Teaching for transformation: converting the intercultural experience of preservice teachers into intercultural learning

Fostering intercultural learning among preservice teachers has become increasingly important. This article describes the results of a three-year study of semester-long projects in which cohorts of undergraduate education majors (N = 41) engaged with first-semester international students and were asked to reflect on becoming involved participants in a linguistically and culturally diverse learning community. The findings reveal the transformative effect of intercultural encounters on future teachers.     

What teachers say about addressing culture in their EFL teaching practices: the Vietnamese context

This paper examines Vietnamese EFL teachers’ beliefs about the role of culture in language teaching. It also considers how they address culture in their teaching practices in a Vietnamese university. Ethnographic data collected from semi-structured interviews indicated that opportunities for culture to find its way into EFL classroom activities were still limited. Priority was given to teaching language knowledge and skills, while culture played a minor role only.     

Effects of international student exchange on pre-service teachers: a quasi-experimental study

This contribution provides empirical answers to the question of how teaching-specific competencies develop during participation in an international student exchange programme. The quantitative analyses of this quasi-experimental study suggest that, generally speaking, no specific developments occur during an exchange experience. These findings contradict the majority of existing literature. Possible reasons for this divergence are discussed. The interpretation of the results suggests future research should focus on the key question of pre-conditions for productive exchange experiences.     

The politico-cultural significance of teachers’ ‘professionalization’ movements: a compared analysis of American and French cases

ABSTRACT

This article highlights the ideational factors underpinning the movements to professionalize teachers in the United-States and in France. It demonstrates that the deep driving force behind these movements is neither the modernization of schooling, nor the professional interests of teacher educators, but the politico-cultural hold of a philosophical paradigm that met the values and ideals of education and political systems’ actors. By associating human progress with social progress based on natural laws, the naturalistic standpoint of this philosophical paradigm won the favor of the times. Nevertheless, the adaptive conception of intellectual and moral development it supports entails a separation of the mental world of education specialists from that of academic scholars. As a consequence, the major missions of formal education shifted from the training of the mind through the understanding of subject-matters to that of whole social personalities through situated or experiential forms of understanding, the paradoxical outcome being a loss of teachers’ autonomy in terms of professional expertise.     

The impact of study abroad on improved cultural awareness: a quantitative review

ABSTRACT

Studying abroad (SA) represents a valuable experience for many students within higher education settings. Recently, the number of students choosing to SA within higher education has risen. Quantitative and qualitative research indicates that SA improves learning as related to ancillary types of learning outcomes, such as with cultural awareness (CA). CA is knowledge gained about similarities and differences among and between cultural groups. The goal of the present quantitative review was to compile and evaluate, in a comprehensive manner, published findings, addressing the impact of SA in higher education on CA. To accomplish this goal, articles reporting empirical results were collected, and effect sizes for statistical comparisons were calculated. Across 28 independent studies, SA was found to be associated with marked increases in CA (mean effect size, d = 0.569). A critical evaluation of empirical studies on SA and CA shows many important flaws and limitations. Many studies are based on self-report data derived from relatively small samples of US students studying abroad for 1 year or less. This quantitative review provides support for the hypothesis that SA may improve CA, but also demonstrates the need for further rigorous research to be conducted in this area.     

Planning to work for free: building the graduate employability of planners through unpaid work

In the context of an increasingly precarious and competitive graduate labour market, exposure to pre-graduation professional work experience is becoming an increasingly critical feature of graduate employability. Outside the creative professions the contours of this shift have received comparatively little empirical attention. This study provides evidence of increasing participation in unpaid work beyond the creative industries where it is well established as a common practice. This study examines the complex patterns of opportunities and challenges that are created for and by Australian urban planning students in gaining relevant exposure to professional work, with a particular emphasis on participation in unpaid work experience. Through the lens of employability and the voices of early career professionals, this study explores the complexity of decisions to engage in unpaid work and identifies the potential personal and professional implications of these decisions. Focussing on the ways decisions around unpaid work are shaped by a range of factors including labour market conditions and disciplinary norms the findings yield new knowledge of how unpaid work is practised and shaped as a principal means through which employment-related advantage and enhanced employability in education to employment transitions is sought by participants and the potential implications of this.     

Letter writing in the intercultural classroom: the case of retraining courses for immigrant English teachers in Israel

Training of immigrant teachers offers ample opportunities for intercultural interactions, yet it also requires unique sensitivities. On the one hand, immigrant teachers are often qualified and experienced. At the same time, immigration forces them out of their comfort zone, entailing some loss of professional status and self-esteem. The essay suggests letter writing as a method that aims to address these often-neglected aspects in the training of immigrant teachers and is based on a course given to new immigrant English teachers in Israel.     

