Exploring epistemologies: deepening pre-service teachers’ ways of knowing through international professional experience

ABSTRACT

This study utilised institutional ethnography to inquire into the lived experiences of 15 Australian pre-service teachers (PSTs) who completed an international professional experience in Indonesia. The PSTs were privy to a unique cultural experience, one grounded in an epistemological stance that differed considerably from their own. Despite completing substantial pre-service teacher education coursework prior to travelling to Indonesia, the PSTs became more acutely aware of how school students, teachers, and community members may operate from varied ways of knowing. As such, in this article we argue that international professional experiences have the possibility to guide PSTs towards newer and deeper explorations of epistemologies, a process of paramount importance in preparing future teachers to work effectively and appropriately in diverse classrooms.

KEYWORDS:

• International professional experience
• epistemology
• pre-service teachers
• teacher education
• Indonesia
• Australia

Ethics statement

After receiving university ethics approval, we invited PSTs to participate in the study, and all 15 PSTs (13 females; 2 males) provided consent.

Notes

1. See Talbot and Thomas (2019) for a more comprehensive review of IPE programs and research.

2. See Talbot and Thomas (2019) for more information about the order and composition of the focus group discussions.

3. All names are pseudonyms.

4. Kerawuhan is described as “an altered somatic state” and is often associated with Balinese dances and other rituals (Beaman, 2018).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Matthew A. M. Thomas

Matthew A. M. Thomas is a Senior Lecturer in Comparative Education and Sociology of Education at the University of Sydney. His research examines teaching, teacher education, international development, and policy studies.

Debra Talbot

Debra Talbot is a Senior Lecturer in Education and Director of Professional Experience at the University of Sydney. Her research explores teacher education, curriculum, pedagogy, and social justice.