Linking Research and Training in Internationalization of Teacher Education with the PEERS Program: Issues, Case Studies and Perspectives

Abstract

The PEERS program proposes international exchanges adapted to the context of teacher training institutions wishing to take advantage of internationalization in order to link training, research, and practice. PEERS is based on the completion of Research and Innovation (R&I) projects during the academic year, during which international groups of professors and students from teacher training partner institutions collaborate remotely as well as during two placements of one week. For the students, the PEERS program aims to develop competencies in distance collaboration with the help of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), the management of intercultural groups, and the continuous improvement of their activities through reflective thinking and the spirit of research. For the professors the PEERS program aims to better link research and training, to reinforce their skills in the management of international research projects and to foster opportunities for international publications.The aim of this collective book is to give an overview of the Issues, case studies and perspectives of the PEERS program. The first section entitled "Issues, Opportunities, and Challenges for the Internationalization of Teacher Training in a Globalized, Multicultural, and Connected World", focuses on the foundations and general features of PEERS projects, as well as the context of globalization in the field of the professions of teaching and life-long training.We direct our most heartfelt thanks to the General Director, Mrs Chantal Ostorero, of the Board of Higher Education of the State of Vaud which assisted in the financing of the PEERS projects and provided its expertise, allowing us to develop an international network of reliable institutional partners.But above all, it is worth pointing out that this PEERS program could not have been brought to fruition without the commitment of the professors and the students who have been its actors. Between 2011 and 2017, almost 500 students and more than one hundred professors and training professionals have been involved in the projects of the PEERS program! Upon reading the following chapters, the reader will easily understand that the implementing of this program dedicated to future teachers at the start of the twenty-first century was a wonderful human adventure, and that the first individuals to strike out on their own were true pioneers who paved the way for those who followed. The projects they carried out, their personal testimonies, and the results they achieved were, for us, the first lessons from which we went on to draw the invaluable knowledge that allowed us to improve the program.To all PEERS projects professors and students in the four corners of the world, it is to you that this international program belongs. It is, henceforth, up to you to pass on the torch of the spirit of research and humanism with which your PEERS projects are imbued and upon which our globalized, intercultural and connected world depends so much. Thank you!