International Professional Experience Research Articles

Navigating Borders and Classrooms: A Phenomenological Exploration of Teachers' International Professional Experiences

There has been an increase in teacher migration by the effect of globalization and internationalization. Teacher migration affects the education policies of home and host countries. This phenomenological study aimed to analyze experiences of migrant teachers in international level. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 migrant teachers selected using snowball sampling. Content analysis was used to analyze the interview data. As a result of the content analysis, two themes were obtained: ‘Pre-migration process’ and ‘post-migration professional life’. Cultural differences between home and host countries were observed as effective on professional adaptation of the participants. The findings indicate that the participants complained about the challenges they had to deal with in adaptation process such as negative attitudes of their colleagues and marking while they stated teaching abroad was positive for their professional development. In this regard, some formal arrangement may be designed by policymakers to make migrant teachers’ adaptation process easier.

Developing critical consciousness for culturally responsive teaching: an international teacher exchange program

ABSTRACT The increasing diversity of the student population in classrooms across the United States demands the adoption of pedagogical principles based on the concept of culturally responsive teaching. This study adopts the notion that culturally responsive teaching only becomes possible when teachers implement self-reflection and critical consciousness. Using a qualitative approach, the authors aimed at examining the effects of an international professional development experience on a group of elementary teachers from the United States and Costa Rica with a focus on their perceptions about linguistic and cultural diversity in schools. The analysis of the interviews and reflective journal entries revealed that participation in an international teacher exchange program prompted participants to examine their personal beliefs about education and question, not only their own instructional practices, but also broader school systems and policies related to language, culture, and ethnicity.

Reflective Perspectives of Host and Guest Participants of an International Professional Development Experience

Reflective Perspectives of Host and Guest Participants of an International Professional Development Experience

Bringing the Learning Home: Examining the Course-Level Impact of International Professional Experience

Within an ever-increasing time of globalisation, globalised learning and international mobility, international professional experience can provide a range of opportunities for personal and academic growth. Perhaps unsurprisingly, pre-service teachers commonly attest to the positive impact of international placements. What is less well understood is the impact on the learning and teaching that occurs at the university curriculum level prior to and after an international placement. An emergent aspect of this research and the focus of this paper is the impact of these experiences in terms of what they offer the university teaching and learning context. To gain a further understanding of the extent of these impacts, a set of reflective narratives from 10 pre-service teachers and seven teacher educators were gathered and analysed using inductive, thematic analysis. The findings showed that for pre-service teachers and teacher educators that context both culturally and educationally were paramount. The reflections highlighted the impact on the development of a range of general capabilities for both sets of participants. Additionally, international placement experiences increased levels of reflection for both pre-service teachers and teacher educators, which led to further understanding and refining their teacherly identity.

The Longer-Term Influences of International Professional Experience on Teachers’ Professional Practice and Growth

The intention of this paper is to examine the longer-term impacts of international professional experience (IPE). Participants in the study were all early-career teachers who had participated in IPE as part of their education degree and were invited to participate through the alumni office of an education faculty from one university. Thirty participants took part in this research study by completing an online questionnaire with two continuing on to a focus group discussion. The two data sets – from the online questionnaire and interview transcripts – were scrutinized individually using a deductive approach, informed by the five categories from the integrated works of Willard-Holt (2001) and Pence and Macgillivray (2008) as a framing lens. The impact of IPE on the identity formation, practices and career-based decision making of the focus group participants reiterated what emerged from the literature and questionnaire data. This research highlights the impact that IPE has on future teachers’ sense of self and practice as a teacher, their approach to learning, teaching and education more broadly, and on the decisions, they make about their career options and pathways. This study has implications for the ways in which future teachers are prepared for culturally diverse classrooms.

Gender paths in international careers: an approach centred on demands and resources

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the interplay between international experiences and male and female top managers' career paths, taking into consideration gender differences. Furthermore, the research investigates the specific job and personal demands and resources related to the different types of international work experiences.Design/methodology/approachThis study provides an in-depth subjective reconstruction of the international professional experience of 37 male and female top managers employed in Italy, using semi-structured interviews.FindingsParticipants highlighted the benefits of their international assignments (IAs) in terms of the development of managerial, soft and cross-cultural skills. Family issues and cultural differences were frequently cited as challenges by the top managers interviewed. Culture shock and perceived difficulty in managing multicultural teams were reported by both women and men. Men reported experiencing long periods of separation from their family more often than women and cited the support of their partner as a valuable resource. In addition to the support of a partner, women also indicated that certain job resources and welfare policies played a crucial role. Moreover, women appear to be more interested in work-family management issues, thus suggesting that the traditional division of roles between men and women continues to persist in Italy.Originality/valueThis study provides an insight into the extrinsic factors linked to career success, as well as the challenges and the resources associated with different forms of global work other than traditional expatriation. It takes into consideration a specific country, Italy, where a traditional family paradigm persists, providing an insight into better understanding the link between IA experiences and gender roles in global mobility. Managerial implications are also discussed.

