The UNITWIN/UNESCO network was officially founded on 2nd of May 2018 when 10 partner universities signed the co-operation agreement. The first meeting with the partners was held in June 2018. The current partners of the UNITWIN/UNESCO Network on Teacher Education are Massey University (New Zeeland), Memorial University of Newfoundland (Canada), Murmansk Arctic State University (Russia), Sami Education Institute (Finland), Sámi University College (Norway), The Arctic University of Norway UiT, University of Alaska Anchorage (USA), University of Alaska Fairbanks (USA), University of Lapland (Finland, the Coordinator) and University of Turku (Finland).

The Network is first UNESCO’s UNITWIN network in Finland and its’ Coordinator is Professor Tuija Turunen from University of Lapland. The main purpose of the UNESCO’s UNITWIN networks are to encourage inter-university research and co-operation. They help collaborating across the globe, combining resources and advocating for better policies through providing information to policy makers and local leaders.

The UNITWIN/UNESCO Network on Teacher Education will continue and globally expand the cooperation already started in the UArctic Thematic Network on Teacher Education (established 2015) and in the Arctic Council’s Sustainable Development Working Group (SDWG) project “Teacher Education for Diversity and Equality in the Arctic” (2017-2019). The Networks aim to enhance teacher education for equality and social justice; to share and develop good practices to combat core challenges that the networks’ partners face both in the south and in the north, for example socioeconomic differences and providing good education for minority cultures.

The main purpose of the UNITWIN/UNESCO Network on Teacher Education is to create a Cooperation Programme on Teacher Education for Social Justice and Diversity in the framework of UNESCO’s UNITWIN Programme. The main objectives of the Programme are to promote knowledge exchange and experience sharing by organizing seminars, joint lectures and teacher education courses, developing researcher/teacher/student exchange opportunities, and undertaking research to enhance an understanding of the teaching profession. As a first task, the UNITWIN/UNESCO Network on Teacher Education is going to determine the work plan for cooperation for co-operation over the next four years.

Further information on the UNITWIN/UNESCO Network:

Dr Tuija Turunen
Docent, Dean, Professor, Teacher Education University of Lapland
Lead, UArctic Thematic Network on Teacher Education for Social Justice and Diversity
P. +358 40 4844 124
tuija.turunen(at)ulapland.fi

www.ulapland.fi/uatn/unitwin