Internationalization of Teacher Education

Creating Globally Competent Teachers and Teacher Educators for the 21st Century

Reyes Quezada

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780415693240
• eBook ISBN: 9781317978435
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This book proposes to excite readers to engage in conversations on how Schools and Colleges of Education can internationalize teacher education programs so that graduates have global teaching experiences, that teacher education curricula include global perspectives, and that there are opportunities to have faculty think and teach from a global perspective. The contributions in this book are by authors who have the knowledge and expertise in international teacher education to answer many questions regarding the development of a 21st century competent global teaching force. They describe their experiences, programs, and support for the goal of continuing to internationalize Schools and Colleges of Education. The book is designed to be interactive - readers are encouraged to engage themselves in the conversation as the editor invites them to e-mail any of the authors to discuss questions posed. Questions addressed in this issue include defining internationalization, global teacher competency, hearing "voices from the field" as graduates and faculty share how internationalization has had an impact on teaching, program development, and professional and personal development.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Teaching Education.

Internationalization of teacher education: creating global competent teachers and teacher educators for the twenty-first century

Reyes L. Quezada

There is a need for the internationalizing of teacher preparation programs so that teacher educators may lead the way in developing partnerships and creating international training programs for prospective teacher, counselor, and administrator candidates, so they may become more “cosmopolitan” educators (Luke, 2008). The hope is that colleges and schools of education will develop and create focused, comprehensive, internationalized education programs that will be seamless across programs and within course curricula, activities, and graduation requirements. Yet, the literature has noted that for the most part, teacher preparation programs in American college and university campuses are among the least internationalized, despite recent attention to internationalization in higher education (Schneider, 2007). A priority also exists for American colleges and universities to graduate future P-12 teachers who have international experiences, demonstrate foreign language competence, think globally, and are able to incorporate a global dimension into their teaching (Heyl & McCarthy, 2003).

This set of articles continues the conversation to bring it to the attention of the international community of teacher educators so that they may see how US teacher education faculty are involved in international education and how we value providing our education graduates with the skills needed to teach in the twenty-first century. In 2007, Dr Paula Cordeiro, dean of the School of Leadership and Education Sciences at the University of San Diego, and I co-edited the winter themed issue of Teacher Education Quarterly on “Internationalizing colleges and schools of education”, for the purpose of furthering the conversation nationally among teacher educators. I hope that after reading the exciting articles many questions will be answered as one ponders how to internationalize teacher education programs in higher education campuses throughout the world.

I begin by posing the following questions, with the hope that they may be answered, debated, and discussed: (1) How do we as faculty define internationalization in teacher education and what does it mean to have international competence in education? (2) What does it mean to be a competent twenty-first-century global teacher? (3) How can colleges and schools of education ensure that all teacher education candidates are competent and have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to be effective intercultural teachers in an era of globalization? (4) What is the status of teacher education for P-12 international education with regards to research on international education and teacher preparation in the USA? (5) What is the role of teacher education curricula and programs in preparing teachers in promoting teaching about world cultures and their peoples as they work with P-12 students? (6) What characteristics do effective teacher education programs have in schools and colleges of education that are already involved in international education partnerships or consortia? (7) What do “voices from the field” share and reflect as to how internationalization has had an impact on teaching, program development, and professional development? (8) How can teacher education faculty have the opportunities to be competent international teacher educators themselves?

As previously mentioned, the purpose of this issue of Teaching Education is to excite readers to engage in conversations on how colleges and schools of education can make sure that their education graduates have global teaching experiences, that their teacher education curricula include global perspectives, and that there are ample opportunities to have their faculty think and teach from a global perspective. I therefore invite the readers to answer the questions above for themselves and to play an interactive role by emailing answers to the faculty who contributed to the themed issue, as well as to myself. I am proud and grateful to have been given this opportunity to present this issue of Teaching Education.

This issue is organized into five sections: introductory articles on internationalizing colleges and schools of education; research-based articles; program planning and best practices; and a response to the entire theme with suggestions for a future research agenda. Further, the special issue concludes with a postscript that describes for readers the role private foundations play in support of internationalizing teacher preparation programs. The articles in this special issue offer what I believe to be a rich conversation as to how institutions of higher education and their faculty have been involved in international education for many years. The authors who have contributed to this issue have the knowledge and expertise both in theory and practice that allow others to relate to their experiences, their programs, and their support for the goal of continuing to internationalize schools and colleges of education.

The section below provides a synopsis of each of the articles, using text extracted from the authors’ abstracts and not this editor’s words, in order to provide the readers with a sense of how the entire themed issue is connected. Section I of this issue begins with the article “Fact or fiction? Analyzing institutional barriers and individual responsibility to advance the internationalization of teacher education”, in which Mahon examines why schools and teachers must prepare today’s students to take their places as global citizens. She believes that such education requires an awareness of the world, its people, and its conditions, and that ways we may achieve such awareness include infusing a global perspective into the curriculum, sending students overseas, or bringing foreign educators to our schools. This article concentrates on the extent to which teacher education programs support, advocate, and broadcast one such opportunity for increased global awareness – overseas student teaching. In addition, it also examines whether state laws prohibit such experience and the degree to which our states are open to foreign teachers. Through a survey of states, and content analysis of websites of 409 NCATE accredited institutions, she draws conclusions regarding institutional commitment to internationalization in teacher education.

