Intervention in international practicum in the Global South

Abstract

Teacher education programmes need to be more internationally oriented, according to national education policy in Norway. Moreover, all teacher education institutions must develop a strategy to meet this aim. International practicum, which sends student teachers for practicum abroad, has become popular. The aim is to enhance students’ intercultural competence. Until recently, it was commonly believed that immersing student teachers in an unfamiliar culture would develop students’ intercultural competence. Our research findings are in accordance with those of many other studies: immersing students in another culture does not automatically mean that they become interculturally competent: Some of the students in our study have learned to appreciate the difference between cultures and have opened up their minds and increased their acceptance of differences. However, others have come back home more certain than ever of the superiority of their own culture. In this paper we discuss to what extent intercultural competence and global awareness were promoted during an international practicum programme.