The fact that OMEP’s most symbolic conference of 2026 will take place in Poznań, a Polish city with its own complex memory of war and survival, while its global headquarters is located in Buenos Aires, a city that has experienced dictatorship, resistance, and a slow, hard-fought democratic renewal, is quietly significant. Even though the geography isn’t entirely intentional, it feels that way. Two cities, two hemispheres, and one unwavering conviction that kids should be treated better than what they typically receive.
The theme of the 78th OMEP World Assembly and World Conference, which will take place in Poznań from July 13 to 18, is “When a Child Speaks…” The phrase “Korczak’s Inspirations for Education and Children’s Rights” is not typically found in brochures for education conferences. It’s more straightforward than that. In the best way possible, more uncomfortable. The Polish-Jewish pediatrician and educator Janusz Korczak, who refused to leave his orphaned children when the Nazis came for them, did not write theory. He created something genuine, then lost his life protecting it. This conference is not incidental to that weight. That’s the whole idea.
The intentional continuity being developed across events is what sets this season apart from earlier OMEP cycles. Last year, the 77th conference in Bologna examined the use of art and creativity in early childhood education in a more compassionate and joyous manner. Poznań continues Bologna’s work but amplifies it significantly, moving from expression to agency and from creativity to rights. The leadership of OMEP seems to have been working toward a goal, adding argument after argument until the structure is able to carry actual policy weight.
You can tell this is not your typical academic gathering just by looking at the opening event. Members will travel to Treblinka, the extermination site where Korczak and almost 200 children from his Warsaw orphanage were killed in 1942, on July 13 before the official Assembly even starts. We’ll plant trees. Korczak’s own words appear on plaques. Standing there and then going back to Poznań to talk about abstract pedagogy is nearly unthinkable. That seems to be the whole point.
The conference is organized around seven themes, including community partnerships, sustainability, children’s involvement and empathy-based education, and the political standing of educators as human rights advocates. The final framing is powerful. Teachers are not professionals. not educators as providers of services. Protectors. It implies that OMEP is finished with tactful advocacy and has determined that children benefit more from clarity than from diplomatic softening.
Of course, it is another matter entirely whether statements like the anticipated Poznań Declaration 2026 result in real change. Global education conferences have a long history of producing elegant language that is easily absorbed by aging filing cabinets. OMEP has been doing this work since 1948, so it is more familiar with this than most organizations. The post-pandemic visibility of early childhood education pressing from one direction and the SDG 4.2 framework pressing from another may be the difference here. Making the case for funding the youngest children has never been simpler, but at least the room is quieter. This does not imply that governments are paying attention.
From a distance, it’s difficult to miss how purposefully OMEP has chosen discomfort as its organizing principle this year. The trip to Treblinka. The legacy of Korczak. the wording of rights as opposed to suggestions. There’s a sense that the organization has come to the conclusion that if a child’s voice matters—truly matters—then the organizations purporting to speak for that voice can no longer afford to be courteous.
July in Poznań. We’ll plant the trees. There will be a written declaration. For the kids who weren’t invited to any of these rooms, there’s a chance that the arc that connects Buenos Aires and Poland will bend, if only slightly, in the middle.
