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International Summer School Brings Indigenous Perspectives to Teacher Education
From July 20 to 31, 2026, the Center for Teacher Education (ZLB) at the University of Kassel will host the international summer school “Learning for Change: Rethinking Teacher Education through Indigenous Perspectives.” The first week of the Summer School will be held in cooperation with the Kassel Institute for Sustainability (KIS) at the University of Kassel. The Summer School is aimed primarily at students in teacher education programs. In addition, the program includes two public events for which students, faculty, and interested members of the public can still register (register here).
How can teacher education better integrate global justice, sustainability, and postcolonial perspectives? What insights do indigenous forms of knowledge and ways of life offer for education and schools? The international summer school will explore these questions.
The focus is on international exchange, dialogic learning, and engaging with the perspectives of Indigenous communities. Participants will gain insights into the diverse meanings and debates surrounding indigeneity and will explore issues of language, power dynamics, self-representation, human rights, climate activism, and education for sustainable development. The Summer School brings together people from various regions of the world, including Argentina, Canada, Indonesia, South Africa, Guatemala, Austria, and Germany.
The program combines academic input, discussion formats, and experiential elements. It takes place during the first week in cooperation with KIS and creates synergies with the Sustainability Studies program and the TORCH teaching project, which focuses on the transformation toward sustainability-oriented teaching.
Through direct dialogue with representatives of Indigenous communities and international experts, students engage with cultural practices, traditional forms of knowledge, climate activism, and human rights issues.
“The Summer School opens up a unique learning space: Students encounter international perspectives not only theoretically, but through direct exchange with Indigenous activists and scholars from around the world. For teacher education students, it also offers the opportunity to engage intensively with global education issues and questions of sustainability and to have the course credited toward their degree,” says Dr. Ellen Christoforatou, Executive Director of the Center for Teacher Education (ZLB).
The Summer School is a joint initiative of the Kassel Institute for Sustainability (KIS) and the Center for Teacher Education (ZLB) at the University of Kassel. It brings together two externally funded projects, each of which contributes its own areas of focus and funding contexts: The KIS’s contribution is part of the TORCH project, which is funded by the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education. The ZLB’s contribution is part of the DAAD-funded project “CHANGES. Exploring Critical Sustainable Development Education from Global Perspectives,” which is based at the Center for Teacher Education and is funded through the “Lehramt.International” program.
Those interested who are not participating in the entire Summer School can still attend individual program events: Registration is still open for two public events.
On Monday, July 20, 2026, at 5:00 p.m., the public keynote address followed by a discussion, “Education for Global Change – A Holistic Approach,” will feature Jocelyn Joe-Strack. She is an Indigenous scientist from Yukon, Canada.
This will be followed on Thursday, July 23, 2026, at 5 p.m., by a public panel discussion featuring representatives from Survival International, a Right Livelihood Laureate, as well as representatives of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, the Maasai, and the Maya communities.
Those interested can find more information about the Summer School on the website of the Center for Teacher Education (ZLB).