Intercultural Competence in Pre-Service Teachers Through International Trips
Introduction
Teacher education is increasingly focused on preparing professionals to meet the educational needs of linguistically and culturally diverse communities, driven by unprecedented levels of migration. Teachers require skills and strategies to address students' diverse cultural backgrounds, making culturally responsive pedagogies a professional necessity, as highlighted by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (2011).
Culturally responsive teachers need deep understandings of difference and diversity, recognizing how their own cultural background influences their interactions and expectations. They must understand their students, build on their experiences, and design curricula that connect with students' home cultures while integrating them into new communities (Siwatu 2007). They also teach against racism and promote respect for cultural differences. Goodwin (2010) emphasizes the need for contextual knowledge, where teachers understand learners' needs within socio-cultural-economic-political contexts. Research suggests that direct interaction with diverse cultures can enhance pre-service teachers’ understanding of difference (Cushner and Brennan 2007; Walters, Garii, and Walters 2009), challenging them to interpret their experiences in relation to their students' lives (Dantas 2007). Exposure to new cultures can be transformative, evolving from confrontation with a new culture into an encounter with the self (Brown 2009).
International experiences are being incorporated into teaching degrees in Australia, Europe, and North America to broaden pre-service teachers’ perspectives (Dantas 2007; Dooly and Villanueve 2006; Hill and Thomas 2005; Rapoport 2008). This article explores data from interviews with Australian pre-service teachers who participated in a study trip to India, examining their understanding of cultural perspectives and different schooling systems. The findings address concerns about the trip being viewed as an opportunity for tourism and the development of postcolonial and neocolonial views. The article concludes with recommendations for teacher education to promote reflective learning.
The Study
This article reports on a qualitative case study investigating pre-service teachers' perceptions of the benefits of international experiences for their development as teachers. The key research question was: ‘How does an international experience assist students gain knowledge that will enhance their readiness to teach in culturally diverse contexts?’
Volunteer participants were selected from cohorts who went to Korea for three weeks and India for four weeks. The trips were outsourced to third parties: a university in Korea and a non-government organization in India. The university subsidized the cost, with individuals covering the remaining expenses. Students kept journals to record their reflections. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews about two months after their return, as well as from the group leaders. The interviews aimed to gather information about their backgrounds, reasons for going, expectations, contributions to their development as teachers, challenges, rewards, and perceptions of the trip's organization. The interviews, lasting an average of 1.5 hours, were audio-recorded, transcribed, and verified by participants. This article focuses solely on data from the India trip.
The Participants
The pre-service teachers ranged in age from 21 to 49 and were primarily from rural Australian towns, describing themselves as Anglo-Australian, with all but one being monolingual. Most had limited overseas travel experience, mainly to holiday resorts in South-East Asia, New Zealand, the United States, or Europe, with one having backpacked in India. The participants included:
Tamsyn: Early twenties, traveled to New Zealand and Thailand, taught at a school for disabled students in India.
Ellen: Early thirties, extensive travel in South-East Asia and Europe, taught in an orphanage school in India.
Tanya: Late 40s, no prior overseas travel, taught in an orphanage school in India.
Bethany: 21 years old, grew up on a farm, taught at a school for disabled children in India.
Adeline: Early twenties, lived and worked in England, taught at a school for disabled children in India.
Kelly: 20 years old, grew up on a farm, taught at an orphanage school in India.
Terry: Early twenties, traveled to the USA and New Zealand, taught in a school for disabled children in India.
The pre-service teachers were not closely supervised and traveled independently from their accommodation in central India to schools, including an orphanage and a special needs school, where they taught English to primary school children. They were supervised by the school's teaching staff and participated in weekend trips to tourist sites. A non-academic member of staff from their university, familiar with Indian cultural practices, accompanied them. The pre-service teachers relied on local teachers, the group leader, and trip organizers for cultural information. While they attended briefing sessions, their exposure to academic content on diversity was limited and integrated sporadically into their programs of study.
