Teacher educators impact directly on the quality of teaching, as the European Commission (2013) emphasises: ‘...the competences of those who educate and support teachers (teacher educators) must be of the highest order’. Yet, across Europe, teacher educators are, typically, not formally prepared for their jobs, not supported during their induction phase, and lack ongoing professional learning opportunities . e-InFo-TED will strengthen teacher educators’ professional development and cooperation, and has three specific aims: 1. Build a network of European teacher educators to learn from each other via a virtual learning platform and face to face meetings; 2. Create resources to support the professional development of teacher educators;3. Foster knowledge creation and a shared European vision for teacher educator development and teacher educator leadership. Our evidence suggests that: o beginning teacher educators seek knowledge resources and professional development opportunities; o experienced teacher educators need international collaboration to promote professional learning; o teacher educators at all levels need a common language to conceptualise their practices; o teacher education institutions lack resources to provide induction and development programmes for teacher educators, These challenges will be addressed by e-Info-TED through two major activities:1. VIRTUAL LEARNING PLATFORM FOR TEACHER EDUCATORS (VLP) to support interaction, collaborative learning and sharing of practices amongst European teacher educators. The VLP will include a resource portal with short encyclopaedic articles, videos of good practice, literature abstracts and reviews, links to national and European policy-documents, a discussion forum and links to events for teacher educators’ professional development. It will offer blended learning opportunities to local, national and European communities of practice responsible for university- and school based teacher educator development. 2. EUROPEAN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME FOR TEACHER EDUCATORS (EDPD) to bring experienced European teacher educators together, to learn from each other and to form communities of practice for teacher educator learning at all levels. In the longer term, e-InFo-TED will evolve into a ‘EUROPEAN TEACHER EDUCATOR ACADEMY’ organising professional development courses and bringing together European research, pedagogy, and professional learning on teacher educators’ professional development. To sustain e-InFo-TED, we will create a MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) for teacher educators. The evolution of this project into a European Teacher Educator Academy is forecast in the business plan supported by all partners via letters of intent. E-InFo-TED consists of EIGHT PARTNERS from high-profile teacher education institutions in EU member states. The Mofet Institute in Israel is our external adviser, as a Teacher Education Academy that combines research and dissemination on teacher education and teacher educator professional development, thus adding expertise from outside Europe. e-Info-TED will have a wide range of RESULTS and substantial impact on the professional development of teacher educators, achieved through the following INTELLECTUAL OUTPUTS: - O.1.- Design principles for teacher educators’ ICT-based professional development and community learning, plus an overview of their learning needs; - O.2. - Detailed description of a Virtual Learning Platform; - O.3. - The VLP itself, supporting teacher educator development, online knowledge building and collaborative learning; - O.4. - The EUROPEAN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (EPDP) and TRAINING ACTIVITY C.1, which will increase participants' competence and position them as future leaders in teacher education;- O.5. - A plan to develop a MOOC, and a business plan for a European Teacher Educator Academy; - O.6. - Four policy documents on quality professional learning for teacher educators; - O.7. - Two summative evaluation reports, one on the EPDP, and the other on the process, outputs and reach of e-InFo-TED. MULTIPLIER EVENTS will also be organised to increase: a) connections between national teacher educator activities and e-InFo-TED; b) engagement by national and international stakeholders in teacher educator quality and development; c) institutional and professional knowledge and competence in promoting teacher educatordevelopment; and d) participation of teacher educators in professional development.E-Info-TED will therefore support all those involved in teacher education at institutional, national and European levels to enhance teacher educator quality through professional development, and thus will enhance the quality of European education generally.
Teacher educators impact directly on the quality of teaching, as the European Commission (2013) emphasises: ‘...the competences of those who educate and support teachers (teacher educators) must be of the highest order’. Yet, across Europe, teacher educators are, typically, not formally prepared for their jobs, not supported during their induction phase, and lack ongoing professional learning opportunities. E-InFo-TED has strengthened teacher educators’ professional development and cooperation, and had three specific aims: 1. Build a network of European teacher educators to learn from each other via a virtual learning platform and face to face meetings; 2. Create resources to support the professional development of teacher educators; 3. Foster knowledge creation and a shared European vision for teacher educator development and teacher educator leadership. Our evidence suggests that: o beginning teacher educators seek knowledge resources and professional development opportunities; o experienced teacher educators need international collaboration to promote professional learning; o teacher educators at all levels need a common language to conceptualise their practices; o teacher education institutions lack resources to provide induction and development programmes for teacher educators. These challenges were addressed by e-Info-TED through two major activities:1. VIRTUAL LEARNING PLATFORM FOR TEACHER EDUCATORS (VLP) to support interaction, collaborative learning and sharing of practices amongst European teacher educators. The VLP includes a resource portal with short encyclopaedic articles, videos of good practice, literature abstracts and reviews, links to national and European policy-documents, a blog forum and links to events for teacher educators’ professional development. It offers blended learning opportunities to local, national and European communities of practice responsible for university- and school based teacher educator development. 2. EUROPEAN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME FOR TEACHER EDUCATORS (EDPD) to bring experienced European teacher educators together, to learn from each other and to form communities of practice for teacher educator learning at all levels. E-InFo-TED has organsied a ‘EUROPEAN TEACHER EDUCATOR ACADEMY’ which brought together European research, pedagogy, and professional learning about teacher educators’ professional development. A second self-financed Summer-Academy is planned for in June, 2020 with the University of Limerick as a host. To sustain E-InFo-TED, we will maintain the VLP (website) and present at major educational conferences. E-InFo-TED consists of EIGHT PARTNERS from high-profile teacher education institutions in EU member states. • NTNU- Norway (management) • Ghent University, Belgium • Leiden University, Belgium • Vrie University, Netherlands • Radboud University, Netherlands • University of East-London, England • Aberdeen University, Scotland • University of Limerick, Ireland The Mofet Institute in Israel has been our external adviser adding expertise from outside Europe. E-Info-TED has presented RESULTS and substantial impact on the professional development of teacher educators, achieved through the INTELLECTUAL OUTPUTS: - O.1.- Design principles for teacher educators’ ICT-based professional development and community learning, plus an overview of their learning needs; - O.2. - Detailed description of a Virtual Learning Platform; - O.3. - The VLP itself, supporting teacher educator development, online knowledge building and collaborative learning; - O.4. - The EUROPEAN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (EPDP) and TRAINING ACTIVITY C.1,- O.5. – Sustainability plan; - O.6. – A White Paper on quality professional learning for teacher educators; - O.7. - 2 summative evaluation reports, one on the Summer Academy, and the other on the process, outputs and reach of e-InFo-TED. MULTIPLIER EVENTS have been organised to increase: a) connections between regional teacher educator activities and e-InFo-TED; b) engagement by national and international stakeholders in teacher educator quality and development; c) institutional and professional knowledge and competence in promoting teacher educator development; and d) participation of teacher educators in professional development. E-Info-TED has and will continue to support all those involved in teacher education at institutional, national and European levels to enhance teacher educator quality through professional development, and thus enhance the quality of European education generally.