Social Foundations in Education: The Power of a Preposition
A Call For Participation & Proposals
American Educational Studies Association
November 6-10, 2024
Greenville, SC
Similar conversations are currently reverberating in diverse areas of the education landscape, themselves echoing the concerns of a generation ago, and perhaps beyond. Then and now, here and there, academic researchers in the field of education are asking: But what of the schools? For the American Educational Studies Association’s next annual meeting, November 6-10 in Greenville, South Carolina, we call on this year’s proposals to highlight lessons from, applications to, and collaborations with p-12 schools.
It is not surprising that this question has arisen in this historical moment, when p-12 education is in crisis—to an even greater degree than usual. Schools are in the news constantly, and the news is rarely if ever good. As a society, we have grown numb to the devastating tragedies of near-daily school shootings and hysterical in response to disingenuous accusations of indoctrination with critical race theory. Dips in literacy achievement scores are once again being used to justify phonics-focused pedagogy, ignoring the pandemic-spurred drops in attendance that mean students are not physically present in schools to benefit from any approach to reading instruction, scientific or otherwise.
Much of what we observe in and about schooling—from classrooms of sedentary young children focused on worksheets to adolescents whose teachers are required by law to inform their parents if they ask to be called by anything but their legal name—is contrary to what research tells us is promising practice. Justice-oriented scholars can no longer (or no longer only) share their insights and innovations with the academic community. We must engage with teachers, administrators, and the young people they serve—as well as with policymakers and the voters who keep them in office.
The echoed concerns referred to in the opening paragraph of this call have been heard in conversations in and about AESA. Attentive readers may also notice similarities to a recently published volume in curriculum studies (Vaughan & Nuñez, 2023). The ideas behind that book and the article that inspired it (Vaughan & Nuñez, 2020) should both be credited to lead editor/author Kelly Vaughan. As an interdisciplinary scholar of curriculum and disability studies, Vaughan was inspired by the birth of a subdiscipline within the latter field: disability studies in education, or DSE, whose scholars “investigate what disability means; how it is interpreted, enacted, and resisted in the social practices of individuals, groups, organizations, and cultures” (Danforth & Gabel, 2008, p. 5). Vaughan asked curriculum studies to join in “translating theory into practice and, alternatively, allowing practice to inform theory” (p. 6), inaugurating yet another subfield: curriculum studies in education.
At this year’s AESA, we ask the same of foundations scholars. Inspired by our colleagues in disability studies in education, and echoing Vaughan’s call for curriculum studies in education, we humbly suggest an exploration of what might transpire, and what might transform, with a change of prepositions—if ‘of’ becomes ‘in,’ if we might in November in Greenville introduce social foundations in education. What say you?
References
Danforth, S., & Gabel, S. L. (2008). Introduction. In S. Danforth & S. L. Gabel (Eds.), Vital questions facing disability studies in education (pp. 1-16). Peter Lang.
Vaughan, K., & Nuñez, I. (2020). Curriculum scholars’ reflections on the curriculum field. Journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies, 12(1).
Vaughan, K., & Nuñez, I. (Eds). (2023). Praxis: How educators embody curriculum studies. Teachers College Press.
Proposal Information
All submissions are anonymously reviewed. Please remove identifying references from your proposal (for example, your name and/or publications that refer to you as the author/editor). Individuals may appear on the conference program a maximum of three times.
Word limits are as follows:
Word limits are as follows:
- Titles should be no more than 15 words.
- Abstracts should be 150 words or less.
- Proposals for individual papers should not exceed 1,000 words (excluding references).
- Proposals for all other sessions should not exceed 1,500 words (excluding references).
Proposal types:
Presenters may submit proposals for individual papers, panel, roundtable, poster or alternative session presentations. At the time of submission, presenters will be asked to rank up to 3 possible presentation modes. Presenters will also be invited to volunteer to be a discussant or chair for a session during the conference.
Individual paper. An individual paper submission is a single paper with one or more co-authors that is complete and finalized. The Program Chair groups individual papers into sessions with other papers that have similar themes or topics. In individual paper sessions, authors present abbreviated versions of their papers. In most cases, the Program Committee will identify a chair/discussant and presenters are expected to share their paper one month in advance of the conference to facilitate discussant comments and audience discussion.
