UNAM’s School of Education broadens its horizons
In a quest to explore internationalization and digitalization in education, the University of Namibia’s School of Education took to the University of Education Weingarten in Germany for capacity building and research on novel education practices.This expedition included visits to the Padagogische Hochschule Ludwigsburg (Ludwigsburg University of Education) as well as the Duale Hochschule Baden-Wurttemberg.
According to Dr John Nyambe, Associate Dean of the School of Education, the aim of this trip was to engage international players of higher education on novel practices in education. “Our visit focused on a range of innovative, future-oriented models of teacher education that can enrich our own practices here in the School of Education.”
He added that chief to this “were models of teacher education that emphasized globalization and digitalization, as well as the blurring of the divide between theory and practice in teacher education”.
During the visit, two delegates – Dr Charmain Villet and Dr John Nyambe – participated in a panel discussion on Global and Multicultural Education in teacher education. This theme focused on the relationships between multicultural and global education, and its impact on curricula.
“Our presentations generated a wide interest among the audience on multiculturalism as a decolonial discourse,” Nyambe said.
He added that apart from sharing knowledge with their counterparts, the trip “augmented the School’s vision, which is “to become an innovative, world-class school of excellence in the provision of education programmes”.
International partners
The School of Education’s internationalization activities for this semester included staff exchange, wherein three senior staff members from various departments under the School of Education attended the Commonwealth Fellowships on Girls Education and Girls Empowerment at Cardiff University, Wales.
These lecturers and senior researchers returned home armed with intervention projects which the School intends to roll out in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture. These projects will also strengthen the recently transformed teacher education programmes.
The School of Education also believes that international experience and intercultural understanding are important for the student teachers. Given this understanding, two students from the School of Education embarked on a student exchange trip for a semester at the Padagogische Hochschule Weingarten.
This exchange was followed by another cohort to the Kazimierz Wielki University (UKW) in Poland.
The School of Education maintains a wide international network as it seeks to produce teachers with an international and global outlook.
This international network includes institutions such as the University of Cologne and the University of Freiburg in Germany, Oulu University in Finland, Pacific Lutheran University in the USA, Kazimierz Wielki University in Poland, and the International University of Applied Sciences in Norway.
The School has also been working closely with other teacher education institutions in the Global South, on the African continent, particularly in Southern Africa. Several other new partnerships are currently being concluded.