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https://doi.org/10.18502/gespr.v2i1.10045
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Byoung-gyu Gong
Byoung-gyu Gong
Sorenson Impact Center, David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
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Clarin Collins
Clarin Collins
Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States
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Audrey Amrein-Beardsley
Audrey Amrein-Beardsley
Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States
Published Date
- Jan 31, 2022
An International Professional Development Collaboration: Supporting Teachers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through an Immersion Program in the United States
Abstract
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) recently initiated multiple, one-year, school immersion programs to help 25,000 KSA teachers better support KSA students and the KSA education system after spending time abroad in teacher education programs throughout the United States (US). This study explored the effects of one such program, aimed at helping KSA teachers become agents of change. The authors examined how the 46 KSA teachers involved in this program changed. Survey-research and English language tests were used to show that the immersion program yielded its desired effects: the program increased teachers’ sense of efficacy; improved teachers’ pedagogical, content, technical, and English language skills; and enhanced teachers’ understandings of education across nations and cultures, with emphasis on the transfer of features of the US educational system back to the KSA (although teachers were uncertain about the extent to which the transference desired might actually occur). Via supplemental interviews, the authors also identified self-reported influential sources of change. The article examines how these sources of change impacted KSA teachers’ mindsets regarding their teaching. The study confirms that the program influenced participants through their school immersion experiences, given that the program offered KSA teachers chances to learn more about student-centered learning approaches and more customized and individualized care for students.
Keywords:
Higher education, Professional development program, Immersion program, International partnerships, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United States
References
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[43] Song, J., Sharma, U., & Choi, H. (2019). Impact of teacher education on pre-service regular school teachers' attitudes, intentions, concerns and self-efficacy about inclusive education in South Korea. Teaching and Teacher Education, 86, 102901. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.102901
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[51] Tomlinson‐Clarke, S. M., & Clarke, D. (2010). Culturally focused community‐centered service learning: An international cultural immersion experience. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 38(3), 166–175.
[52] Tschannen-Moran, M., & Hoy, A. W. (2001). Teacher efficacy: Capturing an elusive construct. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17(7), 783–805. http://doi.org/10.1016/S0742-051X(01)00036-1
[53] Tschannen-Moran, M., & McMaster, P. (2009). Sources of self-efficacy: Four professional development formats and their relationship to self-efficacy and implementation of a new teaching strategy. The Elementary School Journal, 110(2), 228–245. http://doi.org/10.1086/605771
[54] Yeo, S. S., & Yoo, S.-S. (2019). Cultural disequilibrium: Struggles and strategies in intercultural settings in the case of exchange teachers invited to Korea. Multicultural Education Review, 11(2), 96–113. http://doi.org/10.1080/2005615X.2019.1615244
[2] Ashton, P., & Webb, R. (1986). Making a difference: Teachers’ sense of efficacy and student achievement. New York, NY: Longman.
[3] Bandura, A. (1982). Self-efficacy mechanism in human Agency. American Psychologist, 37(2), 122–147. http://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.37.2.122
[4] Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191–215.
[5] Bandura, A. (2005). Guide for constructing self-efficacy scales. Self-efficacy Beliefs of Adolescents, 5(1), 307–337.
[6] Brindley, R., Quinn, S., & Lou Morton, M. (2009). Consonance and dissonance in a study abroad program as a catalyst for professional development of pre-service teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(3), 525–532. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2008.09.012
[7] Canfield, B. S., Low, L., & Hovestadt, A. (2009). Cultural immersion as a learning method for expanding intercultural competencies. The Family Journal, 17(4), 318–322.
[8] Cantrell, S. C., & Hughes, H. K. (2008). Teacher efficacy and content literacy implementation: An exploration of the effects of extended professional development with coaching. Journal of Literacy Research, 40(1), 95–127. http://doi.org/10.1080/10862960802070442
[9] Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. New York, NY: Routledge Academic.
