Equipping Teachers, Envisioning Peace: Insights from an ITE Program

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Teacher preparation through peace education and global engagement

Proposal

INTRODUCTION

As the call for proposals for the 2026 CIES conference reminds us, peace is one of the most “enduring and foundational missions” of the field of CIE (CIES, 2025). The conference theme, Re-examining Education and Peace in a Divided World, is particularly timely as humanity faces the highest number of state-based armed conflicts in over seventy years (Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2025). Maria Montessori’s words from her 1936 address to the European Congress for Peace remain striking: “preventing conflicts is the work of politics; establishing peace is the work of education” (Montessori, 1972, p. 27).

Education provides the foundation for addressing these and other complex global challenges, but it is teacher educators, pre-service teachers, and practicing teachers who carry this work forward. They help learners develop skills to challenge cycles of inequity, oppression, and violence. Preparing pre-service teachers for this task requires reflexivity and intentional design. This presentation explores how innovative international teacher education (ITE) can cultivate teacher attributes to help foster pathways to peace and justice.

ITE is a significant and growing area of study within CIE. Interpretations vary, including teacher mobility, cross-cultural experiences, comparative teacher education models, and internationalized curricula. While these are important, this research focuses on ITE as a process of developing dispositions in teachers to prepare students for an interconnected, just, and peaceful world. Koh and colleagues (2022) describe ITE as preparing teachers “with the capacities and commitments to teach and cultivate cosmopolitan virtues, interculturalism, tolerance of difference and diversity in schools and classrooms” (p. 537).

RESEARCH CONTEXT AND QUESTIONS

This study draws on a multi-year investigation of students in an undergraduate ITE program, the only one of its kind in [region]. The four-year honours program integrates CIE and Global Studies, fostering pedagogical flexibility, an understanding of global contexts, and the skills to critically analyze complex educational challenges (Author, 2023). Most graduates pursue teacher certification and employment in domestic or international education contexts.

Using a quantitative methodology, the research explores attributes in pre-service teachers consistent with ITE. The guiding questions are:

1. To what extent do students in [program name] possess a global perspective?

2. What are the program’s areas of strength and where is further development needed?

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

The [name of program] learning outcomes emphasize global awareness, critical and inclusive perspectives, and the ability to collaborate and communicate across diverse contexts (Author, 2024). These align with ITE scholarship calling for integration of values and dispositions alongside practical skills for global and cross-cultural teaching (Engelbrecht, 2013; Olmedo, 2010; Scheunpflug, 2010).

Mikulec (2014) highlights five dispositions crucial for global engagement: curiosity, tolerance for ambiguity, reflexivity, flexibility, and persistence. Aydarova and Marquardt (2016) argue for preparing globally conscious teachers committed to justice and care, while Tarc and Budrow (2022) examine curricula that build preservice teachers’ interpretive capacities around difference, power, and relationships with others.

Singh and Qi (2013), drawing from the International Baccalaureate (IB), identified 11 constructs relevant to ITE that emphasize global awareness and engagement across differences. While no empirical measure fully captures attributes of the “international teacher,” instruments exist to assess related constructs such as intercultural competence (Bennet, 1993; Chen & Starosta, 2000; Hammer et al., 2003), global citizenship (Hett, 1993; Morais & Ogden, 2011; van Gent et al., 2013), and global perspective (Braskamp, 2017).

This study used the Global Perspective Inventory (GPI), a validated Likert-scale instrument widely applied in post-secondary contexts (Research Institute for Studies in Education, 2017). Braskamp (2014) defines global perspective as:

The capacity and predisposition for a person to think with complexity, taking into account multiple perspectives, to form a unique sense of self that is value based and authentic, and to relate to others with respect and openness—especially with those who are not like them (Braskamp, 2017, p. 3).

METHODOLOGY and METHODS

A quantitative methodology was selected to identify broad, generalizable trends across the program. The GPI generates scale scores suitable for statistical comparison, enabling systematic assessment of program-level outcomes over multiple years. This approach offered reproducible evidence of both strengths and areas needing further development.

Participants voluntarily and anonymously completed the online GPI questionnaire, which assesses development across three domains:

1. Cognitive (with the Knowing and Knowledge subscales)

2. Intrapersonal (Identity, Affect)

3. Interpersonal (Social Responsibility, Social Interactions)

Data were collected from 2021–2023 (n ≈ 120). Analyses included reliability testing (Cronbach’s α, McDonald’s ω), descriptive and inferential statistics, program-year–adjusted models, and domain cohesion analyses.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Most scales demonstrated acceptable to strong reliability (ω ≥ .70), although Knowing and Affect were weaker. Results were consistent across years, showing stable program-level outcomes. Strengths included Identity (purpose, self-awareness) and Affect (respect for cultural difference). Areas for growth included Social Interactions (engaging across difference) and Knowing (complex thinking).

These findings highlight the GPI’s utility in assessing program impact and informing curriculum development. They suggest that while the program effectively fosters self-awareness and respect for difference, additional strategies may be needed to deepen students’ ability to think across complex perspectives and engage more meaningfully across differences.

The analysis of the results is ongoing, with findings being used for program evaluation and enhancement. The proposed presentation will offer a fulsome discussion of the broader significance of this program’s unique approach to ITE and its role in preparing teachers to advance peace and justice through education.

Author

• Avis Beek, Wilfrid Laurier University, Faculty of Education