Main Theme
(Re)imagining & Remaking Teacher Education:
Identity, Professionalism and Creativity in a Changed World
Subthemes
Professional values, professional teachers and professional teacher educators: understanding today - building tomorrow
Teachers are universally expected to develop and demonstrate appropriate personal and professional values and yet these values are only weakly defined. While some national governments rely on cultural traditions to guide values in education, others directly intervene through policy change trying to shape the values promoted by schools and teachers. At the institutional level, school leaders vary in their efforts and strategies to encourage reflection, debate and inquiry by teachers to help develop shared professional values as a school within its local community. This theme focuses on explorations of personal and professional values and their implications for teacher education, teachers’ professional learning, school leadership and educational policy.
Development of teacher competencies for inclusion and social justice in a changing world.
Professional development of a teacher requires creating opportunities for building self-efficacy and effectiveness. In order to achieve this, one should take into consideration a diverse socio-cultural context. Professional identities of teachers should be oriented towards all students to guarantee well-being in their academic and personal life.The teacher as a promotor of inclusion and social justice in a changing world has to confront challenges. These challenges require, above all, social and ethical competencies.
Addressing current challenges in pre-service and in-service teacher education
Nowadays teachers and teachers’ educators have to face changes taking place at school, its surroundings and expectations towards teachers formulated by parents, principals, policy makers, and civil society. Teacher educators should understand these changes, prepare teachers for new challenges and equip them with appropriate competences.
The preparation of teachers to face various new challenges and at the same time remain critical and autonomous of often contradictory expectations of various stakeholders is the fundamental task of teacher education.