P093_South Africa

Cooperating countries: South Africa and Austria

Coordinating institution: University of Innsbruck, Ann-Kathrin Dittrich, ann-kathrin.dittrich@uibk.ac.at

Partner institutions: University of Pretoria, University of Vienna

Project duration: 1 October 2023 - 30 September 2025

Abstract:

This research project will explore the current state of teacher educators’ professionalism within the context of Agenda 2030 in the Global North and Global South and how it can be leveraged to accelerate achievement of the global goals by:

- creating future-focused mixed-methods research on all SDGs and in four priority action areas within the Education for Sustainable Development Roadmap (ESD) 
- supporting the development of scientific knowledge on Agenda 2030 in the education domain
- raising awareness about teacher educator professionalism in the context of the SDGs
- building international collaborative networks and strengthening existing networks to support sustainable development

This project is a follow-up project to Teach4Reach 1.0, which identified the need and relevance of further research and support related to teacher educator professionalism and the SDGs. Teacher educators are still a “hidden profession” (Murray, 2011), which, however, plays a major role in the development of the educational quality of pre- and in-service teachers. Their knowledge and competences are crucial to sustainable development in education and to support Agenda 2030 (UNESCO, 2005; Leicht et al., 2019).

A number of different activities are planned to promote excellent research in the context of teacher education and to contribute to the SDGs. The main focus will be on collaborative research and joint supervision of doctoral students, as well as work on publications, conference papers and at the end of project the development of an online workshop. 

The project is led by an all-women team of researchers from the University of Innsbruck, the University of Pretoria and the University of Vienna. The study adopts a mixed-methods approach with a sample of teacher educators from Austria and South Africa. It will utilise a combination of qualitative research with vignette research and semi-structured interviews and quantitative research, such as questionnaires.