Search results

Global focus on reforming teachers has resulted in the inclusion of multiple survey questions about teachers’ professional learning activities in large-scale international studies. A cross-national analysis of these survey data will likely enhance our understanding and inform the future direction regarding teacher professional development policy and practice. Yet we do not know whether these surveys measure the key features and their contextual factors of teachers’ professional learning activities to allow a systematic cross-national analysis. Based on international and U.S. literature, I develop a conceptual model of teachers’ professional learning activities in global context and analyze relevant survey items used in three major international studies – TIMSS, PIRLS, and TALIS. I conclude the chapter with a discussion of the coverage of these survey items and a direction for improving data collections of teachers’ professional learning activities in large-scale international studies.

There has been a resurgence of interest in comparative and international research on teacher education that has been driven, in large part, by the emergence over the past two decades of comprehensive international studies of student achievement supported by (1) the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and (2) the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). Widely published country rankings that set benchmarks for student achievement suggest the importance of understanding more fully what specific characteristics set highly ranked countries apart, especially quality of teaching and teacher education.

Recent literature on comparative and international teacher education is reviewed, focusing on special issues of Prospects (Vol. 42, March 2012, “Internationalization of Teacher Education”), sponsored by the UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE) in Geneva, Switzerland, and the International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education (Vol. 11, August 2013, “International Perspectives on Mathematics and Science Teacher Education for the Future”), sponsored by the National Science Council of Taiwan.

A conceptual framework for describing the complexity of teacher education in comparative and international context is presented, adapting an approach used for understanding educational change and reform in emerging democracies. The chapter concludes with a discussion of theoretical perspectives that have been applied to teacher education in comparative and international education with recommendations for new directions that might inform scholarly understanding as well as practice.

This collaborative effort aims to reduce international teacher attrition. Findings from the data are meant to be shared with principals to reduce the number of international teachers leaving teaching. The study revolves around three important research questions: What challenges do international teachers encounter and how do they meet them? What individual strengths help international teachers develop resilience in the transition process? and What support mechanisms help international teachers develop resilience in the adaptation process? The chapter ends with recommendations and implications for school leaders as they create conditions that will help retain new teachers.

The way in which the international teacher organizations evolved suggests both the advantages and the difficulties of maintaining a coherent and purposeful international organization for education advocacy (the abbreviations and acronyms for all the organizations are spelled out for reference in Appendix A to this chapter; the complex succession of organizations is traced in a table, presented as Appendix B to this chapter). The international teacher organizations began at the outset of the 20th century in Europe.¹ The first of these, founded in 1905 and centering on the concerns of primary school teachers, was the International Bureau of Federations of Teachers (IBFT; it became the International Federation of Teachers’ Associations [IFTA] in 1926). The second, founded in 1912, was the International Foundation of Secondary Teachers (known by its French acronym, FIPESO, the Fédération internationale des professeurs de l’enseignement secondaire officielle).

This paper was written in response to the tendency for the international education literature to position the international teacher in essentialist and western-centric terms. The international school landscape has changed significantly in the last 20 years, leading to the rise of type C non-traditional international schools, which requires a reconceptualisation of the international teacher. The purpose of this paper is to explore how a Chinese English teacher (Daisy) in an internationalised school in Shanghai constructed her identity as an international teacher.

This paper drew upon concepts from the teacher identity literature in order to construct a comparative conceptual framework comprised of personal, professional and cross-cultural domains of experience. Commensurate with this framework, in-depth phenomenological interviewing and member-checking were utilised in order to gain access to the participant’s lived experiences. Member-checking and data analysis became a dialogic and recursive process in which rapport was continually maintained and strengthened through the sharing of raw and analysed data, with additional comments and suggestions being fed back into an emerging interpretation in order to generate more data and enhance validity.

The findings highlighted how Daisy was active in not only constructing her identity as an international educator but also mobilising this identity to challenge the western-centric nature of international education. The findings also revealed moments of discursive dissonance. Daisy simultaneously constructed an identity as an “internationalising” teacher, but was also constructed as an international teacher through a discourse that presented international education as constructivist, and therefore western-centric, in nature. Implications and recommendations are made for practice and research based on these findings.

This paper offers an alternative perspective on the international teacher experience, which continues to be western-centric in focus, by exploring the development of an international teacher identity from a Chinese perspective.

