Editor Acknowledgments
The success of the Diálogos SUR SUR – Southern Knowledges: Education, Sustainability and Social Change symposium hosted by the School of Education, Western Sydney University (9-11 September 2024) provided a solid foundation for the evolution of this volume. There are many reasons for this, including the inspired key speaker choices and wise programming decisions of the symposium co-convenors, Associate Professor Christine Woodrow and Professor Loshini Naidoo, ably supported by an agile planning committee. It was this vision, leadership and labour in bringing together a program that fostered generous dialogue and intellectual exchange that inspired us to take the work to a broader audience. We also acknowledge all presenters for the quality of their contributions and for sharing their research, wisdom and thoughtful reflections so openly. Your presentations shaped this collection and strengthened its purpose. The provision of institutional support and resources, which enabled the event to run so successfully, together with the leadership and commitment by the Dean of the School of Education, Professor Michele Simons and Associate Dean (Research), Professor Susanne Gannon, to our Latin American project of engagement and research, were also key factors to the success of the symposium. We appreciate the School’s commitment to creating spaces for the scholarly community, critical engagement and collaborative knowledge-making.
In addition, the editors acknowledge the institutional support of our Chile-based colleagues at the Universidad de Concepción and the Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, which enabled staff delegations to attend the symposium, supported academic colleagues’ participation, and supported the editorial team. Above all, it was the generosity of the speakers and participants themselves, and their engagement before, during and after the symposium, together with the broader university community (and especially the Institute for Culture and Society) that collectively led to taking up the opportunity offered by Western Open Books to create this book. We hope this collection reflects the energy of the conference and extends its conversations to new readers and contexts.
Finally, the editors wish to acknowledge and express their appreciation for the skill, professionalism and diplomacy of Dr Prue Adams in project managing this complex undertaking and the many and varied relationships it entailed, and in so ably supporting the editors. Similarly, we express our heartfelt appreciation to Lucy Walton and Jeffrey W. Har of Western Open Books for their insight, professionalism, and commitment to this project, and for graciously managing production under very difficult timelines and conditions. Jeffrey’s dedication, particularly in the design of the book cover, played an important role in shaping the final work.
Professor Loshini Naidoo
School of Education, Western Sydney University, Australia
Associate Professor Christine Woodrow
School of Education, Western Sydney University, Australia
Professor Susanne Gannon
School of Education, Western Sydney University, Australia
Professor Claudio Díaz
Facultad de Educación, Universidad de Concepción, Chile
Professor Verónica López
Centro de Investigación para la Educación Inclusiva, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile
Professor Juan Salazar
Institute of Culture and Society, Western Sydney University, Australia
I am deeply grateful to Western Sydney University for the sabbatical opportunity, which enabled me to connect with the supportive and dedicated team of academics at the School of Education. Their generosity and commitment to collaborative work were truly inspiring. I also wish to acknowledge the valuable time and support provided by the FONDECYT project 1251013, “Intervención en las concepciones y prácticas de evaluación formativa y estudio de su relación con la autoeficacia, el autoconcepto, la autoestima y la identidad profesional de futuros profesores de inglés”, which has been instrumental in advancing this work.
Professor Claudio Díaz
Facultad de Educación, Universidad de Concepción, Chile
I am deeply grateful to the School of Education at Western Sydney University for the opportunity to be part of this collective project. My appreciation is rooted in a long-standing institutional relationship that began in 2018, when a group of researchers from WSU travelled to Chile and to the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso in search of partners committed to building sustainable international collaborations. That encounter led to a meaningful and enduring partnership with the researchers of the Centro de Investigación para la Educación Inclusiva (EduInclusiva, SCIA ANID CIE160009), an ANID-funded Centre of Excellence construed by researchers who shared core values and goals around participatory research agendas aimed at fostering social justice and educational inclusion.
From the outset, this collaboration has been conceived not as an isolated or short-term initiative, but as a strategic, institutional, and long-term relationship grounded in mutual trust, intellectual dialogue, and a shared commitment to producing socially relevant and transformative knowledge. For us, the partnership with Western Sydney University represents a model of international collaboration that goes beyond individual projects, enabling sustained academic exchange, co-construction of knowledge, and South–South dialogues. This book is a testament to that vision: a space where conversations initiated collectively could continue to grow, deepen, and circulate through shared authorship and collaborative scholarship.
Professor Verónica López
Center for Research in Inclusive Education, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile