Supervising an international teaching practicum: building partnerships in postcolonial contexts

Teaching practicum experiences, including those in international contexts, are based on partnerships between institutions and host schools, and the partnership between the pre-service teacher, the cooperating teacher and the university supervisor. This article explores the relationship between pre-service teachers and cooperating teachers in an international practicum in the Solomon Islands. It considers the way the cooperating teachers were positioned within the partnership, and raises questions about the way the university engages with host schools and teachers in international contexts, particularly in developing countries. Drawing on postcolonial theory, we investigate the complexity and contradictions in relationships between the pre-service teachers and cooperating teachers. We conclude by offering suggestions for valuing the role of cooperating teachers in these contexts.     

Assessment of the practicum in teacher education: advocating for the student teacher and questioning the gatekeepers

This paper reports on research that suggests a new view of assessment of the practicum in teacher education. By transcending the stereotypes of “failing” student teachers who do not achieve traditional benchmarks, this new lens highlights the complexity, diversity and inequality of experiences through listening to the voices of the student teachers and their mentors. By valuing context and focusing on progress and development rather than absolute attainment, teacher educators are challenged to reflect on their own role as mentors and educators through guiding principles of practicum learning. These guiding principles of practicum learning are the result of significant observation in the practicum classroom followed by critical analysis of data provided as narrative. A more humane, trusting and respectful attitude towards assessment is suggested.     

Stakeholders’ perspectives of the nature and role of assessment during practicum

This paper focuses on the assessment of student teachers during practicum. The study is contextualised in an Australian pre-service teacher education program in which practicum has been reconceptualised to help bridge the theory-practice gap commonly associated with “front-end loading” programs. Survey and interview data collected from student teachers and supervising teachers point to what participants perceive as disparate understandings between university and school staff about the nature and role of assessment and suggest that this lack of common understanding adversely affects students’ experiences of assessment.     

Globalisation and internationalisation of teacher education: a comparative case study of Canada and Greater China

This article begins with a brief overview of the relationship between globalisation and the internationalisation of higher education. This serves as a backdrop for the focus of the article, which is the internationalisation of teacher education. In order to see the diverse ways that teacher education programmes have been internationalised over the past 15 years, a case study comparing internationalisation initiatives in Greater China and Canada is presented. This comparative case study demonstrates how different globalising processes influence various forms of internationalisation. Comparison also sheds light on the importance of attending not only to broader, global processes, but specific, local contextual factors. Rather than consider internationalisation as one set of practices that have been taken up globally, this article suggests that there are many different forms of internationalisation in teacher education that are influenced by both global and local contexts. In this respect, the study moves us towards a more nuanced and complex understanding of how teacher education institutions across diverse settings are being internationalised in the twenty-first century.     

Students as global citizens: strategies for mobilizing studies abroad

Universities globally are increasingly seeking to improve the international mobility of their students. There are several latent benefits that accrue to a university whose students and staff actively participate in international exchange programs. Essentially this can lead to an increase in the university's international reputation, opportunities for benchmarking against best practices, capacity to develop international relationships, diversity of student population with all the benefits that accrue from diversity, and access to potential recruitment markets. In this paper we review extant literature to elicit the range of practical factors that play a role in the decision of students to study abroad. We also discuss results from a recent survey among Australian students that revealed their preferences for international work placements.     