The effects of cross-cultural competence on my teaching and studying in the UK context

In this paper, I reflect on my experiences as a Chinese educator, attempting to take my previous experiences into a new situation: teaching in the UK. These reflections take me down a path that shows how my Chinese cultural background and experiences created both challenges and opportunities for my teaching. I attempt to show how important it is to gain cross-cultural competence if one is to take one’s teaching into new cultural environments.     

Learning basic employability competence: a challenge for the active labour insertion of adolescents in residential care in their transition to adulthood

The teaching of basic employability competence from a very early age is of preventive value in the transition of young people in residential care to adulthood. The present research relates employability competence (finding and holding down a job and gaining promotion in the labour market) with positive career outcomes and employment opportunities. In this study, conceptual methods for understanding employability are analysed and some existing international studies of employability skills are reviewed, although all of these are deemed partial approaches to the needs of children and young people in residential care. Our proposal, the IARS (Infancia y Adolescencia en Riesgo Social [Children and Young People at Social Risk]) Employability Competence Framework, developed by means of a collaborative and integrated approach with experts, provides a complete picture of how employability competences are important for preparing young people in residential care not only for active labour insertion but also in terms of their comprehensive development. A selection of a cluster of eight employability competences (self-organisation, decision-making and problem-solving, teamwork, communication, perseverance, professional project development, flexibility and responsibility) and their components are presented, as well as its educational implications within children's homes.     

Displeasure at plurality and fear of strangers? An empirical study among youth in Germany and the Netherlands

A comparison between the Netherlands and Germany concerning religious, cultural and ethnic plurality provides interesting insights. Germany has never defined itself as a multicultural society, as was historically the case in the Netherlands. The outcomes of the research are somewhat surprising. Dutch pupils – especially boys – are more negative about plurality than their German contemporaries are. Belonging to a church in Germany appears to be connected to a positive attitude to migrants, while in the Netherlands this is not important at all.     

Teaching outside of the box: a short-term international internship for pre-service and in-service physical education teachers

This article reports on results from a qualitative study of a two-week international internship for pre-service and in-service physical education (PE) teachers in a developing nation (Belize). Relying upon data from questionnaires that were administered before and after the short-term international internship, participants’ perspectives related to their professional and personal development were investigated. Understanding the overlap that necessarily exists between professional and personal growth, five themes are identified and discussed. These include: (1) Kids are Kids (Or are they?), (2) Relationships Matter, (3) Cooperation and Collaboration in Teaching: Learning Together, (4) Teaching without Bells and Whistles, and (5) Recognising One’s Own Privilege. In light of these findings, some suggestions for future practice and inquiry are offered.     

Bitter strawberries: the construction of differences in a multicultural school: a case study

This paper presents the results of a case study looking at the views of teachers and other educational professionals pertaining to the academic progress and general integration of immigrant schoolchildren in multicultural schools in the province of Huelva (Andalusia, Spain). It is organised into three sections: first, the geographical and social context of the study is described, focusing in particular on the impact on schools of migratory trends within the province associated with strawberry cultivation. This is followed by a presentation of the results of a field study into the educational panorama of immigrant pupils from various countries, drawing on verbal reports by teachers and school administrators. Finally, some conclusions are suggested for possible categories of analysis with a view to opening new lines of research in the future.     

Intercultural policies and the contradictory views of teachers: the Roma in Catalonian schools

In this article, we examine the contradictions and lack of consistency between various levels of discourse relating to Roma educational policies. Policy-makers have claimed that political interventions would positively impact the progress of Roma. However, the results have been mixed. We argue here that teachers need to re-evaluate their roles as politically aware and culturally informed agents in order to guarantee social justice to a historically disadvantaged ethnic minority. Based on ethnographical fieldwork carried out over a two-year period with Spanish Roma children, both in schools and in their families, this study shows how intercultural policies have failed to impact the educational realities of Roma children.     

The voice of young people – contribution for their involvement in the school

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this action research project was to gain an understanding of, and to mobilise the voices of diverse young people enrolled in a Portuguese secondary school. A case study methodology, in conjunction with action research methodology, was used for this study. The action research data indicated that projects conceived throughout the study were successful in mobilising the voices of 14 young secondary school students in decision-making processes. The young people engaged democratically, made informed decisions about themselves and their peers, managed conflicts, and reinforced the importance of interpersonal relationships. These changes took place at the individual, as well as group levels.     

