The V.T. Vittachi International Conferences on Transformative Education
Following on from our initiation of the World Educators' Conferences, and to share the experience of our linked education projects and generate understanding, the GHFP also initiated and co-funded the V.T. Vittachi International Conferences.
These were named in honour of the late Varindra Vittachi, a Sri Lankan journalist and international civil servant, who had be en deputy executive director of UNICEF with the title of assistant secretary general of the United Nations.
The first Vittachi International Conference, 'Educating for a Human Future', was held during June 2001 in Indonesia.
The second conference 'Learning to Live a Personally Sustainable Life' (focusing on youth and sustainability) was held in rural Colorado in August 2003.
The third conference 'Rethinking Educational Change', was held in July 2007 in Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. This conference was attended by students, faculty administrators, government officials and other interested parties, with the aim of discovering, defining and encouraging personal and institutional change within education.
The conference addressed the following questions:
What would count as a personal transformation for me?
What makes an educational experience transformative?
What are the obstacles to, and the opportunities for, transformation in my educational institution?
How can we change our educational institutions so that they be come avenues for personal and societal transformation?