The developmental path of teacher education has been impacted by rapid educational changes. The problems of teaching and teacher education flared during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
We at Beijing Normal University have followed and discussed these changes by offering a series of Global Teacher Education Summits, which offered a series of noteworthy forums on teachers, teaching, and teacher education. The last such gathering was a hybrid event held at the height of the Pandemic in 2021. This is the Fifth Summit.
In the past few years, the world of education has witnessed the emergence of a new reality in teaching and learning that forced schools, teachers, and students to adapt to the milieus of virtual and hybrid pedagogy. Concomitantly, teacher education has had to develop a fresh understanding of the transformed nature of teaching and the new roles of teachers so as to better prepare them to explore learning and developmental opportunities for their students.
The aim of the Fifth Summit, therefore, is to help chart a new direction for teacher education by examining critical issues in the changing contexts and their impact on the future of teachers' work and the orientation of teacher education in the new era of schooling.
The challenges generated by the forces of change are formidable. They have to be met by sound evidence-based policies. However, in the implementation of policies, our education systems have failed to deliver the desired results. It has been observed that the most salient educational problems today – scarcity of highly competent teachers, low academic achievement among disadvantaged students, and the haphazard implementation of pro-child and pro-equity educational policies – have been identified decades ago; but they have remained to undermine the quality of our education today.
A significant difference exists between the educational problems then and now. The problems that confront us today are more complex and driven by a multiplicity of forces. Because of this change, our problem-solving approach will have to be multidimensional, one that can transcend the simple calculation of resources and cost and benefit analysis. For example, the widespread learning deficit caused by the Pandemic, as well as the unsuccessful attempts to recover the loss of learning, can only be tackled by a concerted effort of scientists, policymakers, educators, and teachers who can think, act, and educate beyond the classroom. Moreover, the advent of generative artificial intelligence (AI, as illustrated by ChatGPT and other digital tools) reminds us of the boundless possibilities afforded by these human-invented technologies while revealing the opportunities and threats that teachers and teacher educators will have to deal with. Furthermore, the growing influence of cognitive science in school curriculum and teaching, and the demand for accountability in teacher education, reflect the deepening influence of scientific facts in educational decision-making. Such a development will stir more debates in the education arena while teachers and teacher educators learn to identify and apply trusted wisdom that can serve their needs.
Today's education problems, especially when they are applied to teacher education, are much more complex because they are beyond the capacity of any one group of academics, professionals and officials who devote their attention to any single area of work. The search for solutions for today's problems anticipates the involvement of more diverse groups of stakeholders who have different interests. They have to be able to work together with the support of solid scientific facts and good practical insights that are based on neuroscience and learning sciences. Knowledge of best practices will also need to be habitually explored to inform pedagogical decisions.
In using “Building a Global Education Community for Future Possibilities” as the title of the Fifth Summit, we wish to illuminate the vital importance of educators working together to accomplish their desired goals for teaching and teacher education. In addition to envisioning collaborative research across disciplinary boundaries, we also hope that scholars, teachers and researchers who are interested in collaborative endeavors will find our conference a useful platform to express and exchange ideas for the development of teaching and teacher education. Perhaps a harbinger to a global teacher education community may be nurtured from some of the ideas that emerge at our Beijing Normal University forum.
There are numerous pertinent issues that should be included in our discussion. In setting the program of the conference, we had to select from topics that are pertinent to the new reality of teacher education and important to its future development. They are suggested as the conference themes, as listed in the section below.
With this announcement, we invite educators, researchers, and policymakers from around the world to take part in a discussion that will foster the growth of a global teacher education community.
