Education Goes International: Partnering

Abroad to Build Teacher Education ProgramsLaura Hauerwas, Joanne Maddux Meaghan CreamerProvidence College Fairfield University, Florence Providence College

Outline of Presentation

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▪ The International Teacher Education Partnership

Fairfield University and Providence College

Fairfield in Florence and Florence Primary Schools

▪ Development of the Program over 5+ years

Curriculum alignment

Mutually beneficial partnerships with host community

▪ Research: Impact of the Program on the Host Community

▪ Strategies to Sustain Partnership Programs

International Teacher Education

Partnership Fairfield University and Providence College

Fairfield in Florence and Florence Primary Schools

Questions for Audience

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1. What is your experience with field based partnerships?

2. What is your experience with custom programs

aligned with specific curricular needs?

3. What what you like to take away from this session?

Development of the Program

over 5+ years

Curriculum Alignment

Mutually beneficial partnerships with host community

Program Development and Evolution

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1. Curriculum Alignment with Teacher

Education Program

a. Practicum Requirements

b. Literacy Class

c. Cross-Cultural Class

d. Intern Assessment

2. Mutually beneficial partnerships with

schools

a. EFL curriculum

b. Scheduling

c. Teacher Professional

Development

ResearchWhat is the impact of the teacher

education program on the host

community?

Abroad students and

program staff must act

“as committed global

citizens to ensure that

we are carrying out our

work in a way that is

responsible to all parties

involved” (Stephenson,

2006).

Research

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Participants

▪ Italian Cooperating Teachers

▪ Italian Primary Students who

the American interns taught EFL

Analysis Approach

▪ Inductive process to establish codes and findings

▪ Validity of data: memos, member

checks, discussions of meaning

Data Collection

▪ Cooperating Teacher Interviews

▪ Student Questionnaires

▪ Classroom Observations

▪ Program and Meeting Notes

from 2012-2015

Italian Primary Students

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Data revealed impact in three areas:

▪ Communication skills

▪ Global awareness

▪ Reflective understanding

Italian Primary Students: Finding One

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Italian Students“In reality I haven’t learned many words from our

American teacher, but how to make sentences (which to

me is more important).”

“She helped me a lot with the pronunciation, since her

pronunciation was very American.”

“I learned how to make sentences and to pronounce

correctly…”

Cooperating Teachers

Highlighted the importance of hearing and interacting with “mother tongue speakers” to the students’ English language development

Enhanced English Communication

Skills

Italian Primary Students: Finding Two

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Italian Students

“My American teacher helped me discover the world”

“That my lifestyle is different compared to others and that

Europe is not the only place in the world”

“I’ve learned that many different realities exist and now I

know that when I grow up I want to see these different

realities”

Cooperating Teachers“students have to challenge themselves to speak the language of the American interns in order to create a relationship”.

Developed an Awareness of the Global World

Italian Primary Students: Finding Three

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Italian Students

“I learned very well when she taught me interrogative

pronouns with a scavenger hunt”

“I’ve learned really well her lessons when she used to call us

at the blackboard and when she let us explain our work

after being divided into groups.”

Built Reflective Understanding of Learning

Cooperating Teachers

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Data revealed impact in three areas:

▪ participation in the classroom

▪ educational practices

▪ global education partnership

Cooperating Teacher: Finding One

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Participation structures in

the classroom changed to

support learning

Observations while interns were teaching EFL:

▪ CTs translated the interns’ English

instructions to Italian for their students

▪ CTs confirmed with the intern their

expectations for activities

▪ CTs clarified their understanding of different

English words and constructions with interns

“At the beginning the mentoring teacher’s task

during teaching was to serve as a sort of filter to

support and check if the communication was

passing… As the experience progressed, this role

lessened to the point that I simply walked around

the classroom, observed and supported students

with problems and disabilities.”

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Cooperating Teacher: Finding Two

Learned about and responded to

cultural variations in educational

practices

Approaches to EFL Teaching

Teacher Evaluation

Cooperating Teacher: Finding Three

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Strengthened commitment to partnership

and global education

“a gift to our school”“global collaboration”

“we say [to parents] these interns don’t come here to speak in

general, but they do a perfect lesson.. happy to see this serious

work.”

“valuable to us... globalizing curriculum”

Reciprocal Benefits of the Program on the Host Community

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Tangible Benefits

▪ Provided CTs and students access to an American who could model English and

teach them about America

Capacity Building

▪ Built both interns’ and CTs’ capacity as teachers, and the students’ capacity as

reflective learners

Intercultural Understanding▪ Strengthened commitment to global awareness through relationships built with

partners.

Strategies to Sustain Partnership

Programs

Strategies to Sustain Partnerships- University to University

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▪ Identify key actors to develop and

sustain partnership.

▪ Consider forming a committee with

diverse representation for program

development.

▪ Formalize agreement; establish

learning objective and timeline for

growth and development.

Strategies to Sustain Partnerships- Study Abroad Program & Local Community

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▪ Identify criteria for host institution

partnership.

▪ Consider building on pre-existing

relationships.

▪ Develop a selection and vetting process

for cooperating teachers.

Strategies to Sustain Partnerships- University and Local Community

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▪ Select a cultural mediator for communication between host partner and university.

▪ Develop a process for delivering feedback and assessment of pre-service teachers.

▪ Ensure that the cooperating teachers have opportunities for cultural reflection and learning about cultural variations in education practices.

1) Faculty and Study Abroad Professionals: Key Players

2) Community Partnership: Establishing Common Goals

3) Teacher Interns: Dissonance in Italian Classroom

4) Administration: Sustainability

THANK YOU