Building Globally Competent Teacher Educators
At Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK) in Finland, we have been fortunate to develop expertise in innovative methods in teacher learning. For this reason, we were asked to lead the GCTE project Intellectual Output #2: Developing Globally Competent Teacher Educators.
5 KEY GOALS
The aim of this aspect of the project was ambitious, covering five interrelated points:
5 KEY GOALS
The aim of this aspect of the project was ambitious, covering five interrelated points:
- to raise awareness with Teacher Educators (TEs) for the need of Global Competence in Initial Teacher Education programmes,
- to support TEs to develop their own Global Competence,
- to support TEs to facilitate the learning of trainee teachers’ Global Competence,
- to co-create learning resources for TEs, and
- to start a TEs network.
STARTING WITH EMPATHY: FOCUS GROUPS WITH TEACHER EDUCATORS
To do this, we took a design thinking approach so that between October and November 2020, we conducted focus groups with 35 teacher educators (TEs) — working in formal and non-formal education — from 14 countries in and outside of Europe. Our main aim was to understand the motivations of these TEs: What sparks them to (want to) incorporate Global Competence into their work with future teachers?
Then, to do this, we learned about the TEs’ personal interests in Global Competence, including what they find meaningful in the 2018 OECD definition of Global Competence and what they’d like to learn more about. We also explored what kind of material TEs have used or created related to Global Competence and what kinds of new materials would be beneficial for them and in which format(s).
COLLECTING EXISTING GLOBAL COMPETENCE RESOURCES & MAPPING UNMET TEACHER EDUCATOR NEEDS
In parallel, we began collecting a repository of existing resources that can help TEs foster Global Competence. We gathered these from the TEs we interviewed as well as the GCTE project partners and categorized these according to the 4 different dimensions of OECD definition of Global Competence.
A SERIES OF INSPIRING WORKSHOPS
Next, we invited TEs to take part in three online workshops/webinars between January and May 2021 to share and learn collaboratively about what they consider to be interesting aspects regarding Global Competence in TE. We asked the TEs which topics they would value discussing in these sessions and, following the first webinar, generated six different thematic groups.
WORKING IN GLOBAL COHORTS ON 6 THEMATIC GROUPS
The six themes for further development identified by the TEs range from developing dispositions to involving the whole school in Global Competence to innovating international experiences for TEs.
Building the Global Competence mindset, including bridges between formal and non-formal learning though:
To do this, we took a design thinking approach so that between October and November 2020, we conducted focus groups with 35 teacher educators (TEs) — working in formal and non-formal education — from 14 countries in and outside of Europe. Our main aim was to understand the motivations of these TEs: What sparks them to (want to) incorporate Global Competence into their work with future teachers?
Then, to do this, we learned about the TEs’ personal interests in Global Competence, including what they find meaningful in the 2018 OECD definition of Global Competence and what they’d like to learn more about. We also explored what kind of material TEs have used or created related to Global Competence and what kinds of new materials would be beneficial for them and in which format(s).
COLLECTING EXISTING GLOBAL COMPETENCE RESOURCES & MAPPING UNMET TEACHER EDUCATOR NEEDS
In parallel, we began collecting a repository of existing resources that can help TEs foster Global Competence. We gathered these from the TEs we interviewed as well as the GCTE project partners and categorized these according to the 4 different dimensions of OECD definition of Global Competence.
A SERIES OF INSPIRING WORKSHOPS
Next, we invited TEs to take part in three online workshops/webinars between January and May 2021 to share and learn collaboratively about what they consider to be interesting aspects regarding Global Competence in TE. We asked the TEs which topics they would value discussing in these sessions and, following the first webinar, generated six different thematic groups.
WORKING IN GLOBAL COHORTS ON 6 THEMATIC GROUPS
The six themes for further development identified by the TEs range from developing dispositions to involving the whole school in Global Competence to innovating international experiences for TEs.
Building the Global Competence mindset, including bridges between formal and non-formal learning though:
- Authentic real-life learning (e.g. home, society) in developing Global Competence
- Openness to Diversity
- Whole school approach in Global Competence: Curriculum development, assessment, institutional level integration
- Developing Global Competence through intercultural communication (online and face-to-face)
- Dialogical methods and mindful practice for collective wellbeing, experiments in Global contexts
- Innovating new possibilities for international experiences (traditional and virtual)
THE PROCESS AND THE PRODUCT
The most important aspect of this output was the process that was followed. This process has being documented in an academic article that is about to be submitted to a peer reviewed academic journal. The process has also been summarised in our Digital Book, which was launched during International Education Week in November 2022, and can be found on the Research Page.
You can also access the people and process followed by each group here:
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
Group 6
However, we know that you will also be interested in the final products themselves. These can be summarised as a set of 6 posters, one created by each of the thematic teams. These posters were presented at the Multiplier Event in Italy in 2022, details of which are on our news and events page. You can view these posters here:
The most important aspect of this output was the process that was followed. This process has being documented in an academic article that is about to be submitted to a peer reviewed academic journal. The process has also been summarised in our Digital Book, which was launched during International Education Week in November 2022, and can be found on the Research Page.
You can also access the people and process followed by each group here:
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
Group 6
However, we know that you will also be interested in the final products themselves. These can be summarised as a set of 6 posters, one created by each of the thematic teams. These posters were presented at the Multiplier Event in Italy in 2022, details of which are on our news and events page. You can view these posters here:
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THE GLOBAL EDUCATION NETWORK - A COMMUNITY OF INTEREST & PRACTICE
Working together also formed the basis of a new network for all all those who are interested and active in incorporating Global Education more broadly, into their teaching practices with trainee teachers and in-service educators, as well as in the non-formal sector. We aim for this to become a large, strong and open global community and to date it already has over 100 members from around the world. In order to achieve this and to enable sustainability of the network, we have joined with ATEE (The Association for Teacher Education in Europe). The Global Education Network was launched at the ATEE 2021 Annual Conference, which took place in September in Warsaw, Poland in conjunction with their Research and Development Community (RDC) in Global Education.
It is free to join, you don't need to be an ATEE member. You can access the online space here in LinkedIn: The Global Education Network. We have online meetings across the year and all are welcome!
THE PURPOSE OF THE NETWORK
The new Global Education Network is one that will be for TEs, as well as their trainees, current teachers, non-formal educators and others involved in education at all levels. To hear directly from these network members, we have created a short videos that highlight how different TEs around the world:
- define “Global Competence” for their trainee teachers,
- tell others who are considering integrating Global Competence into their teaching, how they have done so and
- anything else they feel it is important to know about Global Competence.
We have shared these digital viewpoints on our news and events page and invite you to share with us your own answers to these questions in the LinkedIn: The Global Education Network.
An Invitation...
To get involved or to learn more, please join our online network here: The Global Education Network or contact the Project Lead, Dr Sarah-Louise Jones ([email protected]).
