In 2024, the first in-person meeting of the ‘Global Network of Deans of Education (GNDE)’ took place. At that time, the University of Innsbruck invited representatives from national networks of deans worldwide who are active in the field of teacher education to discuss current issues in teacher training. The deans have now met for a second time in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow hosted this year’s symposium, which focused on the theme ‘Teacher education and educational perspectives in a complex world’. The Global Network of Deans promotes critical exchange and dialogue across national borders and continents and supports international collaboration in teaching and research. “It is always impressive to see how similar the challenges are that universities worldwide face in the field of teacher education, and fascinating to learn how individual deans or national networks of deans are responding to them,” reports Suzanne Kapelari from the University of Innsbruck, who represented Austria at this symposium.
Deans from Chile, Australia, China, the USA, Canada, South Africa and European countries such as Ireland, Portugal, the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands exchanged experiences and discussed possible solutions to the national and global challenges that teacher education will have to address in the coming years, from 2 to 4 September 2026. The symposium’s theme was “encouraging participants to imagine new possibilities for education that is contextually responsive, ethically grounded and future-focused”, and it proved to be a valuable experience for all those who were able to take part.