Focus and Scope of Journal
Overseen by a guest editor and a diverse group of peers, each issue addresses a theme of pressing importance to teachers. Our inaugural issue, for example, focused on the eight Millennium Development Goals. Based upon a conference of teachers assembled in Gombe State, Nigeria, teachers addressed a range of issues, from the role of technology (Ali Usman Abdullahi) to teacher shortages (Mark Odinaka Okonkwo) to science education (I.U. Jongur, Abba Zubainatu, Aisha Mohammed) to vocational education (F.I. Gundu, S.A. Inedu).
We encourage new ideas on how the journal can maintain its vitality in the form of collaborative video, webinars, field testing, classroom applications, lessons, short courses, galleries, annotated bibliographies of current articles in related/sister journals, and discussions of burning issues.
Added Feature: Postcards from the Field – Your Voice
In addition to the scholarship in The Voice of Teachers, we invite descriptive pieces: what’s current, newsworthy, and innovative. This section is descriptive rather than formal, an impulse rather than a research initiative, an editorial forum rather than an in-depth study. This is an opportunity for creativity – the teachers’ voice – unleashed. Art is welcomed.
Teachers Without Borders was inspired by a set of interactions between teachers that took place when the founder was writing his dissertation on the qualities and context of education for the 21st century. After only a few exchanges between a Nicaraguan teacher and Norwegian teacher, it was clear that teachers learn best from each other. The Norwegian invited the Nicaraguan to visit and see snow for the first time. The Nicaraguan invited the Norwegian to taste local cuisine. Soon, they began to share ideas and lessons, opportunities and challenges. Imagine such an endeavour on a global scale.
Why The Voice of Teachers?
Despite proclamations about the power of education to catalyse international development, the teacher’s voice has been traditionally ignored, dismissed outright, or marginalized (Reimers & Reimers, 1996). Recently, teachers have been subjected to the messianic fervor and marketing of unsubstantiated “solutions” and impacts in the form of 2.0 technologies. If only teachers would use this new device, this “killer-app,” or that piece of software, then standards would be met, surveillance of student progress would be assured, parents would be informed, and whole schools complete in the 21st century skill-based marketplace. Just click, point, download, press, buy.
We acknowledge that some tools are extraordinary, indeed, and can lead to new levels of interactivity, rapid feedback, saved time, grounded research, and improved student engagement. However, the influx is dizzying, and many are pitched as “teacher-proof” and “simple enough for a teacher to use.” Education has also become a huge, untapped market. Buyer beware.
Teachers Without Borders embraces technology, but on our own terms. The Voice of Teachers journal, in fact, is accessible online. Ours, however, is a high-tech, high-touch, high-teach enterprise. Technology must be accompanied by excellent teaching, and excellent teaching must be informed by communities of practice – online and offline – when the electricity is on and when the electricity is off.
We teachers may not be policy makers or political leaders. We are, however, the largest professionally trained group in the world and the pulse of a society. The issues we face are fundamental to human development. We serve our communities and think about our work every day. It is only natural that our ideas be published, embraced by our global colleagues, and available and accessible, like an educational baton capable of traveling the world. No passport required.
Dear reader and contributor, we urge you to consider The Voice of Teachers as a clearinghouse of our collective intelligence, an exciting organ of advocacy, a café filled with new friends, and a symbol of our collective responsibility.
Please contact Dr. Fred Mednick for information on how to contribute to this journal or submit your manuscript here.
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Reimers, E. & Reimers, F. (1996). Where are 60 million teachers? The missing voice in educational reforms around the world. Prospects, vol. XXVI, no.3.
Teachers Without Borders
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