Centering Reflection in Teachers’ International Exchange Experience

This policy paper discusses the importance of critical reflection in short-term international teacher exchange programs. It draws from the findings of a larger research project investigating teachers' use of comparison as a framework for pedagogical transfer. The paper defines intercultural pedagogical transfer as an educators' engagement with culture through an exchange experience, which forms the context for policy and pedagogical sense making. Here, culture refers to the norms, values, and expectations that inform teaching practice and policy discourses. Participating in an international exchange program involves teachers' reflections on history, culture and policy as the contexts that inform classroom practices. The discussion presented in this paper highlights the importance of critical reflection on teachers' ability to make and sustain changes to practice following an international professional development experience of a Teacher Exchange Program, supported by the Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research.

Centering Reflection in Teachers’ International Exchange Experience

This policy paper discusses the importance of critical reflection in short-term international teacher exchange programs. It draws from the findings of a larger research project investigating teachers' use of comparison as a framework for pedagogical transfer. The paper defines intercultural pedagogical transfer as an educators' engagement with culture through an exchange experience, which forms the context for policy and pedagogical sense making. Here, culture refers to the norms, values, and expectations that inform teaching practice and policy discourses. Participating in an international exchange program involves teachers' reflections on history, culture and policy as the contexts that inform classroom practices. The discussion presented in this paper highlights the importance of critical reflection on teachers' ability to make and sustain changes to practice following an international professional development experience of a Teacher Exchange Program, supported by the Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research.

Exploring epistemologies: deepening pre-service teachers’ ways of knowing through international professional experience

ABSTRACT This study utilised institutional ethnography to inquire into the lived experiences of 15 Australian pre-service teachers (PSTs) who completed an international professional experience in Indonesia. The PSTs were privy to a unique cultural experience, one grounded in an epistemological stance that differed considerably from their own. Despite completing substantial pre-service teacher education coursework prior to travelling to Indonesia, the PSTs became more acutely aware of how school students, teachers, and community members may operate from varied ways of knowing. As such, in this article we argue that international professional experiences have the possibility to guide PSTs towards newer and deeper explorations of epistemologies, a process of paramount importance in preparing future teachers to work effectively and appropriately in diverse classrooms.

Book Review - Narratives of Learning through International Professional Experience

Narratives of Learning through International Professional Experience, edited by Fitzgerald, Parr and Williams (2017) provides compelling evidence that practicum placements in diverse cultural settings illuminate and inspire new understandings of participants including pre-service teachers, faculty facilitators and host mentor educators.

The Professional Learning of Teacher Educators Leading International Professional Experience

In this article, the professional learning of teacher educators leading international professional experience (IPE) is examined. There is a growing body of research on the learning of pre-service teachers who undertake a period of professional experience in international contexts, but much less is known about the experiences of the academics who lead these programs. This knowledge is important because the success of such programs for pre-service teachers depends largely on the quality of the planning, preparation, and leadership of these as educational experiences. Based on data collected in semistructured interviews with 10 teacher educators who have led IPE to a variety of global locations, this article outlines the professional learning gained from leading a group of pre-service teachers on 3-week IPEs. Findings include the importance of building professional relationships with others involved in the IPE, including the pre-service teachers, school staff, and communities, and the impact of the experience on the development of teacher educator identities and practice.

The building of the transcultural capacities of preservice teachers to support their employability in a globalised world: a pilot study

ABSTRACTThis paper explores the findings of a pilot project that investigated the impact of the International Professional Experience (IPE) programme within a Faculty of Education at a research intensive Australian University in developing the capacity of preservice teachers (PSTs) to work and teach amidst culturally diverse environments. The pilot was a precursor to a project investigating the impact of IPE on PSTs’ cultural capacity across a range of IPE locations. The importance of teachers acquiring transcultural capacity has become more acute in recent years. Educational globalisation has influenced Australian educators and schools to see working and learning in countries outside Australia as opportunities that support readiness for a professional career. Australian graduate teachers are now required to possess and demonstrate the skills and capacities to relate to, engage with and teach students from diverse cultures. Migration has altered Australian demographics to the point that cultural understandings are now mandated in the national curriculum. The pilot study findings suggest that the IPE experience has a significant impact on the development of transcultural capacity amongst PSTs especially those who have not had opportunities for, engagement with cultural modes outside their place of origin.

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.

Short-term International Experience (STIE) and Students’ Understanding of Quality Early Childhood Service Provision

Exposing pre-service teachers to international professional experiences through a short-term visiting programme serves to challenge their understandings of good quality practice through disturbing assumptions and expectations previously formed through experiences in their own country/culture. Much of the research in international study focuses on pre-service teachers preparing to teach in primary, secondary or language classes. In this study we present the perceptions of pre-service early childhood students who underwent a short-term international experience. In particular we explore the ways in which their experiences impacted on their understandings of quality early childhood service provision. In the increasingly neoliberal Australian early childhood sector externally imposed standards define quality and this is enacted in relatively homogenous ways in practice, opportunities to observe practice arising from different understandings serves to challenge thinking, potentially leading to different world views (Piaget’s accommodation).

