PCAH2025 Overview

Join us in Paris (and online) for PCAH2025!

June 10-14, 2025 | Sorbonne University International Conference Center (CICSU), Paris, France

Bienvenue à Paris!

Paris has always been a city driven by strident ideas, where discussions and debates are lively, open and frequently heated, overspilling into protests, strikes and even revolution. As such, the French capital is among the world’s most important cultural and intellectual centers, and a city of great history and energy.

“Liberty, equality and fraternity” was the 18th century revolutionary call to arms and battle cry that was soon adopted and institutionalised, as the driving motto behind a new country that would throw off the shackles of absolutist aristocratic rule and commit to a new future for the country, based on enlightenment ideals and new understandings. These would have enormous ramifications within France and beyond as the concepts of liberty, equality and fraternity have spread around the world as a slogan, philosophy, aesthetic and political goal. During this period of revolution violence and competing ideologies, radical ideas and ideals around meritocracy and democracy emerged and were implemented in ways that still influence today, from the study, practice and policies of education, and the heuristic that education is for all, to artistic, design, and cultural production.

Over the course of its history, Paris has been the venue for real and intellectual battles over ideas, ideals and ideologies; between conservative and reformist, secular and religious, multicultural and national, East and West, and all shades of left and right. The French educational system and its fiercely independent, highly vocal, and hugely influential teachers and lecturers are always at the centre of national and indeed international politics and policy. Added to this vigorous public intellectual arena are politicians, writers, journalists, artists, and filmmakers, each bringing a wide variety of perspectives and experience.

What resonates globally, and in this time of globalisation is the openness and rigour of the debates in Paris, and which underlines the continued relevance of this open intellectual space, when in many other places around the world ideas are stifled or banned, any form of opposition is dangerous, and open discussion can be seditious. Paris, city of light, therefore has an enormous and special intellectual place in the heart of all educators and free thinkers regardless of nationality, and especially in today’s uncertain global social-political context.

New Revolutions

As the world recovers from the huge disruptions wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been forced to undergo a period of revolution in the ways in which we engage as professors and students, and teachers and learners. The pandemic has shown that the notions of freedom, equality and fraternity have been brutally called into question by curfews, school or university closures, travel restrictions, and lockdowns. This highlighted and exacerbated the digital divide, where rich countries were able to innovate solutions thanks to solid and reliable technological infrastructure, enabling communication both within and between countries, but also raising worrying questions about the power and reach of government and private enterprise reliance and surveillance. The deep and lasting impact on our expectations and our practices in terms of communication and education is only beginning to be understood, as are the benefits, limitations, and dangers of technology.

We look forward to seeing you again, and to your active participation in the event.

PCAH2025 will be held alongside The Paris Conference on Education (PCE2025). Registration for either conference will allow delegates to attend sessions in the other.

– The PCAH2025 Programme Committee

Speakers

To be Announced

Programme

To be Announced

Conference Committees

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