“44 million teachers will be missing globally by 2030”, Davide Ruscelli, UNESCO senior project officer for the International Taskforce on Teachers for Education, in Paris, announced in the first keynote speech referring to the recently published Global Report in Teachers, addressing teacher shortages and transforming the profession. Many countries worldwide are already suffering from teacher shortages which leads to a qualitative gap. “The global average of trained teachers is around 85%. This average is declining in Europe and Northern America from 96% in 2015 to 88% in 2022 in primary, and from 89% to 83% in secondary schools. Country's politics are conquering this challenge however strategies are various and not always successful”, Davide Ruscelli pointed out and drew the following conclusion: ‘This Report is an urgent call to dignify, diversify, and valorize the teaching profession to address shortages and transform the profession towards a new social contract for education and teachers”.
EE Ling Low, Professor of Education and Dean for Academic & Faculty Affairs, at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore shared her thoughts about building the ‘Archetype of Future Ready Teacher’ and put the focus on teacher education and teacher educators. The faculties of teacher education must face current challenges and societal developments and become agents of change to improve teacher education worldwide. Teacher students need to be educated by well-prepared and effective teacher educators. Based on research findings ”effective teacher educators generally know more in-depth about the subjects and have a strong knowledge of not just the subject itself (content knowledge) but also how to teach the subject (pedagogical content knowledge). They can organise and use content knowledge to enhance their students’ learning experience. Teacher Education Faculties should be considered at the core of the education system and a core human resource of any university”, EE Ling Low continued. High-quality teacher education has a significant impact on the effectiveness and abilities of future teachers and thus overall in the improvement of student achievements. In the long run they make an important contribution to the overall well-being of the society and its ability to conquer man made climate change.
Lin Goodwin, Former Dean of Education at the University of Hong Kong, and Thomas More Brennan Chair of Education at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development in Boston, USA, talked about perspectives for seeing teacher education with fresh eyes. The quality and effectiveness of teacher education largely depend on the competence and experience of teacher educators. Teacher education needs to ”put the student in the center of attention and should drive forward a development that moves from teaching something to teaching someone, not teaching about something but teaching and learning for something. The enduring ideal are teachers able to imagine the future they want and being able to stand up confidently for their goals. They need to be supported to counter negative political influence.”
“Every student should have access to outstanding, well-prepared, well-supported educators who reflect the diversity of the students they serve“, Lynn M. Gangone, President and Chief Executive Officer of American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), Washington, USA summarized her talk about ‚Examining Innovation in a Period of Extreme Disruption’. She provided insight into her work in US Education Policy and Politics and showed how political currents and power relations influence the US education system. Shortsighted decisions which aim to provide quick, but ill-conceived and simplified solutions undermine the quality of teacher education and will have a long-lasting negative effect.
Irma Eloff, Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, Adjunct professor at the University of Innsbruck and Chair of the Global Network of Deans of Education (GNDE) summarized this extraordinary meeting by saying thank you to all keynote speakers and representatives of dean’s networks and teacher organisations, who provided most valuable insight into teachers’ everyday challenges. ”We need to bring teachers, teacher educators, and education policymakers closer together to make transformation of education happen. To meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 4) on Quality Education we need to work together and allow research to inform our strategies.”
The Faculty of Teacher Education at the University of Innsbruck was the first institution to host such an in-person symposium of the Global Network of Deans of Education, and others will follow. For Suzanne Kapelari, Dean of the Faculty of Teacher Education and many of the participants it was an outstanding experience to gather so many high-level experts of education from all over the world here at the University of Innsbruck. She says, ”Twelve years ago the Ministry of Education in Austria has made a forward-looking decision and followed research findings and global experience. Austria is offering a high-quality university education to all future teachers. Responding to a current shortage of teachers by undermining this achievement is short-sighted and will cause long-term damage to our society. International networks such as the Global Network of Deans will help us to learn from mistakes others made already. Our faculty will utilise this expertise in the future and will continue to support and promote global knowledge exchange because this is the only way we can achieve the global Sustainable Development Goal 4 on Quality Education.”
