Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Advanced Research in Education
Year: 2024
DOI:
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An Investigation of How a Short-Term Overseas Immersion Program May Influence the Intercultural Understandings of Australian Preservice Teachers
Catherine Lembke
ABSTRACT:
Australia is a diverse, multicultural nation. Graduating teachers are required to demonstrate intercultural understanding to effectively support student diversity for teaching in the classroom. Initial teacher education providers need to consider how their programs support preservice teachers to develop this required attribute. The aim of this study is to explore preservice teacher’s perspectives of short-term cultural immersion programs on their intercultural understanding for teaching, In recent years, a regional university in Australia has involved preservice teachers in short-term cultural immersions to Cambodia and Vietnam. Hence, this paper investigates the intercultural understandings of preservice teachers engaged in a cultural immersion to Vietnam. Experiential learning theory is applied as the theoretical framework in this study and will focus on the participants’ perspectives on their experiences, observations, conceptualisations and active experimentation in the classroom over time. Data will be collected using pre and post surveys and focus groups to gather information about the preservice teacher’s perspectives before and after the immersion program. This study will make a unique contribution to understanding the impact of the immersion program over time. A further study that will be undertaken will focus on findings from the cohort of preservice teachers several years after the immersion program to investigate the long-term impact on the preservice teachers understanding of supporting diversity for teaching in the classroom. The findings from both studies will provide evidence to inform discussions about the inclusion of overseas cultural experiences in initial teacher education.
keywords: classrooms; education; inclusive; multicultural; teaching