PES 2027 Annual COnference

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

The submission link will be available here on August 1, 2026. We invite papers and session proposals for all topics in philosophy of education. To encourage focused conversations, we also invite contributors to consider this year’s theme: Courage.

Courage

Courage has a long philosophical history. From Plato's Laches to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics to Hannah Arendt’s Between Past and Future to Tillich's The Courage to Be to Foucault's late lectures on parrhesia, the theme of courage features prominently. It is not a word we use often in the philosophy of education. Yet the present moment demands it. Education is living through a polycrisis: severe budgetary contraction, intensifying political pressure on institutions and curricula; the onslaught of media-driven diatribes eclipsing classroom discourse; xenophobia and outspoken bigotry; perceived disruption of teaching and learning by AI. Each of these is serious on its own. Together, they may require a recalibration of our intellectual responses, a willingness to take on more fundamental questions, perhaps different, larger, more troublesome questions than the ones we have long been asking. Such recalibration is itself a form of courage.

We leave the concept open for interpretation. Courage can be moral, political, epistemic, existential, pedagogical. It may name the gap between knowing what is right and doing it. It may describe what is required to speak plainly in a climate of institutional caution, or to rethink foundational assumptions when the ground shifts under those assumptions. We invite submissions that explore any dimension of courage in educational contexts, and we ask our contributors to practice what they theorize. Risk an ambitious argument. We ask for courage.

Details

Deadline for all submissions: November 1, 2026. We welcome all topics, and areas of inquiry, for papers or symposia (aka ‘alternative’) sessions, whether they engage the theme or not. Submission possibilities include the following formats:

• Paper Submissions: PES invites the submission of papers with the maximum length of 4,500 words, excluding references. Endnotes are to be used for references only, not supplemental text. Papers must conform to the PES style guidelines (see the Style Guide). Authors should make certain that references to their name, institutional affiliation, or work (e.g., “As I have argued on previous occasions…”) do not identify them to readers, as all submissions are anonymously reviewed. General and concurrent session papers reviewed and accepted by the Program Committee, and invited responses to these papers, are published in Philosophy of Education, the Society’s quarterly journal. High-quality submissions that cannot be accommodated on the main program will be invited to participate as digital posters.
• Symposia: Examples include sessions organized around a central topic or question, ‘author meets critics’ sessions, performances, interviews, or other artistic and creative sessions. Proposals may not exceed 1,000 words, excluding references, and should identify names of presenters only if essential to the nature of the session type (e.g., ‘author meets critics’ or interview sessions). When the proposed session involves multiple presenters, please specify the contribution of each presenter. Criteria for review include clarity of the motivating question or idea, potential for interaction with session attendees, and relevance and significance to the advancement of public-facing work in the field.
• Public-Facing Projects: Monday of the conference program will feature public-facing educational philosophy research, projects, or learning sessions. These sessions concern the production or use of public-facing research or teaching in our field. Proposals may not exceed 1,000 words, excluding references, and should not identify names of authors or presenters, for blind review. Criteria for review include the clarity of the motivating question or idea related to potential interactions with session attendees, along with its relevance and significance to the advancement of public-facing work in the field.
• Work-in-Progress Sessions: These sessions group scholars with work-in-progress in an informal collaborative setting. Proposals should detail the question or claim being investigated, relevant sources/resources, likely direction, and mode(s) of analysis. Criteria for review include clarity and significance of the question/claim, suitability of sources/resources, suitability of mode(s) of analysis, and potential for thinking anew about issues in the field of educational philosophy.

Questions can be sent to: Charles Bingham, Program Chair, at cwb@sfu.ca