Goodwin’s article, “Globalization and the preparation of quality teachers: rethinking knowledge domains for teaching”, supports the notion that preparing quality teachers has become a global concern as all nations strive for excellence at all levels. Yet, there is little consensus around what constitutes quality and how quality teachers might best be attained. This article takes up the issue of quality teacher preparation by exploring several pivotal questions: What might quality teaching mean in a global context? What should globally competent teachers know and be able to do? What are some of the issues, dilemmas, barriers, or structures that seem to interfere with teacher education reform and hinder movement towards internationalization in teacher preparation? The discussion is framed by five knowledge domains for teaching and articulates how these domains could support quality teaching in a global context.

Section II includes research-based studies. In “Developing a policy for an international experience requirement in a graduate teacher education program: a cautionary tale”, Buczynski, Lattimer, Inoue and Alexandrowicz describe the process education faculty went through to craft a response to a school-wide international experience initiative in a graduate education program. Their analysis revealed three competing frames that shaped individual faculty members’ expectations. These made developing an internationalization requirement in graduate teacher education multifaceted, often ambiguous, and at times contentious. Failure to acknowledge and reconcile the tensions of these competing frames limited the efficacy of the policy. This cautionary tale provides lessons learned from one university’s experience.

In “International teacher professional development: teacher reflections of authentic teaching and learning experiences”, Alfaro and Quezada examine and report on 21 biliteracy teachers who studied and taught in schools through an eight-week in-service professional development program with indigenous children in Atlacamulco, Mexico. In the process of documenting the international teaching experiences, a study was conducted to ascertain biliteracy teachers’ development of their teaching ideology as a result of their participation and critical reflection, using Spanish as the primary mode of instruction. Five themes are discussed: globally minded teachers; linguistic and culturally relevant curriculum; passionate pedagogy (amorosidad); community authentic engagement; and political and ideological clarity.

In “Language, culture and dissonance: a study course for globally minded teachers with possibilities for catalytic transformation”, Colón-Muñiz, SooHoo, and Brignoni explore the impact of a course taught abroad, with the objective of preparing globally minded intercultural educators proficient in second language and culture pedagogy to teach English language learners. Their findings suggest that the course content is more powerful when teacher candidates simultaneously experience cultural and linguistic immersion.

Olmedo and Harbon’s article, “Broadening our sights: internationalizing teacher education for a global arena”, examines and reports on the collaborative efforts of two college faculty, one in the USA and one in Australia, exploring notions of internationalization of colleges of education and research on multilingualism and teacher education. First, the paper presents experiences of interactions with international researchers in Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Austria, Italy, Finland, and Australia. Second, it presents research of three overseas immersion language teaching and learning experiences pursued with teacher candidates from Australia, Indonesia, Korea, and China. The article focuses on two questions: In what ways can teacher educators enhance their expertise to prepare teachers for multicultural teaching in a global context? And how can teacher educators and institutions create contexts and experiences where teachers and prospective teachers develop their knowledge, skills, and dispositions to teach from an international and multicultural perspective? In essence, how can faculty prepare teachers to internationalize curricula and effectively teach students not only from different ethnic groups and cultures but also from different nations and languages?

Section III reports program planning and best practices. The article by Kissock and Richardson, “Calling for action within the teaching profession: it is time to internationalize teacher education”, contends that teacher educators are challenged to break their “virtual wall of silence” and begin preparing educators for the globally interdependent world in which they will work and their students will live, by opening the world to students through international experience and integrating a global perspective throughout the curriculum. The authors offer teacher educators tools they need to move their teacher education programs beyond the parochial to viability in the twenty-first century by ensuring that their graduates bring a global perspective to decision-making in education.

The final section ends with Ochoa’s concluding remarks, entitled “International education in higher education: a developing process of engagement in teacher preparation programs”, in which he reviews the collective body of articles in this publication. This article provides a brief discussion of the contextual need for global perspectives in teacher preparation programs, to allow for preparing teachers to acquire global perspectives. This commentary summarizes key issues recognized by all of the authors of this volume and identifies possible directions for creating research agendas. The article also points to tensions that need resolution as those in the field of teacher preparation work to promote and integrate international global education in preparing globally minded educators and cosmopolitan educators.

Finally, a postscript response by Devlin-Foltz entitled “Teachers for the global age: a call to action for funders”, challenges fellow funders to take action in support of the internationalization of teacher preparation programs by funding efforts for much-needed resources in order to prepare twenty-first-century teachers to teach with global perspectives. She provides specific ideas for foundations, corporate philanthropy, and individual donors to help teaching become a more global profession, since it is critical that pupils have teachers who can help them learn about the world, from the world, and with the world.

