The European Teacher Education Network was founded in 1988 by a group of teacher-educators who found it imperative to promote cooperation and international collaboration in research and development by exchanging students and staff. The overall aim was providing opportunities for professional development, research and publication, and promoting knowledge and understanding of the history, culture, values and traditions of the member countries. In 2009 ETEN comprises a network of nearly 60 institutions of higher education from 17 countries, mainly European. ETEN seeks and cooperates with partners outside Europe. ETEN publishes the Journal of the European TeacherEducation Network in electronic format and the Proceedings of the annual conference, also in electronic format. The standard working language of ETEN is English.
Vision
ETEN has, as its vision to:
provide knowledge and recognition of teaching and educational work at all levels.
influence development and innovation of teacher and social educator education in the member countries.
learn about and promote understanding of the history, culture, values and traditions of the member countries, as expressed through teacher and social educator education.
In support of that vision, ETEN works to:
promote opportunities for exchange and/or visits of individual and/or groups of students as part of their programmes of study.
promote opportunities for exchange and/or visits of staff members in relation to student education, teaching, school development, curriculum development and research.
promote opportunities within teacher and social educator education programmes and school practice to incorporate comparative and intercultural perspectives on education.
promote opportunities for cross-national and international collaboration in research and development.
ETEN, like the Internet, is a network without a hierarchy but with a purpose: besides promoting exchange of students and staff it focuses around Thematic Interest Groups. The strength of the network is based on these groups of common interests whose activities depend heavily on the TIG leaders.
The ETEN annual conference is, in essence, organized around each TIG, whose leader is responsible for accepting papers, organizing presentations, and moderating discussions - a unique and significant task. What makes this network particularly interesting is the way the TIGs are created according with the interests that evolve from discussions during the network meetings. So, the network is a very dynamic, lively and informal network, always open for new TIGs and new members.
