Internationalisation in higher education was primarily defined as the process of integrating an international, intercultural or global dimension into the purpose, functions or ways of delivery of tertiary education (Knight, 2003). Hence, internationalisation can be assumed either as a response to globalisation or as an agent of globalisation itself. In this context, the internationalisation of teacher education, which is considered a sub-field in teacher education, seems to derive from international/global education in general and particularly from the internationalisation of higher education (Koh et al., 2022). It emerges together with the recognition of teaching as a cosmopolitan work and profession amidst critical and economic relations to flows, contexts and consequences linked to the globalisation of dimensions centred on economy and culture (Luke, 2004). Apparently, the internationalisation of teacher education has become imperative in the last decades, with important global players in education, such as UNESCO and the OECD, devoting themselves to developing and endorsing policies to enhance education and societies (Sieber & Mantel, 2012). Obviously, while internationalisation is comprehended as a means to develop society as a whole, in light of an international competence that reveals to be critical to the cultural, technological, economic and political health of nations, institutions and individuals (Yemini et al., 2017), different organisations influencing its processes certainly detain varied, if not opposing, purposes (Sieber & Mantel, 2012). Within this scenario, more recently, the internationalisation debate has also shed light on a different nuance – the idea of internationalisation at home, i.e., the purposeful integration of international and intercultural dimensions into the formal and informal curriculum for all students in the scope of domestic learning environments (Beelen & Jones, 2015). Internationalisation at home is realised as promoting the development of international/global understanding and intercultural skills (Wächter, 2016) while equipping students with transversal competencies essential to thrive in a globalised world (Beelen & Jones, 2015). The approached theoretical framework is the basis of the project DITE – Diverse Internationalisation of Teacher Education, which focuses on the element of internationalisation (at home) to increase the capabilities of future teachers by sensitising Teacher Education students to international perspectives. The project network comprises six partners, namely, two networks specialised in the theme of internationalisation, and four higher education institutions spread over three countries - Portugal, Spain and Poland. In the project's first phase, an empirical study was led to explore the current state of the internationalisation of teacher education in the participating higher education institutions. In this communication, we explore the results of this study, organising how different stakeholders (course directors, teacher educators, students, etc.) conceptualise internationalisation and associated values, challenges, enablers and barriers.

The empirical study that informs this communication was led under the project DITE – Diverse Internationalisation of Teacher Education (2021-1-PL01-KA220-HED-000031129), which focuses on the element of internationalisation to increase the capabilities of future teachers by sensitising Teacher Education students to international perspectives. DITE relies especially on internationalisation at home (IaH), counterbalancing the usual perspective on mobility, to develop a model of globalised teacher education through diverse internationalisation with a focus on students becoming teachers in upper secondary education. At the beginning of the project, the team conducted research centred on understanding the current state of internationalisation of teacher education in the context of four higher education institutions which are partners in this endeavour, namely, the University of Porto (Portugal), the University of Szczecin (Poland), the Adam Mickiewicz University (Poland) and the University Rovira i Virgili (Spain). The collected data consists of 25 interviews carried out with different higher education stakeholders, such as students, teacher educators, course directors, department directors and a vice-dean. Moreover, a series of six focus groups were organised with course directors, teacher educators and students. These materials were transcribed and categorised according to content analysis techniques. The analysis of thematic nature resulted in a model arranged around six main domains: conceptualisation of internationalisation of teacher education (ITE), values underpinning ITE, enablers of ITE, barriers to ITE, challenges of ITE and good practices of ITE. A series of suggestions for fostering the ITE were also put together based on the overall results.

The results of our study centred on the current state of internationalisation of teacher education in four European higher education institutions suggest that, in these contexts, internationalisation of teacher education is understood as an attempt to incorporate a global and/or intercultural perspective in daily teaching. Different stakeholders agree that the focus is to broaden students’ (future teachers’) horizons and help them realise global problems and think of international solutions in the teaching profession. Overall, the internationalisation of teacher education has positive connotations, although its potential risks are not ignored – e.g., the indoctrination aspect, which might be activated via processes of knowledge transference. Also, different actors realise cooperation is a key idea when portraying internationalisation. This concept is commonly linked to values in the scope of cultural sharing, inclusion and respect for diversity. Regarding challenges, there is agreement that labour market dynamics interfere with fostering teacher education internationalisation, the same way rigid national systems for teacher education may emerge as an issue. A final remark would be that achieving an overarching strategy towards internationalisation of teacher education at the university level is a key factor if successful and sustainable practices are meant to be implemented.

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