Integrating theory and practice in the pre-service teacher education practicum

This article reports on a study into student teachers’ perceptions about their professional development during practicum. Framed within a symbolic interactionist perspective, the study examined to what extent, and how effectively, one group of student teachers was able to integrate theory and practice during a three-week practicum in the first year of their degree. The context for this mixed methods study was a Master of Teaching, graduate-level entry programme in the Faculty of Education at an urban Australian university. Although there is a strong field of literature around the practicum in pre-service teacher education, there has been a limited focus on how student teachers themselves perceive their development during this learning period. Further, despite widespread and longstanding acknowledgement of the ‘gap’ between theory and practice in teacher education, there is still more to learn about how well the practicum enables an integration of these two dimensions of teacher preparation. In presenting three major findings of the study, this paper goes some way in addressing these shortcomings in the literature. First, participants in this study largely valued both the theoretical and practical components of their programme, which stands in contrast to the commonly identified tendency of the student teacher to privilege practice over theory. Second, opportunities to integrate theory and practice were varied, with many participants reporting the detrimental impact of an apparent lack of clarity around stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities. Third, participants overwhelmingly supported the notion of linking university coursework assessment to the practicum as a means of bridging the gap between, on the one hand, the university and the school and, on the other hand, theory and practice.     

Facilitating Professional Development during International Practicum: Understanding our Work as Teacher Educators through Critical Incidents

This collaborative self-study details the experiences of an Australian teacher educator and a Canadian teacher educator, who led teacher candidates on international practicum placements to the Cook Islands and Kenya respectively. Focusing on critical incidents, they collaboratively analyzed dilemmas that occurred when providing professional development sessions for local teachers during these placements. These dilemmas required the teacher educators to think deeply about their beliefs and practices in these contexts. Findings from the study included the teacher educator’s tendency to make assumptions about good teaching and learning practices that were reflective of their personal pedagogical values and beliefs; their discomfort with their perceptions of some neo‐colonial practices within these international practicum sites and uncertainty about how to navigate the resultant tensions; and, the need to view the work of teacher educators though a new cultural lens when working in transnational contexts. Implications for teacher educators working with local hosting teachers during international placements include the need to understand and acknowledge the complexity of this dimension of teacher educators’ work, and for teacher educators to engage in parallel learning journeys with the teacher candidates they accompany. This involves critically reflecting on the experiences, assumptions, and beliefs that they bring to their new contexts, as well as adopting a global perspective and a deep consciousness of how one is perceived by others who are culturally, racially, or linguistically different.     

When communities collide: the shared construction and defence of community and identity during a teaching practicum

This article describes the results of a qualitative multiple case study investigation of the experiences of preservice teachers during a teaching practicum in Hong Kong. The study uses in-depth interviews with pairs of student teachers and their school-based supporting teachers to understand how the former positioned themselves as particular types of teachers through mutual interactions with other communities of teachers during a teaching practicum. Three case studies explore the ways in which the pairs of student teachers not only supported each other within the context of a teaching team, but also jointly deployed strategies to establish and defend the values of teaching and learning that were afforded a premium by their community of preservice teachers. The results underscore the importance of investigating relations between different communities, such as student teachers, school-based teachers and school authorities if the learning goals of the teaching practicum are to be attained. Implications for how relations that foster the professional development of all teachers within and across different communities during a teaching practicum might be achieved and sustained are discussed and implications for future research considered.     

Learning from interpersonal interactions during the practicum: a case study of non-native ESL student teachers

Although research reveals that pre-service student teachers often regard their relationships with their significant others as an important element of their initial teaching practice experience, much remains unknown about the influence of significant others on non-native English as a Second Language (ESL) student teachers’ professional learning process during field experiences. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study of the professional learning experiences of 17 pre-service non-native ESL student teachers during an eight-week-long practicum. Grounded in a sociocultural view of teacher learning, the study explores how the ESL student teachers developed their understanding of professional learning in the light of their experiences of engaging with their supporting teachers, supervisors, other school staff members as well as peer student teachers during the practicum. Analysis of the data reveals that these people assumed the role of coach either directly or indirectly, having a positive influence on the student teachers’ role as a teacher. Analysis of the data also reveals negative interactions between student teachers and their significant others, which sociocultural theories have so far not taken sufficiently into account. While, findings of this study challenge past assumptions about where knowledge for teaching comes from and how it can be learned; this study also suggests an urgent need to consolidate university–school partnership to foster student teachers’ adaptation to the context of teaching practice and maximise their professional learning opportunities.     

