GLOBAL TEACHER EDUCATION"

Most countries have experienced growing diversities in recent decades as a result of migration. In the five participating countries, Iceland, Norway, Crete/Greece, Spain and Israel, schools at all levels include diverse student groups as a result of migration as well as historical minorities. All school levels are facing complex challenges as well as opportunities in responding to growing diversities. In this context, many teachers claim that they lack training and high burnout rates are reported among teachers (OECD, 2018). The GatherED project addresses the needs for knowledge and training for teachers working in diverse multilingual contexts. It aims to enhance diversity competence and digital responsibility in teacher education (Arvanitas, 2008), particularly increasing knowledge and understanding of diversity and global education in multilingual and multicultural teacher education contexts. The overarching aim of the Global Teacher Education project is focusing on diversity and increased awareness of aspects related to global citizenship. The project builds on the three dimensions of Global Citizenship Education (UNESCO, 2015), cognitive, behavioural and socio-emotional.

The objectives of the project were to respond to the need for teacher competence for diversity, digital responsibility and global citizenship and to develop tools and methodologies to support teachers, including online training and toolkit. The project aimed to increase teachers’ and student teachers’ competencies and expand, learning from experiences in the five participating countries.

The main outputs and results of the project were the development of Open Education Resources that can be implemented in teacher education in the five partner countries, on online open access EdX course including a toolkit for teachers. Target groups addressed were in-service teachers, pre-service teachers (student teachers) and in-service/practicing teachers. Research rightly points out that schools and teachers are very important to equalise and compensate for social differences in school achievements.This project which focused on diversity and global citizenship transnationally is essential for understanding the challenges and opportunities in teaching practices across the participating countries. Moreover, it creates opportunities to impact policies and curricula at local levels and the integration of global citizenship practices in teacher education and schools in order to increase teachers’ capacity to meet European requirements for competent youth and children. Teachers in the five participating countries have much in common. Although the five participating countries differ in terms of their histories and diversities, the five partner teacher education institutions all face the challenges of educating teachers for diversities. Each partner institution had a strategic role in the project, sharing and building on their experiences of educating teachers for diversities. There are clear benefits of including these five higher education institutions. Throughout the project, the participants have shared their valuable and multifaceted experiences of diversity. Furthermore, this transnational project serves as a model for participants working in three continents – Africa, Asia and Europe.