AARE Annual Conferences

Role and Features of the Annual Conference

Bill Connell seems to have summed up the meaning of the conference to members in 1973, it was ' the principal event' and:

".... a valuable means of keeping up-to-date on research and gossip, of renewing old associations, and forming new and congenial friendships. It is an opportunity to hear about one's colleagues' recent work and to explain to them the errors they are committing; it is also a chance to find out quite a range of unknown developments in other fields and in other States. The association by its conference should be a forum for uninhibited and exacting criticism, for a broadening of research horizons, for inspiration to new lines of research, for the planning of co-operative ventures, and for mutual respect and good fellowship among the community of educational research workers in Australia" (Bessant & Holbrook, 1995).

Bill Connell passed away on 17 August 2001. Here is what Don Spearritt wrote about his work and life.