International Conference: The Interplay of Theory and Practice in Teacher Education

International Conference: 20-Aug-2018 – 22-Aug-2018
Universität Koblenz-Landau, Campus Koblenz

The current discussion about professionalizing future school teachers alludes to various topics, e.g. the question of how to combine theoretical and practical elements of teacher education in the first – the academic phase of teacher training. Right from the start, students need different opportunities to acquire theoretical knowledge as well as professional competences in order to plan and systematically reflect their own teaching units at school and school practice in general.
Thus, the upcoming conference takes up an international perspective and focuses the interplay of different elements in teacher education: How to integrate the different components of academic teacher education (educational sciences, discipline studies, teaching methodology) with practical teacher training elements at schools? How to include elements of school practice in academic seminars and whether videography might be a solution?
Therefore, the conference aims at bringing together international experts in the field of teacher education to critically reflect different pathways of teacher education on a global scale and further develop ideas to improve the interplay of theory and practice and initiate further cooperation between different national systems of teacher education. The following aspects will be discussed within this framework:

integration of practical phases into teacher education
teachers’ professional development / lifelong teacher education
empirical methods in teacher education
videography as a means of integrating opportunities to reflect practice
inclusive teaching and learning and heterogeneity in the classroom (e.g. intercultural learning in migratory societies)
explorative learning and research-based teaching
teacher beliefs

Confirmed keynote speakers:

	Prof. Dr. Scot Danforth Professor at Chapman University, Orange, California “Lost in the Dualisms: The Challenges of preparing Teachers for Inclusive Education” More about the person

	Prof. Dr. Christoph Kühberger Professor at University Salzburg, Austria “History Teaching for Inclusion“ More about the person

	Prof. Dr. Erno Lehtinen Professor at University of Turku / UTU Centre for Learning Research, OTUK, Turku, Finland “Trajectories to Teacher Expertise” More about the person

	Prof. Dr. David Treagust Professor at Curtin University Perth, Australia “Teacher Professional Development in Australia: From Individual Initiatives to Meeting Requirements of Professional Standards” More about the person

	Prof. Dr. Monika Waldis Weber Professor at Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz, Switzerland “Using Videos in teacher education – empirical results and practical experience“ More about the person

The conference takes place at the University of Koblenz-Landau, Campus Koblenz, Germany from August 20 to 22, 2018 and is initiated by MoSAiK (Modular integration of school practice as a starting point for individual competence development), a project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and their program for teacher education Qualitätsoffensive Lehrerbildung. The project aims at the implementation of a holistic approach to systematically integrate school practice elements as a foundation and starting point for individual competence development of future teachers in the first phase of teacher education.

We are inviting abstracts for singular contributions, theme sessions and posters dealing with topics related to the conference subject.

The conference language is English.