News from Janusz Korczak Associations Worldwide

Update February 8, 2014

A new international IKA website is in preparation.

You can become a member of our Korczak Group on Linkedin.com. This group wants to connect people who are interested in alternative ways of raising children, and in children's rights, and are inspired in their work by the Polish educator Janusz Korczak (1878-1942). Korczak worked as director and medical doctor in the orphanages in Warsaw, Poland, where he developed new and democratic ways in community education. All over the world professionals in education, health and care are inspired by his views on respect for children and his uncompromising struggle for the rights of children.
Become a member via this link. (You need to sign up to Linkedin.com first.)

Below you will find interesting documents and news items from the International Korczak Movement.

2014

Report on the Nash Dom Winter camp in Russia
In the first week of January there was a Nash Dom Winter camp in Russia. Theo Cappon, member of the Dutch Korczak Association, participated in this very interesting event. He also interviewed other participants. You can read his report here (.pdf format).
Here are two picture impressions of the camp.



Thomas Hammarberg wins Geuzen Award 2014
Thomas Hammarberg has won the Geuzenpenning 2014 of The Netherlands. He receives this very prestigious award for his work in the field of human rights. Less known, but worth making this known here is that Hammarberg is also an important spokesman for the international Korczak movement, having written articles on Korczak and given lectures on conferences a.o. in Geneva and Warsaw. He was honorary chair of the International Korczak Year 2012.
More info on website Geuzenpenning.

Janusz Korczak: A Bibliography
The Korczak Association of Canada published an updated bibliography on secundary sources in English on Korczak, 1939-2012 (Ed. Olga Medvedeva-Nathoo & Galina Saneva). It is divided in a number of chapters, a.o. posthumous works of Korczak himself, books and book chapters, lectures and on-line sources. Also there is attention for exhibitions and films. Info about this splendid source for Korczak research via this email address.

2013

Looking back to the International Korczak Year 2012
At the end of 2013 under the auspices of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs a commemorative edition of texts from the Korczak Year 2012 was published. It contains text of lectures that were held in Warsaw, Geneva, New York, Being and a number of other places. There are texts by a.o. BAtia Gilad, Waltraut Kerber-Ganse, Marek Michalak, Tomas Hammarberg and Joop Berding.
2012 Janusz Korczak Year. An international perspective on children's rights and pedagogy, edited by P. Jaros, www.msz.gov.pl.

Korczak in Ghent (Flanders/Belgium)



From 13 to December 15, 2013 Korczak Flanders organized in collaboration with the International Korczak Association ( IKA ) in Ghent a conference on socially vulnerable children and adults. Friday began with a meeting in the district library in the Brugsepoort, a multicultural / diverse neighborhood. Saturday was devoted to various lectures and presentations include the Flemish children's ombudsman Bruno Vanobbergen who signaled that we are increasingly going to " prepression " in the social domain (a term by Willem Schinkel): prevention but thought from repressive frameworks. There were musical performances, including a Roma band from Ghent. Sunday we took a morning children's walk led by a guide who does so with lots of school classes. In the afternoon was the annual meeting of the IKA where country representatives were present, including Israel, Germany, Switzerland, France, Poland, Ukraine and the Netherlands, and spoke about their work in 2013, and plans for 2014. A great base for further expansion. The many meetings and discussions created a very good atmosphere.



Photos by Vee, Theo & Joop

Annual meeting of the German Korczak Association in Erfurt
On November 16, 2013 the German Korczak-Gesellschaft had its annual meeting in Erfurt. It's a day for members and others interested. Present were around seventy people from all over Germany. Among them a good many students of education from the FachHochSchule Erfurt (university of applied sciences). Joop Berding, member of the Board of the Dutch Korczak Association was invited to give the key-note lecture on Korczak, education and citizenship.
If you want to read Joops lecture - it is in German! - you may send him an email: jwa.berding@ziggo.nl. Or you can take a look at his website www.joopberding.nl. You can watch his power-point presentation here (.pdf format).

Korczak in Kazan
In November 2013 chairman Arie de Bruin of the Dutch Korczak Stichting spend a week in Kazan where for many years now there is an active Korczak organisation. You can read his report here, about creativity and of course music.

International Korczak Conference in Holland 2-6 October 2013
Every two years the Dutch Korczak Association organizes an international conference for (young and somewhat older) professionals and students in education, care and welfare. The preparations for the edition of 2013 are in full swing. This time the theme is: children and their play. Please put the dates in your agenda: 2 to 6 Oktober, venue: Bergen (province of North-Holland).
Invitation in this document.
More to follow on this website and information can be gathered through this special e-mail address. (NB. for this conference only!)
Have a look at the special Facebook page!

International conference in Kazan September 2013
The Korczak group in Kazan will hold an international conference in September 2013. For more informatie see this document.



