Registration & Call for Proposals Open: Right Here, Right Now: Rethinking Early Childhood in a Changing World: 20-21 February, Mallorca
Registration & Call for Proposals Open: Right Here, Right Now: Rethinking Early Childhood in a Changing World: 20-21 February, Mallorca
20-21 February 2026
Raoul Wallenberg International School, Palma de Mallorca
The four strands that will guide our conversations and conference sessions:
1. Seeing Through New Eyes: Adults, AI, and the Future of Early Childhood
How do educators, parents, and researchers understand and shape the role of AI in young children’s lives?
This strand explores adult perspectives on technology and AI: the hopes, fears, and ethical dilemmas that come with new technologies in early learning. It invites reflection on how adults’ beliefs and practices influence the integration of AI in education and parenting, and how research can guide thoughtful, human-centered approaches.
Focus points:
- Educators embracing or resisting AI in practice
- Parents’ and caregivers’ perceptions of AI and early development
- Emerging research and projections about AI in childhood
2. Digital Childhoods, Human Connections: Rights, Relationships, and Responsibility
What does it mean to grow up connected?
This strand examines children’s digital rights, data ethics, and the deep human relationships that underpin learning and belonging. It challenges participants to consider how technology reshapes empathy, identity, and social interaction as well as the responsibilities adults have to protect and empower children in digital environments.
Focus points:
- Children’s rights (including technology rights) and ethical frameworks
- Technology’s impact on relationships and emotional development
- Building safe, inclusive, and caring digital spaces
3. Curiosity in an AI World: Literacies, Learning, and the Value of Being Bored
How do we nurture curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking when AI can answer everything?
This strand rethinks early literacy, subject teaching, and the place of traditional materials (books, storytelling, play…) in a world where technology is ubiquitous. It invites dialogue on the art of balancing digital fluency with hands-on exploration and the power of “being bored” as a source of imagination and resilience.
Focus points:
- Reading, writing, and thinking with and without AI
- Balancing traditional and digital literacies
- Curiosity, boredom, and entrepreneurship in early learning
4. Earth and Intelligence: Children, Climate, and the More-than-Digital World
Can technology help children care for the world they inherit?
This strand looks at the intersections of climate education, AI’s environmental footprint, and the material relationships children form with their surroundings. It encourages exploration of how early childhood education can blend digital awareness with ecological care, nurturing empathy for both people and the planet.
Focus points:
- Climate education and digital responsibility
- Materiality, play, and children’s connections to nature
- Educating for sustainability in a technologically mediated world
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Interested in sharing your know-how this February? Visit this link to learn more about the tracks and how to submit your proposal – DEADLINE 05 DECEMBER