The International Teacher Education Research Collective was founded in 2021, when the world was still reeling from the pandemic. To some extent, the collective is therefore the child of the pandemic as it gathered researcher from around the world in online meetings at a time when meeting in person was difficult.
As the name indicates, the primary common interests revolve around teacher education but members are engaged in several different topics and levels of educational research and practice.
Since its creation in 2021, the International Teacher Education Research Collective (ITERC) has been joined by researchers working in the field of teacher education several countries and continents. The group shares a common interest in exploring international perspectives on issues relating to the education of teachers, with a specific focus on ethico-political concerns.
Perhaps what gathered members together in the first instance was a shared sense of dissatisfaction with teacher education in our time. Our discontent stems from what we view as a reliance on simplified and implicit assumptions about the connection between economic success and educational arenas more generally – a viewpoint underpinned by a broad belief that education can be used to shape the future of national and global societies through the formation of citizens; a viewpoint which can be seen as driving political interventions in education
The network’s activities are decentralized and member-run. This means that aside this webpage, our newsletter, and a bi-annual online-meeting, the activities are generally organized and run by clusters of members. We have in some instances described this with the metaphor of the atom-model, the nucleus being the network as a whole, and the electrons surrounding it being clusters of ongoing activities.
Examples of our activities are reading groups, where a number of members read selected texts together and meet up regularly to discuss them. We have also worked on publications, for instance books, articles and special issues. Conference-papers, symposia, and presentations are commonly organised in smaller teams, as are funding applications. Finally, several of the members have taken the opportunity to visit one another through professional meetings at each others’ universities.
Do have a look under the heading of Ongoing activities on this page for current activities. You can also have a look at some of our members and affiliated networks through the links below. The webpage, newsletter, member-meetings, and membership is updated by the network coordinators.
International Teacher Education Research Collective 