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At the heart of Bederson's wide-ranging talk (and indeed at the heart of the ICDL itself) is a belief in the value and importance of child-centered design. Notably (and rather famously, in some quarters) the ICDL utilizes children as design partners in the development of the digital library, and how it is used.  Adopting this approach sometimes yields approaches that, at least for many in the audience in Hangzhou, were rather surprising.

The ICDL (not to be confused with the International Computer Driving Licence, which shares the same acronym) is dedicated to building a collection of "outstanding children's books from around the world and supporting communities of children and adults in exploring and using this literature through innovative technology designed in close partnership with children for children". The ICDL, which is part of the World Bank-funded READ project in Mongolia, currently features children's books in over 50 languages and receives over 100,000 visitors a month to its web site.

These are representative questions of some of the desires for books that children express to the ICDL, and its on-line presence is organized and searchable in a way that can help meet such demands.   Observing that children are not well served by most existing dictionaries, Bederson and his colleagues use definitions from children themselves, and then enable children to rate each other's definitions. By incorporating teams of children into all stages of the design and development of the various component parts of the library, the ICDL team is able to be guided by what children want, and how children act.  Given the strong research focus of project principals, findings from the ICDL experience are being well documented and made publicly available.

Gender Gender refers to the roles and responsibilities of women and men that are created in our families, our societies and our cultures. The concept of gender also includes the expectations held about the characteristics, aptitudes and behaviours of both women and men (feminity and masculinity).

Earlier in the year, Dirk van Damme, the OECD's head of educational research, said of Scotland: "Too many leave school without qualifications or skills that matter in the labour market." He invited Scotland to take stock. "An egalitarian education culture is definitely not enough," Mr van Damme said. "The egalitarian and optimistic education culture in Scotland may even help to conceal the real issues," he said. Ministers hope improvements may come from an inquiry into what teachers are taught.

Earlier in the year, Dirk van Damme, the OECD's head of educational research, said of Scotland: "Too many leave school without qualifications or skills that matter in the labour market." He invited Scotland to take stock. "An egalitarian education culture is definitely not enough," Mr van Damme said. "The egalitarian and optimistic education culture in Scotland may even help to conceal the real issues," he said. Ministers hope improvements may come from an inquiry into what teachers are taught.

Under the radical change, rolled out to all secondary schools in August, teachers and pupils are now free to choose much of what they learn. Continue reading the main story “Start Quote The old system was good if you wanted school leavers good at producing widgets” End Quote And children will find out more information for themselves on the internet, rather than passively taking in information from teacher or a textbook. Supporters believe lessons will become livelier, more thoughtful and up-to-date. Others are worried that learning may become more modest and more hit and miss.

Gender “Gender” refers to the social differences and relations between men and women which are learned, vary widely among societies and cultures, and change over time. The term “gender” does not replace the term “sex”, which refers exclusively to biological differences between men and women. For example, statistical data are broken down by sex. The term “gender” is used to analyse the roles, responsibilities, constraints, opportunities and needs of women and men in all areas and in any given social context. Gender roles are learned behaviours in a given society, community or other social group. They condition which activities, tasks and responsibilities are perceived as male and female. Gender roles are affected by age, class, race, ethnicity and religion, and by the geographical, economic and political environment. Changes in gender roles often occur in response to changing economic, natural or political circumstances, including development efforts or structural adjustment, or other nationally or internationally based forces. The gender roles within a given social context may be flexible or rigid, similar or different, and complementary or conflicting. Both women and men are involved in reproductive, productive and community management activities and play roles within social and political groups. Their involvement in each activity reflects the gender division of labour in a particular place at a particular time. The gender division of labour must be reflected in gender analysis.

addressing men is an essential element of efforts to build gender equality

Involving men in gender equality strategies carries risks. For example, attention and funding may be diverted from programmes that support women. However, there are also risks if men are not involved. For instance, working with women only can leave power relations unchallenged, increase women's workload, and reinforce static definitions of men (e.g. as breadwinners) and women (e.g. as carers).