Education’ and aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all."

I am really looking forward to the keynote speech of Professor Kwame Akyeampong, University of Sussex, UK at the European Conference on Education this Friday in Brighton :-)

This conference combines "The European Conference on Education" together with "The European Conference on Language Learning" and I am honoured to be presenting "Neurolanguage Coaching: a brain-friendly way to learn languages."

In the programme address The ECE2017 Organising Committee write :

"Education, too frequently, is the victim of politics, and, worse, sometimes ideologies. .............Within the classroom itself, bridging the gap between policy, theory and practice, whether traditional or virtual, teachers and professors de facto become, at varying levels, agents for change. Beyond providing students with resources for study in given fields, they also support them by often being seen as acting not merely as mentors, but also as role models.These issues are part of the global transformation affecting all human civilisation."

I absolutely concur that educators of any nature are de facto "agents for change" and "role models" and I truly believe that one of the key factors for all educators is to understand how we can empower our learners and fully embrace "learner-centric", with brain friendly delivery of any topic (not only in languages), which stimulates neural connections and Socratic debate to continuously stimulate critical thinking and "brain-storming".

And the Committee go on to ask: "How can we as teachers function effectively in a very uncertain environment? How do we help to equip our students with the intellectual and existential tools they require? How do we narrow the gap between theory and practice?" ...........

Powerful questions for all educators and for me one of the key answers to these questions - to function more effectively; help equip our learner with the necessary tools and narrow the gap between the theory and the practice - is to fully embrace all the knowledge we now have from neuroscientific research and bring this knowledge of how the brain functions, reacts and learns to all our learners to empower them and assist them so much more, to discover themselves and what they need to do to make progress and how they as individuals learn more effectively. We know now that all brains are unique - would you allow me to also add that our brains are absolutely amazing - and as such educators should themselves be aware and sensitive as to the uniqueness of each individual. The more that we as educators comprehend our own brains, the more we will be able to assist, empower, be the agent of change and be the role model for our learners.

Come and look for me at the conference to find out more. I will be presenting on Saturday at 17.00 - and with pleasure I will be book signing afterwards ;-)