[10] Cohen, J. (1992). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112(1), 155.
[11] Cook, M. (2010). Factors inhibiting and facilitating Japanese teachers of English in adopting communicative language teaching methodologies. K@ta, 11(2), 99–116.
[12] Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16(3), 297–334.
[13] Cushner, K. (2007). The role of experience in the making of internationally-minded teachers. Teacher Education Quarterly, Winter, 27–39.
[14] Dana, N. F., & Yendol-Hoppey, D. (2015). The PLC book. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
[15] Darling-Hammond, L., & Lieberman, A. (2012). Teacher education around the world: What can we learn from international practice? European Journal of Teacher Education, 40(3), 291–309. http://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2017.1315399
[16] Estimo Jr., R. C. (2015, November 6). 25,000 teachers to train abroad. Arab News. Retrieved from https://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/news/831221
[17] Fitzpatrick, J. L., Sanders, J. R., & Worthen, B. R. (2011). Program evaluation: Alternative approaches and practical guidelines. Boston: Pearson.
[18] Freeman, R. (1993, 2009). Collaboration, global perspectives, and teacher education. Theory into Practice, 32(1), 33–39. http://doi.org/10.1080/00405849309543570
[19] Gibson, S., & Dembo, M. H. (1984). Teacher efficacy: A construct validation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76(4), 569–582.
[20] Glaser, B. (1987). Theoretical sensitivity. Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press.
[21] Gleeson, M., & Tait, C. (2012). Teachers as sojourners: Transitory communities in short study-abroad programmes. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(8), 1144–1151. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2012.07.005
[22] Kabilan, M. K. (2013). A phenomenological study of an international teaching practicum: Pre-service teachers' experiences of professional development. Teaching and Teacher Education, 36, 198–209. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2013.07.013
[23] Kaszuba, A. (2018). A comparison of teacher experiences between course-based and immersion-based FSL teacher education programs [Paper presentation]. The Graduate Student Research Conference, Toronto, Canada.
[24] Kingdom of Saudia Arabia (KSA). (n.d.). Vision 2030. Retrieved from https://www.vision2030.gov.sa/
[25] Kitchen, J., Berry, M., & Russell, T. (2019) The power of collaboration. Studying Teacher Education, 15(2), 93–97. http://doi.org/10.1080/17425964.2019.1628560
[26] Klassen, R. M., Tze, V. M. C., Betts, S. M., & Gordon, K. A. (2011). Teacher efficacy research 1998–2009: Signs of progress or unfulfilled promise? Educational Psychology Review, 23, 21–43.
[27] Lee, J. F. K. (2011). International field experience – What do student teachers learn? Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 36(10), 1–23. http://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2011v36n10.4
[28] Lunenberg, M., Murray, J., Smith, K., & Vanderlinde, R. (2017). Collaborative teacher educator professional development in Europe: Different voices, one goal. Professional Development in Education, 43(4), 556–572. http://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2016.1206032
[29] Mahler, D., Großschedl, J., & Harms, U. (2018). Does motivation matter? – The relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy and enthusiasm and students’ performance. PLoS ONE, 13(11), e0207252–18. http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0207252
[30] McCoach, D. B., & Colbert, R. D. (2017). Factors underlying the collective teacher efficacy scale and their mediating role in the effect of socioeconomic status on academic achievement at the school level. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 43(1), 31–47. http://doi.org/10.1177/0748175610362368
[31] Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2016). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
[32] Nir, A., Kondakci, Y., & Emil, S. (2017). Travelling policies and contextual considerations: on threshold criteria. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 48(1), 1–18. http://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2017.1281102
[33] Nulty, D. D. (2008). The adequacy of response rates to online and paper surveys: What can be done? Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 33(3), 301–314. http://doi.org/10.1080/0260293070129323
[34] Nunnally, J. C. (1978). Psychometric theory (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
[35] Okken, G. J., Jansen, E. P. W. A., Hofman, W. H. A., & Coelen, R. J. (2019). Beyond the `welcome-back party': The enriched repertoire of professional teacher behaviour as a result of study abroad. Teaching and Teacher Education, 86, 102927. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.102927
[36] Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2019). PISA 2018 results (Volume I): What students know and can Do. Paris: PISA, OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/5f07c754-en
[37] Pence, H. M., & Macgillivray, I. K. (2008). The impact of an international field experience on preservice teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(1), 14–25. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2007.01.003
[38] Phillips, D. (2006). Toward a theory of policy attraction in education. In G. Steiner-Khamsi (Ed.), The global politics of educational borrowing and lending. New York, NY: Teachers College Press, Columbia University.
