International Practicum Research Articles

Examining preservice teachers’ professional learning experience during the international teaching practicums: insights from complexity theory and boundary-crossing construct

ABSTRACT This paper examines a cohort of Chinese preservice teachers’ (PSTs’) (n = 13) international teaching practicums (ITPs) experiences in Canada from the perspectives of complexity theory and boundary-crossing. Through semi-structured interviews and reflective journals, we positioned PSTs’ ITPs within multiple layers, including biographies, the Chinese and Canadian teacher education programmes, the Canadian university setting, K-12 schools, and the different socio-cultural milieus. Through the lens of boundary-crossing, we categorised PSTs’ ITPs into four categories: identification, coordination, reflection, and transformation. This article enriches our sophisticated understanding of the non-linear and multi-level nature of the PSTs’ professional learning during the ITPs.

Teachers’ critical interculturality understandings after an international teaching practicum

ABSTRACT Using a critical approach, we studied the intercultural understandings of Canadian teachers who participated in a 3-week international teaching practicum in Kenya, 5–6 years before. Critical interculturality was used as the theoretical lens to explore the impact on teaching, constructions of identity, and power relations. We argue that while this international teaching practicum provided an ‘awareness’ of the Other, it functioned within a neo-liberal, object-based framework that failed to address systems of power, and, in some ways, perpetuated colonial perspectives. Participants in this study were able to question power relations but lacked the support needed to develop a critical understanding of their own positionality and how power works in intercultural encounters. If international teaching practicums are to continue, we suggest that participants and facilitators be supported in developing critical perspectives related to these issues. This will necessarily require the maintenance of long-term equitable relations with host communities. We conclude by offering substantive curriculum and programmatic structure recommendations for international/overseas teacher education programs.

Critically Considering International Social Work Practica

Schools of social work in Canada and other countries of the North are increasingly offering their students the option of undertaking an international practicum. Often implied in this term is a placement in a Southern country. In this article I draw on a critical social work perspective, and the notion of the “encumbered self,” to consider the ethics of international practica in the context of a larger movement in Canada and elsewhere towards short-term international postings of various kinds. In conclusion, I argue for not only substantive pre-practicum preparation, but a post-practicum curriculum that leads students to interrogate, rather than consolidate, their learning overseas.

The Development of Undergraduate International Business Practicums in Small Business Schools: An Experiential Learning Framework

ABSTRACTThe value of the inclusion of experiential learning opportunities in international business education has been well established in the literature. We set out to examine industry-identified skills and experiences that could lead to enhanced employability and early career performance. Through our extensive review of theory, empirical work, leading programs, practicum channels, and our own qualitative study, we proposed frameworks to help guide small business schools best structure their undergraduate international business experiential learning offerings. Specifically, we suggest the establishment of tracks or concentrations with supplemental skill focus, emphasis on foreign language proficiency, and requiring at least two international internship or service learning practicums, preferably abroad, that include mini-consulting projects, presentations, and deliverables.

‘Times that by 100’: Student learning from international practicum

International placements are uncommon for Aotearoa New Zealand social work students compared with many other countries. In 2015 five students undertook a 10-week placement in Cambodia. This article explores the students’ perspectives on the skills, knowledge and capabilities required for international placements. The findings from this study indicate that questions remain as to whether the associated challenges outweigh the advantages of international placement experiences. We recommend that working with tertiary institutions from countries with more established international placement programmes may be one way of addressing some of the challenges and advancing international placements for Aotearoa New Zealand students.

An Innovative Exchange Model for Global and Community Health Nursing Education

Understanding different cultures is important in the education of nursing students who will become the health care workforce of our future interdependent and globalized societies. International practicum courses help students and nurses understand different cultures. This article describes an innovative approach to nursing education and understanding diverse cultures, in the context of a hybrid course (online course coupled with face-to-face practicum experiences), which enrolled nursing students from opposite hemispheres.

