(A)broad Teacher Education

Overview & Synopsis

In this article, the implications of international students undertaking teacher education in Australian universities are discussed as an example of global teacher education and its consequences for teacher educators and students. Increasing numbers of international students come to Australia to qualify as teachers and this has consequences for the practices of teacher educators and also for the behaviors of the international teacher education students. We contend that the practice of undertaking teacher education in another country produces future teachers who are cosmopolitans who value diversity and embrace change and uncertainty, rather than producing fundamentalists who adhere rigidly to tradition and ritual truths. Drucker's (1993) concept of living simultaneously in global and local worlds forms a central element in the theoretical framework. Studying teacher education in global settings is seen as having positive outcomes and practical consequences at a number of levels.