Data Analysis and Theoretical Frames
A thematic approach was used to analyze the data (Shank 2006), involving reading and re-reading interview transcripts to identify patterns in experiences and attitudes. The patterns related to what the pre-service teachers learned about India and Indian education, their motivations for going, challenges, rewards, contributions to their development as teachers, and what they learned about themselves. These patterns were compared and contrasted across the data sets, looking for differences, similarities, tensions, contradictions, and complexities. The silences and how discursive practices shaped experiences were also noted. The data were then sorted and categorized under themes and subthemes, focusing on:
Motivation for going to India
What the pre-service teachers learned about India
What the pre-service teachers learned about Indian education
What the pre-service teachers learned about themselves
These themes were refined to present the data under sub-headings: ‘Opportunities for Transformation and Self Realization’; ‘The Exotic Other, and the Deficit Other’; ‘Discourses of Charity and Benevolence.’ The pre-service teachers' expectations were shaped by discourses of tourism. Therefore, literature from tourism studies supports and shapes the analysis.
Critical tourism studies draw on postcolonial theory to understand the impact of Western tourism on the developing world (Bhabha 1994; Said 1993; Spivak 1988). Power dynamics shape subjectivities, with lasting effects on social institutions. Tourism studies suggest that the ‘developed West’ and the ‘undeveloped rest’ are binary opposites, with non-Western cultures seen as exotic Others (Caton 2011). Some tourists seek self-development and opportunities to help those in need. Practices of tourism in developing countries are expressions of whiteness-in-action and can reinforce dominant positions of whites. Tourists observe and judge non-white cultures, assuming the right to enter communities and pass judgment (Bonnett in Pearce 2003). Whiteness and white privilege are largely invisible to those who benefit from it (Dyer 1997; Frankenberg 1993).
There is little research in Australia on the effectiveness of international experiences for pre-service teachers. This article aims to address this gap.
Opportunities for Transformation and Self Realization
Travel promises adventure, freedom, and personal transformation (Caton 2011). The pre-service teachers chose India to have a unique experience. Their impressions were shaped by media, tourist information, and university promotional material. Kelly was drawn to India by photos portraying it as beautiful, exotic, poor, and shocking. Adeline wanted to go because it was different. Bethany considered Europe and North America not sufficiently different from Australia. Tamsyn was fascinated by India and Africa due to their distinct cultures.
India involves confronting extreme poverty and health risks and dealing with outdated infrastructure. Yet, it attracts those seeking adventure, risk, and spiritual enlightenment (Korpela 2010). Travel can be a ‘project of self realization’ (Lozanski 2011), providing opportunities for personal development. Bethany saw the trip as helping her become a better person. She took strength in knowing that she had chosen to do this, and felt that it was testing her physically and emotionally.
Fitzell (2012) notes that developing countries offer opportunities to immerse ourselves in a dangerous, yet romantic way of life, and through overcoming challenges, we gain a better sense of self. Mowforth and Munt (2009) suggest that overcoming hardship develops strength of character and adaptability.
The Exotic Other and the Deficit Other
The pre-service teachers were struck by the culturally different practices they encountered, describing their feelings using terms such as 'blown away' and 'amazed'. They constructed Indians as either the deficit Other or the exotic Other. They saw Indians as embodying novel, striking, colorful, and interesting elements of culture. Their food, clothes, music, customs, and folklore were seen as valuable for their potential to enrich the pre-service teachers' lives. The pre-service teachers talked about some of the Indians with whom they had contact as beautiful both in regards to their personalities and to their physical appearance, as well as the color and richness of Indian culture emphasized against what the pre-service teachers regarded as bland Australian culture or even non-existent Australian culture. They also seemed them as backwards and decades being Australia.
Euro-centric understandings of culture are constituted by old buildings, museums, long traditions of European folklore, art and music. With only a little over 200 years of European settlement in Australia, culture of this sort is limited. The view of exotic cultures is valuable because of their potential to enrich and make interesting the lives of those from bland cultures shapes their reasons for seeking out such enrichment through travel. The view can amount to the commodification of culture and the commodification of people and places for the aesthetic consumption of self-indulgent tourists’ (Gray and Campbell 2007, 466).
