Teachers College has signed an agreement with King’s College of London’s School of Education, Communication & Society (ECS), bringing the two institutions closer to establishing a joint Center for Innovation in Teacher Development.

The agreement will facilitate the development of the Center over the coming year. In addition to collaborative research and knowledge exchange activities, TC and King’s ECS will offer innovative education programs in teacher development with a focus on equity and social justice, civic education and the preparation of teacher educators.

Much like Teachers College, the mission of King’s ECS – a leader in teacher education and education research for more than 40 years – is to work for the public good through research and teaching focused on education, including the enhancement of social, civic and professional engagement. Both schools are committed to supporting civic activities, and the establishment of a joint Center will encourage greater opportunities for civic teaching in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

The new Center will “strengthen both institutions’ work toward increasing educational opportunity as a pathway toward greater social justice,” said TC President Susan Fuhrman.

“This partnership is an extremely promising combination of world-class teaching and research,” said Professor Funmi Olonisakin, Vice President & Vice-Principal International at King’s. “Together, I hope King’s and TC will make great strides in innovative teaching and research.’

Noting that TC has recently launched a major initiative in civic education “in which teacher development will play an essential role,” Fuhrman added, “We could not imagine a better partner in this project than King’s.”

“The highly divisive political and social climates in both the U.S. and U.K. make clear that our education systems must do more to keep the path to social justice clear and accessible,” Fuhrman said. “Schools must revive lessons in crucial thinking, civil dialogue and public engagement, and these lessons must go hand in hand with an unshakeable commitment to confront prejudice and discrimination and secure safety, opportunity and equality for all.”

A. Lin Goodwin, TC Vice Dean and Evenden Professor of Education, with Viv Ellis, a faculty member at King’s who has recently served as Sachs Lecturer and Visiting Researcher at TC, collaboratively imagined the Center and set plans for the Center in motion. TC’s Mariana Souto–Manning, Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education and Director of the College’s doctoral program in Curriculum and Teaching, will now work closely with Ellis to develop the work of the Center.  

“At a time when the U.S. and the U.K. have a great need to strengthen civic education, we have come together to transform teacher preparation by offering the very best innovation that research universities in general, and education schools in particular, can offer,” Souto-Manning said. “Both TC and King’s are civically focused institutions located in the heart of major cities with diverse populations, including significant numbers of immigrants. Our charge is transform teacher education so that it is not centered on a canon of Whiteness, but instead is equally grounded in the knowledge and experiences of people of color and people from diverse cultures.”

Published Thursday, Jun 29, 2017