An international network for teachers: are you participating?
De AOb is investigating together with Education International (the federation of teacher unions worldwide) and other unions and teacher organizations whether there is a need for a worldwide network of teachers.
Teachers are increasingly collaborating internationally and are seeking contact through various online channels such as Twitter and Facebook. The number of exchange projects and international teacher networks that are already active is increasing. In addition, governments and international organizations increasingly want to support these initiatives. However, developments are still very fragmented. It is difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. Because where do you find colleagues to work with and organizations and material you can trust? Commercial initiatives are gaining influence in this international field and thus influence equality of opportunity.
TEN Global
Education International believes that the professional group itself should take the lead in this. This was also one of the conclusions of 'Flip the System: changing education from the ground up' that EI published together with Jelmer Evers and Rene Kneyber. Next, privacy, quality and public education for every child, well-trained and equipped teachers and non-profit should be central. To achieve this, Education International proposes to set up a Global Teacher and Educator Network (TEN Global). A network that connects individual teachers with each other and with organizations.
The network can handle all kinds of things. Think of collaborative projects, educational research, didactics, teaching materials, professionalization, the role of teachers at the school and at national level, activism, and so on. To investigate the feasibility, EI has started a pilot with international organizations and trade unions from the Netherlands (de AOB), the US, Mexico and Uganda. In order to gain more insight into the needs of teachers in international cooperation and the TEN Global platform, a number of focus groups are also organized in the four countries.
If you are interested in thinking along and giving your opinion, please sign up here .
- It is a session of approximately one and a half hours with 8 teachers.
- The focus group will take place at the end of the afternoon AOb in Utrecht.
- The exact dates are further determined on the basis of interest. But will likely take place in the last week of October.
Sign up for the pilot
You can also sign up for the pilot itself. It starts with an online platform that has already been created. Participation costs about five hours per month, more is always possible. For the pilot you can here Sign Up. For more information, you can also contact Jelmer Evers jelmer.evers@ei-ie.org.