In exoticizing Indian culture, the pre-service teachers also inadvertently romanticize the material effects of poverty
This view of them as poor, but happy is troubling for a number of reasons, constructing the Indians as naive, or stupid because they do not know what it is they don't have. It is popularly thought that the religions of the East enable followers to rise above the materialistic concerns that dominate the lives of those from the West. The mysterious and mystical cultural East has long been a draw card for those from the West seeking spiritual fulfillment and escape from materialism and consumerist lifestyle, particularly India (Korpela 2010). The poor, but happy discourse to which Bethany subscribes not only ignores the material effects of poverty, but it also ignores the gulf between the pre-service teachers and the Indians access to material wealth. The view makes unnecessary an interrogation and critique of the existing inequalities between the two groups. At the same time as the Indians were seen as the exotic other, whose culture enriched the lives of the pre-service teachers, they were also positioned via comparisons between Australia and India as the deficit Other and the needy Other. In particular, a pattern that emerged in the data was how the Indian schooling system was inferior to that in Australia, how teachers were less skilled than Australian teachers, and how Indian students lacked fundamental attributes such as imagination, self-reliance, and independence. Despite the Indian teachers having many more years of experience than any of the pre-service teachers, only one of them, Terry, said he learned anything of value about pedagogy from the Indian teacher he was assigned to, portraying Indian education as backward and decades behind Australia.
These comparisons of Indian education with Australian education construct the two education systems as binary opposites backward/advanced, student centered/teacher centered. Such attitudes can be seen to be embedded in the implicit hierarchies of colonialism that persist in a neo-colonial global setting and the vestiges of a distinctly imperial mindset, which establishes the West as the only right actor in the world (Tester 2010, ix).
Discourse of Benevolence and Charity
While the pre-service teachers did not initially express a desire to go to India to do good, it seemed to gain great importance for many of them during the course of the trip. Their construction of the Indians as the deficit Other and needy Other in comparison to the forward thinking, modern, efficient, and competent Western self contributed to them taking up and positioning themselves within discourses of charity and benevolence. If someone came to my school and went out of their way to help or do something nice you would say, 'Thank you so much. You know, go out of your way to show your gratitude, but nothing like that was happening at all. And it’s not that we wanted them to fall at our feet at all, but there was nothing […] I was so excited to bring this suitcase full of everything. It would just be amazing for them, and they [the teachers] just packed it up and took it off, and we never saw it again, we never heard about it again and I was like, I just carted that all the way around the world and for nothing! Not even 'Thank you.'
However, the construction of herself as generous and good and the Indians as unappreciative and lacking man- ners is reminiscent of postcolonial attitudes that construct the West as charitable, moral and therefore civilized in comparison to the ill-mannered and ungrateful Other. Terry expresses similar sentiments when the Indians the pre-service teachers met appeared to be cautious and uncertain about their motives for being in India, they just wanted to say, 'Well, I am over here trying to do a good thing.' Bethany speaks about what she saw as the potential of the pre-service teachers to make a difference to the lives of the students they taught: those kids have such a good opportunity to learn so much from us, and it’s a waste if it’s not done properly. It’s a small window and we could change their lives ultimately. We can let them know that they can do or be anything that they may not be aware of. her suggestion that they can do or be anything if only they realized it, is naive and simplistic, such inequality of opportunity is a systemic problem embedded within complex and historical discourses of injustice, some of which are due to the exploitative relationships the West had, and still has, with some developing countries. That the Indian students potential to be, and do anything can be awakened by the efforts of a group of Australian pre-service teachers over a four week period, is equally naive. Bethany goes onto say: I would love to eventually get some of them over here. When I’m out teach- ing and I’m on good money I’d love to get a few of those kids here because they were very, very special people, and they don’t have opportunities. It would blow their minds, just the most simple things that we have would be the world to them, yeah.
