Teachers as “Change Agents” in a World of Uncertainty: Designing a “Resilient Path” for the Education of (Foreign Language) Teachers

Becker, Daniel; Matz, Frauke; Römhild, Ricardo

Zusammenfassung

The challenges of the 21st century are and will remain manifold. From a sociological perspective, it could be argued that the anticipated risks of this world risk society have indeed become reality (see Beck 2009). From an educational perspective, the challenges could be subsumed under the acronym VUCA (i.e., volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous, Bennis & Nanus 1985). Both perspectives shed light on the fact that teachers’ (and their students’) realities are characterized by a high level of complexity, unpredictability and immense (technological) changes: in the past two years alone, schools and their communities have not only been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the digital transformation connected to it, the war in Europe and the consequences of global warming, but also needed to adapt to a changing world and address these issues, events and challenges with and for students. Education in general and language education in particular can be viewed as a fundamental basis for making sustainability, inclusion, social justice and equity effective. The discourses that shape EFL classrooms could, in this context, serve as a transformative force for working towards human rights, sustainability, and a better future for all based on social justice, solidarity, and shared responsibility (see UN n.d.). In this light, teacher education needs to be reimagined to prepare teachers to become resilient and to flourish under VUCA conditions, so that they can not only react to change, but anticipate it, plan forward, become agents of change themselves and support each other as well as their students in their resilience and adaptability. In focusing on the concept of resilience, this theoretical and conceptual contribution joins the effort of this volume to find ways to prepare and empower teachers and to establish new learning cultures in their (future) professional development. Drawing from interdisciplinary and international approaches, it proposes a conceptualization of a “resilient path” (UN n.d.) for a quality teacher education within the framework of head, hands and hearts (UNESCO 2015, 2021).