Writer identity construction in Mexican students of applied linguistics

AbstractThe paper examines the connection between discursive and non-discursive features and the construction of writer identity. In particular, the paper compares and contrasts the writer identity development of two groups of undergraduate students of applied linguistics in the Mexican context, one made up of locally educated ones and the other composed of returning migrants from the USA. Through a combination of the analysis of various essays written by the participating students at different stages of their academic program and a discourse-based interview methodology, the study looks at the ways in which and the extent to which differences in international experience, professional experience and teacher education background influence the development of an essential academic identity. The results show that returnees made less use of first person pronouns and more use of sophisticated linguistic choices such as topic sentences, supporting details, and citations to strengthen their arguments and to convey...

Your place or mine? global imbalances in internationalisation and mobilisation in educational professional experience

International mobility programmes and opportunities have enthusiastically been embraced by universities as part of a growing demand for graduates with global, international and intercultural capital on the part of graduates. In this project, we take two universities, one Australian and one Indonesian, as illustrative case studies of some of the commonalities, differences and, in particular, imbalances, with regard to the conduct of international professional experience in the global north and south. Specifically, a recent visit by Indonesian pre-service teachers was used to inform an upcoming visit by Australian pre-service teachers to Indonesia. We used this opportunity to compare the accessibility of travel for Australian and Indonesian pre-service teachers, as illustrations of in/equality of access for northern and southern learners. We hope that this paper will prompt discussion about global imbalances of opportunity with regard to international experiences. We also hope that our mutual interview process adopted for this study might be a useful research tool.

RDA: From Strategy to Experiments and Implementation in Latvia (Including an Overview of the Situation in the Baltic States)

The article offers insight into the implementation of Resource Description and Access (RDA) in the National Library of Latvia (NLL). Reasons for the decision to implement RDA in a small country are analyzed. The article also emphasizes the importance of international professional experience. The main challenges that the NLL faced during RDA implementation are presented along with ideas about problem solving and experimenting: how to implement RDA without sufficient resources, how to eliminate historical differences, how to overcome linguistic and cultural distinctions, how to deal with e-resources, how to change authority data, and how to train staff. A short overview of progress in cataloging using RDA in the Baltic States of Estonia and Lithuania is also given. Several conclusions for RDA implementation in countries where the official state language is not English are presented.

International Experiences for Student Affairs Educators: There Is a World of Professional Development Opportunities Out There

The chapter discusses learning that has resulted from selected international professional development experiences.

Developing intercultural competence and global citizenship through international experiences: academics’ perceptions

International education is a key priority for Australian universities, government and employer groups. For students, an international professional experience is uniquely placed in providing opportunities for developing intercultural learning, intercultural competence and global citizenship. Employers see graduates with international experiences as interculturally competent, viewing them as proficient in analysing and responding appropriately to culturally significant values and perceptions. This research seeks to understand how students are prepared for international experiences and how intercultural learning is integrated into course programmes. Academic staff responsible for international experiences were interviewed in one-on-one qualitative interviews about their practices and perceptions of preparing students for these experiences. Although all international programmes were procedurally well planned, we found that most participants did not include intercultural pedagogies into their programmes, nor did they purposefully seek to develop intercultural competence and global citizenship in their students. Professional development opportunities need to be created for academics to rethink their pedagogical intent regarding international experiences. Immersion in culture is not, on its own, an assurance of intercultural learning. Providing international experiences without a pedagogical framework that helps students to reflect on self and others can be a wasted opportunity and runs the risk of reinforcing stereotypical thinking and racist attitudes.

"Eu fui, voltei e ninguém viu": um estudo sobre a expectativa de carreira após a repatriação em uma empresa brasileira

No mundo corporativo, estudos mostram que os repatriados, ou seja, profissionais expatriados que retornam da sua missão no exterior, tornam-se mais comprometidos com o desenvolvimento de sua carreira após uma experiência internacional. A expatriação agrega conhecimento e experiência profissional, o que pode ser relacionado, pelo repatriado, a uma possível ascensão de carreira ou a um melhor desempenho na organização. Entretanto, quando isso não ocorre, a frustração pode levá-lo a procurar outra empresa que valorize seus conhecimentos, sendo esse um dos grandes desafios empresariais: a retenção dos repatriados. Este estudo tem por propósito analisar a relação percebida entre repatriação e expectativas de carreira profissional por parte dos profissionais que tiveram ou estão tendo uma experiência profissional internacional pela empresa Alpha, organização de grande porte com presença em mais de 100 países e que mantém um processo de expatriação há 12 anos, em 9 países. Assim, foi realizado um estudo de caso com 21 entrevistas, discutidas mediante análise de conteúdo. Como principal achado deste estudo constata-se que os repatriados passam a dar mais valor ao seu desenvolvimento profissional, estabelecendo um maior vínculo consigo mesmos do que com a organização em que trabalham. Como existem falhas por parte da empresa em apresentar um planejamento para aproveitar a experiência desse empregado em posições que demandem mais responsabilidade, alguns entrevistados deixam de pensar em sua carreira dentro da empresa. Desse modo, abrem-se para a busca de outras oportunidades no mercado de trabalho. Por outro lado, os que buscam espaço dentro da organização acabam se percebendo enquanto "um problema" para a empresa.