Cultural disequilibrium: struggles and strategies in intercultural settings in the case of exchange teachers invited to Korea

ABSTRACT

In this globalising society, teachers are often exposed to opportunities to move across their national borders to seek for learning opportunities. In the process of planning and evaluating such opportunities, it is tempting for teacher educators in intercultural settings to assume that teachers simply obtain intercultural competence by merely participating in international placements. However, it is important to understand thoroughly how teachers react to the cultural disequilibrium as they are immersed in new school settings. Thus, the purpose of this study is to explore how the in-service teachers who are invited to Korea as a form of official development assistance, experience struggles and adopt strategies in intercultural settings of their host school environments. The study highlights the significance of immersive experiences in an intercultural setting as a potential trigger to promote transformative learning of teachers, who are considered as key stakeholders for quality education in the era of sustainable development.

KEYWORDS:

• Cultural disequilibrium
• exchange teachers
• intercultural competence
• transformative learning
• official development assistance
• Korea

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Subin Sarah Yeo

Subin Sarah Yeo is a Ph.D. candidate in the Global Education Cooperation Programme at Seoul National University, South Korea. She has previously worked as a programme specialist in the UNESCO organisation that implements exchange programmes in Korea and also as a primary school teacher in Australia.

Sung-Sang Yoo

Sung-Sang Yoo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Education and a Chair of the Global Education Cooperation Programme at Seoul National University, South Korea. His research focuses on educational sociology, comparative education, and development cooperation in education.