Funds of Knowledge in Teacher Education: Sustaining Local Diversity Amidst Global Standards

Key concepts emerge in the field of teacher education, showcasing practices needed to keep pace with new evolutions across global societies. The first of these concepts is glocalization, interactions between the global and local spaces that emerge as third cultures, including K-12 and teacher education formal and informal learning spaces. Glocalization shapes discussions about diversity, including how it is experienced, understood, and conceptualized. It highlights the education practices, policies, and standards needed to support and sustain diversity. K-12 and teacher education spaces, and the practitioners therein, have key roles to play in helping students and societies build meaningful connections within global and local dynamics. Funds of Knowledge in Teacher Education: Sustaining Local Diversity Amidst Global Standards explores teacher education and professional development practices for glocal sustainability. It brings together key intersections of global-local diversity, such as culture, language, ecology, and highlights the interdependence of these intersections. Covering topics such as culturally responsive practices, co-learning, and intercultural communication, this book is an excellent resource for educators, sustainability practitioners, business owners, researchers, academicians, and more.

Laura B. Liu , Ed.D., is Associate Professor of Teacher Education and English as a New Language Program Coordinator at Indiana University Columbus. Her research focuses on glocalization, diversity sustaining teaching practices, and international professional development. Before IU Columbus, Laura served as faculty at Beijing Normal University’s Center for Teacher Education Research (2014-2015) and earned a postdoctoral degree (2012-2014) on teacher education faculty international professional development. She also served as Academic Specialist at Indiana University Bloomington's Center for International Education Development and Research (CIEDR) from 2015-2017. Laura completed her doctorate in multicultural teacher education (2010) and earned her National Board Teaching Certification (2004) as a high school English Language Arts teacher and English Language Development program coordinator.

Naashia Mohamed is a Senior Lecturer in TESOL at the University of Auckland. Her teaching and research advance understandings of how educational institutions and broader societal structures can promote social equity for racially and linguistically marginalised children, youth, and families. Central to her scholarship is a focus on identity – particularly how multilingual learners' ethnolinguistic and cultural identities intersect with language learning and schooling experiences. She foregrounds the role of home languages and cultural knowledge as critical resources that not only support second language acquisition and literacy development but also affirm students’ sense of self and belonging. Through critical analyses of educational policies and classroom practices in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Maldives, Naashia advocates for asset-based, identity-affirming approaches that recognise multilingual learners as capable, resourceful, and agentive participants in their educational journeys.

Ching-Ching Lin is a Taiwan-born teacher educator currently teaching in the TESOL and Bilingual Education programs at Adelphi University. Her research centers on culturally and linguistically sustaining education, with a particular focus on diversity as a strategic action for systemic change and the ways these dimensions intersect. Drawing on her lived experience as a diasporic scholar from the Global South navigating U.S. educational spaces, Dr. Lin’s work critically examines power, identity, and equity in language education. She is the co-editor and contributing author of the following two edited volumes: Internationalization in Action: Leveraging Diversity and Inclusion in the Globalized Classroom (Peter Lang, 2020), and Reimagining Dialogue on Identity, Language, and Power (Multilingual Matters, 2023).

Clara Vaz Bauler is an Associate Professor at Adelphi University’s Ruth S. Ammon College of Education and Health Sciences, where she specializes in TESOL and Bilingual Education. She holds a Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a focus on Applied Linguistics and Cultural Perspectives and Comparative Education. Dr. Bauler’s research critically examines how dominant standard language ideologies continue to shape educational practices, often to the detriment of culturally and linguistically diverse students. Her recent scholarship advocates for a paradigm shift toward more multilingual, multimodal, and inclusive pedagogies in both K–12 and teacher education settings.

Kirti Kapur , is a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at HPU, HI, USA, has a 34-year long career in the teaching of English Language. She has taught in both schools and colleges across India and since her appointment at the National Council of Educational Research and Training, New Delhi (India) in 2000 she has worked in curriculum design, syllabus, textbook development, and teacher professional development. She also holds certifications in Critical Thinking, Assessment and Special Education Needs from University of Maryland and University of Oregon, USA. She has also been a key member of NCERT led research on Teaching of English as Second Language, Multiculturalism, Multilingual Education and CPD of Teachers. As a teacher trainer and academic consultant, she has worked with educational institutions in India and the SAARC countries. A recipient of the Ray Tongue scholarship and Trinity College London Teacher Trainer Scholarship awarded by IATEFL, UK, and the International TESOL, USA award for Professional Development she has represented India at several national and international fora. She has conducted 100+ training sessions across the country. She has also trained teachers from Afghanistan, Tibet and Mauritius. Dr. Kapur has contributed over 90 papers including three books (national and international) on cultural contexts and language learning. Dr. Kapur also edits and contributes to several national level journals on Education.