Newsletter - December 2022
Welcome to ITTS News in December 2022. We look back on a multifaceted and productive year, on two transnational partner meetings in May and October, local meetings and events in the partner countries with the presentation and discussion of the first ITTS results.
In 2023 we would like to finalise these results, we are looking forward to their publication and are excited about the international workshop conference on 27th May 2023 in Mytilene, Greece, to which we warmly invite all those interested.
Until then, we wish you a wonderful Christmas season and a good start into the new year 2023!
Where are the international teachers in the ITTS project countries?
Already during our quantitative study on the experiences of international teachers in the project partner countries last autumn, it became clear how difficult it is to reach this target group of international teachers and to recruit participants for the study. The research in the qualitative country contributions also highlights the different situations between the countries in the project consortium. In some countries, such as Germany and Turkey, there are projects and programmes to promote the professional re-entry of teachers or to employ them as supporting pedagogical staff in the classroom with immigrant students. In other countries, however, hardly any international teachers could be identified in schools. On the one hand, this is obviously due to the different immigration figures and migration experiences of the countries. On the other hand, high requirements for the recognition of qualifications, language requirements and questions of residence law preventthe professional re-entry into school. An overview of challenges and opportunities in the project countries and how we can deal with them will be given in the ITTS edited volume, which will be published next year.
In small working groups we are also developing materials for our different target groups: international teachers, mentors, principals and teacher training students. Against the background of intercultural school development, these materials aim to support the professional reintegration of international teachers into the school. In the coming months, different worksheets, recommendations, counselling and reflection materials as well as workshop concepts will be created and published on our ITTS website.
First materials and results have already been presented, tested and discussed at several local events in the partner countries, such as theworkshop conference "Come together: International teachers and international teacher training for a diversity-oriented school of tomorrow" in November 2022 in Bielefeld.
Successful work and high spirits in the vineyards of Maribor, Slovenia
After our first meeting in Iceland in May this year, the ITTS project partners met again in Maribor in October 2022 to bring together and discuss the preliminary results of our small working groups. We had a productive exchange and were able to take up inspiring ideas from our colleagues for the further work processes. Another focus was the planning of the final conference in May 2023 in Mytilene, Lesvos, Greece. In a joint brainstorming session, a promising draft programme, creative format ideas and workshop concepts were developed. First information about the workshop conference on 27 May can already be found on the project homepage.
It was an intensive and long two days of work in Slovenia - exhausting but successful. We also look back with particular pleasure on the warm hospitality of the Slovenian project team in Maribor, which offered us a wonderful side programme and made the meeting an unforgettable and extraordinary experience. You can find a short review in our blog.
Save the Date: 27th May 2023
Next year's project highlight will be the final ITTS workshop conference at the University of the Aegean in Mytilene on 27th May 2023. Under the title "How to promote the professional integration of international teachers and the cultural diversity in schools?", the event will focus on the objectives of our ITTS project. In various creative formats, the project's working materials can be explored and an exchange between the different participants on the challenges and opportunities for the integration of international teachers in schools will be promoted. Besides a panel discussion among experts in the education sector, the focus will be on interactive workshops for all participants. An online workshop will also provide an opportunity for international teachers from different countries to participate and will offer a platform for exchange of experiences and discussion.
More information about the programme and participation will be published on our website in early 2023.
Local ITTS events
Between September and December of this year, various events took place in the project countries to present and practice the first results. Teachers, students and further representatives from schools met in Turkey, Belgium and Germany to discuss the project topics.
In Bielefeld, this event took place in November in cooperation with other projects of the Internationalisation Department of the Bielefeld School of Education. It also offered the setting for the celebration of the 5th anniversary of Lehrkräfte Plus Bielefeld, a re-qualification programme for international teachers at Bielefeld University. A report on the one-day workshop conference and the highlights of the day can be found at our blog.
Further events in other countries are planned for early next year.