[39] Postareff, L., Lindblom-Ylänne, S., & Nevgi, A. (2007). The effect of pedagogical training on teaching in higher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23(5), 557–571. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2006.11.013
[40] Rodriguez, E. (2012). What pre-service teachers bring home when they travel abroad. Scholar-Practitioner Quarterly, 5(3), 289–305.
[41] Sharma, S., Phillion, J., & Malewski, E. (2011). Examining the practice of critical reflection for developing pre-service teachers’ multicultural competencies: Findings from a study abroad program in Honduras. Issues in Teacher Education, 20(2), 9–22.
[42] Skaalvik, E. M., & Skaalvik, S. (2007). Dimensions of teacher self-efficacy and relations with strain factors, perceived collective teacher efficacy, and teacher burnout. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(3), 611–625. http://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.99.3.611
[43] Song, J., Sharma, U., & Choi, H. (2019). Impact of teacher education on pre-service regular school teachers' attitudes, intentions, concerns and self-efficacy about inclusive education in South Korea. Teaching and Teacher Education, 86, 102901. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.102901
[44] Snow-Gerono, J. L. (2005). Professional development in a culture of inquiry: PDS teachers identify the benefits of professional learning communities. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21(3), 241–256. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2004.06.008
[45] Stake, R. E., & Trumbull, D. (1982). Naturalistic generalizations. Review Journal of Philosophy and Social Science, 7(1–2), 1–12.
[46] Steiner-Khamsi, G., & Waldow, F. (Eds.) (2012). Policy borrowing and lending in education. New York: Routledge.
[47] Tan, C. (2016). Tensions and challenges in China’s education policy borrowing. Educational Research, 58(2), 1–12. http://doi.org/10.1080/00131881.2016.1165551
[48] Tavakol, M., & Dennick, R. (2011). Making sense of Cronbach’s alpha. International Journal of Medical Education, 2, 53–55.
[49] Tillema, H. H. (2000). Belief change towards self-directed learning in student teachers: Immersion in practice or reflection on action. Teaching and Teacher Education, 16(5–6), 575–591.
[50] Todeva, E., & Knoke, D. (2005). Strategic alliances and models of collaboration. International Management, Strategy and Enterprise Research, 43(1), 123–148. http://doi.org/10.1108/00251740510572533
[51] Tomlinson‐Clarke, S. M., & Clarke, D. (2010). Culturally focused community‐centered service learning: An international cultural immersion experience. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 38(3), 166–175.
[52] Tschannen-Moran, M., & Hoy, A. W. (2001). Teacher efficacy: Capturing an elusive construct. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17(7), 783–805. http://doi.org/10.1016/S0742-051X(01)00036-1
[53] Tschannen-Moran, M., & McMaster, P. (2009). Sources of self-efficacy: Four professional development formats and their relationship to self-efficacy and implementation of a new teaching strategy. The Elementary School Journal, 110(2), 228–245. http://doi.org/10.1086/605771
[54] Yeo, S. S., & Yoo, S.-S. (2019). Cultural disequilibrium: Struggles and strategies in intercultural settings in the case of exchange teachers invited to Korea. Multicultural Education Review, 11(2), 96–113. http://doi.org/10.1080/2005615X.2019.1615244