Declaration of Warsaw
During the official closing conference of the Korczak year in Warsaw on 4-6 December 2012 the Declaration of Warsaw was presented and undersignhed by those present. The Declaration calls upon people who work with children and youngsters to acknowledge Korczak's legacy, and urges states to fully implement the Convention of the rights of the child. So far over 2500 people have signed it. You can do this also via the internet by going to: this website. (English version, other languages available)

2012
Meeting of national Korczak Associations and Societies in Warsaw
On the 6th of December a number of national Korczak Associations and Societies met in Warsaw. The meeting followed after a two and a half day congress on the rights of the child, being the official close of the Year of Janusz Korczak, organized by the Polish Ombudsman for Children's Rights, mr. Michalak.
A report of the meeting will be published on this website.

Korczak in Leiden - Holland
On Saturday October 6 2012 we celebrated the 30th anniversary of our Korczak Association in Holland, and also the official Korczak Year. It was a great Festival with presentations, music, plays, many children's activities, round-table discussions etc. Over 120 people from all quarters attended and were actively involved. The Kinderechtenhuis (Children's Rights House) in Leiden hosted the event, and the Polish embassy in the Netherlands was very supportive. After 15 years of being the chair-person of the JKA Theo Cappon stepped down, and as a reward for all his activities he was awarded a knighthood. This was presented to him by the Mayor of Leiden. A great honor for Theo, and also a recognition of the value of the ever topical ideas of the great pedagogue Janusz Korczak. More will be reported on www.korczak.nl.

A new book in Polish and English on Janusz Korczak and his pupil
Olga Medvedeva-Nathoo who lives and works in Canada published a beautiful bi-langual book on the life of one of Korczak's pupils, Leon Gluzman. He lived in Dom Sierot from 1923 to 1930. The book is uniquely illustrated with many of the postcards Leon received for having done his best or completed his tasks.
Joop Berding wrote a review of this recommended book and you can read it here.


Reports of the Leading Group of the International Korczak Association

You can read the reports below.
* Report November 2011
* Report Paris Jan 2012

Performance Confessions of a Butterfly in London September 2012
Jonathan Salt is a theatre director, actor and educator and he has written a one man play about Janusz Korzack entitled Confessions Of A Butterfly which he is presenting at the Lion and the Unicorn Theatre in north London from Monday 10 to Saturday 29 September 2012 inclusive. Please visit this website for further information. Or have a look at this flyer.

Korczak in Geneva! For the 4th time!
On June 1 and 2, 2012 for the fourth time the internationaal seminar on children's rights and the educational ideas of Janusz Korczak was held in Geneva. Present were this time not only members of the UN Committee on the rights of the child and Korczakians from different countries, but also twelve children and youngsters from a number of countries: Switzerland, Poland, Germany, and a number of African countries. This gave an enormous input to the seminar, a new kind of energy and synergy. On 31st of May there was already a pre-conference meeting of Korczakians in the crèche Les erf-volant in Genève.

The topic this time was article 3: adults, institutions and states should always look at what is in the best interest of the child. This is acomplicated but very important article, in fact one of the cornerstones or 'pillars' of the Convention.

One the First day we explored together with the children the meanings of this article through interactive workforms, such as discussion and the production of posters. It was great to see Young and old(er) working together like this! Also the play The ten matchboxes was performed by actor Amichai Pardo, and he brought children and adults into the scenes.

The second day was devoted to lectures and presentations of different judicial and educational aspects of this article.

An extensive Report will be published later on this page and on www.joopberding.nl/Englishpage. Via this link you can see a picture-impression, of the evening of 31st of May and both seminar days, and as you can see it's all about energy and working together!

International Korczak Events 2012 and 2013; highlights from the Reports
2012 will see among others the Fourth Seminar in Geneva on the Convention of the Rights of the Child as related to Korczak's Views. The exact dates have to be planned, it will one of the weekends in June. For the first time there will be sessions and workshops with children and youngsters, and the topic will be: Article 3 of the Convention: the right of the child to be treated in his/her best interest.

In october 2012 a conference will be organized in Warsaw to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Korczak's death.

In 2013 probably in July a summer conference is planned in the beautiful palace in Caux, France, near Montreux.

Also in 2013 a Korczak Vacation is planned in Poland. It aims at bringing together people working as professionals with (young) children, i.e. group leaders, teachers, caregivers, etc. The vacation will combine workshops, lecturers, leisure time in a beautiful natural environment. Execution of this vacation depends on the acquistition of subsidies.

Updates of news about these and other events will appear on this website.