Sorting people out: The uses of one-dimensional classificatory schemes in a multi-dimensional world

This paper examines how people are classified as part of a labour market project aimed at establishing a process for recognizing prior learning among immigrants to Sweden in order to integrate them more quickly with the labour market and society. The paper suggests that, in Sweden, this work prioritizes procedural effectiveness over a more comprehensive understanding of the competence and qualifications of the immigrant worker. By exploring the process of classification in which cognitive structuring of the perceived world results in organizational, administrative and structural enactment, the study provides further insights into how practices of classification are a central part of organizational life. The concept of intersectionality contributes by showing how individuals are situated at the intersection of a variety of classificatory schemes, and together with classification, intersectionality points to how organizational categories are never given, but a result of bureaucratic power procedures strengthening, weakening and/or negotiating away categories used to sort people out.     

Learning to live together: an exploration and analysis of managing cultural diversity in centre-based early childhood development programmes

This paper explores how early childhood development practitioners running centre-based programmes with children aged 3–6 years address the needs of an increasing number of children from diverse cultural backgrounds in their care. This is important as early childhood is a critical moment in which to create a positive awareness about diversity. A qualitative and interactive research design was employed to identify what values, attitudes, knowledge and strategies practitioners and families believe are important to promote the social integration of children from diverse backgrounds. In-depth interviews and participant observation were used to collect data from 10 practitioners working in two urban settlements in two provinces of South Africa, while focus group interviews were carried out with the families of children attending two of the centres. The findings showed that an intercultural education approach provides the necessary tools to address challenges faced by practitioners including promoting social integration, respect for diversity and multilingualism, and the prevention of racist, xenophobic and discriminatory attitudes and actions.

Este trabajo explora la manera en que los educadores, trabajando en centros de educación infantil con niños entre tres y seis años atienden las necesidades de cada vez mayor número de niños de orígenes culturales y lingüísticos diversos. Esto es importante porque la etapa de la infancia es un momento crítico para crear una conciencia positiva sobre la diversidad. Se utilizó un diseño de investigación cualitativa e interactiva para identificar cuales son los valores, actitudes, conocimientos y estrategias que los educadores y las familias creen que son importantes para promover la integración social de los niños de diversos orígenes. Se utilizaron entrevistas en profundidad y observaciones participativas para recopilar datos de diez educadores de dos comunidades urbanas situadas en dos provincias de Sudáfrica. Asimismo, se entrevistaron las familias de los niños que asisten a dos de dichos centros. Los resultados mostraron que el modelo de educación intercultural proporciona las herramientas necesarias para hacer frente a los desafíos que los educadores enfrentan: la promoción de la integración social, el respeto a la diversidad y el multilingüismo, y la prevención de actitudes y acciones racistas, xenófobas y discriminatorias.     

Pedagogy of international social work: a comparative study in the USA,UK, and Georgia

The social work profession worldwide has been increasingly influenced by globalization and its effects on social issues that require social workers to be responsive and knowledgeable in addressing them. In recent years there has been an increased emphasis on the internationalization of the social work profession and education. With limited examples of international social-work-teaching methods discussed in the literature, there is also a lack of information obtained directly from students on methods of instruction that they most prefer and find beneficial. This collaborative, comparative project examined students' perceptions of methods that make teaching international social work successful at three universities in the United States, United Kingdom, and Georgia. While there were different preferences for content- and process-driven approaches in teaching, students' common interest was in gaining practice examples and exposure to real-life practice of international social work in their own and other countries. The findings suggest that international social work education needs to be more experiential and practice-based.     

Teaching intercultural awareness in the English as a foreign language classroom: a case study using critical reading

This paper reports on an educational intervention study that used linguistic and rhetorical approaches to critical reading, in order to teach intercultural awareness. The intervention was implemented with a group of Mexican college students learning English as a foreign language. The study focuses on changes between participants’ pre- and post-intervention articulated understandings of the targeted cultural context, namely the USA. The data was coded and analyzed using a complexity theory perspective and directed qualitative analysis. The results indicate that drawing students’ attention to the cultural situatedness of language use can increase their awareness of the multiple ideological positions existing in a cultural context. Based on these results, the paper argues that the field of intercultural education needs to take a linguistic turn in order to further its goals.     

Art in my world: Exploring the visual art experiences in the everyday lives of young children and their impact on cultural capital

This paper presents data from a unique longitudinal study exploring the visual art experiences of nine children in two Scottish primary schools. Using a theoretical lens of cultural capital, the study is focused on spaces where children experience visual art and the value of these experiences, using arts-informed, visual methods. While each child presented a particular insight, the findings question the value of current school visual art experience over other spaces. The findings also demonstrate the capacity of children to resist the control of cultural capital by adults, engaging with visual art on their own terms.