The helping imperative in regards to the imperative of moral goodness [that] suffuses white middleclass identity (Heron 2007, 125) is reflected in the pre-service teachers views that they can identify what opportunities it is that the Indian students lack and can offer them such opportunities. These attitudes are similar to those of students who go on volunteer abroad trips to developing countries in that they too can develop a bloated sense of self importance and ability to solve other people’s problems (2008, 82).
Discussion and Conclusion
This article has highlighted how the pre-service teachers saw the trip as an opportunity for self-realization, how they constructed the Indians as the exotic Other and the deficit Other and how their views about, and towards the Indians were embedded within discourses of benevolence and charity. These findings raise serious concerns that the trip facilitated the development and maintenance of postcolonial and neocolonial attitudes towards racial and cultural difference, rather than facilitating reflective and reflexive approaches to understanding self and others. Specific concerns revolved around:
The pre-service teachers’ understandings of difference and the lack of opportunity for the pre-service teachers to engage in reflective and reflexive practices
The organization of the trip including the nature of the marketing of the trip and the choice of schools to which the pre-service teachers were sent
The pre-service teachers need to develop nuanced and sophisticated understandings of race, ethnicity, and culture as well as interrogate the assumptions that underpin their beliefs and actions. This will require them to critique their own positioning as members of the white hegemonic mainstream and engage with the concept of whiteness. Whiteness and the privilege it accrues is taken for granted as normal by those who are white, and thus it is invisible to them. making it visible is challenging, but necessary teacher education work if the pre-service teachers are to move beyond what Pearce names as unreflective standpoints informed by whiteness (2012, 465). This is important academic work for all pre-service teachers and needs to be incorporated into all teacher education curriculum. However, there is additional work needed to prepare pre-service teachers for an international experience that must occur before, during and after trips. There were pre-departure briefings for the trip reported here focused on the logistics of the trip, while there were some advising on how to cope with culture shock, what were acceptable ways to behave whilst over- seas and the need for cultural sensitivity. Some of the briefings advised the pre-service teachers about how to cope with culture shock, what were acceptable ways to behave whilst over- seas and the need for cultural sensitivity. The sessions were a couple of hours in length and the content presented was general in nature. There were no opportunities during the trip for the students to engage in guided reflection. They completed journals, but these took the form of a recount of events, rather than providing an opportunity for deep reflection. the debriefing itself was primarily concerned the logistics of the trip and with getting feedback from the pre-service teachers about the organization. These sessions could have, and should have provided opportunities for the pre-service teachers to identify critical incidents from the trip, to reflect upon them and to interrogate their responses to the incidents. the organization of the trip outsourced to a third party does not have expertise in teacher education.
The marketing and promotion of the trip is of significant concern, using photos of female pre-ser- vice teachers from previous trips dressed in salwar kameez and surrounded by large groups of Indian children shoddily dressed and clearly poor, but happy and smiling reinforcing the poor, but happy discourse to which some of the pre-service teachers subscribed. While there was some attempt to direct the pre-service teachers attention to how the experience would help their development as a teacher, this was minimal. Because the pre-service teachers taught only at orphanages and schools for the disabled, they witnessed extreme deprivation, suffering and poverty and may have been overwhelmed by what they saw and experienced. Santoro and Major (2012) suggests that placing pre-service teachers in contexts that are too far beyond their comfort zone can be counterproductive because their discomfort becomes a hindrance to what might otherwise be a productive learning experience. Placing pre-service teachers in different education contexts might have meant it was difficult for them to make connections between what they were observing and their own practices, especially because they had not had the preparation to do so via adequate coursework and pre-departure briefings
There is increasing pressure on all universities to increase their internationalization efforts and make available to students international programs as part of their teaching degrees. It is imperative that the sort of tourism experience promoted in this teacher education program, albeit unintentionally, is avoided. Without careful and sensitive marketing and recruitment, rigorous accompanying academic work and a careful selection of placement schools, there is the potential for trips to developing countries to be seen by pre-service teachers as primarily as an opportunity to travel to an exotic tourist destination. There is the risk that they