2025 Verona – Call for Proposals

University of Verona

Department of Human Sciences

June 4-6, 2025

Conference Theme

Educational Partnership between Families, Schools, and Communities

Weaving vibrant alliances to empower individuals and overcome collective vulnerabilities

The fragility inherent to human conditions seems obscured by the mass media subculture that insists on success and beauty in the service of neo-liberal consumerism. Yet, the reality of our daily life reminds us of the uncertainty of human existence.

In techno-liquid societies, the individualistic/narcissistic conception of autonomy – based on an idealisation of the individual as a subject capable of being self-sufficient – is intertwined with the demand for performance and efficiency placed on individuals. While the media narrative feeds the illusion of self-sufficiency, leaving individuals in the face of the fragilities of the naked life, it fails to adequately conceptualise the needs of people rooted in the socio-relational dimension.

To the constitutive fragility of our lives, which takes different forms (human nature, illness, and stages of life), is added collective vulnerability (social injustices like gender and ethnic/race segregation, poverty, natural disasters, etc.). Moreover, commonality (which is a democratic reality sine qua non) is also a fragile common good (Rosanvallon, 2013). In our society, anxiety and anguish over fears generated by the precariousness of existence, the perception of individual inadequacy, and the weakness of social ties across gender, generation, and class distinctions.

Fragilities and vulnerabilities have been amplified during COVID-19, worsening the living conditions of people around the world. During this period, there was a deepening divide in education access, increasing poverty and learning poverty and the risk of social inequality and exclusion (Save the Children, 2021; 2023). Lockdown policies actually “grounded” the most vulnerable parents (i.e., those from disadvantaged backgrounds, who work in the grey economy, single parents, …). What happened worldwide proved to us that to “flee fragility is impossible” (Bernard Ugeux, 2015).

The criticality of the existential condition is radical. For this reason, it is necessary to face the delicacy of life in its various forms without remaining bound only to negative dimensions of fragility. History teaches us that fragility and vulnerability inspired the struggle for equity and can lead to more authentic and solid social links. In this new context where state, socio-economic, and individual fragilities and collective vulnerabilities are gaining space, we aim to underline the essential role of collaboration among families, schools, and communities.

This alliance has become essential to fight the new and old individual fragilities and social vulnerabilities to develop a vibrant community and to promote well-being at school among all the actors (students, teachers, parents) to develop children’s capabilities and possibilities for a good life.

Fragility and vulnerability can be experienced as part of the educational process, both at the individual level and at the level of relationships between people (among peers or with teachers). However, unlike other areas of human experience, education is not only the context in which fragility and vulnerability are experienced, but education can also contribute to transforming exposure to fragility and vulnerability into an opportunity for growth and development. Through an alliance between parents, school and community, it is possible to convert fragility and vulnerability conditions into creative and revolutionary forces to fight for a better life and social justice.

Addressing issues of fragility and vulnerability related to human development, rights, and equity is the main road to building authentic social ties and working towards a collective transformation of society.

The organizer of the ERNAPE 2025 Conference encourages educators, researchers, and scholars from all over the world to address the challenges and opportunities that contemporary socio-economic, and cultural conditions of vulnerability and human frailty offer to open cracks in the neo-liberal system to enable quality socio-educational pathways to truly living for all.

This call invites scholars from educational sciences, psychology, sociology, philosophy, anthropology, political science, and other fields interested in family-school-community relationships to submit their papers and symposium proposals for ERNAPE2025, which will be held which will take place in Verona (Italy).

We welcome proposals that relate to the main conference theme, as well as proposals for contributions on all topics relevant to ERNAPE’s thematic and scientific interest.

Contributors may want to address any of the following thematic areas but are not restricted to these:

1. Paths to improve family-school-community relationships

• Theoretical Perspectives

• Projects, Practices, and Experiences

• Educational Policy at different levels (state, region, local)

2. Family-school relationships and disadvantaged/vulnerable groups/families

• Migrant/refugee families and children

• Socio-economic fragilities

• LGBQT+ families

• Ethnic minorities

3. Family and school professions fragilities

• Facing parents’/families’ fragilities

• Children’s and adolescents’ emotional and socio-relational education

• Teachers and school staff training and support

• Positive parenting initiatives and programs

4. Further thematic areas:

• Social media for family-school relationships: problems and suggested solutions

• Parents and teacher relationship in the context of inclusive and special education

• Parents’ Involvement in Higher Education

• Beyond parents and family relationships: grassroots movements, community activists, etc.

