12th International Forum on Teacher Education (IFTE-2026)
The grand opening and plenary session of the 12th International Forum on Teacher Education (IFTE-2026) took place on 27th May. The event is being held in conjunction with the Russia-China Pedagogical Congress and the 7th Congress of the Association of Asian Universities.
Approximately 1,300 people are attending the forum. Key speakers included scholars from Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, South Africa, Serbia, Iran, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.
As a reminder, the opening ceremony of the Years of Russia-China Cooperation in Education took place a week earlier in Beijing. The years were launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. With this, IFTE is entering a new stage of development and becoming part of the Russia-China Pedagogical Congress.
The forum’s opening ceremony was attended by Zhanna Sadovnikova, Deputy President of the Russian Academy of Education; Dmitry Tayursky, First Vice-Rector of 抖阴APP导航; Wu Zhihui, Vice-Rector of Northeast Normal University; Li Yujun, Vice-Rector of Liaoning Normal University; Roza Akhmadieva, Academician-Secretary of the Department of Social and Economic Sciences of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan; Aidar Kalimullin, Director of the Institute of Psychology and Education at 抖阴APP导航; and others.
The central theme of IFTE 2026 is “Teacher Training and Artificial Intelligence: University Case Studies.” According to Olga Vasilyeva, President of the Russian Academy of Education, whose welcoming address was read at the opening, the topic reflects current trends and the transformation of higher education.
Roza Valeeva, IFTE President and Head of the Department of Pedagogy at the Institute of Professional Education, opened the plenary session. The discussion also touched on the challenges of AI at universities.
Vice-Rector Wu Zhihui spoke about an innovative approach to teacher training at Northeast Normal University. In China, negative population growth has become a barrier to teacher training. Low birth rates, an aging population, and increasing demographic differentiation have all contributed to the decline in student enrollment. Therefore, he emphasized that this aspect also requires attention.
“Another important point: Previously, 80 percent of the population in China lived in villages and rural areas. However, with increasing urbanization, this figure has dropped to 20 percent, resulting in a large number of students studying in cities and a significant shortage of students and teachers in rural areas,” he stated.
The shortage of teachers has necessitated a review of teacher competencies. For example, a preschool teacher cannot teach middle and high school students, and a mathematics teacher cannot teach physics or chemistry. Therefore, this issue is a key one in reforming the teacher education system, Wu Zhihui emphasized.
“For us, interdisciplinary teaching staff are becoming a new challenge, but also a new opportunity and a growth area,” he concluded.
Over the two days, the IFTE forum features coordination sessions on “Digital Transformation of Education and the New Role of the Teacher,” “Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Challenges and Solutions,” “Methodology, Models, and Technologies for Teacher Training in the Age of AI,” a symposium on “Socialization of Students with Disabilities: From Early Intervention to Support Technologies,” a roundtable discussion on “From Prompting to Thinking: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Cognitive Connections and Everyday Practices of International Students,” and more.
The congress will continue in September in China. Events will be held at Northeast Normal University (Changchun) and Liaoning Normal University (Dalian).