On Wednesday 8 December, the Australian Institute for Intergenerational Practice (AIIP) was launched as part of the Griffith University Intergenerational Colloquium held at South Bank campus in Brisbane. With over 100 participants (both online and in person) and 21 inspiring presenters, there is no doubt there is a wave of enthusiasm towards intergenerational practice across many sectors including aged care, child care, academia and government departments.
The colloquium was opened by Professor Rosemary Stockdale, Dean (Engagement) Griffith Business School who acknowledged the significant impact intergenerational practice will have on the community.
The main speaker of the day was Professor Susan Kurrle, who delivered the plenary and captured the audience with her recollections of her role in the ABC’s popular television series, “Old Peoples’ Home for 4 Year Olds” and her connections with AIIP’s interim Chair, Emeritus Professor Anneke Fitzgerald (pictured above with interim CEO, Emma Woods) as their journey started many years prior.
EmProf Fitzgerald spoke about how wonderful it is to see younger and older generations coming together for mutual benefit, and advocated for normalisation of these programs with accessibility for everyone. She outlined that intergenerational practice has many facets “like arms of an octopus”.
“Childcare comes under education while aged care comes under health and these pillars have very different policies”, she said. “There is training, accreditation, health benefits, education, information dissemination, career development and so much more. What is missing to date is to bring these arms together, to form the head of the octopus, and that is why we have created the Australian Institute for Intergenerational Practice (AIIP), a peak body for intergenerational practice”. AIIP is a membership based not-for-profit (for purpose) organisation.
Emma Woods spoke about the mission and vision of the AIIP and outlined some of the goals to be achieved in the short, medium and longer term.
The day was filled with presentations about current intergenerational research projects as well as an industry show and tell. This session was especially well received with so many presenting their great work, showing video’s and pictures showcasing their work.
The last session of the day was a ‘world café’ where participants were asked to provide input into the direction of the AIIP, going forward.
Participants’ feedback was very positive about how the event was run, diversity of presentations and links with industry and they are keen to engage with AIIP going forward. Many participants became foundation members of AIIP by joining before 31 December 2021.
“One of the frustrations I encounter when searching for literature on intergenerational activities and interactions is that full-text is hard to obtain. Your toolkit was of a great help when we were developing a program evaluation for an aged care facility in Singapore. Thank you.”
“I hope to become more and more involved, very passionate about this area. Thanks for the great work you have done.”
“The session with all of the program examples/videos was phenomenal!“
“I like how the segments are organised with big-picture discussion in the morning and then followed by more detailed projects.”
“[I liked] networking, learning, loved the combination of longer and shorter presentations, loved the world cafe.”
“We certainly made some new friends. We look forward to building on our new relationships and nurturing our long-standing friendships to create a mutually beneficial future in intergenerational practice” EmProf Fitzgerald said.
As you can see in the photos below, everyone involved in the colloquium had a great time sharing their stories and are already looking forward to the next colloquium to be held in April 2022 to coincide with Global Intergenerational Week.
For more information, please visit the AIIP website: https://aiip.net.au/
