53rd ASSOCIATION FOR MORAL EDUCATION CONFERENCE

The 53rd Association for Moral Education conference will be held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 2027. The 2027 conference theme is “Imagining possible futures: Moral education for youth agency and critical engagement.” 

Dates:  October 28-30, 2027

Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Conference organizers: Bruce Maxwell and Holly Recchia

Description of the conference theme: 

From moral-developmental scholarship, we know that, starting early in life, children and youth play an active and agentic role in constructing moral meanings via their formal and informal learning experiences. As they make sense of their moral worlds, children not only engage with and sometimes adopt dominant moral norms and worldviews, but also play an active role in negotiating, resisting, subverting, and even transforming societal norms and structures. Moral educational frameworks that honour and support individuals’ moral agency can play an important role in supporting the development of young people’s critical consciousness and their capacity for meaningful civic engagement. Moral education can also play a crucial role in steering young people away from problematic moral trajectories, such as those leading to violent extremism and the reproduction of oppressive structures. The theme of this conference invites members of the AME community to explore these facets of moral education and consider the transformative potential of youths’ agency and critical engagement to shape the future.