Assessing the development of global competence in teacher education programmes: internal consistency and reliability of a set of rubrics

ABSTRACT

Global competence is a complex concept as it is multifaceted, composite, multi-layered, multidimensional, and can be viewed from several perspectives. A previous study validated a set of rubrics designed to assess pre-service teachers’ development of global competence. The research presented in this paper tested the internal consistency and reliability of the set of rubrics in order to create an instrument validated within the international context that was robust and consistent from a methodological point of view. The set of rubrics was self-administered online by 729 pre-service teachers studying in 12 teacher education programmes across 10 different countries around the world. The data analysis showed a high level of reliability and internal consistency of the rubrics, indicating their ability to assess pre-service teachers’ global competence. The exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis suggested changes to two areas of the rubrics.

KEYWORDS:

• Global competence
• pre-service teacher training
• initial teacher training
• teacher preparation
• teacher education
• internal consistency and reliability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the EU Erasmus+ KA2 project “Global Competence in Teacher Education” European Commission 2019-1-UK01-KA203-061503

Notes on contributors

Davide Parmigiani

Davide Parmigiani is currently an associate professor of Education at University of Genoa (Italy). He is former president of the Association for Teacher Education in Europe (ATEE – https://atee.education) and vice-president of the World Federation of Associations of Teacher Education (WFATE - https://www.worldfate.org). His main research interests are focused on: teacher education, intercultural and international education, learning assessment, curriculum development and educational technology.

Aviva Bar Nir

Aviva Bar Nir is the head of the practice training department at the Levinsky-Wingate Academic College. Her work and research focus on inclusive education, and the inclusion and integration of students with special needs in the education system and the connection between academia and field experience in teacher training. Aviva was a pedagogical advisor and lecturer on learning disabilities and inclusive education. She has a Ph.D. in special education from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her thesis was about the resilience of children with learning disabilities in inclusive classes.

Kate Ferguson-Patrick

Kate Ferguson Patrick has 15 years’ experience teaching in primary settings in the UK and Australia before becoming an academic at University of Newcastle, Australia in 2001. She is a senior lecturer and primary curriculum and pedagogy specialist with experience teaching in primary Mathematics, HSIE, integrated curriculum and pedagogy including Cooperative Learning. She has published extensively in cooperative learning and global education and is currently working internationally with colleagues on a Global competence in Teacher education project. She leads the Global Education Research and Teaching team at UoN.

Alona Forkosh Baruch

Alona Forkosh Baruch is associate professor and head of the International Office at Levinsky-Wingate Academic College. She served as head of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) in Academia and head of the Authority for Empowering Teaching and Learning. She has wide experience in international comparative research and overall research on topics that intersect between innovation and technology. She studies ICT implementation as a lever for paradigm change and innovation in the schooling system and in higher education and teacher education, new literacies in the information era, social media and education, and aspects of curriculum in the information era and special education in the digital era. She is a member of national and international committees of research, development, policy and implementation of technology in education.

Eileen Heddy

Eileen Heddy serves as the Director of the Office of Support for Teacher Education Programmes and Global Student Teaching at The College of New Jersey. Her research interests include international field experiences, action research, civic engagement and culturally responsive pedagogy. She holds a master’s degree in history from Rutgers University and is a doctoral candidate at the University of South Carolina.

Maria Antonietta Impedovo

Maria Antonietta Impedovo is Associate Professor at ADEF Laboratory, Aix-Marseille University, France. She teaches at the School of Education at Aix-Marseille University, France. She held her Ph.D. about Educational technology in Italy, followed by a postdoc in Switzerland. Her main research interests are identity, teacher agency, and teacher professional development in a sociocultural psychology perspective. Since 2010, she has been actively participating in multiple national and international formative and research projects like the capacity building “Blended learning for teacher educators between Asia and Europe”. She has written scientific papers in Italian, Spanish, French, and English.

Marcea Ingersoll

Marcea Ingersoll is an Associate Professor in the School of Education and a member of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Narrative at St. Thomas University. Building on her experiences as an international teacher and teacher-educator, her scholarly work is situated at the curricular crossroads of narrative, teacher education, and international schooling.