Panel. A panel is a collection of papers around a specific area of inquiry or theme, and each participant presents her/his/their own paper. Chair and discussant (could be the same person) is to be identified by the session organizer. There is a specific section to add individual paper titles along with the names of each individual paper presenters. A space is available to include a 150 word abstract for each individual paper but these abstracts are optional and will not be included in the program.
Roundtable/Working Papers. A roundtable presentation is a single paper with one or more authors that is considered “work in progress.” The Program Chair groups papers together that have similar questions, themes, topics, or methodologies. The goal of these gatherings is to share ideas that can move projects forward and develop professional networks with scholars working in similar areas.
Poster. A poster presentation is a graphic representation of a scholarly project that is well suited to a visual representation and may include drawings, photographs, charts, graphs, and other textual data.
Alternative session. Alternative sessions are those that do not fit neatly into any of the above categories. Alternative sessions can be framed as thinking groups, working groups, town halls, performances, structured poster sessions, video and multimedia presentations, or other formats. Identifying and naming a chair and discussant (could be the same person) are highly recommended at the time of proposal.
Information About All Academic and Submitting Your Proposal
The All Academic site will be available February 9, 2024 to April 24, 2024 for submissions. There will be no extensions offered for submissions past the April 24th due date. When visiting the All Academic site, you will need to set up your account by creating a username and password. The Call for Participation & Proposals is also on this page. Follow the prompts to volunteer to be a chair or discussant, as well as submit your proposal. First, click on “Submit or Edit a Proposal” and then click on “Submit a New Proposal.” The next screen will ask you to rank your preference for Proposal Type (Individual Paper, Panel, Roundtable, Poster, or Alternative Session). On the following screen, you will include your proposal Title, Abstract, Keywords, Categories (see below) and any additional information needed for the Program Committee. Accessibility requests must also be included with the submission in the designated space.
Follow this link to the AllAcademic conference submission portal:
https://convention2.allacademic.com/one/aesa/aesa24/
You will be asked to upload your proposal. Please upload a PDF document and note the word limits (listed above). If you are submitting a proposal with multiple presenters, please make sure to include the name, affiliation, email address, and telephone number of each participant when prompted by the online submission website. Your proposal should address the following components, using subheadings for each:
- Purposes, central questions or problems
- Contexts and Theoretical Framework(s) (discuss scholarly/practitioner conversations to which your work contributes)
- Primary sources or data sources
- Approaches, methods, strategies, or techniques for analysis
- Arguments/implications, or agenda, and, significance
When you upload your proposal, you will be asked to identify which categories relate to your work (for reviewer information). Please choose up to three categories that apply most closely to your proposal:
- Anthropology of Education
- Critical Black Studies
- Critical Indigenous Studies
- Critical Media Studies
- Critical Race Theory
- Critical Research Methodologies
- Cultural Studies of Education
- Culturally Responsive/Sustaining Pedagogies
- Curriculum Theory/Studies
- Decolonial/Anti-colonial theory
- Decolonizing Studies in Education
- Disability Studies
- Ethnic Studies
- Feminist and Gender Studies
- Higher Education
- History of Education
- LGBTQ+ Studies
- Philosophy of Education
- Politics/Policy in Education
- Social Contexts of Education
- Sociology of Education
- Sustainability and Education
- Teacher Education
Only the individual submitting the proposal will be notified of its acceptance or rejection. That individual will be responsible for communicating this information to all session participants.
Reviewers will use the following evaluation criteria to shape their commentary:
- Originality of thought
- Implications for the profession/field
- Clarity of purpose & connection to/critique of conference theme
Please remember that submitting a proposal in All Academic is not the same as conference registration or membership and that both are required to appear on the conference program.
PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR REGISTRATION AND MEMBERSHIP
AAll questions should be directed to Isabel Nuñez and the Program Team at aesagreenville2024@gmail.com (questions only, not proposals).
Acknowledgements: The Program Team thanks several scholars in AESA for their help in shaping this call and offering constructive insights on elements of the conference program.
Special Announcement for Graduate Students
Up to four $500 prizes will be presented with the Taylor & Francis Past President’s Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Paper at the annual meeting. Watch the AESA Weekly Roundup for the call for submissions, which will be due shortly after the conference proposal deadline. Graduate students are encouraged to submit an application for the award based on their conference proposals.
