Preparing Teachers for Transformative Education: A Global Conversation

This invitation-only convening brought educator preparation professionals together from around the world to explore the ways in which teacher preparation programs are tackling the challenges of preparing teachers for transformative education in a time of rapid and revolutionary changes around the globe. One foundation for the conversation was the emerging science of learning and development (SoLD), which builds on recent advances in neuroscience, the developmental and learning sciences, and fields including anthropology, sociology, and social psychology to offer new insights on learning that indicate the need for important changes in how schools and educator preparation programs are designed to support learning. Design Principles for Schools: Putting the Science of Learning and Development Into Action was the starting point for discussion.

Invitees were leaders in teacher education around the world. Participants had the opportunity to: 

• Discuss how the science of learning and development is being understood across global contexts.  
• Hear international leaders discuss their perspectives on the future of teacher education in their unique contexts, as it responds to this evolving knowledge, the demand for greater equity, and the challenges of a volatile future. 
• Unpack how teacher education can help teachers develop an equity mindset and culturally responsive and sustaining practices. 
• Engage in international small group discussions to share innovations and challenges in educator preparation. 
• Discuss how event takeaways can inform current and future work.

Speakers

Session 1

• Maria Assunção Flores Fernandes, Associate Professor, University of Minho, Portugal
• Linda Darling-Hammond, President and CEO, Learning Policy Institute; Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education Emeritus, Stanford University
• A. Lin Goodwin, Thomas More Brennan Chair of Education, Boston College
• Hannele Niemi, Professor and Research Director, University of Helsinki, Finland

Session 2

• Bronwen Cowie, Associate Dean of Research, The University of Waikato, New Zealand
• Linda Darling-Hammond, President and CEO, Learning Policy Institute; Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education Emeritus, Stanford University
• Ee Ling Low, Professor of Education; Dean, Academic and Faculty Affairs Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
• Tanya Samu, Senior Lecturer, School of Critical Studies in Education and Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Auckland, New Zealand