Purdy, N. (2018) Stories from an ongoing conversation: SCoTENS as a forum for sustaining cross-border cooperation for teacher education

Abstract

Set in the broader global context of increasingly buttressed borders, on course towards Brexit and within the distinctive historic-political crucible of Ireland north and south, this paper examines the value created by a unique network of teacher educators from north and south of the Irish border which was first conceived following the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement (GFA) in 1998. Rejoicing in its distinctively unwieldy acronym, SCoTENS (the Standing Conference on Teacher Education, North and South) was set up to create a safe and welcoming space for teacher educators to come together and discuss issues of common interest, and to explore ways of co-operating closely together. It may be the only network of its kind operating across a contested border in the world.