ERIC Number: EJ1090470
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015
Pages: 23
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0737-5328
EISSN: N/A
Preservice Teachers' Student Teaching Experiences in East Africa
Kulkarni, Saili S.; Hanley-Maxwell, Cheryl
Teacher Education Quarterly, v42 n4 p59-81 Fall 2015
The world is changing. Human mobility is at an all-time high, and globalization is a consequence of that mobility. Traditionally, a preservice teacher preparation program would require students to spend one to two semesters teaching in local schools under the guidance of an experienced teacher. Conversely, intercultural student teaching programs enable students to supplement or replace such requirements with opportunities to teach internationally. The current study attempted to provide a balanced view of international student teaching by highlighting benefits while also bringing up programmatic challenges and needs. This study was conducted in rural East Africa, which is a region of the world none of the other intercultural student teaching literature has, to date, covered. Specifically, this study examined the influence of a university-based student teaching program in rural East Africa on the beliefs of four preservice teacher participants from a large Western university. Three main research questions were important to the objectives of this study: (1) How did preservice teachers feel the East African student teaching program informed their overall preparedness to teach in U.S. public schools?; (2) How did preservice teachers feel the East African student teaching program informed their ability to become culturally responsive educators in U.S. public schools?; and (3) How did the East African student teaching program inform preservice teachers' perspectives on the global context of education? Semistructured interviews were completed soon after participants returned from East Africa to capture their reflections after they returned and started working in public schools in the United States. Analysis of the student teaching program revealed that the opportunity to teach in East Africa had influences on student thinking and that some participants gained new understandings as they transitioned back into teaching at public schools in the United States.
Descriptors: Preservice Teachers, Teaching Experience, Foreign Countries, Student Teaching, Student Attitudes, International Educational Exchange, Rural Areas, Teacher Education Programs, Faculty Mobility, Cultural Awareness, Culturally Relevant Education, Global Education, Semi Structured Interviews, Program Descriptions, North Americans, Second Language Learning
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Africa; United States
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A