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Prof. Dr. Cheryl J. Craig, Secretary General of the International Study Association on Teachers and Teaching, ISATT
"Teaching for 21st Century Skills" is among the main conference topics at your upcoming ISATT Biennial Conference 2013. Which are the "21st Century Skills"?
In a nutshell, 21st century skills, as understood by the ISATT community, are those skills that teacher educators, teachers and students will need to navigate the complexities of the global educational landscape as they press toward a future that is yet unknown. ISATT members focus on “a future worth choosing” (United Nations High Level Panel on Sustainability, 2010) rather than complacently accepting the future they get.
How can social media be used for teaching?
In the hands of creative, socially responsible teachers, there are limitless ways social media can be used to fuel student learning. Social media gives new meaning to the idea of primary source materials. It opens up whole new worlds. It stands to infuse life and vitality into all areas of curriculum.
What can international associations learn from teachers if they create training sessions for adults?
Education is a perplexing field in that the learning of one individual (the student) is influenced—but not directly determined—by the teaching and learning of another individual (the teacher). Despite the myriad of other shaping forces also at work in any given situation, understanding teachers and teaching remains critically important to the learning act.
What are the main two challenges for ISATT today?
One major issue with which educators are grappling worldwide is the theory-practice-policy divide. In this era of global competitiveness, there is an increasing chasm between what educational policy makers dictate and what those in schools and universities would advise. Associated with this is a second challenge: the concurrent blaming and deprofessionalization of teachers, which is very damaging.
ISATT members respect and value the work of teachers. They know that minded teachers, acting on their own agency and informed by public policy, are indispensable to high quality student learning.
At its 16th Biennial Conference on Teachers and Teaching at Ghent University, ISATT will celebrate its 30th anniversary.
Yes. The International Study Association of Teachers and Teaching (ISATT), a scholarly organization composed of members from 46 nations, will celebrate its 30th anniversary in July of 2013.
At the Biennial Conference to be held at Ghent University, attendees will ceIebrate how ISATT has historically served as a barometer and clearinghouse for research in international teaching and teacher education. They will reminisce about how the origins of the ISATT organization sit at the forefront of the global movement to study teaching and teacher education from the inside as well as the outside. They likewise will remember that ISATT has historically championed the use of a broad range of rigorous research methods to conduct teaching and teacher education inquiries.
Many founding members of ISATT will return to celebrate these highly significant moments in international education history.
Why did you choose Ghent as destination?
Typically, members from two or more countries offer to host the Biennial Conference. Then the membership votes on a preferred location. Ghent was chosen for the 30th Anniversary celebration, probably because ISATT’s first chair, Joost Lowyck, who spread the idea of ISATT to the Dutch, Flemish and German worlds, came from Belgium.
Also, Rob Halkes, the founder who championed the idea in North America and other parts of Europe, hailed from Belgium. Ghent returns the ISATT organization to the place where it existed as a mere idea in some people’s heads. Ghent brings ISATT’s history full circle.
The International Study Association on Teachers and Teaching (ISATT) was founded in October 1983 at a Symposium for Research on Teacher Thinking at Tilburg University, The Netherlands. The Association’s aim is to increase insights into the identity, role, contexts and work of teachers, and the process of teaching. Therefore, the key goals of ISATT are to enhance the quality of teaching at all levels of education and to act as a forum to promote, present, discuss and disseminate research findings which contribute to knowledge and the formation of theory in this field. The 16th Biennial Conference on Teachers and Teaching takes place from July 1-5, 2013 at Ghent University, Belgium. http://isatt.net/dev, www.isatt2013.ugent.be