Intercultural understanding through a ‘similar but different’ international teaching practicum

The ethnic and cultural diversity of many schools calls for teachers with well-developed intercultural understanding. Teacher education programmes have traditionally offered international fieldwork in bilingual settings to challenge ethnocentric attitudes to teaching. However, an international practicum in a ‘similar but different’ education system with English as the dominant language offers a different pathway, providing opportunities to deepen intercultural understanding and global education. This study investigates the impact of a three-week international teaching practicum in the American Midwest on two groups of Brisbane-based pre-service teachers in 2014 (n = 9) and 2015 (n = 4). Their reflective journals and reports indicate that international professional experience disrupts stereotypes and fosters global education and intercultural understanding. The paper presents key programme measures to promote intercultural understanding and concludes that the benefits of international teaching in a ‘similar but different’ education system are a nuanced understanding of cultural diversity and increased readiness for the classroom.

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

ABSTRACTDespite 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.

Teacher research during an international practicum

Teacher research allows teachers to learn about their teaching and connect theory to practice through systematic self-study. This report examines eight US-based graduate students’ research projects while they were teaching EAP during a practicum in Thailand. Findings indicate that their projects took different forms, from action research to introspective analysis, which reflected the teacher-researchers’ emerging understandings of their instructional context and perspectives as teachers and researchers. This article presents profiles of three teacher-researchers’ studies to illustrate the varied forms and outcomes of their studies. Their study designs reflect the teachers’ choices of methods in response to contextual and personal factors.

Illustrated journaling: Making meaning of an international practicum

Illustrated journaling: Making meaning of an international practicum

New Scotland to (old) Scotland: Lessons learned from an international student teacher practicum

This paper reports on results from a recently completed research study conducted with pre-service teachers from Nova Scotia, Canada who completed their final student teacher practicum in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. With our attention directed towards a primary research question related to pre-service teachers’ own development, data were collected through synchronous online focus group interviews. Results revealed that pre-service teachers experienced both professional and personal growth, while also experiencing some unanticipated conflict and angst. Herein we present and discuss these results, especially as they relate to relevant literature and our own experiences with international student teacher practicums. This paper should be of particular relevance to those who share an interest in teacher education, practicums/field experiences/internships, and/or international education initiatives.

Can an international field experience assist Health and Physical Education pre-service teachers to develop cultural competency?

AbstractAn emerging focus of teacher education courses within countries such as Australia centres on the development of cultural competency. An international practicum experience or student mobility programme embedded within pre-service teacher education programmes is one way to provide such an opportunity. In subject areas such as Health and Physical Education (HPE) this is of particular relevance given the nature of teachable subject content relating to the impact of culture on the lives of young people in contemporary societies. This article examines the perceived value of an international sports-based field experience in assisting to develop HPE pre-service teachers’ cultural competency. In partnership with the Pacific in Union (PiU) Rugby for Schools initiative, 12 HPE pre-service teachers from an Australian regional university were linked with local schools in Western Samoa and required to facilitate a three-week sports-based, health and physical activity programme. The programme is referred to as t...

Multi-stakeholder Partnership in Teacher Education and Development

While there is a growing interest in offering international teaching practicums to pre-service teachers as an approach to developing teachers' global perspectives on education, however, understanding of the impact of such practice on the host communities is insufficient or absent. This study collected data from multiple sources and, using the Theory of Change framework, examined the impact of pre-service teachers' international practicum on the school and community development in Kenya. Through exploring the context of host communities, the perceptions of Kenyan educators, and the changes that have occurred in Kenyan schools and communities, this study revealed positive development changes in Kenyan schools as the result of hosting pre-service teachers. A model of forming multi-stakeholder global partnership in higher education was presented to make the international teaching practicum a reciprocal professional development opportunity for educators in both sending and receiving countries.

Think globally, engage pedagogically: Procuring and supervising international field experiences

Similar to society in general, globalization of the world economy has changed the landscape of the sport industry (Dicken, 2007; Neirotti, 2015; Thibault, 2009). As competition for the sport fan's discretionary dollar becomes more intense in America, the international market and associated financial opportunities will undoubtedly increase. As a result, it is important that sport management students gain experience both at home and abroad to be highly competitive for employment opportunities in the sport industry (Lee & Lupi, 2010). In order to prepare sport management students for the global marketplace, sport management educators to foster opportunities for students to complete international practicums, internships, and other forms of authentic experiential learning. Educators need to be aware of a variety of resources that can be used to supervise field experiences-particularly "distance" based international field experiences. The purpose of this presentation is to outline best practices associated with online supervision of international experiential learning experiences. Recommendations on creating and maintaining relationships with international partners, strategies for supervision, and methods of evaluation will be included. A step-by-step process model will be presented aimed at providing meaningful learning experiences for students and building enduring partnerships for the institution.