• Family-school-community partnerships in a post-COVID-19 era.

• Decolonising school-family relationship

Proposal submissions

The conference call for proposals will open on the 15th of September 2024 and close on the 12th of January 2025.

ERNAPE2025-Verona welcomes the following formats of presentations:

• Paper sessions
• Poster sessions
• Symposia

Participants are invited to hand in abstracts for papers, posters and symposia. For more information, see below.

All submissions of proposals for papers, posters and symposia are online.

In the abstract submission, the author will be asked to specify which topic at ERNAPE-Verona the author wants to present a paper on. The scientific committee does, however, reserve the right to assign papers to another session as it best sees fit.

ERNAPE-VERONA invites participants to submit full papers to be reviewed for publication in The International Journal about Parents in Education (IJPE). Full papers will also be presented in the paper sessions and symposia.

How to submit an abstract

Participants are invited to hand in abstracts for papers, posters, and symposia proposals. Online submission of proposals will be open later this year. All paper, poster and symposium proposals must be submitted electronically. You need to indicate all contributing authors along with their affiliations and email addresses. Fill in this information carefully; misspellings and missing email addresses may result in co-authors needing to be correctly linked to all their contributions.

Submission Guidelines

Proposals should be sent as an attached file* [in .doc, docx, or.pdf format]. They should be typed, single-spaced, in A4. Author(s) name(s), institutional affiliation(s), phone number(s), and e-mail details should be stated only in the email accompanying the abstract.

The proposal should not exceed 300 words, and it includes the following:

• Title of abstract
• Authors(s) of the abstract, including affiliations
• The topic where you feel that your abstract will best fit
• Keywords
• General description on research questions, objectives and theoretical framework
• Methods/methodology (if applicable)
• (Expected) outcomes/results
• References (references are not included in the word count)

Please note the following points that are important for a correct submission:

• It is not possible to include tables or graphs in the submission form
• The conference language is English, and all abstracts must be in English
• Submissions are limited to new, original work
• All abstracts will be published in the Abstract Book of the 13th Conference
• Full papers will be published in The International Journal about Parents in Education (IJPE)

How to submit a symposium proposal

A symposium session builds on a theme and is proposed and planned by a symposium organiser. The papers focus on a common theme. A symposium has a chair (often the organiser) and a discussant who has read the papers in advance. The symposium organiser will decide how the symposium will be organised and the time allotment for each presentation. Only the person who submits the proposal will receive correspondence relating to the submission. The submitter is responsible for communicating with all contributors and ERNAPE-Verona about the proposal.

In addition to the general abstract requirements, proposals for symposia must also include:

• A plan for the symposium including:
  • (1) The title of the symposium, and
  • (2) An abstract describing the entire symposium (500 words). aims/objectives, significance for the field of parents, schools, and community in education.
  • Names of Chairperson and Discussant for the Symposium.
• Short abstracts (200 words) of all papers within the symposium.
• The names of the contributors, along with their affiliations and email addresses, titles of their presentations, and their abstracts. The names of those presenting must be specified. They should also nominate a Chairperson and Discussant.
• References are not included in the word count.

Further guidelines for submitting a full paper

ERNAPE2025-Verona invites participants to submit full papers to be reviewed for publication in The International Journal about Parents in Education (IJPE).

When you submit an abstract for a paper or symposium, you may be asked whether you would like to submit a full paper for publication in the IJPE. In that case, you will receive further guidelines from the IJPE Journal editors.

Conference e-mail and official website

All correspondence regarding the conference must be sent to the official email address: ernape2025@ateneo.univr.it. For all information and updates, check regularly the conference website: https://www.ernape.org/conferences/2025-verona/

Organisers and sponsors

The ERNAPE organises the International Conference. The University of Verona, the Department of Human Sciences, and the International Journal about Parents in Education (IJPE) are sponsors of the conference.