Proposal for establishing a Thematic Network on Teacher education for Social Justice and Diversity in Education

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1 Proposal for establishing a Thematic Network on Teacher education for Social Justice and Diversity in Education University of Lapland, Faculty of Education Tuija Turunen, Professor Sai Väyrynen, University lecturer 24 April 2015 This thematic network is open for all researchers and member institutions of the University of the Arctic interested in the topic and the sub-themes of the TN. The TN will cooperate with other TNs in the UArctic, particularly with the TN of Distance Education and E-learning. Thematic focus area of the network The thematic network focuses on teacher education for different levels of education (from early childhood education to higher education and adult education), with a specific focus on social justice and diversity in education. Taking into consideration the diverse populations, cultures and socio-economical conditions of the Arctic region, social justice as a principled approach seems viable in responding to the needs of diverse student populations. This includes educational policies and practices that enable equity and equality; for example, ensuring that fair educational opportunities are available even in more remote areas. Socially sustainable development necessitates a contextual understanding on the part of future and current teachers and teacher educators. The important questions are for example: What is the social, economic, cultural, political and geographical context where teaching and learning takes place? and, How nationally developed curricula can be translated into the context of the region? The main theme will be covered by three subthemes: 1) Education for Inclusion 2) Learning for Long Distances in school education and teacher education 3) Indigenous Education and Cultural Sensitivity. These subthemes are essential for teacher education at the Arctic Region and other such regions. Long distances and limited access to additional resources invite educators and other professionals to create innovative ways to respond to the needs of diverse learners. Accordingly, education in and for long distances and sparsely populated areas make demands on both pre- and in-service teacher education in terms of innovative pedagogical approaches of teaching and learning for long distances. Related to Indigenous Education, the Arctic Region is home for many robust indigenous communities with their own agendas for teacher education. Future and existing teachers need cultural sensitivity, including skills, knowledge and abilities to be able to act in the cultural interface (see Nakata 2007). To develop these subthemes further, more research and 1

2 especially research collaboration across the Arctic is needed. Even though they have been addressed in previous research literature, more research is required to fully understand the specific features of the Arctic perspectives. Goals and planned activities of the network Goals for the thematic network will enhance teacher education for equality and social justice at the Arctic region. Short-term goals will be to advance shared research on topics relevant to TN s members, establish steady cooperation between teacher educators across the member universities, and stimulate staff and student exchange. A long-term goal will be to develop a virtual research and resource centre for high quality teacher education research and practice. These are the preliminary goals which will be negotiated and formulated together with the TN s members, and reviewed and revised as new members join. The thematic network aims to facilitate interaction and promote research among the teacher education programmes in the member universities. The activities to be carried out within the network will be defined jointly with the participating universities. At the initial stage, we envisage the following: Joint research (topics / issues to be defined among the partners; research funding applications) Student / teacher / researcher mobility. We will develop mechanisms which provide opportunities for short-term and full-term visits, including teaching and research, as this would strengthen collaboration and research. Joint PhD student network The TN s founding members will get together in Symposium in December 2015 in Rovaniemi to discuss and write an action plan for the TN. This plan will include shared targets and identify the key joint activities for the coming three years. These will be reviewed and revised on yearly basis. In addition, the main development needs of the Arctic teacher education will be discussed during the Symposium. The TN will be advertised through targeted communication with UArctic institutions offering teacher education and/or indigenous education especially in the context of teacher education. Other means of communication and dissemination, such as a blog-site, website, social media networks, will be determined by the members. Indigenous issues Education of indigenous populations is one of key areas of the thematic network. While at some universities at the Arctic Region, the Faculties of Education and Teacher Education Programmes recognise the importance of Indigenous Education, carry out research and promote alternative ways of knowing, teaching and learning, there are also programmes where such issues have not emerged yet. Through research, exchange and other activities, the network will serve as a forum for debate and sharing of understanding regarding Indigenous Education in teacher education programmes in the framework of equality and social justice. The network will involve institutions and researchers dealing with indigenous education related to network's activities. 2