A narrative inquiry was conducted to explore the complexities of learning English and Korean as subject matter in cross-cultural contexts in contributing to teacher identity, with possible tensions of identity teachers experience as ethnic Koreans teaching at an international school in Korea that promotes non-Korean, international education in English as a “language of inclusion” and instruction. With expansions of international schools in South Korea, also growing are numbers of Korean teachers teaching at such schools as returnees, individuals with cross-cultural experience. Stories of one Korean language and literature teacher with international schooling experience were examined.

While identifying the practical benefits of acquiring English, she expresses her concern for the presumed loss of Korean as a product of the prioritized use of English on campus. Equally recognized are the diverse opportunities not commonly available at Korean public schools that the participant upholds from her own experience. She acknowledged that her opportunities for the development of English language skills to a high level of proficiency through international education is not commonly accessible to all students in the Korean public school system. She also considered possible impacts associated with prioritizing the use of English over Korean in her international education experience, including their influence on: her sense of identity as a teacher and as Korean; her cultural knowledge as Korean; and her teacher knowledge as she supports her students' learning of English as subject matter in ways that might, in turn, also impact their sense of identity as Korean.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the rapidly growing body of expatriate teachers in international schools’ as a neglected community of non-corporate expatriates, and presents a research agenda.

This paper presents a conceptual framework for identifying a possible reason for this neglect; the teachers in international schools can be viewed as “middling actors”, caught in a “middle space” of the emergent “business expatriate” concept, between the discussion about corporate expatriates and precariat workers.

This paper reveals that the body of expatriate teachers in international schools is growing rapidly, and is forecast to reach up to 800,000 by 2026, yet the literature still largely neglects their realities of everyday life as an expatriate.

The concept of an international school defies consensus agreement, and this paper uses data that is academically debatable in its accuracy. The figures should be viewed as the maximum amount.

The concept of the “middling actor” can be further developed, and international schools offer a rich area of research for expatriate researchers.

Teachers in international schools have escaped discussion as expatriates yet warrant greater attention. This paper introduces the concept of “middling” and the “middling actor” as new, yet potentially useful, sociological concepts. The concept of the “middling actor” within the broad “business expatriate” concept can be developed in many different ways and needs further discussion and theorization.

The author is interested in how international (migrant) pre-service teachers use their educational background knowledge and worldviews to make sense of the educational system, the pedagogy and of power relations between staff members in the hosting country. The author seeks to unveil their understanding of successful intellectual integration and their strategies to navigate social, conceptual and pedagogical obstacles.

The author draws on the concept of “intercultural competence” to analyse how international STEM pre-service teachers respond to the challenges and opportunities of integration in the English system. A total of 18 participants were interviewed in focus groups in London to find out about their perceptions of the course and attitudes during their training journey. Five hours of audio recording were transcribed and a thematic analysis was carried out.

International STEM pre-service teachers experience challenges to intellectual integration, including understanding the new school culture, school structure, teaching methodologies and the use of specialist terminologies. However, they show little concern about networking and relations of power.

Mentors and tutors should not assume school systems are the same everywhere. Support from university tutors and school mentors must take into consideration that international students will very likely hold ethnocentric views. Mentors, tutors and pre-service teachers would benefit very much from bespoke support to help international students to integrate in a new educational system.

Very little has been reported on the experience of international STEM pre-service teachers in England, particularly those with no previous teaching experience. The objective of this study is to address this gap and contribute to the internationalisation of teacher training curricula.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the connection between professional development and professional capital within international schools in Asia.

This study was an exploratory multisite case study. Teachers and leaders in six high performing international schools in Asia were surveyed to measure their professional capital. Three leaders with the highest professional capital from different schools were interviewed to better understand how professional development fosters professional capital of their teachers.

International school leaders tended to have high professional capital while teachers reported having less professional capital. Leaders fostered professional capital of their teachers through professional development by supporting the intellectual passions of individuals, fostering collaborative learning within and across international schools and creating a culture of safety and vulnerability for teachers to try new things.

This study showed that a short version of the professional capital survey tested well in this context with items just focused on professional development. However, more work needs to be done to make the individual constructs more robust as it pertains to professional development. This research also highlighted the need to look at how international school teachers foster their own professional capital through professional development.

This is the first study that focused on the intersection of professional capital and professional development. Additionally, this article serves as one of the few studies of professional capital in international schools.