International Boys' Schools Coalition

	International Boys' Schools Coalition South African Regional Conference Friday 9th and Saturday 10th March 2012 Conference Theme: Reaching Boys, Teaching Boys

Dear Fellow Educators of Boys This communication has several purposes: 1. To provide you with some updated information regarding this conference. 2. To ask delegates interested in presenting workshops to contact us. 3. To give you information about registration costs, accommodation, transport, etc.   SOME OF OUR KEYNOTE SPEAKERS The theme of this Conference, Reaching Boys, Teaching Boys, is taken directly from the title of an international study of effective teaching for boys undertaken on behalf of the International Boys' School Coalition, which culminated in the publication of the book pictured alongside. We are fortunate to have the privilege of hosting Dr Michael Reichert and Dr Richard Hawley, who co-authored this publication, at the South African Conference.

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Michael Reichert, Ph.D., is a psychologist who has worked with children and families in a clinical and consulting practice for the past twenty-five years. He serves as executive director of the Centre for the Study of Boys' and Girls' Lives. He has consulted with many organisations and schools, and has spoken and published widely on the topics of girls' and boys' development, including strategies to make schools more responsive to developing children.

Richard Hawley, Ph. D., has worked in all-boys schools for more than thirty years, teaching English, History, Economics and Philosophy, as well as serving in a number of administrative posts, including, for seventeen years, Headmaster. A writer of fiction, poetry and literary non-fiction, he has published twenty books and numerous essays, articles and poems. He has lectured extensively at universities, schools and conferences in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Australia.

They will be involved in two keynote talks at this conference. The first will deal with their pedagogical findings, and the second will focus on their next project, Eliciting the Relational Dimension in Educating Boys. This project is nearing completion, and they will be reporting on their findings from over 30 schools in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain and South Africa. This project has been found to be "hugely compelling and powerful for the schools involved." Several of the teachers from the participating South African schools will also be attending a workshop about this project on Thursday 8th March, so there will be an opportunity to discuss the project with these South African teachers as well.At this stage we have also been able to secure two other renowned speakers, viz. Prof, Adrian Furnham and Prof. Nick Binedell.

Professor Adrian Furnham originally hails from Pietermaritzburg, and attended Alexandra High School in the days when it was a boys' school. Presently a professor of psychology at University College, London, he has seven nominal appendages, specifically BA, M, M Sc., M.Sc.(Econ), DPhil, DSc and DLitt. He has lectured widely abroad and has held visiting professorships at, amongst others, the University of New South Wales, the University of the West Indies, the University of Hong Kong and the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He has written a wide range of books on leadership and management, and writes regularly for the Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph and is a regular contributor to international radio and television. In 2007 he was nominated by HR magazine as one the 25 Most Influential People in HR.

Professor Nick Binedell is the Founding Director and Sasol Chair of Strategic Management of the Gordon Institute of Business Science, a Business School situated in Illovo, Johannesburg and established in January 2000, by the University of Pretoria. For the past 20 years he has focused his career in the area of business education. His academic qualifications include a PhD from the University of Washington in Seattle, an MBA from the University of Cape Town and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Rhodes University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

WORKSHOP PRESENTERS

The following guidelines for workshops are taken from the official IBSC website:

High quality workshops are an important part of any IBSC Conference. The experience of preparing a workshop is tremendously powerful professional development for teachers.

Invited are proposals about classroom pedagogy, programmes related to the physical, social-emotional or spiritual development of boys, character education, mentoring and advising, residential life (for boarding schools), community service, global education, arts, athletics and leadership. Also important are workshops focusing on advocacy, strategic planning and staff/professional development in boys' schools. We are interested in subject-specific workshops, as well as workshops of a more general nature which feed into the theme of the Conference. Topics could be focused specifically at a primary school or secondary school level, as well as more generally.

• Proposals inspired by the Conference theme are welcomed.
• It is especially important that there be a strong representation by teachers at the primary and elementary school levels in the workshop program.
• Workshops that include and invite discussion of evidence-based approaches and professional reflection, such as action research or ongoing evaluation, will be highlighted in the selection process.
• Workshops are not formal lectures or strictly academic papers read out to an audience; proposals must include opportunities for discussion and interaction among participants

If you are interested in presenting a workshop, please contact Ann McLoughlin ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ). At this stage, please could you give us a brief indication of the scope of your presentation, as well as the group for which your workshop would have appeal. The closing date for indicating your interest in presenting a workshop is Wednesday 30th November 2011.

REGISTRATION COSTS

We have kept the registration costs the same as they were last year, viz. R1250 per delegate from member schools, and R1500 per delegate from schools who are not members of the IBSC. This will cover all teas and meals, as well as Conference materials. Delegates are able to register immediately, and on-line payment of registration fees will be available from January 2012.

ACCOMMODATION

We have a wide variety of Bed and Breakfast establishments in and around our city.

One of our past parents, Michele de Souza, is the liaison person for the Midlands Bed and Breakfast Association, and she has volunteered to co-ordinate all bookings for the Conference. Her email address is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , and she can also be contacted by telephone: 033 3426233, fax: 0866416872, or mobile: 082 444 9292.

She has warned us that delegates should book accommodation in good time, as Pietermaritzburg is hosting an international Mountain Biking event the following weekend, and many of the bikers arrive a week earlier to acclimatise, so accommodation could be at a premium.

GETTING HERE

Flights to Pietermaritzburg
Airlink (www.flyairlink.co.za) flies directly to Pietermaritzburg from ORT in Johannesburg. There are two flights on a Thursday afternoon, one at 15:30 and one at 17:30. There is also a flight that leaves ORT at 07:00 on a Friday morning, and gets in at 08:00. There is only one flight back to Johannesburg on Saturday afternoon, at 15:00. It takes about 10 minutes from the airport to Maritzburg College. Here, too, one needs to book timeously, as they use smaller aircraft.
Flights to Durban
Delegates from other areas will need to fly to King Shaka airport outside Durban. There are several airlines available, and it takes just over an hour (depending on traffic) to get to Pietermaritzburg.

TIMES

To give you some idea of when you need to plan to arrive at Maritzburg College:

You will be able to register at the school from 07:45 - 08:45 on Friday 9th March.

The welcome by the Headmaster of Maritzburg College, Mr Ron Jury, and the Executive Director of the IBSC, Mr Brad Adams, will be at 08:45, and the first Keynote address will start at 09:00.

We are aiming to have the final keynote address from 13:30 - 14:30 on Saturday 10th March, followed by a short closing ceremony.

We look forward to meeting up with you at this Conference.

Ann McLoughlin
Conference Organiser
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: 033 3429376
Cell no: 082 8027304