The articles in this special issue represent a variety of voices from scholarly experts in the field of international teacher education in schools and colleges of education. The authors discussed various qualitative and descriptive approaches to analyzing data that provide the readers with an opportunity to think about how they may internationalize their teacher education programs and what international experiences seem to be effective. My hope is that Teaching Education readers and the research community will agree that the articles in this themed issue and the topic of internationalizing schools and colleges of education deserve much more attention and conversation. I hope that our colleagues will discuss the types of international education experiences that might best serve faculty and the university students we teach, resulting in globally educated citizens, teacher educators, and future teachers. I am confident that we have provided a springboard for teacher educators and I truly hope that they take the dive into the deeper waters of international teacher education.

Acknowledgements

I sincerely appreciate the comments and constructive feedback of my colleagues who have provided their expertise by serving as readers and reviewers for this themed issue: Viviana Alexandrowicz, Jerry Ammer, Comfort Ateh, Margarita Berta-Avila, Donna Barnes, Elsa Billings, Sharon Brennan, Jim Cantor, Oscar Jimenez-Castellanos, Paula Cordeiro, Edward DeRoche, Kenneth Cushner, Malu Dantas, Juan Flores, Barbara Garii, Steve Gelb, Bobbi Hansen, Lea Hubbard, Robert Infantino, Mary Jew, Karen Cadiero-Kaplan, Craig Kissock, Jose Lalas, Magaly Lavadenz, Angela Louque, Elena Lujan, Helene Mandell, Judy Mantle, Andrew Mullen, Alberto Ochoa, James Omeara, Gregorio Ponce, Lettie Ramirez, Francisco Rios, Alex Roehr, Kendra Sisserson, Margaret Solomon, Ron Solorzano, Joi Spencer, Laura Stachowski, Mona Thompson, Nilsa Thorsos, Concepcion M. Valadez, and Lisa Winstead

References

Heyl, J.D., & McCarthy, J. (2003, January). International education and teacher preparation in the U.S. Paper presented at the national conference on Global Challenges and US Higher Education: National needs and policy implications, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

Luke, A. (2008). Teaching after the marketplace: From commodity to cosmopolitan. Teachers College Record, 106, 1422–1443.

Schneider, A. (2007). To leave no teacher behind: Building international competence into the undergraduate training of k-12 teachers. Retrieved from http://www.mla.org/flreport

Reyes L. Quezada

Department of Learning and Teaching,

School of Leadership and Education Sciences,

University of San Diego, San Diego, USA.

Email: [email protected]

Fact or fiction? Analyzing institutional barriers and individual responsibility to advance the internationalization of teacher education

Jennifer Mahon*

Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, University of Nevada, Reno, USA

We live in a global age, and our schools and teachers must prepare today’s students to take their places as global citizens. Such education requires an awareness of the world, its people, and its conditions. Some of the ways we may achieve such awareness include infusing a global perspective into the curriculum, sending students overseas, or bringing foreign educators to our schools. This article concentrates on the extent to which teacher education programs support, advocate, and broadcast one such opportunity for increased global awareness – overseas student teaching. It also examines whether state laws prohibit such experience, and the degree to which our states are open to foreign teachers. Through survey of states and content analysis of websites of 409 NCATE accredited institutions, conclusions are drawn regarding institutional commitment to internationalization in teacher education.

Introduction

In asking questions about the internationalization of teacher education, there are numerous variables to consider. We may examine the appropriate skill-base for candidates, as well as for faculty. We may investigate hiring practices. We may consider the curricula, both within our colleges and campus-wide. We may expand the opportunities for inter-cultural interaction. For most of us, it is likely that we start to consider where our sphere of influence lies. In addition, for many of us, that sphere of influence lies with courses, curriculum, and especially students. For me, I have been lucky enough to be involved with overseas student teaching for more than 10 years. I have worked with students at all stages, from pre-departure excitement and jitters, to in-country ups and downs, and to the euphoria and depression of returning home. Both anecdotally and through my research (Mahon, 2007; Mahon & Cushner, 2002, 2007), I can honestly say that the impact of an overseas student teaching semester can be a profoundly life-changing experience for students. They return with greater knowledge and awareness about the world and its cultural differences, about themselves, and about their professions.

In 1972, the National Center for Educational Communication sponsored a study entitled “Overseas student teaching programs: a study of American coll...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• 1. Internationalization of teacher education: creating global competent teachers and teacher educators for the twenty-first century
• Section I: The framing of internationalizing of colleges and schools of education
• Section II: Research-based studies on international teacher education
• Section III: Planning and best practices on international teacher education
• Section IV: A response to the theme journal with suggestions for a future research agenda
• Section V: The role of private foundations in the support of internationalizing teacher preparation programs
• Index