The 2010 ECER theme: Education and Cultural Change, reflects and acknowledges the impact of globalisation on all levels of education. Classrooms throughout the world are increasingly diverse in terms of culture, ethnicity, language, ability and family profiles. This diversity, coupled with theoretical arguments related to societal changes in ‘knowledge societies’ and postmodernity has prompted calls for teacher education to better meet the diversity, complexity and uncertainty of the 21^st century. Snoek (2003) has suggested that education systems generally lag behind the reality of other parts of society and that there is a need for teacher education curricula to be future-oriented and sensitive to changes in society. The altered social, economic, political and cultural conditions of contemporary societies create challenges for higher education, and suggest the need for multidimensional approaches and epistemologies (Roth & Salander, 2008).

If teacher education is to remain relevant to the increasingly diverse needs of schools in the 21^st century, it must prepare teachers (who continue to represent cultural, ethnic and linguistic majorities) to teach students who are not like them. This requires teachers to perceive knowledge, learning and education as contingent, contextual and complex as opposed to a traditional understanding of knowledge as universal, cumulative and linear. The diversity represented in most 21^st century classrooms, requires teachers who not only understand that there are different ways of knowing and being, but who can also engage with the pedagogical implications of this.

Drawing on the literature that emphasises the need for a re-conceptualisation of knowledge and learning in educational policies and practices in contemporary societies (Andreotti & Souza, 2008; Cope & Kalantzis, 2000; Gee, 2003; Gilbert, 2005; Hargreaves, 2003; Lankshear & Knobel, 2003; OECD, 2000; UNESCO, 2005), this paper presents investigations into changes in curriculum design and pedagogical approaches in teacher education programmes in Austria and New Zealand. This paper describes the research settings, the perceived obstacles and the tools implemented to re-negotiate ways of knowing within the academic space and to shift students’ epistemological beliefs. It outlines case studies in Austria and New Zealand which used similar tools for creating spaces for exploring and negotiating ideas of knowledge and knowing and their implications for education and social relations.

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