Victoria University - Footscray Park Campus
Melbourne, Australia
14 November 2026
Victoria University will host Contemporary Perspectives in Early Childhood (Co-PEC) Symposium 2026 on Saturday 14th November, at the Footscray Park Campus in Melbourne, Australia.
The primary theme of the symposium is Contemporary Perspectives in Early Childhood Education. With the aim of sharing and grasping new evidence-based knowledge and research-based practice, the symposium provides a platform for researchers, academics and early childhood practitioners, educational policymakers and other stakeholders to present their research, learn about contemporary issues in early childhood education, and network with and within the ECE communities.
8:30am – 9:00am
Registration
9:00am – 5:00pm
Symposium Sessions
Laureate Professor Marilyn Fleer holds the position of Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor Emerita at Monash University, Australia. She was awarded the Australian Research Council 2018 Kathleen Fitzpatrick Laureate Fellowship and was a former President of the International Society of Cultural-historical Activity Research (ISCAR). Additionally, she holds the positions of an honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Education, University of Oxford, and was a second professor position in the KINDKNOW Centre, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (2018-2023), and has been bestowed the title of Honorary professor at the Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, Denmark.
She was presented with the 2019 Ashley Goldsworthy Award for Outstanding leadership in university-business collaboration, elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences, and inducted into the Honour Roll of Women in Victoria as a change agent.
Kirsty Liljegren is a highly regarded education consultant in the early childhood and early primary sector, working both nationally and internationally.
Sharing her wisdom and experience as a teacher and leader in the sector over many years, stories from practice punctuate her sessions. Kirsty draws on her insatiable curiosity about learning with and for children and adults in her welcoming and relatable style.
Through her attitude and disposition of being a researcher, Kirsty believes that we can authentically make a difference in the lives of children and families as we optimise the conditions for children to learn and flourish as part of a community of learners.
Kirsty’s approach to her work builds from a commitment to the right of educators to be intellectually and emotionally engaged in what they do as part of this profession. As a long-standing committee member of the Reggio Emilia Australia Information Exchange (REAIE), Kirsty proudly volunteers to support the vital work of this not-for-profit organisation to reimagine how education can be.
Symposium Committee invites submissions of papers focused on Contemporary perspectives in Early Childhood Education, with a special interest in the following sub-themes:
We are seeking sponsorship from funding organisations, philanthropic bodies, government organisations, ECE providers, educational institutions, and professional associations.
Join researchers, practitioners and policymakers — 14 November 2026, Footscray Park, Melbourne.
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Connect with VU Melbourne
We acknowledge the Ancestors, Elders and families of the Kulin Nation (Melbourne Campuses), the Eora Nation (Sydney Campus) and the Yulara/YUgarapul and Turrbal Nation (Brisbane Campus) who are the traditional owners of University land.
To learn more, please contact the Moondani Balluk Academic Unit on +61 3 9919 2836 or Moondani.Balluk@vu.edu.au
Copyright © 2026. Victoria University, CRICOS No. 00124K (Melbourne), 02475D (Sydney and Brisbane), RTO 3113, TEQSA No. PRV12152
Laureate Professor Marilyn Fleer, FASSA
Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor Emerita
Australian Research Council Kathleen Fitzpatrick Laureate Fellow (2018)
Conceptual PlayWorlds - The evidence and the practice
Internationally, the early childhood profession has experienced a changing context in which evidence-based educational practices now dominate. This is a double-edged sword. We all wish for the best outcomes for children, and we all want to draw upon the best available evidence. However, our profession has historically received the least research attention and funding from which to build the evidence base. Consequently, there are few large-scale studies to support teachers and educators with the new policy and curriculum imperatives for intentionality and play-based learning. In this keynote, the evidence and the practice that has supported the development and scaling up of a model that specifically brings into focus intentionality and play-based learning is presented. The model of a Conceptual PlayWorld will be showcased through video examples of educational practices – revealing both an intervention to support future and ongoing research, and as a practice to support educators and teachers who have uncertainty about how to bring more learning into their play-based programs to meet curriculum and policy imperatives.
Kirsty Liljegren
The Worlds We Create Together
Creating educational cultures of peace, democracy and participation
The worlds children experience each day shapes the worlds they will create with others. In a time of increasing complexity and profound global change, early childhood education is challenged to cultivate educational cultures that strengthen our collective capacity to live well together, an aspiration articulated by Loris Malaguzzi and sustained through the educational project of Reggio Emilia.
Inspired by the contemporary dialogue emerging from Reggio Children's Educating for Peace, this keynote examines peace as a transversal ethic that gives coherence to everyday educational practice. Drawing on Peter Moss's conception of everyday democracy, it considers how participation, dialogue, collaborative inquiry, and shared decision-making become democratic practices through which children, educators, and families co-construct cultures of respect, reciprocity, and citizenship.
Central to this discussion is the role of pedagogical relationships in creating the conditions for intercultural competence and educational cultures of peace, democracy and participation. The keynote explores how the everyday pedagogical choices educators make- what is noticed, valued, documented and negotiated- shape the cultures children live, exercise and breathe. It positions early childhood settings as places where peace is practised, democracy is lived, participation is realised as a right, and children, families and educators learn to live well together.