Out of the book and into the classroom: The experiences of Korean social studies pre-service teachers in an international teaching practicum in the United States

Despite the growing interest and importance of pre-service teachers’ cross-cultural experiences, a review of the literature shows that few studies have discussed the international teaching practicum experiences of pre-service teachers from Asian countries. Bridging this gap, this qualitative case study examined the perceptions and experiences of 15 Korean social studies pre-service teachers who participated in an international teaching practicum in the United States. The findings of the study demonstrated that although participants encountered difficulties in speaking a foreign language and adjusting to a different culture, they also gained confidence and self-efficacy by negotiating and actively participating in the teaching and learning process. This international teaching practicum also helped participants promote their own understanding of multiculturalism and their different perspectives of the teachers’ roles, teaching pedagogies, and local education systems. This study offers implications for future multicultural professional development in teacher education and contributes to developing a body of research and scholarship on international teaching practicums from Asian contexts that have, to date, been largely underexplored.     

School administrators and university practicum supervisors as boundary brokers for initial teacher education in Chile

The study examines school administrators' perspectives on a central problem of the school-based component of initial teacher preparation: the distance between schools and universities. Data obtained through in-depth interviews and focus groups with administrators (N = 51) from 36 schools were analyzed using Wenger's (2000) theory of inter-organizational learning. Findings suggest that an expansion of the roles supervisors and school administrators have traditionally played in the practicum may help reduce this gap. As brokers for their respective institutions they can coordinate actions by gaining access to the meanings each community assigns to practices and acknowledging the competence each brings to the practicum.     

From learner to teacher: practice,language, and identity in a teaching practicum

This paper reports on a qualitative study that investigated the lived experiences of a group of pre-service English language teachers during a teaching practicum in Hong Kong. Multiple, in-depth interviews with student teachers were conducted during a 6-week practicum to understand the students’ experiences of becoming teachers. A contribution of this study is to use the analytic lens of teacher identity to understand the challenges, one group of pre-service teachers confronted as they positioned themselves, and were positioned by others, as particular types of teachers during their practicum. The results of this study suggest that a critical perspective, grounded in an identity-theoretic understanding of pre-service teachers’ practicum experiences, is needed to reveal and then overcome antagonistic relations that might threaten the identity work of trainee teachers. Endorsing calls to rethink the practicum, the types of support that might be offered to pre-service teachers are critically examined and suggestions for the ways in which stakeholders, such as teacher educators and school-based supporting teachers, can best facilitate the identity work of pre-service teachers undertaking a teaching practicum are offered. Implications for future research are also discussed.     

国际视野下教师教育者的界定

教师教育者这一概念在当前国际上并没有统一的界定,但这一界定又是开展教师教育者相关研究的基础,因此首先需要在国际视野下探讨当前专业组织、不同国家及研究者对于教师教育者的界定,在此基础上将教师教育者界定为首要或者主要承担教师教育的教学与研究工作,并努力达成相关的资质要求和促进自身专业发展的专业人员,就目前而言,该界定下的教师教育者主要是指高等教育中的教师教育者。     

Affordances and limitations of a special school practicum as a means to prepare pre-service teachers for inclusive education

As education systems worldwide embrace inclusive education in some form, pre-service teachers need to be prepared to be pedagogically responsive to diverse students and learning needs. While much learning for inclusion takes place in course work in higher education institutions, field experiences, including practicum placements, can complement this learning. Using Loreman's [2010a. “Essential Inclusive Education-Related Outcomes for Alberta Preservice Teachers.” The Alberta Journal of Educational Research 56 (2): 124–142] seven areas of essential learning for inclusion, with the addition of Waitoller and Kozleski's [2010. “Inclusive Professional Learning Schools.” In Teacher Education for Inclusion, edited by C. Forlin, 65–73. London: Routledge] idea of ‘critical sensibilities’, this article considers the extent to which a practicum experience in a special school might contribute to learning for inclusion. The main findings of a small-scale qualitative study with 15 South African pre-service teachers suggest that the practicum placement exposes them to children with disabilities and learning difficulties, resulting in a growth of understanding of their learning needs. It also enhances pre-service teachers' ability to plan lessons and draw on a range of instructional strategies to enable learning for all. For some pre-service teachers, however, the practicum convinced them of the benefits of separate special education and the unfeasibility of inclusion. We conclude that a special school practicum has value for pre-service teachers, provided that opportunities are made available for critical engagement with the potential for both inclusion and exclusion of students with special educational needs in different types of school.     

