The nature of teacher professional development in Australian international vocational education

ABSTRACT

Together with Canada, the UK and the US, Australia is one of the most active countries in promoting education export and recruiting international students with international education as the country’s biggest and most successful services export ‘industry’. However, staff capacity building in international education has not been adequately invested. In research, while the teaching and learning of international students is a topic of growing popularity, the professional development (PD) and capacity building for teachers, who play a crucial role in the internationalisation of education and in particular, in supporting the learning of international students, has been left largely unexplored. This article responds to this critical gap in the literature by examining the nature of teacher professional development practices in international education The findings of the research shows that, at the individual and institutional levels, teacher self-positioning of their PD needs and other positioning of the institutional PD provision seem to reveal the internal contradictions and tensions within institutions that work against the principles of responsive learning and teaching relative to international students’ needs and expectations. The article calls for more support and investment in teacher professional development tailored to their needs to operate, teach and learn effectively in a context of increased internationalisation.

KEYWORDS:

• Professional development
• international education
• international students
• vocational education and training

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the anonymous reviewer for his/her very useful feedback and suggestions which helped us considerably in improving this article. We acknowledge with thanks the valuable contributions from the teacher participants of our study and the funding from the Australian Research Council for this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This paper is based on the data from a research project [DE140101473] funded by the Australian Research Council.

Notes on contributors

Ly Thi Tran

Ly Thi Tran (PhD) Ly Tran is an Associate Professor in the School of Education, Deakin University, Australia and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. Ly has been awarded various fellowships, prizes and awards including the recent prestigious Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Mid-Career Researcher for her outstanding contribution to research in the field of international education. Ly has produced over 150 publications including several award winning papers and 7 books with Routledge, Springer and Palgrave. Ly’s book, Teaching International Students in Vocational Education: New Pedagogical Approaches, won the International Education Association of Australia (IEAA) Excellence Award for Best Practice/Innovation in International Education.

Rinos Pasura

Rinos Pasura (PhD) has more than 20 years experience in Higher Education and Vocational Education and Training (VET) sectors and currently teaches Core Curriculum units at The Australian Catholic University. His published works include international students’ mobility and its impact in VET, international students’ characteristics, and teacher perceptions about them and pedagogic issues arising from reconfigured learning contexts in neoliberal economic markets in VET. Dr Pasura’s research interests include educational policy and leadership, the sociology of education, globalisation and VET, and models of VET systems and their impacts on international students’ mobility and outcomes.