Weaving Threads of Learning & Play:
Children as Playful Citizens of the Planet



This conference brings together three educators who have a deep commitment to children's rights, agency, and global responsibility. Rooted in the principles of agency, democracy, playful learning and earthcare, their work invites us to reimagine young children not as passive recipients of adult knowledge, but as active, capable citizens of the planet - already contributing meaningfully to their communities and environments.

Through stories from practice, provocation, and dialogue, this conference explores how educators can create spaces where children's voices are heard, their questions are valued, and their actions can ripple outward to shape a more just, sustainable, and connected world. Together, we will examine how pedagogy, documentation, and relationship can be powerful tools for fostering playful citizenship, ecological awareness, and collective responsibility from the earliest years of education.

Join us for a weekend conference in Dubai on 4th & 5th October, 2025 that centres our collective thinking on the intelligence, courage, and creativity of young children - and challenges us to walk alongside them as co-citizens in the shared care of our world.

Session 1: Anne Van Dam

This session explores what elements shape global citizenship education from the earliest years. Anne will bring questions and stories that invite participants to reflect on how to create learning environments where every voice is valued, and where children build self-efficacy and agency through meaningful connections and play. By designing inclusive experiences that honor diverse perspectives, educators can foster empathy, responsibility, and international mindedness—laying the foundation for a more beautiful, just and connected world.


Session 2: Ben Mardell

Building on the theoretical foundations regarding playful learning he helped develop as principal investigator of the Pedagogy of Play project, Ben shares stories from his current teaching at Newtowne School(Cambridge, MA, USA). At Newtowne Ben and his colleagues aim to build children’s solidarity with nature and support their participation in long term inquiry projects. The stories to be shared in this session contain big questions about teaching young children and practical moves to enhance children's learning. Examples of these stories can be found at The Remake, an online newsletter about playful learning in our era of rapid climate change.


Session 3: Fiona Zinn

Fiona will share stories from her work with children and teachers in different settings, that reveal how young children engage with big ideas like regeneration, protection, care, and responsibility. Her presentation highlights the important role educators play in supporting children’s agency and citizenship—through deep listening, responsive environments, and meaningful documentation. Fiona invites us to reflect on our own role as co-learners and advocates, working alongside children as they grow into thoughtful, active citizens of the planet.


Everyone will attend all 3 sessions

USD 850 Per Participant Till 15th September 2025
Early Bird Offer USD 700 Till 1st July 2025

INCLUDES: Certificate of Participation for 16 Professional Development Hours, Lunch and Coffee Breaks.

NLCS

NLCS Dubai Nad Al Sheba,
Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City,
PO Box 242773
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Google Map: Click Here

Presenters

Child centred learning has been Anne's passion for more than 25 years. Anne has worked in schools in the Netherlands, China, Singapore and Switzerland, where she took on various positions such as team leader, PYP coordinator and director. Anne used to work at the Canadian International School (Singapore) where she was part of the team that took the school to IB authorisation Anne has been an IB workshop leader since 2005, sharing her passion for young children and play with educators in international schools.

Anne joined Eton House International Pre-School in August 2007, drawn to the school for its vision to establish early childhood education centred on young children's competencies in making meaning and building relationships. At Eton House, she first combined teaching with the responsibilities of the PYP coordinator. In June 2008, Anne became the Director of this school.

In August 2011, Anne moved back to Europe and took on the responsibility of Assistant Principal at the International School of Zug and Luzern (ISZL). At ISZL, she supported the development of a new vision for learning and teaching in the early years. This direction places a strong emphasis on relationships, play, learning spaces (both inside and outside) and on making learning visible to others.

Anne moved back to the Netherlands in 2015. This has given her the opportunity to collaborate for two years with the PYP development team at the IB regional office in The Hague. She has been working on the IB PYP review focusing on learner agency, early years, inquiry and several aspects of 'the learning community'. Anne still works for the IB workshop leader and collaborates with international schools as an independent educational consultant. From May 2019 to May 2022, Anne has worked alongside 4 and 5-year-olds at an inner city, IB PYP school in her hometown The Hague. She recently joined a new PYP candidate school as the PYP coordinator and vice principal.

Fiona Zinn is an early childhood, primary and tertiary educator who has worked in Australia and abroad for the past 30 years. As an International Education Consultant, Fiona has collaborated with a diverse range of educators and children across many countries and cultures. This work engages teachers in International School Settings to explore the many different ways we can re-think early years and primary pedagogy, curriculum and learning environments in response to research. She has an unabiding belief in the importance of children's wellbeing and its relationship to learning. Fiona has been elected to the National Committee of the Reggio Emilia Australia Information Exchange (REAIE) for many years, including holding the role of REAIE Convener of Professional Learning (2016 - 2022) and has worked as part of the development team that created a new suite of Reggio Emilia online learning resources for the ECA Learning Hub released in April 2022. Fiona has also enjoyed working as a sessional lecturer at Melbourne University for ten years, teaching into the Masters of International Education Program, and has collaborated with organisations such as the International Baccalaureate and the Tasmanian Department of Education on curriculum material and professional development resources for teachers of Birth - Year 2. In 2020, Fiona accepted a leadership role at The Friends' School in Tasmania and is now enjoying the challenge of re-imagining the early years alongside educators of children aged 12 weeks to eight years of age. She continues to consult and lead professional development with Australian and International Schools, supporting educational teams with pedagogical practices centred on creating environments for agency, wellbeing, creativity and playful inquiry.

Ben Mardell is the atelierista and pedagogista at Newtowne School. He is also a research affiliate at Longlong Kindergarten at the MIT Media Lab. Ben has over twenty years of teaching experience with children birth through six. He has also been a principal investigator at Project Zero, a research organization at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, leading the Pedagogy of Play and Children are Citizens projects, and a professor of early childhood education at Lesley University. Ben is a co-author of Visible Learners: Promoting Reggio-Inspired Approaches in All Schools, Making Learning Visible: Children as Individual and Group Learners, Children at the Center: Transforming Early Childhoods Education in the Boston Public Schools, and A Pedagogy of Play: Supporting Playful Learning in Classrooms and Schools. He is the author of From Basketball to the Beatles: In Search of Compelling Early Childhood Curriculum and Growing Up in Child Care: A Case For Quality Early Education. His new project is The Remake (theremake.org), an online newsletter for educators about playful learning in an era of rapid climate change. Ben enjoys playing with his family (hiking and games) and participating in triathlons.

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