Abstract
This article reports on an action research project focussed on preparing culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) preservice early childhood teachers for field experience. A series of targeted workshops delivered over one semester was designed to support the students to develop intercultural competence in relation to knowledge, attitude, skills and behaviours that contribute to success on field placement. Findings indicate that short-term initiatives targeted specifically to students’ identified needs and strengths can help to build intercultural competence for both students and teacher educators. For the participants, access to communication strategies, opportunities for rehearsal of teaching practice, and peer and academic support contributed to shifts in attitude, and the development of skills and new knowledge. New learnings for the teacher educators included challenging assumptions about CALD students’ sense of community and belonging in the university context.
Highlights
The internationalisation of Australian higher education has been a prominent trend in the past decade
Barriers reported by the culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) preservice early childhood teachers in relation to success on field experience aligned with existing research
We suggest that the development of an intercultural competence observational protocol that is specific to the early childhood sector will benefit teacher educators, supervising teachers and preservice teachers alike
Summary
The internationalisation of Australian higher education has been a prominent trend in the past decade. For students from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds, research indicates that field placements in particular can produce unique challenges, including communication and language barriers, unfamiliarity with the Australian context and colloquialisms, interpreting how field supervisors define success, and assessment by way of western standards of graduate proficiency (Nuttall & Ortlipp, 2012; Ortlipp & Nuttall, 2011; Spooner-Lane, Tangen, & Campbell, 2009) For both university staff and field supervisors, there are additional cognitive and affective demands of intercultural competence necessary for effective approaches to teaching and learning and the supervision of CALD students in the field. In line with such initiatives, this article reports on a project aimed at building an evidence-base to provide targeted support for CALD early childhood preservice teachers’ preparation for field experience over the course of one semester
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