The two-day international conference, which was hosted in the city of Piraeus, specifically at the Municipal Theatre of Piraeus, the Municipal Art Gallery, and the Pedagogiki-Birds Educational Institutions, concluded successfully on Sunday, May 18, 2025.
The conference brought together internationally renowned specialized academics, Greek university professors, researchers, education executives, representatives of civil society, and others.
On Friday, 16/05/2025, at the Municipal Art Gallery of Piraeus, as part of a pre-conference workshop organized by the Directorate of Culture of the Municipality of Piraeus on the topic “Education for Global Competence: The Ability and Willingness to Understand and Act on Issues of Local, Global, and Intercultural Nature”, Harvard professor Veronica Boix-Mansilla moderated the discussion around three key questions:
1. What kind of learning is required in a world that is becoming increasingly polarized, conflictual, and contested compared to the one in which we grew up?
2. What opportunities do we have to promote education in global competence within our spheres of influence?
3. How can we prepare — ourselves and educators — to adequately respond to the demands of education for global competence?
along with more than 60 invited educators, researchers, and academics from Greece and abroad.
Veronica Boix-Mansilla is a principal investigator at Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and an internationally recognized expert in global and intercultural education. She is also a member of the international research team “Intersections: Global Educational Research Action Network for a World on the Move”. She has played a pivotal role in developing international frameworks, such as the OECD and PISA Global Competence Framework, the AFS Framework for Active Global Citizenship, as well as other standards at Harvard Project Zero, Asia Society, and the Council of Chief State School Officers. Her research work focuses on the conditions that enable individuals to understand and take action on the most critical challenges of our time, such as migration, sustainability, and climate change, through personal transformation and quality scientific or interdisciplinary approaches.
On the first day of the conference, 17/05/2025, the Municipal Theatre of Piraeus welcomed more than 150 attendees. The conference proceedings were opened with an introductory speech by Kyriaki Melliou, Education Advisor of the Directorate of Primary Education of Piraeus.
The three keynote speeches by the invited keynote speakers followed:
– Professor Veronica Boix-Mansilla (Harvard Graduate School of Education) with the topic “Global education for peace and sustainability: A key educational agenda in the early 21st century”.
– Professor Angela K. Salmon (Florida International University) with the topic: “Through the eyes of children: Empowering participation and agency for active global citizenship”.
– Professor Urszula Markowska Manista (University of Warsaw) with the topic: “The power of stories to remember and affirm human rights: Reflective learning from the past for present and future”
The panel that followed was moderated by the Director of Culture of the Municipality of Piraeus, Evangelia Bafouni, with:
– Professor Spyridon Doukakis, President of the Institute of Educational Policy,
– Eleni Andreadi, Founder of the non-profit children’s educational organization “Planet Agents”, Sustainability Director of the Sani/Ikos Hotel Group, Member of the Greek Leadership Council of UN SDSN,
– Professor Marios Koukounaras-Liagkis, professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
– Angelos Vallianatos, Head Program Coordinator of the Council of Europe and the European Wergeland Center (EWC – Greece)
The first day of the conference continued at the facilities of PAIDAGOGIKI Educational Institutions with parallel workshops by:
– Birney H. Fineran M. on the topic “Weaving together our lives and the earth”,
– Geroulanou Eleni, Panagou K., Psychalou M. on the topic: “Using literature to foster identity”,
– Douarte-Romero G. Seoane A. on the topic: “Sharing successes, strategies and insights in the International Primary Years Program”,
– Bratitsis T., (Prof. University of Western Macedonia) on the topic “Competence cultivation through storytelling and gamification”,
– Pizano A. Febres C. on the topic: “Relationship, service and purpose: Building communities of practice for teacher learning, belonging, and wellbeing”
The second equally rich and creative day of the conference took place at the Municipal Art Gallery of Piraeus and included:
– the remote keynote speech by award-winning artist (Lego Award) Maria Adelaida Lopez on the topic: “Weaving together a culture of peace, appreciation and empathy. Driving forces of meaning and transformation in today’s educational systems”
– the introduction by Veronica Boix-Mansilla in the context of sessions with topics:
1. “Weaving stories”: children’s exhibition inspired by ISOL “Loose threads” / Facilitators: Eleni Geroulanou, Kyriaki Melliou
2. “Letters to the sky”, children’s photograph exhibition inspired by Gloria Posada / Facilitators: Corina Ferbes, Ana Pizano
3. “From Love to Action”, interactive session / Facilitators: Veronica Boix-Mansilia, Marla McLean, Hannah Birney, Margi Fineran, Angela Salmon, Popi Nikolopoulou and Vicky Vourgana
– the Human Libraries session / Librarians: Angela Salmon, Eleni Geroulanou, Kyriaki Melliou and participants:
1. Evangelia Bafouni, historian, Director of Culture of the Municipality of Piraeus.
2. Antonis Papatheodoulou, children’s book author, Advertising Creative Director, Scout leader.
3. Dimitris Papanikolaou, Autism Motivator, Self-improvement, Athleticism, and Teamwork speaker, Former International Greek Basketball Player
4. Markowska-Manista U., University of Warsaw
5. Sevi Matsakidou, Communication Manager “El Sistema Greece”, Experienced educator and cultural professional.
6. Andrely Sampy, 22 Care giver / Young Ambassador and Maria Kaldani, Chief Operation Officer of “The HOME Project”.
7. Iordanis Papadopoulos, Professor of Literature, Psychico College – Social Sciences Adult Education Program Instructor, Athens College-Hellenic American Educational Foundation
8. Giannis Kourkoulos, Founding member of the environmental organization Cleaningans
With these eight interactive introductions of people and organizations, the exceptionally fruitful readings of life experiences, the discoveries of different approaches and attitudes to life, the conference proceedings concluded with a summary of the last cycle by Nikos Melios and musical accompaniment by Elena Hounta on the piano.
Special congratulations are due to an inspired and creative team, the “Bouroubourou” team as we named it last year at the Florida conference, which spent an entire year designing and implementing this conference with such enthusiasm.
As Library4all, we feel particularly fortunate to have had the honor of being among the supporters of such an important international conference with the participation of excellent foreign scientists.
