President's Piece

James O'Meara - ICET President

Once again, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the contributors from the ICET family who are sharing their perspectives on closing the teacher gap. Roman Svaricek (VP Europe) and his team from Masaryk University are a great example of connecting people and ideas for closing the teacher gap. The ICET Yearbook of Teacher Education from 61st World Assembly contains 360 pages representing the work of 50 authors from across the globe presented over the course of 30 chapters. You can download your copy here.

Our Emeritus Board members continue to contribute to our efforts to ‘communicate and connect for change'. Thuwayba Al Barwani, Maria Assunção Flores, David Imig are examples of how our Board members continue to contribute to the global discourse on teacher education. Their work Leading Change in Teacher Education features discussions covering what has been done, how and why the change has happened, the journey itself and the challenges encountered along the way. ICET and our board members provides a unique forum to connect with international academics who want to publish their ideas and research about ways to advance in teacher education in an era of a global teacher shortage.

Dr Carol Gentles our incoming Board Chair Elect. Carol is another great example of how our Board Members promote this idea of connecting and communicating for change. Her goals include making ICET information, communications and conference activities accessible in different languages and platforms. I invite you to reach out to Carol and share your ideas via our Facebook page.

Our members have already assisted Carol in realizing this goal. Maha Mohammad Al Zaidi (Saudi Arabia) shares a translation (attached to this newsletter) of Target 4c – What is at Stake for Monitoring Progress on Teachers? Her translation is in Arabic, which is one of the official languages of the UN. There are six official languages of the UN.  These are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. UN considers correct interpretation and translation of these six languages, in both spoken and written form, is very important to the work of the Organization, because this enables clear and concise communication on issues of global importance. More information about UN Languages can be found here. Next edition will expand upon the idea of languages by highlighting the work of Dr Tony Cree (Australia) with Indigenous Literacy and languages.

May I also welcome Michelle Martinez, a TAMIU Junior with a minor in communication. Michelle will serve as the Secretary of the Secretariat. If you have any ICET questions please contact her directly at michelle.martinez@tamiu.edu
 
Finally, reminder Abstracts for the World Assembly are due by February 28^th. Since 1953 ICET World Assemblies have provided an international forum for persons interested in discussing ideas and publishing materials about the exchange of information and the discussion about the way educators are recruited, prepared, certified and supported in different parts of the world. If you would like to add to this legacy of contribution please visit the conference website and submit your proposal.

Until next time, warm regards,
 
James