Coherence in European Teacher Education: Creating transnational communities of practice through virtual scenarios Erasmus Project

Project Title

Coherence in European Teacher Education: Creating transnational communities of practice through virtual scenarios

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

The internationalization of teacher education (TE) and the creation of a European Higher Education Area (EHEA) are increasingly important aspects of European TE, political deliberations, and scientific research (European Parliament, 2015; HRK, 2018). The goals of this internationalization lie primarily in the enhancement of TE through an increased perspective of one’s professional development, comprehensive cooperations between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), joint teaching-learning programs, degrees and research, the creation of coherent curricula, and an increase in both student teachers’ and educators’ mobility (European Commission (EC), 2013; EP, 2015). As mobility cannot be realized by all students, universities should prepare for “internationalization at home” (EC, 2013; van Gaalen & Gielesen, 2016). Physical mobility can thus be supported and/or supplemented through virtual mobility (ibd.), in order to give fair and equal access to internationalized TE structures and curricula for all students. Needs analyses conducted by the applicant organization (PHFR) in 2018 and 2019 have already pointed to the needs of both student teachers’ and educators’ for a stronger orientation towards both coherence and digitalization in onsite TE.

Both internationalization and digitalization can be achieved within the context of coherence. Coherence can be created between domains, subjects and phases of TE, and it reduces the experience of discontinuities during one’s professionalization. Considering the rather weak coherence between educational structures and concepts within national TE systems, transnational coherence appears to be especially weak: The large diversity of European TE systems currently represents a central barrier for the physical and virtual mobility of student teachers and educators. A transnational approach to the issue seems promising in two ways: A systematic comparison of TE structures and concepts in the participating institutions will provide deeper insights into current paradigms of coherence orientation in European TE. Building on this, the joint development and evaluation of teaching concepts and learning opportunities as good practice is paramount for student teachers.
ConnEcTEd aims at dealing with challenges to coherence in European TE in a collaborative way in order to strengthen structural, conceptual, and transnational coherence. Coherent teaching-learning concepts, related and ‘internationalised’ curricula, the use of innovative practices in the digital era, and a mutual recognition of qualifications and learning outcomes between institutions will make a further important contribution to the internationalization of TE and to the physical and virtual mobility of student teachers. ConnEcTEd also supports TE educators’ mobility by establishing transnational professional learning communities, providing knowledge about European systems, permitting access to professional training opportunities (e.g. video-tutorials, virtual scenarios), and by integrating a coherence orientation in their teaching. These activities will greatly contribute to the development and use of innovative practices in the digital era as well as to the strengthening of coherence and an “internationalization at home.”

The ConnEcTEd consortium consists of universities which all have expertise in aspects of structural and conceptual coherence in TE. Systematic conceptual analyses based on the notion of coherence in TE initiate the collaboration. A shared conceptual basis will precede an empirical (quantitative and qualitative) research study on actors’ (student teachers, teacher educators, other TE stakeholders) perceptions of coherence throughout the project. Coherent teaching-learning concepts will be developed and evaluated in transnational project teams. Results of the analyses will be used as “good practice,” disseminated among participants and beyond the project (in the context of Open Educational Resources, OER), and published in scientific journals and volumes.

The results and impacts of ConnEcTEd are manifold, as student teachers, educators and other stakeholders of TE all profit from the innovative work. The creation of transnational coherence through a jointly developed vision of European TE, coherent teaching-learning scenarios, the use of innovative practices in the digital era, and a mutual recognition of qualifications and learning outcomes, will broaden the perspective taken on coherence so far, and enable more physical and virtual mobility for students and staff. The developed products will be freely available for participating universities, and, after the completion of the project, will be disseminated to the public. Additionally, results of the theoretical and empirical research will be published in scientific journals and volumes. This will lead to a further enhancement of European TE and represents an important step towards a strengthened TE within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA).

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 416961 Eur

Project Coordinator

Pädagogische Hochschule Freiburg & Country: DE

Project Partners

• UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS
• HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO
• Université Côte d’Azur
• UNIVERSITETET I OSLO
• TURUN YLIOPISTO
• ALBERT-LUDWIGS-UNIVERSITAET FREIBURG
• SVEUCILISTE U ZAGREBU