Mellita Jones

Mellita Jones is an Associate Professor of education and the international community engagement coordinator for the National School of Education at Australian Catholic University in Ballarat, Victoria. She has extensive experience in leading Australian pre-service teacher immersion programs in Solomon Islands since 2009 and Kiribati (2016-2018). She has also worked with teachers in Brunei Darussalam and written UNESCO’s teacher education program for the Pacific region. Her research is concerned with the purpose of teacher education for securing a socially just and equitable world and is thus linked to global citizenship education concerned with social justice. Mellita has won a number of awards for teaching excellence and community engagement. She currently serves on the Executive committees for the Australian Teacher Education Association (ATEA) and the World Federation of Associations of Teacher Education (WFATE).

Yael Kimhi

Yael Kimhi is a senior lecturer and currently the Acting Rector of the Levinsky-Wingate Academic College (formerly the Levinsky College of Education). She taught special education both at the Levinsky College of Education and at Bar Ilan University. Her research focuses on teacher training, inclusive education, and best practice concerning diverse populations (ASD, giftedness, and children with special needs). Prior to her academic positions, she was a special education inspector and a referent inspector for ASD at the Ministry of Education in the Central District of Israel. She was a former leading national ASD counselor in Israel, leading both segregated and inclusive models for pupils with special needs and ASD.

Mόnica Lourenço

Mόnica Lourenço is a researcher and teacher educator at the University of Aveiro (Portugal). She is co-convenor of the Special Interest Group on Teacher Education of the Academic Network on Global Education and Learning (ANGEL - https://angel-network.net/). Her main research interests include teacher education, global citizenship, internationalization of the curriculum, plurilingualism, and education for diversity.

Suzanne Macqueen

Suzanne Macqueen is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Originally a Primary teacher, she now teaches courses in the areas of social studies curriculum, quality teaching and professional preparation including classroom management. Her PhD examined the topic of non-traditional student experiences in higher education, using narrative inquiry and Bourdieu’s thinking tools of habitus, capital and field. Suzanne is a member of the Global Education Research and Teaching (GERT) team which focuses on the promotion of and research into teaching for the development of cultural competence and global citizenship.

Valentina Pennazio

Valentina Pennazio is currently an associate professor of Special Education at University of Genoa (Italy). Her main research interests are focused on: teacher education, special education and technologies for inclusive education

Laura Sokal

An award-winning teacher,

Laura Sokal has published over 75 peer-reviewed research articles and 4 edited books on the psycho-social needs of today’s students. Her SSHRC-funded research program includes studies ranging from adjustment in pre-school children to mental health issues in post-secondary students to burnout in Canadian teachers. Laura’s extensive community service includes service on boards and committees concerned with social justice and creating meaningful and fair opportunities for under-served children, youth, and adults. Aside from working in schools in Canada and teaching in Australia, Turkey, Germany, and Nicaragua, Laura has served as the University of Winnipeg’s Associate Dean of Education, and as a Child Life Therapist at Children’s hospital. In her current role as Professor of Education at the University of Winnipeg, she enjoys learning with and from her students.

Renata Timkova

Renata Timkova is an Associate Professor at the Department of British and American Studies of the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, Slovakia. Her main research interests are focused on linguistics, second language acquisition, Slovak language as a foreign language, student teacher training – speaking and listening skills, language interference and academic English. As a member of board of experts she is responsible for the delivery, development and quality assurance of the study programme Teaching of English Language and Literature (joint degree studies) at her home university. She is the author and co-author of several scientific studies, articles and university textbooks

Sina Westa

Sina Westa works currently as a research associate and project coordinator for the project “QUALITEACH” at the Universität Erfurt, Erfurt School of Education. As a research fellow she has obtained her PhD in 2017 within the Marie Curie Network for Initial Training “Universities in the Knowledge Economy” at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education, Slovenia. She holds a MSc in Applied Social and Community Research from the University of Brighton, UK; and a 1^st State-Examination for Primary School Teaching, Ludwig-Maximillians-University Munich, Germany. Her research interests lie in the area of academic values, values in education, internationalization of higher education, teacher education, teaching profession, and policy studies. Sina Westa’s research focuses on qualitative research from an international and interdisciplinary perspective.

Gerd Wikan

Gerd Wikan is a professor in Geography. Her research interests are Global competence, Global citizenship, intercultural competence in teacher education