Disorienting experiences during study abroad: Reflections of pre-service teacher candidates

This study examines the study-abroad experiences of pre-service teacher candidates at the Faculty of Education, York University, using transformative learning theory. Disorienting experiences are a crucial first step for perspective transformation; students reported facing racial dynamics, “outsider” status, risk-taking behavior and power relations. Students’ utilized a variety of reflection opportunities; however, critical self-reflection imperative for transformation requires greater awareness of one’s frame of reference. Future studies need to examine how students’ specificities shape the realization of study-abroad goals for pre-service teachers and their ability to develop global consciousness and to work towards an equitable and just society.     

Between Two Wars By Porter Sargent. Porter Sargent,II Beacon Street,Boston, Massachusetts. 580 pp. $5.00

This essay offers suggestions for faculty who are designing study abroad (SA) experiences by outlining a three-week Maymester study abroad to Reggio Emilia, Italy, and a semester-long study abroad to Brussels, Belgium. The authors reflect on commonalities in planning, recruiting, preparing students, and conducting each trip, as well as some of the differences in the experiences for both students and faculty.     

Student perspectives on international education: an examination into the decline of Japanese studying abroad

The number of students going abroad for study purposes continues to grow exponentially, even despite the global economic downturns of recent years. One exception is Japan, where the number of students going overseas has continued to decline since the mid-2000s. This paper first explores various explanations for the persistent decline in Japanese study abroad based on a review of the literature and official sources. In particular, an analysis is done of the media's reporting of Japanese youth's supposed disinterest in overseas study. Secondly, questionnaire data from a survey of Japanese university students' perspectives on study abroad is analysed to help shed light on the motivating and de-motivating factors influencing the decision to study abroad. Lastly, implications are made regarding the potential consequences of decline in study abroad for Japan and its system of higher education.     

Drama Teacher Training in Greece: A survey of attitudes of teachers towards drama teachers

The provision of drama teacher education in Greece is discussed. Its past and current states are examined and new trends in drama teaching are outlined. The pros and cons of specialist drama teachers are considered. The provision of specialist drama teachers is supported with the proviso that they should be fully integrated into the life of the school.     

Leading an international teaching practicum: negotiating tensions in a site of border pedagogy

Across the world, the work of teacher educators in universities is subject to contradictory discourses of, on the one hand, globalisation and standardisation and, on the other, innovation in both teaching and research. This article is a critical account of a particular experience of an Australian teacher educator leading an international teaching practicum in South Africa. The account shows how multifarious tensions play out in the practice of a teacher educator working in transcultural spaces utilising ‘border pedagogy’.     

Understanding legitimate teacher authority in a cross-cultural teaching context: pre-service Chinese language teachers undertaking teaching practicum in international schools in Hong Kong

Legitimate teacher authority is fundamental to effective teaching, but is often a thorny issue that teachers need to grapple with when teaching in cross-cultural teaching contexts. By interviewing 18 pre-service Chinese language teachers on their understanding of legitimate teacher authority throughout teaching practicum at international schools in Hong Kong, this study revealed that the teachers changed their perception about the essentiality and the nature of the pedagogical and interpersonal components of legitimate teacher authority. They developed a more nuanced and balanced understanding about legitimate teacher authority over time. However, their abilities in reaching the balance were constrained by their cultural knowledge and skills in achieving positive interpersonal dynamics when implementing student-centred pedagogies.