A Case Study of Secondary School Students' International Service-Learning: A Platform for Intercultural Learning

• In Event: 46.060 - Intercultural Development in Higher Education: Bridging Ideas, Concepts, and Practices

Abstract

The nature of student thinking in re-configuring their understanding of themselves within, and in relation to, a second culture can be profoundly influenced by the nature and structure of an international service-learning program. In writing on the field of the internationalization of secondary schooling, Tudball (2003) and Matthews (2002) noted that the focus has largely been on internationalization of tertiary education signaling that there is a deficiency in the literature on the development of secondary schooling international fieldwork programs. As international programs for secondary school students grow in popularity in Australian school systems, it is clear that this field of research warrants further investigation. The implications for teacher education courses is evident: there is a clear need for pre-service teachers to be aware of the complex learning experienced by students who participate in these programs, as well as an understanding the role they, as teachers, may play in these programs and their students’ intercultural learning. This paper builds on the initial findings from a PhD dissertation, which aimed to problematize and investigate internationalization experiences through the lens of an international secondary school service-learning program in an Australian school.

Drawing on Vygotsky (1962, 1978), Mezirow (1991, 1995), and Bennett’s (2004) Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS), this paper addresses the following questions: What intercultural learning and understanding was achieved in the case study service-learning program? How did the program develop their intercultural understanding?

The study was conducted as an ethnographic case study, with a combination of participant observation and individual interviews. Three interviews with each of the participants before, during, and three months after the trip provide, revealing insights into intercultural understanding. Additional data sources include extensive field notes that documented the students’ activities, experiences of local culture, and its subcultures, consistent with ethnographic research.
Overall, the findings suggest that the intercultural learning of the students on this program was multifaceted. For the students it was deeply personal, and individual students were able to identify and recognize shared and divergent cultural affects. While Bennett’s (2004) DMIS provides a useful way of gauging initial student responses and learning, Vygotsky’s Social Learning Theory and Mezirow’s Transformative Learning Theory extends a richer and deeper understanding of the students’ intercultural sensitivity.

Author

• Sarah Rutherford, Monash University