The global education practicum: perspectives from accompanying academics

ABSTRACTThe benefits of international education experiences for students are well documented. The effect on the individual of international experiences has been researched and theorised by authors for at least the last 20 years. In this paper the experiences of three academics who accompanied pre-service teachers on a 3 week international practicum are examined through the prism of intercultural confidence and competence. Accompanying academic Juliet reflects on dealing with the added difficulties the pre-service teachers encountered as a result of their inexperience in classroom settings. Accompanying academic Paula reflects on the challenges of “teaching-out-of-field.” Accompanying academic Sue reflects on the social and transitional challenges experienced when supporting pre-service teachers who collectively had issues related to health, safety, and interpersonal relationships. These lived experiences provide a richer understanding of the role of international partnerships in contributing to academic growth and increasing intercultural competency in tandem with their students.

Dialogue and reciprocity in an international teaching practicum

ABSTRACTMany teacher education institutions across the world are now initiating and supporting international teaching practicums to better prepare their teaching graduates to teach for diversity. Recently, some of these practicums have embedded service-learning structures and discourses to further encourage pre-service teachers (PSTs) to think beyond their self-interests towards larger ethical and educational questions. This paper employs narrative-based inquiry methods to explore the lived experiences of three co-leaders of an international teaching practicum in South Africa for Australian PSTs underpinned by dialogic service-learning principles. Using Bakhtinian dialogic theory, the authors generate alternative interpretations of reflective narratives they have written, in order to examine the concepts of dialogue and reciprocity in their lived experience of this teaching practicum. The authors conclude that reciprocity and dialogue are indeed valuable discourses for critically researching international teaching practicums with service-learning dimensions, but counsel against romanticising either of these.

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.

Boundary Crossing and the Professional Learning of Teacher Educators in New International Contexts

In this collaborative self-study, two teacher educators examine their experiences of working in new international contexts and the impact of those experiences on their professional learning and identities. Mandi moved from a major research university in one country to another, while Judy co-led a group of pre-service teachers on an international practicum for three weeks each year for three years. Using the concept of boundary crossing as a theoretical and analytical framework, each teacher educator identified a boundary-related critical incident or experience that occurred during her work in new international contexts. Through individual and collaborative analysis of their critical incidents, they found that working as a teacher educator in new international contexts involves the crossing and re-crossing of multiple personal, professional, linguistic and cultural boundaries. Working in these boundary spaces involved learning how to negotiate new kinds of relationships with colleagues and students, manage changed roles and responsibilities and, ultimately, a search for a renewed sense of self, as each sought to understand herself differently within a new professional context.

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.

International Practicum: Not just another overseas jaunt--Supporting learning objectives and the development of graduate attributes

The nursing profession faces ongoing challenges related to the globalization of nursing education, research, and practice. An online review of undergraduate nursing course offerings and opportunities demonstrates that universities strive to broaden their nursing experience as part of the education experience. Universities and schools of nursing work hard to offer international practicum to students and there are financial implications and risks associated with overseas travel. A literature search using Library One which includes CINAHL Plus, OVID, ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source, and PubMed demonstrated limited description in the literature on whether or not international nursing practicum placements achieve the learning objectives designated in an undergraduate nursing unit, as well as whether or not these practicums support the development of graduate attributes for nusing students. This discussion paper will be one of the first to fill this identified gap in the literature as a reflection on four overseas placements for undergraduate nursing students and how the placements met the stated learning objectives and desired graduate attributes. The Nurse Academics involved in the international practicums critically reflected on the activities of the students and determine the placements support the intent of the units and they help student nurses develop a cross-cultural and international outlook which underwrites provision of patient- and family-centred care for a multicultural population such as that of Australia.