The 2021 Conference was INSA’s second conference. It was hosted online from Melbourne, Australia, and brought together presenters, delegates and international perspectives focused on improving school attendance through collaboration.
The 2021 Conference welcomed delegates from around the world to connect with colleagues who share a commitment to advancing school attendance.
The program encouraged participants to take what they learned during the conference back into their own work, sharing knowledge with colleagues and contributing to the broader mission of securing positive futures for young people. The welcome also acknowledged that the conference was hosted in Melbourne, Australia, and included an acknowledgement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The 2021 Conference Committee included:
Glenn Melvin
Deakin University, Australia
Lisa McKay Brown
University of Melbourne, Australia
Naoki Maeda
Kyushu University of Health and Welfare, Japan
Lana Van Den Berghe
University of Ghent, Belgium
David Heyne
Leiden University, The Netherlands
Carolyn Gentle-Genitty
University of Indiana, USA
Glenn Melvin
Deakin University, Australia
Gil Keppens
Vrije Universiteit, Belgium
The 2021 Conference was delivered online and included keynote addresses, invited addresses, parallel sessions, round table discussions, time-to-chat sessions, a collaboration activity, a conference message board and recorded sessions.
The conference theme was Collaboration, with a strong focus on working across disciplines, countries, education systems, families, researchers and practitioners.
The program included:
| Time | Session Type | Details | Member Archive |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8:00–8:55am AEDT | Welcome Desk | Lisa McKay-Brown, Glenn Melvin and volunteers. Delegates could bring questions to the conference organisers. | Not applicable |
| 9:00–9:15am AEDT | Official Welcome | Official welcome from the Conference Committee: Lisa McKay-Brown, Glenn Melvin, Irma de Wit, Lana Van Den Berghe and Naoki Maeda. Opening address by Mr Todd Macbeth. | Not applicable |
| 9:15–10:15am AEDT | Keynote Address 1 | Hedy Chang — Addressing Chronic Absence: An essential strategy for educational equity in the United States. | Watch recording |
| 10:15–10:30am AEDT | Break | Short break | Not applicable |
| 10:30–11:30am AEDT | Parallel Sessions / Invited Address | Parallel Session 1: Children at Risk; Parallel Session 2: Understanding & Responding to Attendance Problems; Invited Address: Deborah Gray and School Can’t Not Won’t contributors. | Parallel Session 1 Recording Parallel Session 2 Recording Invited Address Recording |
| 11:30–11:40am AEDT | Break | Short break | Not applicable |
| 11:40am–12:30pm AEDT | Round Table Discussions & Time to Chat | Topics included Leading Attendance Together; Establishing a School Attendance Research Collaboration in Australia; early signs of school refusal in young students with autism; international collaboration; and informal discussion groups. | Not applicable |
| 12:30–1:15pm AEDT | Long Break | Conference Message Board and delegate connection time. | Not applicable |
| 1:15–2:15pm AEDT | Keynote Address 2 | Megan Gilmour, CEO Missing School — Don’t wait until they’re well: Policy and technology to keep sick kids connected to school. | Watch recording |
| 2:15–2:25pm AEDT | Break | Short break | Not applicable |
| 2:25–3:25pm AEDT | blah | Parallel Session 3: School Refusal; Parallel Session 4: Spanish adolescents’ profiles, school refusal behaviour, perfectionism and affect; Invited Address: Sandra Inserra & Kerryn Williams. | Parallel Session 3 recording Parallel Session 4 recording Invited Address recording 1 |
Hedy Chang — Addressing Chronic Absence: An essential strategy for educational equity in the United States
Children at Risk
Understanding & Responding to Attendance Problems
Deborah Gray – School Can’t Not Won’t contributor
Megan Gilmour, CEO Missing School — Don’t wait until they’re well: Policy and technology to keep sick kids connected to school.
