2024 VATE State Conference

English at the intersection: Reclaiming our stories

2024 VATE State Conference

VATE 2024 explores a world and culture in which we are confronted by the results of ‘prolonged stress and isolation’. Naomi Klein’s advice in the face of this is to ‘gather together, find your footing and your story’, to ‘create meaning together’. This movement towards and insistence on the importance of community is key.

Recently, a teacher in rural Victoria wrote, in an issue of Idiom focused on the sustainability of the profession, that English teachers feel they are ‘standing in quicksand, with the ground shifting under our feet, destabilising us, and drawing us deeper and deeper into the system that cannot sustain or support the individual, or the collective – never mind the students who rely on us’. For teachers living in a state of ‘constant overwhelm’ the collegial community of fellow teachers is paramount in sustaining us. This collegiality is intergenerational: we come together from many different points on our professional journey.

Nevertheless, we hope, ‘we beat on, boats against the current’ …we persist in telling our stories.
Read the full abstract here.

The conference will be delivered in-person over two days – Thursday 21 November and Friday 22 November 2024 - at Deakin University's Burwood campus. For those who are unable to attend the conference in person, our program will also include a live-streamed component that you can access from your device, no matter where you are.

If financial barriers prevent you from attending the conference, please get in touch with Kate Gillespie. 

Cancellation Policy

Cancellations must be emailed to events@vate.org.au. Cancellations received by 12pm five working days prior to the event date will be charged a 15% cancellation fee. Cancellations received after this will receive NO REFUND. Registrations can, however, be transferred to another staff member. Please email events@vate.org.au the details. If you do not attend and have not notified VATE according to the above policy, you will receive no refund.  Please note: If this event is cancelled due to COVID government or venue restrictions, you will receive a full refund.

Catering and special diets (in-person events only)

Coeliac, vegan and other special diets (medical related) can be requested. Please email your special diet request to events@vate.org.au at least seven working days prior to the event. Please note: Approximately 50% of the catering will be vegetarian. You do not need to request this.