Teacher Preparation Programs: Making Student Teaching Abroad an Effective Option

Abstract

Student teaching abroad is one of the most effective options for schools and colleges of education. These programs can provide rich and fulfilling intercultural experiences for all teacher candidates. Short-term programs can provide initial exposure to another culture, language, and school practices. Long-term programs provide more challenging and higher-level programs where teacher candidates can be involved in cutting-edge research and make a difference in the lives of their host country students. When institutions begin developing study abroad as an option for their teacher education programs, there will be many issues to consider and resolve. First, what type of study abroad program will best suit the needs of your institution? Is your institution looking for a basic level of initial exposure to another culture because your teacher candidates have had little or no experience interacting with teacher candidates from other cultures? Are your teacher candidates experienced in working with teacher candidates from diverse backgrounds and therefore need more challenging programs? Is your institution interested in building a variety of options to suit teacher candidates of all types, those with or without significant intercultural experiences? Types of study abroad programs and level of support provided by each type There are a wide variety of study abroad programs that colleges of education can provide their majors. Short-term and long-term study abroad programs can be delivered via (a) oneway exchanges and consortia, (b) bi-lateral exchanges, and (c) multi-lateral exchanges. Each provides different benefits to the teacher candidates involved, and each varies with the level and types of support provided. Short-term study abroad programs This type of study abroad is usually for two to three weeks. Usually, teacher candidates are moving through several countries and staying a few days in each location to attend seminars and visit schools. These programs provide teacher candidates with an overview of how schools, schooling, and education take place in a variety of cultures and countries. This tourist approach to learning is a good introduction to other cultures because it helps teacher candidates realize that being in another culture can be a positive experience, and it can also reduce xenophobic fears of traveling outside one's own comfort zone. This type of program provides maximum support since a professor usually accompanies the group and can deal with any issues that may arise. Though there are obvious benefits to short-term study abroad programs, they can also create the McDonaldization Effect, i.e., a drive-through approach to learning about culture and education, which does not require a great deal of critical thinking or analysis on the part of the student. It develops the idea that you pick up what is offered to you, but if you don't like it, you will never go there again. Another applicable paradigm is the CNN Approach, where you are shown selected images, highlights of the culture and its educational system, and selected sound bites, which are without in-depth analysis or explanation of why and how these things happen. A third reference point is Face Book and Texting Mode. Since today's millennial teacher candidates are quite accustomed to processing information in abbreviated bursts of information, instructors will need to provide predeparture support and in-depth discussion of the culture before leaving. In this way, teacher candidates can have some background to understand better what they are seeing and experiencing. To avoid the drawbacks of short-term programs, it is better to stay in one location for the entire time and to offer various types of course credit, e.g., cultural, educational, and/or language. Programs should be built so that teacher candidates can get a more in-depth approach to study abroad and move on to other more culturally-complicated programs in the future. …

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