School Refusal
Spanish adolescents’ profiles, school refusal behaviour, perfectionism and affect
Sandra Inserra & Kerryn Williams
| Time | Session Type | Details | Member Archive |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3:00–3:55pm AEDT | Welcome Desk | Delegates could bring queries and questions to the conference organisers. | Not applicable |
| 4:00–4:15pm AEDT | Welcome and Reflections | Welcome and reflections on Day One with Irma de Wit, Lana Van Den Berghe, Lisa McKay-Brown, Glenn Melvin and Naoki Maeda. | Not applicable |
| 4:15–5:15pm AEDT | Keynote Address 3 | Chris Varney, Founder & Chief Enabling Officer, ICAN Network — Leveraging peer support programs to maintain school connection during COVID-19. | Watch recording |
| 5:15–5:30pm AEDT | Break | Short break. | Not applicable |
| 5:30–6:15pm AEDT | Collaboration Activity | Small-group discussion focused on the conference theme of collaboration. | Not applicable |
| 6:15–7:15pm AEDT | Parallel Sessions / Invited Address | Parallel Session 5: Child, Adolescent, Parent and School Perspectives; Parallel Session 6: School Attendance in the time of Covid-19; Invited Address: Hans Schuman. | Session 5 recording Session 6 recording Invited Address recording |
| 7:15–7:30pm AEDT | Break | Short break. | Not applicable |
| 7:30–8:30pm AEDT | Round Table Discussions & Time to Chat | Topics included re-engaging students with complex needs, national school attendance data, young researchers, and informal discussion groups. | Not applicable |
| 8:30–9:15pm AEDT | Long Break | Break between sessions. | Not applicable |
| 9:15–10:15pm AEDT | Parallel Sessions / Invited Address | Parallel Session 7: Collaboration; Parallel Session 8: Psychiatric Perspectives on School Attendance; Parallel Session 9: Intervention and Support; Invited Address: Kristof de Witte. | Session 7 recording Session 8 recording Session 9 recording Invited Address recording |
| 10:15–11:15pm AEDT | Keynote Address 4 | David Heyne — Collaboration: What we mean, why it’s important, and how we’re doing. | Keynote Address 4 recording |
| 11:15–11:30pm AEDT | Conference Close | Discussant Bruce Tonge and conference close with the Conference Committee. | Not applicable |
Chris Varney, Founder & Chief Enabling Officer, ICAN Network — Leveraging peer support programs to maintain school connection during COVID-19
Child, Adolescent, Parent and School Perspectives
School Attendance in the time of Covid-19.
Hans Schuman
Collaboration
Psychiatric Perspectives on School Attendance
Intervention and Support
Kristof de Witte
David Heyne — Collaboration: What we mean, why it’s important, and how we’re doing.
The full conference program includes detailed abstracts for keynote addresses, invited addresses, parallel sessions, round table discussions and posters.
Members can refer to the complete program for full session descriptions, presenter details and biographies. The abstract section begins with Day One: Abstracts, including Hedy Chang’s keynote and Parallel Session 1: Children at Risk, and continues through the full program.
As the 2021 Conference was delivered online, networking and social connection were built into the digital program.
Delegates were encouraged to connect with fellow conference participants from around the world through the Conference Message Board.
Welcome Desk sessions were available at the beginning of each day for questions and support.
Round table discussions gave delegates structured opportunities to connect around shared topics, including collaboration, school attendance research, school refusal, autism and attendance, national attendance data, and re-engagement for students with complex needs.
Informal small-group “Time to Chat” sessions included topics such as:
Day Two included a dedicated collaboration activity where delegates joined small groups to discuss the conference theme.
INSA acknowledged the support of the conference sponsors on the sponsor page of the program. Sponsors shown in the program included:
As an INSA Member, you can access selected archived conference materials throughout this page. Where available, recordings and materials should be linked beside the relevant keynote, invited address, parallel session, round table discussion or activity.
Available resources may include:
Sessions were recorded, and posters were available for viewing on the conference website.
Download the complete 2021 INSA Conference Program for the full schedule, session details, abstracts, presenter information, poster information and online conference resources.
