Distinguished Educators,

As a foundation school that aims at providing the best education our children deserve as well as equipping them for the future, it is very important for us to collaborate with the educators.

We cannot prepare our children for the future unless we closely follow recent developments. The interest and participation of educators in the conferences we host every year is an indicator of how each and every one of us is doing the best we can to achieve this goal.

This year, we are holding our 16th Handan Oktar Early Childhood and Primary Years Conference with the aim of passing on international developments in the field of education to the teachers, who play a key role in “early childhood and primary years education”, and helping them experience creative and innovative education models through practice.

Saturday, February 28, 2026

Meaning-Making through Materials

09.30-10.00 Registration

10.00-11.00: Session 1: The Intelligence of Materials

11.00-11.15: Coffee Break

11.15-12.30: Session 2: Curating Materials within Learning Environments

12.30-13.30: Lunch and school tour

13.30-14.45: Session 3: Materials as Mediums for Play

14.45-15.00: Coffee Break

15.00-16.00: Session 4: Learning With, About, and Through Materials: Inquiry and Conceptual Understanding

Sean Walker

Sean is an advocate of playful, conceptual and inquiry-based learning. With nearly 30 years of classroom experience, Sean has worked in the UK, USA and now Paris, France. He is currently teaching Early Learners (3 and 4 year olds) at the International School of Paris after teaching Kindergarten for the past three years. Most of his teaching career, he has taught Grades 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Sean is a true inquirer and has collaborated with Anne van Dam, Kath Murdoch, Jo Fahey and PressPlay on a range of webinars, blogs and workshops, and has been a workshop leader for the PYP (Primary Years Programme) for nearly 20 years. He has also visited schools around the world to lead meetings, collaborate with teams and observe learning in action.

Sean is passionate about creating learning environments that offer possibilities, invite exploration, nurture curiosity and stimulate thinking.

Sean’s blog can be viewed at https://seanpypparis.blogspot.com Most posts are from a Kindergarten classroom, but the most recent post ‘Mixed Emotions’ hosts a journal that is updated daily with connections to learning for 3- and 4-year olds. Of course, the big ideas of pedagogy can be applied well beyond the Early Years.

Sean also posts playful moments from the classroom on LinkedIn.

* 20% VAT is included in the fee.
*Students must submit their student certificates.
* Cancellation requests should be communicated as an e-mail to konferans@isikkent.k12.tr . The fees are non-refundable for cancellations made after February 23, 2026

Services that are included in the fee: Participation in the conference, snacks and lunch, coffee breaks, conference documents, city buses.

In order to complete the registration process, the registration fee should be transferred to the bank account below and the payment document should be sent as an e-mail to konferans@isikkent.k12.tr. All participants are required to register.

Bank Details for Registrationi

Hesap Sahibi (Owner of the Account): Çimentaş Eğitim ve Sağlık Vakfı Okul İktisadi İşletmesi
Banka Adı (Name of the Bank): Garanti Bankası
Banka Şubesi (Branch): Bornova Şubesi
Hesap No (Account No): 6297380
IBAN No : TR56 0006 2000 0310 0006 2973 80
It is very important to include the information below while making the payment since invoices cannot be issued when the following explanation is not written fully.
Explanation (for corporate payments): Name of the Institution, Number of Participants
Explanation (for personal payments): TR Identity Number and Name & Surname of the Participant

If you have any questions, please contact us.
E-mail: konferans@isikkent.k12.tr
Telephone: +90 232 462 71 00 dahili 202
Address: 6240/5 Sok. No:3 Karacaoğlan Mah. Yeşilova İzmir, Türkiye