Last month, 15 Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) students in the Faculty of Education at Stellenbosch University (SU) participated in the first ever inter-continental dialogue with PGCE students at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The virtual dialogue session took place at SU's Faculty of Education.

According to Prof Nuraan Davids, Chairperson of the Department of Education Policy Studies at SU, the research project aims to explore whether students' awareness and understanding of the principles of dialogue can be promoted through intercultural encounter with their peers at other universities via a digital platform provided by the 'Generation Global' initiative. It draws on the expertise of Generation Global a not-for-profit educational organisation, which focuses on bringing students together via digital platforms – in this case, three universities from different global locations. Students are invited to participate in a series of virtual discussions, each lasting about 90 minutes. After each dialogue, students are invited to respond to their experience through 'collage production' of an online photo album.

Davids says the project builds on an existing partnership between university-based teacher educators and philosophers in three contrasting contexts – Hong Kong, South Africa and South West England – and has been broadened to include colleagues from intercultural and policy studies, students and other teacher educators. 

“We find this particular collaborative approach especially useful in that it brings together both convergent and divergent ways of thinking and being in the world."

She adds that the project is invaluable because conventionally, pre-service teacher education programmes pay limited, or no attention to the professional judgement of teachers. Teachers, therefore, are often left inadequately prepared to deal with the complexities of teaching and learning.

“The project is concerned with the role that a philosophical dimension, broadly conceived, can play in helping new and novice teachers develop their professional judgement during preservice formation. The collaboration seeks to re-assert the place of the civic university and to develop new kinds of educational relations with forms that are embedded within varying cultural and philosophical sensibilities."

Davids says in an increasingly globalised world, participating in a project that promotes awareness of the principles of intercultural dialogue and seeks to develop intercultural understanding through this means on line is likely to help students establish useful skills for the future.

“Participants who are themselves considering entering a career in teaching may go on to use Generation Global with their own students and could find that this project provides them with a useful introduction."

She adds that the project has led to a deeper appreciation of both the complexity and future possibilities for encouraging ethical deliberation through reflective intercultural international dialogue.

• Main photo: Kelly Seach, Dillion Seals, Ashely Nieman and Adriaan Oosthuizen were among the PGCE students from SU who participated in the inter-continental dialogue.
• Photo 1: Students from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.