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Download the HEIA 2020 national conference brochure

About the conference

While retaining its historical focus on individual and family wellbeing, the Australian home economics profession has in more recent times expanded its focus to include planetary wellbeing. But contributing to personal, family and planetary wellbeing requires the profession to proactively speak up—to challenge the status quo and to disrupt those systems, processes and policies that mould critical agendas in ways that threaten the basic rights of individuals, families, communities, populations, and indeed the planet—agendas such as keeping women safe from violence, achieving mental wealth for all, building sustainable and culturally rich food futures, addressing fast fashion’s shameful squandering of physical resources and abuse of human resources, and ensuring that artificial intelligence and other technologies work for and do not control the consumer, to name but a few. 

The aim of Home Economics 2020: Igniting critical agendas is to identify and ignite critical agendas relevant to the home economics profession by engaging in deep dialogue and critical thinking to develop creative solutions and challenge the status quo to help build genuine, meaningful and positive change in the local and global communities in which we live and work. And for those working in the education sector, the deep thinking about these critical agendas that will ensure their content knowledge is current will be complemented by equally deep thinking about contemporary curriculum, pedagogy and assessment agendas. 

Major objectives of the conference 

It is intended that the conference will:

• ignite critical agendas that are relevant to the home economics profession
• open up the evidence base for these critical agendas
• develop deep knowledge that underpins the confidence to speak out and challenge the status quo when it impacts negatively on individual, family and planetary wellbeing
• engage delegates in deep dialogue and critical thinking to develop creative problem-solving methods to address the issues associated with these agendas
• inspire all home economics professionals to take personal actions to promote futures in which they will be proud to play a part
• empower home economics professionals in the education sector to take strong and confident actions related to school curricula and to deliver rigorous and exciting programs for the student cohort
• enable delegates to share views about current and future practices
• promote contemporary Home Economics
• promote the value of the work of the home economics profession and the value of the Home Economics Institute of Australia.

Who will attend?

The conference will attract approximately 300 delegates, including:

• home economics and allied professionals
• teachers, tertiary educators and tertiary students; and other educators in home economics, social education, food and nutrition, textiles, and families
• individuals and representatives of organisations interested in individual, family and/or planetary wellbeing as it pertains to everyday practices
• school administrators.