Cross-Cultural Teaching Teams in International Settings

• In Event: Preparing Teachers to Be Global-Citizen-Scholars: Educating Responsibly for Equity and Inclusion in Classroom Practice

Abstract

Objectives
In this presentation, I explore cross-cultural team teaching experiential narratives. In particular, I consider the team teaching interactions between educators from Canada and those from Hong Kong or Japan. I highlight some of the potential tensions and opportunities of this cross-cultural professional engagement.
Theoretical Framework
This study is based on the theory of education as experience (Dewey, 1938). This study also includes a focus on the practical and contextual features of educational scenarios (Schwab, 1969, 1983). This work is also informed by the literature on intercultural teaching (Cushner & Brennan, 2007; Garii & Schlein, 2011; Phillion et al., 2008; Walters, Garii, & Walters, 2009). Narrative inquiry investigations of intercultural teaching were influential in shaping this investigation (Elbaz-Luwisch, 2004; Eng, 2005, 2008; He, 2002).
Methods
This investigation is embedded in a narrative inquiry methodological orientation (Connelly and Clandinin, 2000). The primary phenomenon of this study is narratives of experience (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990).
Data Sources
This study included three participants who completed five 90–minute informal, tape–recorded interviews. I logged field notes after interviews and composed reflective writing after interviews and following interview transcription review. At the end of the data collection period I reviewed all data to uncover common narrative themes. I further made use of the narrative inquiry three–dimensional framework to search for patterns across the variables of time periods, personal and social interactions, and context or culture.
Results
In this presentation, I concentrate on some of the tensions and growth stemming from classroom-level international collaborations. I share some of the narratives of professional experiences of foreign novice teachers in host country schools to deliberate in depth over cross-cultural team teaching. I raise questions that are aimed to promote dialogue and debate about the desired end goals of cross-cultural professional exchanges from the point of view of local and foreign educators and schools.
Scholarly Significance of the Study
There is a great need for further attention to some of the classroom-based international collaborations and the professional outgrowth of such collaborations. It is also necessary to deliberate over the scope and intent of programs that are focused on fostering ties in an increasingly global and interconnected world through the medium of education. Much may be learned from considering the top-down details of programs while also examining the experiences of teachers as they work together across cultural and curricular realms. Importantly, this presentation addresses some of the primary interactions between international teachers and host country school staff.

Author

• Candace M. Schlein, University of Missouri - Kansas City