Korczak in Geneva 2011
It is becoming a tradition: for the third time now members of the UN Comittee of the Rights of the Child and members from multiple Korczak Associations acropss Europe gathered together on a Saturday in June to share their views on the rights of the Child. This time article 12 of the Convention was the central topic. This article states that the child has the right to express his or her own views freely, and has the right to be heard.
Members of the Comittee presented their views on this article and its implementation in their own countries: Tunesia, Uganda, Hungary a.s.o. After these presentations there was a performance of the play The 10 matchboxes by Israeli actor Amichai Pardo. He transformed into the figure of Janusz Korczak and in a dialogical way with the public told the story of the 10 matchboxes: one is lost and found, another turns into a 'ship', children quarrel about it and so on. A very moving experience. After the performance Amichai told us that he performed this play over a 1000 times, in many countries and that is was always different.
The program of the afternoon consisted of talks by Korczakians on the topic. Jonathan Levy talked about global citizenship and a new initiative to develop a program on children as teachers on children's rights. Anna Bystrzycka told a moving story about KOrczak's lifer in the orphanage. And Kelvin Ravenscroft from the UK philosophized in a very spititual, yet also practical manner about he social construction of meaning. Joop Berding from the Board of the Dutch Korczak Association concluded that the concept of space, both in a physical and in psychological sense is prime when we want to uphold article 12 and have the child be able to express himself or herself and be heard.
The last panel was also about practice. Nelianne de Boo head of primary school Matthijsje in the Netherlands told us how she tries to form a community with parents and children. Se showed that bringing Korczak into practice that does not mean that you can't work towards good results; even better, because of the positive and co-operative spirit. Sven Hartman from Sweden told us about a new project with Roma children. His aproach signifies the humane spirit which was so characteristic for Korczak's approach. The UN committee member from Uganda told us about the tension between children 's rights and culture, as can be seen in the case of genital mutilation. On the other hand, also in African countries, the new social media give more opportunities for young people to express themselves.
This seminar was once again hosted by the Polish mission to the UN.
Below an impression of a panel and the play.



Korczak in Japan
In the first week of August 2010 an international conference devoted to Janusz Korczak and the rights of children took place in Tokyo, Japan. A report in English will soon be published here, as well as on the website of the delegate from the Netherlands: Joop Berding. In the section 'English page' on his website you can already find a short report and some pictures.

Korczak in Ghana
Here you can find a flyer in English about the activities in Ghana, to which the Dutch Korzak Association contributes.

Janusz Korczak for workers in daycare and after-schoolcare
On June 1, 2010 the Janusz Korczak Association of The Netherlands published a 8-page, full-colour booklet, especially produced for workers in daycare and after-school care centers. The booklet was translated from the successfull edition that was issued in Mach, 2010. It combines quotes from Janusz Korczak, with illustrations and examples from everyday practice from childcare work.
The authors are Joop Berding, Inge Smit & Inge van Rijn.
You can order copies of the booklet by downloading the orderform for Booklet here, and mail or send it to info@korczak.nl.
Below you see the front of the booklet.



The booklet was officially presented at the conference The rights of the child and Janusz Korczak, Geneva, June 5, 2010.
Below you see a photo-impression of this conference, a joint venture of the Council of Europe, the Committee on the Rights of the Child of the United Nations and the International Korczak Association, with representatives from France, UK, Russian Federation, Belgium, germany, Poland, Israel, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.



Older news

A short report on a new publication on the importance of social and emotional education can be found here: A new publication and the first chapter of this publication (9 pages) can be found here: Social and Emotional Education

A review of a new book on children's rights can be found here: Exploring Children's Rights

A report on the International Youth Meeting in the Netherlands can be found here: Report International Youth Meeting

A report on the International Meeting in Mannheim October 2007 can be found here: Minutes of the Meeting in Mannheim

A report on the Jubilee of the Korczak Association of Germany can be found here: Mannheim

The speech given by Commissioner Hammarberg in Warsaw can be found here: Hammarberg Warsaw

A report on Museum Education in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg Russia can be found here: Hermitage


Below you will find the international Newsletters

updated March 25, 2008

For Newsletter No. 23 of March 2008, click here: Newsletter March 2008

For Newsletter No. 22 of February 2007, click here: Newsletter February 2007

For Newsletter No. 21 of January 2007, click here: Newsletter January 2007

For Newsletter No. 20 of November 2006, click here: Newsletter November 2006

For Newsletter No. 19 of October 2006, click here: Newsletter October 2006

For Newsletter No. 18 of June 2006, click here: Newsletter June 2006

For Newsletter No. 17 of May 2006, click here: Newsletter May 2006

For Newsletter No. 16 of April 2006, click here: Newsletter April 2006

For Newsletter No. 15 of November 2005, click here: Newsletter Nov 2005

The International Newsletters Nos 14 and earlier can be found here.

Thanks for all this interesting Korczak News.