Meeting as the Golden Circle Seminar
As Storyline pedagogy travelled the world it became clear that there was a need for practitioners to meet together to share their experiences, compare notes and keep in touch with new ideas and developments in the countries where the approach was being adopted and adapted.
Storyline Scotland in the person of Steve Bell remains at the centre of Storyline International and it is Steve’s responsibility as Chairman to invite Storyline leaders from different countries to become members of the international group.
Storyline International is a non profit making organisation. It has no income. It welcomes educators at all levels and from all cultures. It is their commitment to Storyline that holds the group members together and it depends on their willingness to be self funding for its survival. In the early days it was known as the ‘European Association for Educational Design’ a title that became redundant as Storyline practice extended to other parts of the world.
Mission Statement
To support the development of the Storyline Approach in a critical and innovative way by sharing on-going research, resources, curriculum development and applications of the method. TheGolden Circleis a non-competitive forum for enquiry into theory and practice to promote professionalism and friendship.
The Golden Circle Seminars
Named ‘Golden Circle’ in honour of the famous tourist route in Iceland the seminars began in 1989. The first meeting was hosted by Jos Letschert at the SLO Centre for Curriculum Development in the Netherlands. Twelve people attended representing Scotland, Denmark, Icelandand the Netherlands. Since then seminars have been held at eighteen month intervals, each hosted by a different country. The 18th Golden Circle Seminar will be held in Hveragerdi, Iceland in 2012. Forty five participants representing fifteen countries will take part.
International Storyline Conferences
At the Golden Circle Seminar of 1998 in Enschede in the Netherlands an international Storyline Conference was proposed to celebrate the Millenium. This took place in Aalborg in Denmark and was followed in 2003 by a second conference in Elsinore. The 2006 conference was held in Glasgow, Scotland and the 2009 conference in Portland, Oregon, USA. The 2012 conference was held in Reykjavik Iceland.