Invited Symposia
Activity Systems as Contexts
Abstract
“Human activity makes its own context which is in constant movement, historically and interactionally” (Cole, 1996, p.135). The object of activity distinguishes one activity system (e.g., family) from another (e.g., school or sports club, or environment educational center), and defines the horizon of actions that are considered appropriate. Activity systems are regarded as relatively durable social and systemic formations that are produced and reproduced by means of shorter-term actions. Cultural mediation through symbolic and material cultural artifacts constitutes a fundamental precondition for the development of individuals and activities. Of course, contradictions are likely to exist within and across the activity systems that children and young people participate in.
This symposium will consider how the developing person’s agency and former experience manifest themselves, become enriched or blocked within and across the boundaries of these activity systems. If engaged in motivating and challenging individual and collective activities and offered opportunities to reflect on them, children experience a sense of self, of responsibility and solidarity. They engage in various types of relationships and give meaning to their learning, with a feeling of ownership of their personal development.
Antti Rajala
Professor, Institute of Psychology and Education, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
His research themes include: agency-centered pedagogy; building cultures of compassion for children, teachers and families; creating coherence in young people’s social ecologies of learning and identity building.
Valérie Tartas
Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Toulouse, France
She is Chief editor of the European Journal of Psychology of Education. Within a socio-cognitive and socio-historical perspective of development, she investigates how children develop through participating and using tools in classrooms and in everyday activities.
Developing resources to relate to others and to otherness
Abstract
This invited symposium aims to contribute to a better understanding of how encounters with diversity and otherness can be source of learning and development and how the socio-cultural context of the encounters frames and constitutes or hinders development. Special attention will be paid to emotions, types of interpersonal relationships, social representations and activities. Given the rising polarization in many societies – and globally – as well as strong pressures created by social networks to relate only to the in-group and those similar, it is becoming more important to understand better the role played by encounters with different others and what makes them developmental or not.
Nathalie Muller Mirza
Professor at the University of Geneva, Switzerland
She develops a socio-cultural approach to understand the issues of development and training, in particular in transitional contexts, and with special attention to social interactions and material and symbolic culture.
Charis Psaltis
Professor of Social and Developmental Psychology at the University of Cyprus
He is the the associate editor of European Journal of Psychology of Education. His research interests are genetic social psychology, social interaction in learning and cognitive development, social representations of gender, intergroup contact and intergroup relations, intercultural education and integrated schools, the development of national identities, and history teaching and collective memory.
Children and youth perspectives in development
Abstract
In the history of developmental psychology, children and youth have been key protagonists of theory, research, and practice. But only recently have children & and youth voices and participation been recognized as a reality worth investigation per se (not to be
confused with the adults; theorizations of young people’s perspectives). This epistemological choice of studying children’s and youths’ voices have opened the way to important changes in theories of child development, early education, social work, urban
development and social policy, ethics and children’s rights, as will be shown through examples in The Nordic countries and other locations around the globe. Such work has not only highlighted child and youth perspectives, but also how youth activism can favor development, by using participatory models that empower children and youth to participate in community-level solutions that will help eradicate the structural conditions that perpetuate violence in communities.
Samantha Francois
Associate Professor of Psychology at Clark University
She is an expert in adolescent development, structural violence, and anti-racist research. As an interdisciplinary, community-engaged scholar, she uses systems perspectives and critical race theory to understand the intersections of individual, community, and structural factors that impact development in Black/African American adolescents and emerging adults. She also conducts intervention research on youth organizing and activism for violence prevention. She uses community-based, participatory, and action research frameworks to conduct mixed-methods research studies with marginalized and oppressed communities with the goals of health equity, social transformation, and community liberation. She was recently co-executive director of Tulane University’s Violence Prevention Institute and co-director of the Center for Youth Equity, a Center for
Disease Control (CDC) Center of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention.
Supporting development of children from vulnerable communities: Lessons on interdependency of developmental processes and context
Abstract
Many studies of developmental processes have been conducted with children belonging to majority groups. For some time, it has been recognized as a major limitation of developmental psychology. Therefore, assuming that the context is constitutive in children’s activities and relationships, engagement in supporting development of children living in challenging socio-cultural and political milieu (e.g., long-lasting marginalization and discrimination, migrants, children with need for specific additional support) provides a particular opportunity for understanding the interdependency between developmental processes and context. This also requires a consideration of the tri-directional relations between knowledge building, innovative practices, and policies instead of the traditional view in which theory influence policies that shape practices. This symposium will create an opportunity for a joint discussion around 4 case studies from different countries delineating the interdependency of development and context as well as the interactions between theory, practice, and policy. .
Aleksandar Baucal
Professor of Developmental and Educational Psychology at the University of Belgrade, Serbia and Visiting Professor at the University of Tartu, Estonia
His research and practical engagement are informed by an integration of individual constructivism and social constructivism. His research work is devoted to studying how children learn and develop through active participation in situated symmetric and asymmetric social interaction and collaboration. He has also been engaged in providing support to children from vulnerable and marginalized communities (e.g., children from Roma communities, children in need for specific additional support) in order to ensure for them equal opportunities for learning and development. He had been a coordinator of EARLI SIG 10 (2013-2017) and as Editor in Chief of the European Journal of Psychology of Education (2015-2022)
