Global Citizenship or Neo-Eurocentricism? Analyses of Preservice Teachers' Professional Identity Development During a Semester Abroad Experience

• In Event: 34.064 - Preparing Teachers With Global Competencies for Intercultural Teaching: Internationalizing Curriculum and Pedagogy for Equitable Educational Opportunity

Abstract

Objectives
This study examined the complexities of fostering global citizenship in preservice teachers during a semester abroad through the general education program open to all major fields of study. Research has focused on preservice teachers’ participation in teacher education faculty led study abroad programs aimed at fostering global citizenship for teaching in culturally diverse local school contexts; however, the impact of study abroad in general education curricula on preservice teachers’ professional identities is less theorized. Therefore, this study examined the following questions: How does studying abroad through general education programs foster global citizenship in preservice teachers? How do global experiences complicate preservice teachers’ professional identity? What are the pedagogical implications of teachers’ professional identity on their classroom practice?

Theoretical Framework
This study is grounded in Rhoads and Szelenyi’s (2011) concept of global citizenship framework as a form of knowledge to action for addressing structural inequities and challenges caused by globalization on the one hand, and increasing racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and religious discrimination, on the other. According to Rhoads and Szelenyi, a global citizen balances one’s rights and responsibilities on three registers: 1) the political/civic, (2) the economic, and (3) the social to use their global knowledge, dispositions, and skills for taking local action, conducting social critique, and resisting global-capitalist forces for social transformation.

Modes of Inquiry
The research design consisted of case studies suited to exploring “how” and “why” questions that investigate a contemporary phenomenon within a natural setting (Yin, 2009). Yin notes case studies comprise five important features: 1) phenomenon under study is an individual, event, institution, or any other unit of analysis; 2) is conducted in a natural setting in which the phenomenon occurs; 3) in-depth data is collected from multiple sources; 4) findings are compared across cases; and, 5) differences between cases are delineated. Participants comprised three preservice teachers at a mid-Atlantic university enrolled in five general education courses during their semester abroad. Data was collected in the fall of 2015 and spring 2016 and included questionnaires, interviews, class discussions, journal reflections, and researchers’ observations and field notes. Analysis sought to triangulate findings from the multiple data sources for accuracy and reliability.

Findings
Findings indicate a) conflict between goals and outcomes of teacher preparation for global citizenship and study abroad in general education programs, b) semester abroad experiences did not always translate into global competence c) organization, affiliation, context and culture of study abroad locations affected the outcomes, d) semester abroad supported participants’ cultural identity aligned with neo-Eurocentricism as a form of white privilege.

Scholarly Significance
The study is significant as the types of study abroad programs preservice teachers participate in have implications for teacher preparation and its goals of fostering global citizenship in teachers with competencies that translate into local action. The study also indicates that teacher preparation is better served by designing its own study abroad programs aligned with the goals of preparing teachers with global competencies for teaching cultural and linguistic diversity rather than reinforcing neo-Eurocentricism as a form of dominant cultural knowledge.

Author

• Suniti Sharma, Saint Joseph's University