3 In research, a possible area to explore is the relationship between Indigenous or culturally responsive research methods and more traditional educational research methods as means of rich knowledge production. University of Lapland, the host of the TN, has a strong profile on Sami research especially in social sciences. This provides a solid basis to consider indigenous issues in education. The TN will not determine which Arctic indigenous groups it will engage with. Rather, this is an open network and researchers and institutions that are interested in these topics are welcome to join in. Quality control at the network The thematic network will ensure quality of research and network activities through internal and external feedback. Internal quality control will be based on collaboration and peer support in each team in the participating universities. It is expected that the teams will inform colleagues in their own institutions about their activities following the respective procedures. It is also foreseen that through joint activities, research seminars, etc. the teams will receive feedback and support from other universities. External quality control is mainly related to feedback from conference participation, as well as research articles in the peer-reviewed journals. For example, at the University of Lapland the curriculum planning of Primary School Teacher Education Programme follows the Faculty s working schedule. The curricula are internally evaluated both by teachers and students annually and necessary alterations are completed approximately every second year. The programme also participates on external evaluations according to University of Lapland s agenda. In addition, the students provide feedback related to practicum sessions (placements) and other studies including tutoring. This feedback is in an important role when the Programme is further developed to meet present and future needs in teaching profession. In TN s partner universities, the procedures and practices of quality control are followed as instructed by each university. Benefit and added value from the new TN Teacher education in all education systems is based to a large extent on common educational and pedagogical ground to ensure education of equal quality in all parts of the country. However, the specific features of the Arctic region and dispersed populations necessitate an understanding of the specific conditions, as well development of certain areas of professional competence. The TN will carry out research on teacher education, practices that have been developed to address the particular conditions of the regions, as well as Indigenous approaches to education to enrich the research-base of teacher education. As the questions of teacher education addressed in the TN may be side-lined in general teacher education debates, the TN provides an arena for a constructive and critical development of teacher education for social justice and diversity across the Arctic. 3

4 The proposed network will be established on existing cooperation between the partners. In A School for All - Development of Inclusive Education research and development project was carried out by the University of Lapland (Finland), Northern Arctic Federal University (Russia) and Murmansk State Humanities University (Russia). The research and development work in the project has been documented in various publications, and the partners are committed to expand collaboration to other institutions. It is also well justified to enhance the scope of teacher education, as explained in this proposal. In addition, Mongolian National University of Education and University of Lapland have signed a mutual agreement of cooperation in January The University of Aberdeen (Scotland) is a non-arctic member of the University of Arctic, yet teacher education in Scotland shares many of the concerns expressed in this proposal given the cultural diversity and geographical dispersal of the Scottish population. The University of Manitoba (Canada) has also expressed their interest to join the TN. These existing connections will provide a firm basis to develop the cooperation and further expand the network. It is understood that new members will join the TN in an on-going basis, and others may leave. This ensures dynamic nature of the network. Founding members and their home organizations, name and contact information of the host organization and leader University of Lapland, host (UArctic Member) Prof. Tuija Turunen,PhD Sai Väyrynen, PhD, Senior Lecturer Contact person: Sai Väyrynen sai.vayrynen@ulapland.fi University of Manitoba, Canada (UArctic Member) Dean Dawn Wallin, PhD Murmansk State Humanities University, Russia (UArctic Member) Assoc. Prof. Tatyana Kuzmicheva Yulia Afonkina, PhD Northern Arctic Federal University, Russia (UArctic Member) Prof. Natalia Flotskaya, PhD Svetlana Bulanova, PhD Olga Volskaya, PhD University of Aberdeen, UK (UArctic member) Jennifer Spratt, PhD Mhairi Beaton, PhD Mongolian National University of Education (UArctic member) 4

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