29th May, the opening day of IFTE 2019, was packed with major events.
Rector Ilshat Gafurov opened the morning plenary session by saying, in particular, “For KFU scientists this forum is first and foremost a research platform to study national and international practices and to present our own teacher education models which have been in development since 2011. We are currently one of the three teacher education in the nation, with 9 thousand pedagogy students in 42 undergraduate and 37 graduate programs. Moreover, every year 10 thousand professional teachers come to receive advanced training here.”
The Rector thanked over 600 participants from 140 Russian and 75 overseas universities.
Minister of Education and Science of Tatarstan Rafis Burganov, Rector of Moscow Pedagogical State University Aleksey Lubkov and President of the Russian Academy of Education Yury Zinchenko joined Dr. Gafurov by offering their welcoming words.
The most lighthearted moment came at the end of the opening ceremony, when President of the International Korczak Association Marek Michalak bestowed the Order of the Smile on Irina Demakova, Vice-President of the Russian Korczak Society. As is compulsory for all recipients, she bravely consumed a full glass of lemon juice and smiled afterwards, having been supported by a standing applause from the audience.
Later in the day, the co-organizers convened at the Institute of Psychology and Education for a plenary discussion of the Russian Academy of Education. Inter alia, rural small-scale schools, teacher motivation and professional adaptation of young teachers were discussed.
After the discussion, all the forum participants were invited to an evening reception.
