International Study Tours and the Significance of "Outsider" Experiences for the Professional Development of Teachers

• In Event: 29.090 - Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: 29.090-3 - Locating Whiteness: Examining Power, Privilege, and Supremacy

Abstract

This research study examined the long-term effects of a professional development study tour to Southeast Asia that took place in 2001. Participants included ten public school teachers from Western Massachusetts. Funded by a Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad grant, the purpose of the study tour was to increase teacher awareness, knowledge and understanding of contemporary Southeast Asia so that they could more effectively address the educational needs of students whose parents resettled in the area following the conflicts in Vietnam and Cambodia. Analysis of study tour impact areas revealed areas of personal and professional growth particularly as it pertained to the development of sociocultural consciousness, cultural understanding, sensitivity and empathy towards students of diverse cultural backgrounds.

Author

• Raymond Young, SIT Graduate Institute