We are a group of teacher educators from three universities: in the US (University of Tennessee, Knoxville), New Zealand (University of Auckland) and in Australia (University of Melbourne). COLAB emerged over a number of years from our work and shared concerns with how preservice teacher education programs respond to our increasingly multicultural communities, locally and globally. Fuelled by these concerns COLAB builds on our own cross-cultural scholarship, understandings and experiences in our respective contexts. Some of these concerns included a common lack of preservice teacher attention to nuanced and critical understandings of others' (for instance refugees and migrants', or Indigenous) and their own cultural identity.

Dr. Sonja Arndt

Sonja Arndt is a Senior Lecturer in early childhood education at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, at the University of Melbourne, Australia. She is the Vice President of the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia (PESA) and is particularly interested in the use of philosophical inquiry in educational research, pedagogies and concerns. Her research and teaching focus on cross cultural studies, cultural identity formation and interculturality in early childhood education settings.

Dr. Samara Madrid Akpovo

Samara Madrid Akpovo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Child and Family Studies at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. Her research has focused on the emotional lives of adults and children in early childhood classrooms using collaborative ethnographic methods along with feminist and poststructural frameworks. Her research also examines early childhood pre-service teachers' development of cross-cultural and intercultural understandings. A central theme in her research has been to challenge and deconstruct normative ways of being, feeling, and knowing with young children and teachers in diverse social and cultural contexts.

Dr. Marek Tesar

Dr. Marek Tesar is the Associate Dean International and a Professor at the Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Auckland. His current scholarship is in global childhood studies and early childhood education in cross-country contexts. His work focuses on educational policy, philosophy, pedagogy, methodology and curriculum, and draws on his background as a qualified teacher as well as his extensive knowledge of international education systems.