Teacher educators from Mozambique are visiting the Faculty of Education, University of Lapland
The Faculty of Education of the University of Lapland is working in the Theory-Practice Balance in Teacher Education (TEPATE) development project together with two Mozambican teacher education units, Universidade Pedagógica de Maputo (UP) and Instituto Superior de Educação e Tecnologia - One World (ISET One World). The project is managed by the Finnish National Board of Education and coordinated by Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences (JAMK). In addition, the non-governmental organization UFF (U-landshjälp från Folk till Folk i Finland sr) is an associated project partner. The TEPATE project is funded by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (HEI ICI, Higher Education Institutions Institutional Cooperation Instrument) and it is one of the cooperation projects between Finland and developing countries to support higher education institutions to develop their disciplinary, methodological, teaching and administrative capacities in developing countries.
The aim of the TEPATE project is to develop teacher education programmes in the Mozambican teacher education units so that graduating teachers have better theoretical knowledge and practical pedagogical skills.
The project's Mozambican teacher educators will arrive in Rovaniemi to visit the faculty of Education of the University of Lapland from 27 February to 1 March 2023.The project's director of the University of Lapland, Vice Dean Outi Kyrö-Ämmälä, sees the project as important from the perspective of education export, too. -Mozambique is one of Finland's partner countries for development aid, and the Finnish examples will hopefully serve as a mirror for the development of teacher training in Mozambique, even though the contexts are very different, Kyrö-Ämmälä says. During the visit to Rovaniemi, the guests will learn about teacher training practices through school visits, discussions and expert presentations. In return, the Mozambicans will present their own training practices and the language situation. In Mozambique, in addition to the country's official language, Portuguese, several Bantu languages are spoken. University lecturer and associate professor Erika Sarivaara will present to the Mozambican group how Sámi language and culture studies are available at the University of Lapland and also how class teacher training is organised in field schools. -I hope that the examples I present will act as an inspiration for developing Mozambicans' own teacher training solutions, Sarivaara underlines.
The Mozambicans visited Rovaniemi for the first time in the TEPATE project in spring 2022. Kyrö-Ämmälä and Keskitalo, as project actors of the University of Lapland, visited Mozambique last autumn. -The visits are important to familiarise all project actors with the project's areas of operation and goals, says Keskitalo. In Mozambique, they visited the UP in Maputo and the ISET One World teacher training unit in the Changalane region outside Maputo.
The project is also part of the UNESCO/UNTWIN Teacher Education for Social Justice and Diversity network led by the Faculty of Education of the University of Lapland. Project manager Sara Ihamäki sees sustainable development as a central theme in teacher education. -This is how the global importance of the TEPATE project is emphasized in achieving the UN's sustainable development goals, Ihamäki states.
About Mozambique:
Population: 32 million
Area: 799,380 km²
Gross national product per inhabitant: 601 USD
Economic structure agriculture, industry, services
Independence from Portugal: 1975
The project on website of JAMK: https://www.jamk.fi/en/project/hei-ici-projects-tackling-the-global-learning-crisis/tepate-mozambique
The project on website of Finnish National Agency for Education: https://www.oph.fi/fi/node/8732
Contact information
Project leader at the University of Lapland
University lecturer, PhD, vice dean
Outi Kyrö-Ämmälä
outi.kyro-ammala(at)ulapland.fi
Project manager
MSS Sara Ihamäki
sara.ihamaki(at)ulapland.fi
Experts:
Professor, PhD, Title of Docent Pigga Keskitalo
pigga.keskitalo(at)ulapland.fi
University Lecturer, PhD, Title of Docent Erika Sarivaara
erika.sarivaara(at)ulapland.fi