Global ILT Education Conference 2022

On 2nd February 2022, ILT Education is hosting its first global conference where we invite education professionals, decision makers and experts from around the world together to discuss the importance of reading in early childhood and share pedagogical methodologies.

The theme for the conference is Reading in Early Childhood and we’re delighted to welcome Jake Hope, our UK children’s literature expert to give the keynote speech. The conference will also feature best practices from several countries, and will hold breakout rooms with children’s literature experts from our other markets including Sweden, Germany, Finland and North America.

The hashtag for the conference is #ILTConf22

February 2nd, 2022, 4:15pm - 7pm CET

A free virtual event via Zoom

The link will be sent out to those who have registered before the conference.

• 4:15pm - Welcome from Jonathan Viner
• 4:25pm - Keynote Speech from Jake Hope
• Break
• 5:20pm - Breakout rooms with international literature experts or authors from Sweden, North America, Germany, the UK and Finland
• Break
• 6:10pm - Breakout rooms to discuss best practice with practitioners in Sweden, Finland, Germany and Norway OR Teacher forum
• 6:45pm - Wrap-up by Jonathan Viner

Anyone who registers for the conference will be entered into a prize draw to win a copy of Jake Hope's debut children's picture book, Cheesed Off! Set to be published on 3rd March 2022, you could be one of the first people to get a copy, hot off the press simply by registering for our event.

Jake is an experienced children’s literature and reading development expert in the UK who is the chair of the working party for the UK’s oldest and most prestigious children’s book prizes, the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway medals. He is passionate about children’s books and promoting a love of reading and writing with children, schools and families.

Named as one of the UK’s top librarians of the future in the National Love Libraries Campaign, Jake has written extensively on children’s reading development and librarianship, contributing chapters to numerous books, producing the SLA publication on diversity and inclusion and previews for ‘The Bookseller’. He is currently working with ILT Education on the launch of Polylino into the UK early years and primary school market.

Jake is the author of the recently published book on visual literacy, Seeing Sense, (Facet Publishing, 2020) and will be releasing his debut children’s picture book, Cheesed Off! in March 2022.

Jonathan Viner is CEO and Founder of 10Digits AB – an Östersund-based consultancy with over 20 years’ of senior-level experience supporting fast-growth education and EdTech businesses in the UK, the Nordics and globally, including ILT Education.

Curator and publisher of Nordic EdTech News, Jonathan is a Board member of N8 (Nordic EdTech Forum) and a mentor at both xEdu (Europe’s leading EdTech accelerator in Helsinki) and Denmark’s EduHub. He has also acted as the Nordic regional contributor for HolonIQ’s monthly global Education Executive Briefing and judged the GESA and Nordic EdTech Awards.

Mary Jane Begin is an award-winning children’s book author and illustrator. In addition to her role as Adjunct Professor and Internship Advisor for the Illustration Department at Rhode Island School of Design, she is also a Visiting Associate Professor and the Chair of Illustration in the M.F.A for Children’s Literature at Hollins University.

Mary Jane lectures, creates workshops and exhibits her artwork around the globe and teaches online courses for LinkedInLearning.com and CreativeLive.com. She’s worked with Celestial Seasonings, Mead Johnson and Disney, and has received awards from the Society of Illustrators, multiple Awards of Excellence from Communications Arts, the Irma Simonton Black Award, and the Critici Erba Prize at the Bologna Book Fair. Mary Jane won the prestigious Bing Xin Children’s Literature Award for her picture book, Willow Buds, The Tale of Toad and Badger. Her latest book, Ping Meets Pang, debuted on July 6th, 2021.

Prof. Dr. Sandra Niebuhr-Siebert is a professor of language pedagogy and narrative arts in social work at the Clara Hoffbauer University of Applied Sciences in Potsdam. As a consultant for the Reading Foundation and a juror for the Leipzig Reading Compass, she has been committed to promoting reading for many years. Her research has focussed on multilingualism and multiliteracy, reading promotion, as well as aesthetic language education.

Sirke Happonen (PhD, doc.) is a university lecturer at the University of Helsinki specializing in children's literature and illustration art as well as Tove Jansson's production (Moomin, etc). She has also worked as a screenwriter, non-fiction writer and translator.

Amy McKay is a school librarian and consultant based in Cumbria, she has won the prestigious School Librarian of the Year award, administered by the School Library Association. Amy is the co-ordinator of the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals, the UK's oldest and most renowned children's book awards and regularly runs workshops and training around the awards and its participatory shadowing scheme for children and young people.

Amy has judged numerous children's book prizes including the BookTrust Storytime Prize, has developed innovative schemes where her students mentor young readers and regularly runs storytimes and training for childcare students. In addition to being a knowledgeable and passionate reviewer, Amy hosts events and workshops at conferences and festivals across the UK.

Mary Jane Begin

As a children’s book author, illustrator, and college professor I have observed the power of playing illustration games that encourage inventive thinking and making. The exercises that I’ve created foster deeper curiosity and lead to further exploration of topics, projects, research based inquiries and the creation of art. The three areas to be discussed are storytelling, collaborative creation and kinesthetic connection to materials through drawing. Each of the projects to be reviewed will touch upon themes related to utilizing specific elements to engage imagination as a teaching practice that can be replicated in the classroom by educators of children.

Prof. Dr. Sandra Niebuhr-Siebert

My presentation begins by showing the importance of reading and reading promotion in the 21st century. I will then go on to show how reading can become an adventure and fun, using practical examples to demonstrate this.

Practical examples of bringing the magic of stories to every child and highlighting their right to culture and literature.

Introduction & Gothenburg – the city where we read to our children. Malin Omland

A long- term project within the City of Gothenburg enhancing reading.

A House filled with Stories and Reading. Anna Forsgren

The work at Alfie Atkins Cultural Centre (Alfons Åbergs Kulturhus).

Thematic work on Alfie Atkins. Anette Svensson, Therése Haglind, Anki Källman & Annelie Wahlsten

A research project carried out by a collaboration between Jönköping University and Björksäter primary school in Mullsjö.

Food for the Soul. Sofia Torell

An inspirational closure by the niece of Gunilla Bergström, the illustrator and writer of the books on Alfie Atkins (Alfons Åberg).

Amy McKay & Jake Hope

The magic of storytime starts with selection and this session will focus on how to make strong selections for your storytime sessions. It will explore how selection of titles can help instil confidence in storytime leaders and play to individual strengths, it will give hints and tips on titles that allow interaction and developing a rapport with audiences and consider how selection can tie with creative learning and language development. Suggestions will be given for tried and tested titles and there will be chances for participants to join in!

Sirke Happonen

Literature has often portrayed forest as a place for the unpredictable as well as a cradle of peace and beauty, more or less threatened by human societies, or as a reflection of the human being and a state of her mind.

In Finnish and Nordic children’s literature, the depiction of the forest and its creatures, both fictional and real, has a long and still vibrant tradition. The forest is a place in which stories and illustrations come into being. In some books and illustrations, nature also seems to have a value in itself.

In my presentation, I will describe the process of ‘seeing’ both the forest and the stories about it in a new way, when reading and experiencing them with university students in the real woods of southern Finland. In inspiring young children to read and listen to stories, a multilingual picture book service offers possibilities to share also forest experiences with a variety of readers, and to strengthen the children's relationship with nature. It is also smoother to prepare in advance: to listen and read the stories before entering the space that always lives according to its own terms, in sunshine, snow and rain.

Event Venue

Online