Overall Goal

The network will enhance teacher education for equality and social justice in 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.

The UArctic thematic network currently has four different projects:

Arctic Pedagogy in Teacher Education projects’ overall goal is to develop teacher education so it would give teachers the needed skills to take advantage of digitalization in teaching and learning, promote and support local cultures and use inclusive pedagogies in their work.

Enhancing Equity and Inclusion in Education in Circumpolar North project aims to strengthen collaboration under the UArctic Thematic Network on Teacher Education for Social Justice and Diversity with member institutions from Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Denmark.

Transformative Teacher Education for the Sustainable North project 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.

Arctic Five Teacher Education programme is formed between the Artic universities University of Lapland, University of Oulu, Luleå University of Technology, Umeå University, and UiT The Arctic University of Norway. They work together to understand better the contextual and cultural issues of the Nordic educational features via engagement with local communities, indigenous and minority populations, and through institutional and research collaborations. Long-term goal is to establish a virtual resource centre and curriculum development towards common Nordic Master programme. More information on Arctic Five collaboration is available in Arctic Five website.

 

UNITWIN/UNESCO Network on Teacher Education for Social Justice and Diversity in Education

The UNITWIN/UNESCO Network on Teacher Education for Social Justice and Diversity in Education was established on May 2018. The Network continues and globally expands the cooperation already started in the UArctic TN on Teacher Education. The Coordinator of the UNITWIN/UNESCO Network is Professor Tuija Turunen, the leader of the UArctic TN on Teacher Education.

Main Activities

The network aims to facilitate interaction and promote research among the teacher education programmes in the member universities. At the initial stage, the network envisages the following:

  • Joint research
  • Student/teacher/researcher mobility, both short-term and full-term visits, including teaching and research
  • Joint PhD student network

To learn more about the network and its news, read the newsletter.

Past activities

  • As part of the SDWG project "Teacher Education for Diversity and Equality in the Arctic" published a book Including the North: a Comparative Study of the Policies on Inclusion and Equity in the Circumpolar North. It explores inclusive policies in nine countries across the Arctic and beyond, including a chapter from a Sami perspective. The book discusses a wide range of inclusive policies and highlights similarities and differences between the countries.
  • The Conclusions is another outcome from the SDGW project and it emphasizes’ the role of teachers as creators of a sustainable future in the Arctic. The Conclusions include five suggestions to develop teacher education to serve the special circumstances of the North and Arctic better.
  • TN and the UNESCO/UNITWIN network on teacher education organized a UArctic Congress side event for teachers, teacher educators, Sami representatives and UArctic thematic network members and other interested parties to discuss and network under the theme “Indigenous Languages in Urbanized Areas” on September 3, 2018 in Oulu. Event included three keynote speeches and discussions under the event theme.
  • UNESCO/UNITWIN network on Teacher Education for Social Justice and Diversity in Education was formally established on May 2018.
  • Webinar on “Finnish basic education and teacher education – perspectives on inclusive education” was held on June 7, 2018. Listen the recording of the webinar here.
  • Local Summit was held on May 8, 2018 in Tromso under theme Teaching for Diversity and Inclusion in Arctic - the local context and global perspectives.
  • The Thematic Network Symposium took place on the 27th and 28th of November in Rovaniemi with the focus being Teacher Education of the Arctic region: Diversity and Identity in the North.