Towards a European Syllabus in Teacher Education – Facing future challenges together

Teachers are increasingly confronted with global, societal challenges in their classrooms, i.e. sustainability, challenges to democratic education and active citizenship, gender sensitivity, multilingualism and diversity as well as the digitalization of learning spaces. The inclusion of these topics in teacher education is therefore vital to ensure education equity and provide high-quality learning opportunities to children, teenagers and young adults across the European Union. With a consortium of 5 universities (Oulu, Cork, Seville, Braga, Bochum), 2 CPD providers (Akademie der Ruhr-Universität & IQSH) and at least 11 training schools, the project responds to this need with the development of an interdisciplinary European Syllabus providing an international perspective on global teaching challenges, the formation of European communities of practice in initial and in-service teacher education and the advancement of virtual and physical mobility in teacher education. To achieve these objectives, the project will develop the European Syllabus in international expert groups including researchers and teacher educators. Participating training schools and critical friends, representing various stakeholders in teacher education, will provide feedback and ensure a practical fit to national rules and requirements. The Syllabus will be implemented in joint virtual seminars in initial teacher education and CPD courses addressing in-service teachers. A student research exchange will further advance internationalisation through physical mobility. A teacher multiplier training at the end of the CPD courses will benefit schools in their internationalisation efforts. To promote emerging research networks between the participating universities, a joint publication will focus on comparing practices in teaching cross-cutting issues leading to the European Syllabus. Finally, a political impact is expected through the inclusion of local CityLabs and an international closing conference.