Educating (language) teachers for critical global citizenship (English)
The focus of the activities for English language education is on the development of long-term relationships, including digitally-supported educational exchanges within a COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) initiative, between the University of Potsdam and two international partner institutions, SUNY (Cortland) in the USA and La Trobe University in Australia.
Our target group is Masters-level students in the area of English language education for both primary and secondary schools. The COIL format enables us to work with academic staff and students in our partner institutions on stances in relation to current issues such as diversity, migration and critical literacy in literature studies, as well as on the development of intercultural competence and education for sustainable development in teacher education together with a pedagogy embracing these concerns.
A central element in our cooperation is co-teaching. Academic staff from Potsdam and our partner institutions will co-operatively plan and deliver seminars both virtually and face to face in Potsdam, Cortland and Melbourne. Including these seminars in the regular teacher education programs will enable the long-term anchoring of our co-operation and the long-term availability of internationally-relevant learning opportunities for students.
This co-operation will be further extended through targeted support for the international mobility of academic staff and students, e.g. via scholarships and bi-directional exchanges that are anchored in the partnership agreement signed in 2024 between the University of Potsdam and SUNY (Cortland).
This second project cycle builds on our successful experiences in the first project cycle and makes use of the structures and means of communication that have already been established. The project is underpinned by research-based teaching and learning activities that support (inter)-cultural sensitivity and sustainable thinking. In these activities, the participants act as agents of change for a future-oriented teaching praxis. Their agency is supported by targeted reflective activities in various seminars that contribute to the internationalisation of educational processes.
Global citizenship in teacher education: SUNY Cortland and the University of Potsdam
Promoting global citizenship in teacher education is a shared goal for new partnerships between the SUNY Cortland (USA) and Potsdam University. They are a result from a five-year collaboration between teacher educators at the History Department (Cortland) and the Department of British and American Studies (Potsdam). Since 2020, interdisciplinary exchange activities have included various virtual exchange / COIL projects (e.g. on migration, diversity, global citizenship) between teacher students from both universities, a summer school at Potsdam, guest lectureships and co-teaching activities. The collaboration evolved from interdisciplinary exchanges between two faculty members, Dr. Gigi Peterson from SUNY Cortland and Prof. Dr. Britta Freitag-Hild from Potsdam University. A visit at SUNY Cortland in October 2024 helped to consolidate the partnership and make new connections to promote further exchange opportunities over the next years between lecturers and students from teacher education programs in History, Social Studies, English as a Second Language, Philosophy, English Literature, and Education. Both universities will continue to develop COIL projects, as well as faculty and student exchanges, including short stay programs.
Conceptualisations of language pedagogy - an intercultural approach to teaching English as a ‘foreign’ language – La Trobe University and the University of Potsdam
Teachers’ conceptualisations of language pedagogy offer an important basis for the development and support of competencies in the area of Global Citizenship. Investigating these conceptualisations and exploring relationships with intercultural learning and teaching approaches are the central concern of the partnership between La Trobe University in Melbourne (Australia) and the University of Potsdam.
The co-operation between the two universities is based in the long-term collaboration related to language education between Professor Howard Nicholas (La Trobe) and Professor Jana Roos (Potsdam). Since 2021, this co-operation has included virtual exchange in COIL projects related to diversity, gobal citizenship and intercultural education, a Summer School in Potsdam, guest professorships as well as joint seminars. The goal of the proposed activities is the further development and practical application of the established international learning and teaching activities as well as of the exchanges between academic staff and students in both institutions.