Developing place-attentive teaching and learning in initial teacher education in Scotland through the pillars of Arctic pedagogy

The University of the Highlands and Islands has adapted its Initial Teacher Education PGDE programmes by drawing on the five pillars of Arctic Pedagogy: language, digitalisation, community, elders, and culture. Through ongoing cycles of practitioner enquiry, reflective tasks have been redesigned to help student teachers connect with the places and communities of their school placements. Initial challenges, especially for secondary teachers, led to revisions emphasising ‘place’ over ‘artefacts’. This evolving Northern pedagogical approach aims to strengthen cultural awareness, confidence, and contextual teaching across Scotland’s diverse educational settings.