The role of study abroad in preparing teachers for multicultural classroom: the case of English and Australian teachers

ABSTRACT

Amidst a background of inequality and rising global tensions, the need for effective intercultural understanding is paramount, facilitated by well-prepared teachers. Small-scale, qualitative studies indicate potential positive effects of scaffolded study abroad during initial teacher education on teaching in increasingly diverse classrooms. The study utilizes large scale data from teachers to explore teacher self-efficacy in multicultural classrooms and the inter-relationship with study abroad during teacher education. Survey data from teachers in England and Australia is sourced from Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2018, as well as a small-scale survey from Australian Capital Territory (ACT). These teachers reported a lack of preparedness for teaching in multicultural classrooms from teacher education. Findings from hierarchical regression analysis suggest that study abroad during teacher education is significant in improving teacher self-efficacy, after controlling for significant variables related to teaching in a multicultural classroom. We argue for the inclusion of study abroad in initial teacher education for much needed intercultural understanding.

KEYWORDS:

• Study abroad
• preparation for multicultural teaching
• initial teacher education
• self-efficacy in multicultural classrooms
• culturally responsive teaching
• TALIS

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1. Human ethics approval was granted from the Human Research Ethics Committee at the university (3395) and Education Directorate.

2. In addition to the measures used in hierarchical linear regression analysis, we also employed several other measures based on Likert-scale for our descriptive analysis (see the section of Results).

3. In our analysis, we included only teachers who had taught in a multicultural classroom (i.e. ‘Have you ever taught a classroom with students from different cultures?’ (1 = yes, 2 = no).

4. Clarity of instruction was measured with the statements, including ‘I present a summary of recently learned content, I set goals at the beginning of instruction, I explain what I expect the students to learn, I explain how new and old topics are related’ Cognitive activation was measured with the statements, including ‘I present tasks for which there is no obvious solution, I give tasks that require students to think critically, I have students work in small groups to come up with a joint solution to a problem or task, and I ask students to decide on their own procedures for solving complex tasks.’ Classroom management was measured with the statements, including ‘I tell students to follow classroom rules, I tell students to listen to what I say, and I calm students who are disruptive.’

5. This variable was validated not just in TALIS 2018 but also in International Baccalaureate teachers from eight different countries (Lee et al., 2022).

6. On a positive note, the Australian Government have recently announced that there will be continued support for partnerships and programs that build relationships between our education providers and students internationally (DESE, 2021). For example, the New Colombo Plan, which has supported 63,000 students through scholarships and mobility grants since 2014 (DESE, 2021), is an opportunity for Australian universities to develop future programs.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Margie Appel

Margie Appel is currently working as a lecturer at University of Canberra. She has worked for more than 20 years as a primary and high school teacher in Australia and has also taught in Denmark, Japan and a remote indigenous community in the NT. Margie’s research interests are intercultural understanding, culturally responsive teaching and teacher professionalism.

Moosung Lee

Moosung Lee’s research areas include educational leadership & administration, social contexts of education, comparative & international education, and multicultural education. He has held positions at various universities, including Yonsei University, the University of Canberra, the University of Hong Kong, and the Education University of Hong Kong.