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 thematic network on Teacher Education currently has five different projects:
Enhancing Equity and Inclusion in Education in Circumpolar North (EICN). The 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. The project also aims to publish a book focusing on inclusive policies and practices in educational settings.
Distance Teaching and Learning in the Arctic Communities (DistARCTIC). The project aims to draft a book proposal focusing on pedagogical practices in online/distance teaching and learning. The overall goal of the proposed project is to provide educators in schools and in teacher education means to reach their full potential of using digital tools in rural education.
Indigenous Pedagogy in Teacher Education (IPED). The goal of the project is to review and identify the Sámi and Indigenous pedagogy research needs at northern teacher education contexts and to support new research areas’ development.
Socially Innovative Interventions to Foster and to Advance Young Children’s Inclusion and Agency in Society through Voice and Story (ADVOST). The project will take into practice the theoretical guiding principles for facilitating and enhancing young children’s voice in specific contexts. This will be done in close cooperation with practitioners working with indigenous children in Finland, marginalized, indigenous, and immigrant children in Canada, and children with diverse ethnical and cultural backgrounds in the UK.
Arctic Five Teacher Education programme is formed between the Artic Five 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. The group aims to develop a joint online master study course (10 ECTS) on Arctic Inclusive Education. More information about the study course is on the course 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 and joint teaching among the teacher education programmes in the member universities. At the initial stage, the network envisages the following:
- Shared research
- Publishing a joint book
- Joint conference presentations
- Co-authoring research articles
- Common study modules/study courses
- Student/teacher/researcher mobility, both short-term and full-term visits, including teaching and research
To learn more about the network and its news, visit the page All News & Newsletters.
Upcoming Activities
- Piloting joint online master study course Arctic Inclusive Education (10ECTS) during spring term 2021.
- A session in Arctic Science Summit Week 2021. The conference will be held online 23-26 March 2021.
- Network events in connection with UArctic Congress in May 2021 in Reykjavik, Iceland.
- A session in ICASS X Conference in 15-19 June, 2021 in Arkhangelsk, Russia.
- A joint book from project Enhancing Equity and Inclusion in Education in Circumpolar North (EICN).
- A joint book proposal from project Distance Teaching and Learning in the Arctic Communities (DistARCTIC).
- Network webinars 2-4 times a year.
Past Activities 2020
- Second blogpost published titled “My internship experience at UNESCO/UNITWIN Network and UArctic Thematic Network on Teacher Education”.
- Online conference “Education, Equity and Inclusion: Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable North”.
- Open online workshop “Indigenizing education: Historical perspectives and present challenges in Sámi education” hosted by UiT - The Arctic University of Norway.
- Network webinar “An Asset-based Approach to Exploring Probationer Teachers’ Lived Experiences of Learning to Enact Inclusive Pedagogy in Schools Located in High Poverty Environments” held by Dr Archie Graham and Dr Peter Mtika from University of Aberdeen. 29.10.
- Arctic Five Education workshop on developing the joint online study course.
- Project DistARCTIC kick-off meeting. 8.10.
- Arctic Five Education workshop “Remote Learning and Strategies for success”.
- Network blog was published: https://teachereducationnetwork.blogspot.com/, read the first blogpost written by Assistant Professor Kalpana Vijayavarathan from the University of the Faroe Islands.
- Network webinar “From thinking about what I bring to University study, to showing I’m ready to join the profession: embedded ePortfolio in a Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood & Primary)” held by Associate Professor Jennifer Munday from Charles Sturt University, Australia.
- Network webinar “Inside the classroom - research perspectives on learning situations in the Greenlandic primary school system” held by PhD students Louise Andersen and Ivalu Mathiassen from University of Greenland.
- Online kick-off workshop of project ADVOST.
- Open seminar on Indigenous Pedagogy.
- Fifth workshop of project Arctic Five Teacher Education.
- Local summit “Contemporary Issues in Education in Multicultural North”.
Communications Contact:
Janette Peltokorpi
Project manager
University of Lapland