Trainee teachers abroad: reflections on personal and professional teaching identity during international mobility

ABSTRACT

Higher education institutions are increasingly arranging international programmes to allow trainee teachers to spend periods abroad. In this way, teachers can compare diverse school systems and have the opportunity to reflect on their own teaching identity. This article focuses on trainee teachers’ ideas and opinions that emerged during international mobility, underscoring their reflections on personal and professional aspects involved in their participation in internships at schools abroad. To investigate these reflections, the Department of Education at the University of Genoa designed a scoping study administering a questionnaire to 35 Italian trainee teachers who had an international teaching experience. The questionnaire was composed of closed- and open-ended questions to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. The findings emphasise that international experiences gave trainee teachers many opportunities to reflect deeply on several aspects of their personal and professional identities mainly related to their linguistic skills, teaching competencies and self-reflection attitudes.

KEYWORDS:

• International mobility
• Trainee teacher professional identity
• Teacher competencies
• International teaching experiences

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was not supported by any public or private funds.

Notes on contributors

Davide Parmigiani

Davide Parmigiani is currently associate professor of Education at University of Genoa (Italy). He is president of the Association for Teacher Education in Europe (ATEE – https://atee.education) and member of the board of directors 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.

Andrea Maragliano is a PhD student at Education at University of Genoa (Italy). His main research interests are focused on the relationship between gaming, marginalised groups and social justice education, according with the Game for Social Change positionality. He worked as game consultant for several European projects and as educational game designer in ONG projects, as Save the Children and Italian Red Cross.

Chiara Silvaggio is currently a primary school teacher after taking her teacher education programme at University of Genoa (Italy). She had several international teaching experiences in the Netherlands, Finland and Norway. She is now following a master course in language teaching at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.

Anna Molinari is currently a primary school teacher after taking her teacher education programme at University of Genoa (Italy). She had several international teaching experiences in Spain and Finland and she wrote her final thesis focused on the benefits of the teaching international experiences on the trainee teachers.