Intercultural Teacher Education: Challenges and Ethical Dilemmas on an International Practicum (original) (raw)
Related papers
Global teachers as global learners: Intercultural teacher training in international settings
London Review of Education
The globally mobile teacher is a relatively new concept. This article draws on the experiences of seven teachers teaching in international contexts, who are currently undertaking an iPGCE (International Postgraduate Certificate in Education) – four of whom are co-authors of this article. Drawing on original data from written narratives and online discussions, as well as using collaborative writing as a form of inquiry, we locate these experiences within the field of intercultural education, problematize the notion of global mobility and identify the unique training needs of an emerging breed of teachers.
Building Teachers' Intercultural Competence through Study Abroad: A Collaborative Autoethnography
Comparative and international education serve as venues through which teachers can develop and acquire crucial intercultural competence to better serve their students. Study abroad allows teachers to be immersed in a different society, providing them the opportunity not only to learn about other cultures, but also to “see” their own culture through a comparative lens. While such study abroad programs are usually developed for pre-service teachers, it is less common for practicing teachers to participate in study abroad experiences, even though with actual, rather than hypothetical, classrooms in mind they may be better positioned to gain from such experiences. This collaborative autoethnography examines the influence of a short-term study abroad trip in South Africa on university instructors’ intercultural competence. Each participant was an instructor of a foundational course in education for pre- service teachers. Data were collected in the form of archival materials, self-reflection, coursework (the trip included work with South African graduate students and formal study of language planning and language policy), self- analysis, and pre- and post-trip interviews. Themes discussed include comparative construction of self, development of intercultural competence, and study abroad in teacher education.
Interchange
People of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds are now more than ever interacting with one another in work and social situations, mainly remotely during the midst of the pandemic. Intercultural education can prepare student teachers with the tools they need to interact effectively in a variety of intercultural situations with their colleagues, their principles and their students. In Bachelor of Education programs, providing student teachers with the skills, knowledge, and attitudes to be able to interact with individuals of different backgrounds and bring out the best in their students is essential. The aim of this narrative study was to understand the role of intercultural education in a Bachelor of Education program and to understand how and if intercultural education principles were implemented. Five student teachers were interviewed to determine how they perceived the role of intercultural education in the Bachelor of Education Program and what their understanding of this concept was. The themes that emerged from the findings were intercultural education was perceived as: (1) Awareness of the diversity of the students' backgrounds and (2) Engaging in practical activities and (3) Principles of intercultural education were embedded in some course modules but were not practical, (4) Challenges and (5) Suggestions. Overall, it was found that principles of intercultural education were implemented in the Bachelor of Education program to an extent, but the student teachers felt there was room for more focused activities specifically related to intercultural education.
The focus of this paper is to illustrate Australian regional pre-service teachers' perceptions of an international practicum: their cross-cultural understanding, notions of privilege and teacher/professional identity development. Findings indicate that there were three overlapping dimensions of cross-cultural understanding for pre-service teachers: distance, friction and flow. At times students acknowledged the value of their placement, yet indicated a lack of empathy and engagement with the culture visited. At other times there was clear frustration at the cultural differences, alongside a growth in awareness. The fullest dimension was where pre-service teachers and their students learnt from each other, signalling a sharing towards cross-cultural understanding. Implications of these findings aim to inform how international practicums are designed in the future, as well as signalling directions for further research relating to these border crossings.
Identity work in a dialogic international teaching practicum
Since the 1970s, international fieldwork has provided opportunities for small numbers of pre-service teachers to teach and learn in a culture different from their own. Research into this fieldwork suggests that pre-service teachers are positive about their experiences, although questions remain about the ethics underpinning some of these programs. This article reports on a dialogic model of international practicum, involving Australian pre-service students and two mentors authors of the essay) on a 22-day placement in South Africa. The authors begin with a traditional qualitative case study of the practicum program, identifying benefits for some students. They then proceed to use more reflexive ethnographic methods to tease out the complex identity work undertaken by pre-service teachers and their mentors as they negotiate cultural, pedagogical, and ethical challenges.
