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.

SDWG project "Teacher Education for Diversity and Equality in the Arctic"

In spring 2017, the network's project "Teacher Education for Diversity and Equality in the Arctic" was approved as a new project for the Arctic Council's Sustainable Development Working Group. The project will focus on knowledge exchange around inclusive and effective practices, such as Arctic pedagogy that incorporates indigenous pedagogical practices; innovative approaches to education in sparsely populated areas; community-based education; using technology to enhance participation and agency; and pedagogical models for multi-modal and digital environments.

The project will organize networking among teacher education institutions to facilitate the sharing of good practices. The proposed activities promote establishment of local and international networks of teachers, teacher educators, policy makers and researchers in the circumpolar north. Through shared research activities, the project will enhance understanding of the teaching profession in the circumpolar north, and highlight ways in which pre-service and in-service teacher education can help teachers contribute to a sustainable future in the Arctic. Project activities will also enhance practices of shared teaching across the institutions, widen the students’ perspectives on shared practices and challenges and across the circumpolar north, and provide them with possibilities to network with colleagues across the Arctic to improve their own practice.

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

  • The TN’s founding members got together in a Symposium 12-14 January 2016 in Rovaniemi to discuss and write an action plan for the TN. This plan includes shared targets and identifies the key joint activities for the coming years.
  • Online seminar on Indigenous knowledge and methodologies was held 8 February 2016. Listen the recording of the online seminar here.
  • Online seminar on Education for Social Justice in Scotland was organised 20 June 2016. Listen the recording of the seminar here.
  • The TN held its 2nd symposium 10-12 September 2016 in Helsinki, Finland. The participants engaged in refining the work plan for the coming two years, as well as outlining the joint research on SEEING EDUCATION WITH NORTHERN EYES.
  • Tuija Turunen, lead of the TN, gave a speech on the topic "Arctic Teachers: Creators of a Sustainable Future" at The Arctic: Territory of Dialogue forum in Arkhangelsk, Russia, 29-30 March 2017. A short summary of her speech: "Teachers reach hundreds of children and young people during their teaching careers and are thus essential stakeholders in the quest for a sustainable circumpolar Arctic future. Attracting committed, high-performing teachers is one of the key professional issues in the Arctic territories. When successful, teachers educate the next generation to be willing and capable to work for and in the Arctic and to do so proudly."
  • The Thematic Networks first online research seminar between the Universities of Helsinki/Open University and the University of Aberdeen was carried out 30 March 2017. The seminar dealt with the topic: What is diversity in learning? The seminar had fifteen students and four lecturers participating. Read the short report here.