Current Projects

WIIIDE (Working on Inclusive Identities, Intersectionality & Diversity in Teacher Education) is a project which tackles the complex topic of teacher identities, and is supported by Circle U. 2023 seed-funding scheme. Individuals occupy multiple identities and backgrounds, including social class, race, gender, life stage, profession, and role in the (education) system, that are fluid, contextual, and continuously reshaped and reproduced. Educational institutions serve as one of the sites where these identities are negotiated, contested, and defended.

For at least two reasons this topic is especially important in teacher education (TE). First, our feelings and behavior toward others depend on whether we think of them as “us” or “them" that is, who we include in our group and who we exclude from it. As we explore the complexity of our own social identities, we recognize that individuals may share a common group membership on one dimension but belong to different categories on another, thus contributing to the inclusiveness of our identities Second, if teachers are to actively address oppression, they must become aware of the interconnectedness and contextual situatedness of their identities.

What are we aiming for?

The WIIIDE project thus aims to provide space for

1) exploring our own identities and how they interact with our teaching practices,

2) mapping themes interconnected with teacher identities in current Teacher Education curricula,

3) looking for pedagogical and/or research tools that might help us create a more meaningful understanding of the inclusivity and complexity of identities in Teacher Education.

What are we going to do?

Recognizing the complexity of social identities increases our potential to move between historically marginalized (e.g., female) and privileged (e.g., white, European, middle-class) positions and to understand the contextual factors that shape them. In times of teacher shortages, the centrality of teacher identity becomes even more significant. The central activity of WIIIDE is an on-site mapping workshop with teacher educators from the three partner universities. Thus participants will be introduced to new and valuable approaches to exploring identities that can be used in both research and teaching, e.g., photovoice method, critical incidents, Narrative 4 method. This way, participants can share their own experiences in a guided and methodologically framed way.

The central activity of WIIIDE is an on-site mapping workshop with teacher educators from the three partner universities. All of the participants will be introduced to new and valuable approaches to exploring identities that can be used in both research and teaching, e.g., photovoice method, critical incidents, Narrative 4 method. This way, participants can share their own experiences in a guided and methodologically framed way. The workshop will take place from June 17^th to June 19^th at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade.

What are we hoping to achieve?

A multidisciplinary, open, bottom-up network of teacher educators, MA, and doctoral students interested in teacher identities will be established. The mission of the network will be to share information about teachers' multiple identities and to initiate activities aimed at exploring and teaching about them. An open library of materials, guidelines, and tools that could support teaching and/or research on teacher identities will be established and updated regularly.

Who are we?

The WIIIDE project brings people within teacher education from three Circle U. universities together, Univeristy of Vienna, University of Oslo and University of Belgrade. Researchers from educational science (Elin Sæther, Michelle Proyer), special education (Eva Kleinlein, Henri Valtteri Pesonen, Dima Mohamad), educational psychology (Olja Jovanović, Dejana Mutavdžin), and general didactics (Lidija Radulović, Luka Nikolić) jointly work to integrate the subdisciplines’ perspectives and resources to promote inclusive educational practices within Circle U. teacher education programs. Our diverse backgrounds reflect that the field of teacher education itself is interdisciplinary. Additionally, we are aiming to develeop and diversify our network further by including students and researchers with expertise and interest in the topic of teacher identities.

Feel free to visit the Instagram profile of the project: https://www.instagram.com/wiiide.project/

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