Journal of English Education and Teaching, 2023
Contrary to popular belief that field experience should be held in local settings, teacher education programs currently initiate networking with other countries through the international teaching practicum (ITP) program. Considering the platform's magnitude, this paper aims to explore the pre-service English teacher's experiences during ITP to build professional development of EFL potential teachers from various activities abroad. In this study, a narrative inquiry was implemented and supplemented with data obtained from Tina (pseudonym), an EFL pre-service teacher in one of the Indonesian universities who joined a four-month ITP program abroad, particularly in Thailand. In collecting the data, semi-structured in-depth interviews that emphasized five eligibility aspects were used. The findings reveal that the pre-service teacher reaped plenty of meaningful experience from ITP in terms of the classroom situation, the implementation of basic teaching skills, the period of success or failure in teaching, values for EFL teacher candidates in ITP, critical incidents, and students' general English competence after ITP. This study provides evidence and feedback for the institution for better planning and organization in implementing practicum. Further, it implies equipping student-teachers with sufficient skill and competence related to adaptability, cultural identity, fear, and emotions in facing challenging English Megawati, et al. Narratives of Experiences in International Teaching Practicum: Lessons from an EFL Pre-Service Teacher 1157 instruction in the future through multiple exposures to teaching instruments and supporting situated environment facilities.
The effect of intercultural narrative reflection in shaping pre-service teachers’ future practice
Reflective Practice: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives, 2015
Teachers' development of critical cultural skills is integral to their awareness of what and how they teach as well as how they communicate with students in the multilingual, multicultural classrooms of today. This research reports the analysis of 33 pre-service teachers' written narrative reflections. The reflective writing task was designed to elicit description and analysis of their experiences of linguistic and cultural difference (termed 'intercultural'). The study examined what learning is afforded by the reflective task and how this learning is evaluated by the participants. The reflective narratives were analysed using a four-type model to identify writing characteristics and degree of intercultural awareness. Findings show that overall, the reflective narrative was a catalyst for critical intercultural understanding for the pre-service teachers, was effective in supporting personal affirmations of background and prior knowledge, and sharpened awareness of their role in opening up critical cultural thinking in their future classrooms. This study demonstrates that a structured reflective narrative task can enhance an active and continuous process of personal and professional growth for all teachers.
Intercultural Education, 2009
As the US student population becomes increasingly diverse, teacher education programs need to enable prospective teachers to meet the varied needs and expectations of students and families, while, simultaneously, creating viable classroom communities. Learning opportunities, such as travel and teaching abroad, and the perceptions of "otherness" this creates, lead to new perspectives regarding human differences. Such experiences, if wisely structured, can rectify misconceptions and reverse stereotypes. This paper explores the impact of teaching-related travel on novice teachers' cultural understandings and professional identity. The paper will discuss how prospective teachers challenge their perceptions of their professional self through international field experiences. The goal is to begin a discussion that explores the internationalization of teacher training. We will also discuss the role such training can play in the expansion and increased flexibility of classroom practices for teachers and, through them, the growth in international awareness and the intercultural sensitivity of their students.
Interculturality in teacher education in times of unprecedented global challenges
Education and Society, 2020
As societies face unprecedented challenges that are global in scope and “more-than-wicked” in nature, the usual educational response has been to emphasize the need for more knowledge, better policies, and more compelling arguments, in order to effectively convince more people to change their convictions, and, as a consequence, their behaviour. This approach guides policies on compulsory and higher education, including teacher education ‘for the 21st century’, on both sides of the Atlantic. Our research collective, however, has been experimenting with a different educational orientation that does not see the problems of the present primarily as rooted in a methodological challenge of better strategies (i.e. the call for more effective policies and communications), nor in an epistemological challenge of knowing (i.e. the call for more data, information or perspectives). Rather, we propose that the problems are rooted in an ontological challenge of being (i.e. the call to address how we exist in relation to each other and the planet). From this educational orientation, intercultural education acquires an existential dimension oriented towards an expansion of social and ecological responsibilities beyond categories associated with markets and nation states. In this paper we will share analyses and social cartographies that illustrate a different way of approaching what enables and constraints our possibilities for co-existence and discuss implications for interculturality in teacher education in Canada and the UK in times of unprecedented global challenges.