Erasmus+ Symposium at the University College of Teacher Education Tyrol, April 16, 2026
Context: The symposium is part of a collaborative learning project between Gulu University for Community Transformation in Northern Uganda and the University College of Teacher Education Tyrol in Austria. Both institutions train future teachers for school systems that are based on competence-oriented approaches to teaching and learning, while viewing sustainable development as a guiding principle. Against this background, the collaboration focuses on a shared interest in developing transformative approaches to competence-based learning (CBL) in teacher education.
Topic: The UNESCO Futures of Education report calls for a new social contract in education aimed at repairing planetary injustices and transforming human and ecological futures. At the same time, teacher education and school curricula worldwide are increasingly shaped by competence-based models often aligned with human capital theory. This tension raises fundamental questions about the purpose, orientation, and implications of CBL.
Goal: The symposium aims to critically discuss CBL at the intersection of instrumental and emancipatory understandings of education. Ugandan and Austrian perspectives on service-learning offer a focal point for examining how CBL can be embedded within broader visions of transformative and humanizing education. Key questions of the symposium include:
- How can competence-based approaches to education align with transformative understandings of education?
- Can service-learning act as a catalyst for fostering skills within a broader vision of a humanizing and just education?
- What concrete examples and success factors of service-learning in teacher education can be identified in Uganda and Austria?
Target group: The symposium is aimed at university lecturers, students, teachers, education professionals, social workers, and anyone interested in international education issues.
Participation is free of charge; please register via email to mario.voetsch@ph-tirol.ac.at
Informationen über das Projekt "Kompetenzorientierung in der Lehrer:innenbildung"