ATEE XXXVII Annual Conference - Policies and Professionalism in Teacher Education
- Startdate
- Saturday 25 August 2012
- Enddate
- Wednesday 29 August 2012
One of the most important challenges that education systems face is developing the quality of teachers. The development of teachers as professionals has the potential to make a significant contribution to addressing the challenges that education systems face in today’s global society. However, educational policy reforms which emphasize the quantitative measurement of knowledge in order to achieve a top place in international performance surveys can create tensions with ambitions to enable teacher professionalism.
Teachers are often seen as the architects of social and educational transformation by both the European Union and other developed countries in their education policies. There is a growing body of research that suggests that the future depends to a large extent on to the quality of education. Changes in social structures, the economic downturn, natural disasters, changing global relationships, new living habits, new forms of knowledge, new learning and teching approaches, new technology and forms of communication, greater emphasis on individualism and changes in people’s needs all increase the expectations of education. To address these expectations necessitates the development of new policies, structures and processes for teacher education. The central role of teachers must be recognised within these educational reforms. Teachers are critical to providing the differentiation needed in high quality learning and teaching approaches to meet the diverse range of expectations. Particular attention must be given within educational reforms to the importance of teacher identity and the recognition of teachers as professionals. The development of international professional learning networks to transform educational reforms into practice will also be central to meeting expectations of high quality educational outcomes for learners in a globalised world.
Increased interaction and dialogue at national and international levels about the many common challenges of teacher educaton, including teachers' continuing professional development, will enable theories, practices and innovative ideas to be shared about the development of teachers as professionals within educational reform processes.
A re-conceptualisation of key areas of teacher education is needed including:
Teachers as professionals
Professional standards of teachers
Structure, content and processes of teachers’ career-long professional learning
Social mission of teaching
Ethical values and components of professional culture shared globally
Local, national and international professional learning communities
ICT in improving learning and teaching
The conference will enable interaction, dialogue, knowledge exchange and creation in realtion to the topics set out above through keynote addresses, parallel sessions where papers will be presented and discussed. Fifteen Research and Development Centre (RDC) meetings will also take place during the conference where all participants have opportunties to discuss different areas of teacher education in more depth and propose and develop projects of mutual interest.
More information on: http://atee2012.anadolu.edu.tr .
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