Transformative Teacher Education for the Sustainable North
About the project
Project Transformative Teacher Education for the Sustainable North (TTE) (2019-2020) aims to support activities of UArctic Thematic Network on Teacher Education and UNESCO/UNITWIN Network on Teacher Education. The network aims at responding to the specific challenges faced by national education systems, and teacher education in particular, in the sparsely populated Arctic region, and the 'North of the North'. Similar challenges can be also found in remote areas in the global south.
This project focuses on:
- Developing teacher education to give teachers the skills to take advantage of digitalization in teaching and learning, promote and support local cultures and use inclusive pedagogies in their everyday work
- Contributing to a better understanding of the contextual and cultural issues in education in the Arctic via engagement with local communities and especially with indigenous communities through institutional and research collaborations
- Developing educational practices that enable individual learning, respect local communities, and promote integrated learning approaches
- Promoting social justice and inclusion by acknowledging that a consistent and qualified teacher workforce integrated into the community is critical to the learning of students, the sustainability of schools and the vitality of communities
Activities
- Local summit in Norway
- Self-organized sessions and network internal meetings at FERA Conference (Finland)
- Preparing a book proposal for commercial publisher
- Three to four open access webinars
- Creating annual wheel of regular activities
- Collecting material and creating Resource Centre
The project period got extended till the end of 2020 due the challenges of COVID-19 situation. Extended project period activities are:
- Webinar on 28 October, 2020
- Online Conference on 19 November, 2020
The previous projects prior Transformative Teacher Education for the Sustainable North (TTE) are:
Teacher Education for Social Justice and Diversity (2017-2018)and Arctic Teacher Education for Social Justice and Diversity (2018-2019) aimed to explore teacher education related issues within the Arctic region, and to contribute a better understanding of the contextual and cultural issues in education in the Arctic via engagement with local and indigenous communities.
Transformative Teacher Education for the Sustainable North (TTE) 2020-2019
The project (2019-20) developed new ways of working and improved communication of the network. The situation with COVID-19 caused some challenges, but the activities of the project met its objectivies.
Outputs
Position statement on Arctic Pedagogy
Position Statement on Arctic Pedagogy aims to explain what Arctic pedagogy is and how it can be implemented. It seeks to help teachers, policy makers and stakeholders to recognise the important aspects of education in the Arctic and in rural northern communities and to offer some examples of the implementation of Arctic pedagogy.
Teacher Education in the Arctic
Special double issue of the journal Education in the North, titled "Teacher Education in the Arctic" was published open access. The issue covered themes like co-teaching, inclusive education, distance learning and indigenous education. The issue includes 15 articles written by 30 authors.
Including the North: a Comparative Study of the Policies on Inclusion and Equity in the Circumpolar North
Book "Including the North: a Comparative Study of the Policies on Inclusion and Equity in the Circumpolar North" is first joing research endeavour of UArctic Thematic Network on Teacher Education, as it was edited and authored by members of the network. The book discusses a wide range of inclusive policies and highlights similarities and differences between nine countries and Sami area. As it provides a comprehensive overview, in this sense, it is a unique piece of work.
