Catalyzing Cultural and Global Competencies: Engaging Preservice Teachers in Study Abroad to Expand the Agency of Citizenship (original) (raw)
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Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 2019
For students to become global citizens they need globally competent teachers. The purpose of this article is to describe and compare the development of global competencies in teacher candidates who participated in international teaching-focused study abroad programs. The article is framed by Critical Cosmopolitan Theory (Byker, 2013), which offers a lens for the development of global competencies through the fusion of critical consciousness (Freire, 1970) and cosmopolitanism (Appiah, 2010). In the field of teacher education, study abroad experiences can help enhance teacher candidates’ commitment to culturally responsive teaching practices (Gay, 2002) and intercultural awareness (Hammer, Bennett, & Wiseman, 2003). The article reports on two case studies of study abroad programs for U.S. teacher candidates. One case study focuses on a study abroad program in China (n=13) and the other case study focuses on a study abroad program in South Africa (n=22). The article compares the teache...
Teaching Abroad: Creating Global Citizens and Global Teachers
eJournal of Public Affairs, 2015
This article discusses international study programs in light of faculty development. Based upon ten years of experience working with students abroad, I offer some insights on the difficulties and rewards for faculty who lead programs overseas. I point to reasons for the growth in study abroad programs, as well as the opportunities these afford for both faculty and students.
This comparative case study analyzes two study abroad experiences for preservice teachers—a 4-month student teaching placement in Sweden and a 3-week intensive intercultural course with school observations in France. Although they differed in duration and structure, both programs focused on developing preservice teachers' understandings of diversity and pedagogy in a global context. Using transformative learning theory (Mezirow, 1991) and drawing on grounded theory methods, research questions included (1) What are preservice teachers' experiences in two different study abroad programs focused on local/global diversity and pedagogy? (2) According to participants, what programmatic elements contribute to transformative learning experiences in such programs? Results underscore the need for relevant and interactive assignments, hands-on experiences, and support for personal growth in programs that aim to help preservice teachers " go global. " Implications are raised for future research, teacher education, and university programming.
Developing Global Citizenship Consciousness: Case Studies of Critical Cosmopolitan Theory
Journal of Research in Curriculum Instruction, 2016
Purpose-This paper investigates and reports on the study abroad experiences of 22 teacher candidates from the Southeast region of the USA (n ¼ 22). The purpose of this paper is to examine the teacher candidates' development of social and emotional learning through their international teaching experiences. Design/methodology/approach-The study is framed by Critical Cosmopolitan Theory, which is a theoretical lens for a critical understanding of the development of global competencies for critical consciousness. The paper uses a case study research design (Yin, 2008), which included data collected via artifact analysis, participant interviews and participant observation through field notes. Findings-The study found how the study abroad and international teaching experiences were instrumental in aiding in the teacher candidates' social and emotional learning. This included the adoption of culturally responsive teaching practices, development of reading the world and enactment of taking action to rewrite the world. Research limitations/implications-One of the limitations is the relatively small sample size. This is due, in part, to the high cost associated with study abroad. The high cost of study abroad can be a barrier for students to access the cross-cultural experiences afforded by study abroad. The hefty price tag of study abroad often limits the number of teacher candidates at public institutions who can go on study abroad (Malewski and Phillion, 2009). A future research agenda is needed about ways to help offset the costs in order to make study abroad more affordable and equitable. Practical implications-The practical implications of this paper are that it provides an instructive lens for how to integrate social and emotional learning within a study abroad experience. At the same time, the paper connects socio-emotional learning (SEL) with the development of global competencies and global citizenship. Social implications-The social implications relate to the practical implications in that the paper illustrates how SEL is connected to the development of global citizenship development. The study weds the critical cosmopolitan framework with SEL to show how learners develop empathy through reading and rewriting the world. Originality/value-The case study presented in this paper highlights the possibilities of study abroad in tandem with international teaching experiences to help prepare teachers with SEL features like fostering empathy, developing culturally responsive practices, and becoming critically conscious and cosmopolitan. The study fills a gap in the literature regarding the development of SEL among elementary education teacher candidates through study abroad and international teaching experiences.
Canadian Journal of Education/Revue canadienne de l'éducation
Baecher's edited volume, Study Abroad for Pre-service and In-service Teachers: Transformative Learning on a Global Scale, provides an overview of research being conducted in pre-service and in-service teacher study abroad programs worldwide, referred to throughout the book more simply as teacher study abroad. The 273-page book contains 18 chapters from 43 contributors. It is divided into three sections with Section 1 covering chapters 1-7; Section 2, chapters 8-14; and Section 3, chapters 15-18. As a study abroad researcher and former pre-service study abroad program director, I was eager to read this book, as study abroad in professional programs is understudied in comparison with study abroad in language learning contexts, therefore this book promised to shed light on findings unique to the profession of teaching. Section 1 highlights the role of intentionality in instructional design in teacher study abroad toward goals of global competence, global citizenship, and global readiness. These goals are common among programs with strong structural analysis and strong intercultural foci (Shultz, 2010). In other words, the authors speak to the need for education to "engage students as critical thinkers able to understand the historical, cultural, and socioeconomic processes and structures" and "learn how to engage in the relations that are surfaced in a globalized world… to transform these structures" (p. 16). Strengths of this section are its mix of outgoing (Chapters 1-4; 7) and incoming (Chapters 5-6) desti
Reimagining the Curriculum in Study Abroad: Globalizing Multiculturalism to Prepare Future Teachers
Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad
This article discusses research that indicates that the lived experience of studying abroad provides preservice teachers the intellectual and critical starting point for multicultural awareness of the educational, social, and political relationships between their lives and other cultures. With course work and field experiences that are grounded in multicultural life-experience, the authors argue that preservice teachers begin to develop the awareness, sensitivity, and skills they urgently need to bridge the gap between White teachers and their historically underprivileged student populations and to understand the rapidly diversifying classrooms in which they will teach.
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.
Experiencing the Local to Become Global: A Portrait of Teaching and Learning Abroad
Journal of International Social Studies, 2015
This case study analyzes the experiences of two first-year American (U.S.) social studies teachers, Sam and Libby, working aboard. Over the course of the year, these two teachers developed an understanding of place and themselves as global educators. Using place-based theory (Sobel, 1994) and drawing on case study methodology, the research question is: How do international teaching experiences impact in-service teachers' identities as global educators? I interviewed Sam and Libby six times over the course of one calendar year about their teaching and living experiences in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, their first-year teaching as well as their thoughts on global teaching and learning. Findings show each teacher developed a growing understanding of place and their identity as global educators. The implications of these understandings have an impact on their work as social studies teachers and ways in which international experiences may be used to facilitate better global understandings. Recommendations for future research, teacher education, and in-service teacher professional development are identified.
Shifting Teacher Cultural Awareness and Teaching through Study Abroad Experiences
International Journal of Multidisciplinary Perspectives in Higher Education, 2018
Preservice teacher study abroad experiences and its influence on cultural awareness and teaching is explored in this paper. Participants in this study include preservice teachers from a large teacher education program. Teacher reflections and one-on-one semi-structured interview data were gathered, transcribed, coded, and analyzed for themes. The preservice teacher responses show generally an overall positive study abroad experience. Through their study abroad experiences, the preservice teachers learned about a different culture, different customs and a different language. They also learned about how a different country’s school system works. One of the implications of this study is that we recommend that colleges’ of education as well as other colleges to develop a robust funding mechanism that include scholarships that will defray the cost of studying abroad, especially for underrepresented students. The finding and results from this study can be used as way to internationalize...