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The event brought together more than 30 teacher educators and researchers from 19 universities across the country for two days of collaborative work, panel discussions, and workshops aimed at sharing experiences, identifying common challenges, and strengthening professional networks.
On December 17 and 18, the First Meeting of Language Teacher Educators, titled “Weaving a Network to Transform Initial Teacher Education in Language,” was held at the Villarrica Campus of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. The event was organized by the Education Laboratory of the Center for Mathematical Modeling (CMM) at the University of Chile.
The meeting was framed within the FONDEF IT24I0115 project, which builds on the successful work previously developed through RedFID—a support system for initial teacher education in mathematics. RedFID is a technological platform that hosts communities of practice, self-paced professional development courses, and a digital library of pedagogical resources. The platform was developed under the FONDEF ID21I10067 project, led by Prof. Salomé Martínez, Director of the Education Laboratory at CMM. RedFID currently brings together 76 mathematics teacher educators from 30 universities nationwide.
In this new phase, the project seeks to adapt and extend the RedFID model to the field of Language, promoting collaborative work among teacher educators from different Elementary Education programs across Chile.
The meeting established itself as a space for dialogue and collaborative engagement, focused on exchanging experiences, identifying shared challenges, and strengthening institutional networks. Its overarching goal was to collectively reflect on the current challenges facing initial teacher education in Language and to advance toward more systematic coordination among institutions.
“For us, as a campus, this meeting addresses a central challenge in teacher education: who educates the educators? By participating in this initiative, we are contributing to the construction of a response to that challenge through a network-based approach—an understanding of learning as inherently collective and collaborative,” stated Pilar Peña, Academic Director of the UC Villarrica Campus.
The program began with a presentation of the FONDEF IT24I0115 project, led by Helena Montenegro, Project Director and Associate Researcher at CMM, who outlined the process of transferring the RedFID model to the field of Language. This was followed by a keynote lecture on international trends in language teacher education delivered by Pelusa Orellana, faculty member at Universidad de los Andes.
“This meeting responds to an urgent need within initial teacher education in Language: the lack of formal spaces for professional development and dialogue among those who prepare future teachers. Strengthening network-based collaboration enables us to share experiences and build collective knowledge that directly impacts the quality of teacher preparation and, ultimately, the learning outcomes of future educators,” emphasized the project director.
Written by María Cecilia Paiva, Communications, UC Villarrica Campus, and Cintia Beltrán, Communications, CMM
Photographs courtesy of UC Villarrica Campus Communications
Posted on Jan 5, 2026 in News
