Toward a Reimagined Future: Transformative Study Abroad for the Development of Preservice Teachers' Cultural Competence

• In Event: Creating Contexts for Change in Preservice Teacher Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the long-term impacts of transformational study abroad on teachers’ culturally competent pedagogy and their actions toward a re-imagined future. A longitudinal case study approach was used to interview teachers who participated in a short-term undergraduate study abroad in the Netherlands or Peru (N=93). Overall, focal teachers (n=5) in this study showed an increase in cultural awareness. They used their international experiences when they returned home by sharing stories and using learned cultural awarenesses, spurring re-imagining and reflection, but we did not find consistent evidence of teachers taking action. As teacher educators and researchers, it is our responsibility to develop the resources necessary to guide teachers in taking pedagogical action toward re-imagined futures.

Authors

• Allison Freed, University of the Ozarks

• Aerin W Benavides, University of North Carolina - Greensboro

• Lacey Denise Huffling, Georgia Southern University