A host community’s experiences of an international teaching practicum: “They taught … and they left”

Abstract

ABSTRACT This collaborative international study centres the perspectives of a Kenyan host community on a recurring international teaching practicum from Canada. Although there was general community support for the international practicum, the visiting groups’ knowledge and decision-making were prioritized and preferentially benefitted some community members. Interculturality theory and the African philosophy of Ubuntu were used as complementary frameworks to challenge the dominance of Global-North practices that positioned the Kenyan community as recipients relying on the goodwill of their external benefactors – namely, the practicum group and the non-governmental organization that facilitated the placement. We propose a reciprocity framework to counter capitalist discourses that direct powerful psychic desires for education and development into alignment with post-colonial ideals. Engaging with the dreams and desires of local peoples, we posit that thinking in terms of reciprocity can provide a practical, interdependent, and mutually beneficial approach to the planning and implementation of international teaching practicums.