Innovations at Menntakvika in Saga

The School of Education‘s annual conference, Menntakvika, will be hosted in the School‘s new facilities in Saga from 2-4 October. This year, the conference will be held for over three days for the first time. In addition to varied presentations on the latest research in educational science, creative workshops will be offered to all interested for the first time.

Menntakvika, the largest annual conference for educational science in Iceland, is now held for the twenty-ninth time. This year’s conference headline is “Creative approaches for schools and youth work – creating a new future”. As always, the primary focus of the conference is cutting-edge research in educational science and related areas. A total of 230 presentations in fifty seminars will be offered on topics relevant to teaching and learning, welfare and wellbeing, sport and leisure studies – to name but a few.

It is a great bonus to have the conference in the School’s new facilities in Saga, recently opened after extensive renovations. Attendees will have the opportunity to explore the building and learn about its great potential.

The conference will be launched with Menntakvika’s opening seminar on Thursday, 2 October. The theme of the seminar is “Teacher education – what is the current status?” Participants include scholars from the University of Iceland and the University of Akureyri; students, representatives from primary schools and municipal authorities. They will discuss the status and future of teacher education in Iceland; a topic widely discussed recently in Iceland. The seminar will be streamed.

Friday, 3 October, is the main day of the conference. Seminars will be offered from 9-17. The themes of the seminars touch upon subjects as diverse as the fitness in female football players; social participation of refugee children in Iceland; slow-paced preschool; quality of education; teaching methods and learning support; reforming teacher education; art and creativity in schools; fussy eating; parental education, and equality and inclusion.

This year, the conference will offer creative workshops for the first time. They are all connected to educational science and take place on Saturday, 4 October, between 11 and 13. The workshops are open to all. However, there is a limited number of spaces, so it is important to register in time. Among the themes for the workshops are repairing clothes; roleplaying and drama for teaching; music with young children and families; methods to encourage positive school atmosphere; the enhancing of virtues through poetry, and creative math.

Menntakvika is open to all and free of charge. All further information on the conference website.