The Standing Conference on Teacher Education North and South (SCOTENS) Ireland: A Community, a Space, and a Conversation Over Time

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

This symposium offers a detailed and scholarly analysis of the emergence and development of a unique Standing Conference on the island of Ireland. It proposes to trace its political and policy origins through a set of papers offering systematic, narrative accounts based on a value-creation framework (Wenger-Trayner, 2014) of the history and the activities of the Conference over fifteen years, and to set this against the background of an emerging peace process on the island and a maturing vision for the professional possibilities of closer research ties and understandings among teacher educators, north and south.
SCoTENS is a network of 37 colleges of education, university education departments, teaching councils, curriculum councils, education trade unions, and education centres on the island of Ireland, with a responsibility for and interest in teacher education. SCOTENS was established in 2003 to create a space for teacher educators – North and South – to come together and discuss issues of common interest, and explore ways of co-operating closely together. A part of the broader peace dynamic that was gathering momentum on the island of Ireland in recent years, the Conference has always been rooted in the deepest commitment to quality teaching and learning for all. We believe that SCOTENS is the only network of its kind operating across a contested border in the world. The Educational Studies Association of Ireland (ESAI) – which is convening this symposium – has a long and supportive association with SCoTENS.

Sub Unit

• Educational Studies Association of Ireland - ESAI

Chair

• Conor Galvin, University College Dublin

Papers

• A Social History of the Standing Conference on Teacher Education, North and South (SCoTENS) - Noel Purdy, Stranmillis University College; Conor Galvin, University College Dublin

• The Standing Conference on Teacher Education, North and South (SCoTENS) as a Learning Organization: Institutional and Agency Linkages to Shape Better Understanding of Principles and Practice in Teacher Education - Teresa O'Doherty, Mary Immaculate College; Kathy Hall, University College Cork

• Reimagining the Standing Conference on Teacher Education, North and South (SCoTENS) for the Future: Observations From an Ongoing Project in Organizational Self-Renewal - Linda Clarke, University of Ulster; Maria Campbell, St. Angela's College