Pathways for Refugee and (Im)migrant Teachers: Welcoming Transnational Educator Talent & Addressing #TeachersMissing
By Julie Kasper, Director of Teacher Learning & Leadership, Center for Professional Learning
A recent blog post by Childhood Education International’s Julie Kasper was featured by the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030. An excerpt from the post is below, along with a link to read the full article on the Teacher Task Force website.
Pathways for refugee and (im)migrant teachers: Welcoming transnational educator talent to schools and addressing #TeachersMissing
As the Teacher Task Force’s #TeachersMissing campaign and the UNESCO Global Report on Teachers have made clear, there is a crisis in recruiting and retaining an additional 44 million teachers worldwide to achieve universal access to primary and secondary school by 2030.
What is hidden, perhaps, and particularly devastating about this statistic is the fact that there are talented and dedicated teachers who have been forcibly displaced from their homes and resettled/migrated to a new country who are eager to rejoin the teaching profession but are barred or not warmly welcomed to do so.
How can these “missing” teachers be supported in reconnecting with their passion?
How can they fulfil their purpose as classroom teachers in their new country of residence?
The Center for Professional Learning (CPL) at Childhood Education International has been exploring answers to these questions over the past year through their Pathways to Teaching Project (PTP). This project is focused on supporting individuals of refugee and (im)migrant backgrounds, called PTP Fellows, now living in the United States as they learn, network, and develop unique plans for navigating hurdles to join the U.S. teacher workforce.
Funded by the New Schools Venture Fund and in partnership with local and state educational authorities, talent management staff, workforce development programmes, refugee/(im)migrant service organizations, higher education and alternative certification programmes, and a generous team of supporters comprised largely of diverse classroom teachers, PTP Fellows from around the world spent eight months learning about U.S. education systems and certification and licensure requirements.
About the Author
Julie Kasper, Director of Teacher Learning & Leadership
Julie Kasper is Director of Teacher Learning & Leadership at Childhood Education International’s Center for Professional Learning.
She has a master’s in TESOL from Teachers College, Columbia University and is a National Board Certified Teacher in English as a New Language. She taught in K-12 and adult education classrooms for more than 16 years, the majority of that time in secondary ESL classrooms in New York City and Tucson, Arizona.
Julie served as Refugee School Coordinator for Tucson from 2014-2018 and joined the Center for Professional Learning (formerly the Center for Learning in Practice) in the summer of 2018 to lead the Refugee Educator Academy initiative. Julie is also currently pursuing her doctorate in Educational Leadership as a University Fellow at the University of Arizona.
About the Pathways to Teaching Project
The Pathways to Teaching Project supports aspiring educators with refugee and (im)migrant backgrounds in the U.S., while addressing teacher shortages and diversifying the U.S. teacher workforce.