Transcultural teacher development within the dialectic of the global and local: Bridging gaps between East and West

Amid far-reaching global social and economic changes, increasing diversity and growing interdependency, teachers play important roles in creating successful futures for both individuals and society. Within the dialectic of global and local, and with increasing connectivity amongst teachers, opportunities for transformational learning fostering empathy, global citizenship, and social justice are unprecedented. Thus, teacher education reform should facilitate transcultural collaboration, collegiality and critical perspectives to counter Western hegemony of knowledge, Eurocentric education, neo-colonialism, and neoliberal/conservative agendas. This paper investigates these issues and teachers' personal practical and professional knowledge through narratives of West-to-East and East-to-West transcultural journeys as teacher educators.