Scottish and Chinese teacher educators’ understandings of, and practices in the internationalisation of teacher education

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article reports on a case study that collected qualitative data from seven teacher educators in two universities, respectively, from China and Scotland. Drawing on the rationales for, and ideologies about internationalisation from postcolonial perspectives, our data analysis highlights the participants’ divergent views about the rationale for internationalising teacher education: for quality assurance, for intercultural dialogues, or for developing ‘great teachers anywhere’. Such divergent views reflect the teacher educators’ different socio-cultural contexts, and the different agendas of teacher education and higher education in the two research sites. To internationalise teacher education for a global and multicultural context, we suggest teacher educators in both Scottish and Chinese contexts deconstruct their views and assumptions about Western education and promote intercultural dialogues. This also requires institutional support and thoughtful alliances among different stakeholders to ensure well-informed policies and strategies.