Intercultural Competence in the Work of Teachers: Confronting Ideologies and Practices [1° ed.] 0367002388, 9780367002381

Citation preview

Intercultural Competence in the Work of Teachers

This book critiques models of intercultural competence, whilst suggesting examples of specific alternative approaches that will successfully foster intercultural competence in teacher education. Bringing together diverse perspectives from teacher educators and student teachers, this volume discusses the need to move beyond essentialism, culturalism and assumptions about an us versus them perspective and recognises that multiple identities of an individual are negotiated in interaction with others. Intercultural Competence in the Work of Teachers is divided into four sections: critiquing intercultural competence in teacher education; exploring critical intercultural competences in teacher education; reflexivity and intercultural competence in teacher education; and indigeneity and intercultural competence in teacher education, providing a methodological approach through which to explore this critical framework further. This book is ideal for teacher educators or academics of education specialising in global education who are looking to explore alternative perspectives towards intercultural competence and wish to gain an insight into the ways it can be utilised in a more effective and productive manner. Fred Dervin is Professor of Multicultural Education at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Robyn Moloney is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in Educational Studies, Macquarie University, Australia, and a consultant in teacher development. Ashley Simpson is Assistant Professor at the School of Foreign Studies, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

Routledge Research in Teacher Education

The Routledge Research in Teacher Education series presents the latest research on Teacher Education and also provides a forum to discuss the latest practices and challenges in the field. Intercultural Competence in the Work of Teachers Confronting Ideologies and Practices Edited by Fred Dervin, Robyn Moloney and Ashley Simpson Teacher Representations in Dramatic Text and Performance Portraying the Teacher on Stage Edited by Melanie Shoffner and Richard St. Peter School-Based Deliberative Partnership as a Platform for Teacher Professionalization and Curriculum Innovation Geraldine Mooney Simmie and Manfred Lang Technology-Enabled Mathematics Education Optimising Student Engagement Catherine Attard and Kathryn Holmes Integrating Technology in English Language Arts Teacher Education Donna L. Pasternak Research-Informed Teacher Learning Critical Perspectives on Theory, Research and Practice Edited by Lori Beckett For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge. com/Routledge-Research-in-Teacher-Education/book-series/RRTE

Intercultural Competence in the Work of Teachers

Confronting Ideologies and Practices

Edited by Fred Dervin, Robyn Moloney and Ashley Simpson

First published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 selection and editorial matter, Fred Dervin, Robyn Moloney and Ashley Simpson; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Fred Dervin, Robyn Moloney and Ashley Simpson to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in- Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 978 - 0 -367- 00238 -1 (hbk) ISBN: 978 - 0 - 429- 40102-2 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by codeMantra

Contents

Notes on contributors

viii

PART I

Critiquing Intercultural Competence in teacher education

1













4 Creating and combining models of Intercultural Competence for teacher education/training: on the need to rethink IC frequently 57 F R E D D E RV I N

vi Contents PART II

Exploring critical Intercultural Competences in teacher education

73













8 Building Cultural Competence in initial teacher education through international service-learning 125 S E A N K E A R N E Y A N D J U L I E M A A K RU N

PART III

Reflexivity and Intercultural Competence in teacher education

137

9 Two teacher educators ‘re-thinking’ practice: intercultural competences in teacher education pedagogy 139 RO B Y N M O L O N E Y A N D T U I J A T U RU N E N

10 Leading international teaching experiences: negotiating tensions, contradictions and discontinuities 157 J A E M A J O R , J E N N I F E R M U N DAY A N D M AT T H E W W I N S L A D E

11 International student teachers as intercultural experts? 175 K A I S A H A H L A N D P I A KO I R I K I V I

Contents vii











Notes on contributors

Christine Adu-Yeboah  holds an International Professional Doctorate in Education from the University of Sussex, UK. She is an Associate Professor in Higher Education and Teacher Education, and lectures at the Institute of Education, University of Cape Coast, Ghana. John Buchanan  is an Associate Professor in Education at the University of Technology Sydney, where he also coordinates international and engagement programmes. His main teaching and research interests include intercultural education, sustainability education and languages education, as well as teacher quality, attrition and retention. Fred Dervin (文德) is Professor of Multicultural Education at the University of Helsinki (Finland). He is Director of the TENSION research group (diversities and interculturality in education) and Vice-Director of the SEDUCE doctoral school at Helsinki (Society, culture and education). Dervin also holds honorary and visiting professorships in Australia, Canada, China, Luxembourg, Malaysia and Sweden. Prof. Dervin specialises in intercultural education, the sociology of multiculturalism and student and academic mobility. He has widely published in international journals on identity, the ‘intercultural’ and mobility/migration (over 100 articles and 50 books). Dervin is one of the most influential scholars and critical voices on intercultural communication education in Europe. Mercurius Goldstein [M.Ed (Research), B.Ed (Hons.I), Dip. Gov.] teaches languages at Glen Innes High School in New South Wales, Australia. He is accredited by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) at the level of ‘Highly Accomplished’ and is a principal consultant for Australian Postgraduate English Language Services (APELS). Kaisa Hahl,  PhD, is a full-time university lecturer and teacher educator in Foreign Language Education in the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki. Hahl’s research interests focus on intercultural education, foreign language teaching and learning as well as international teacher education. Hahl is also a qualified subject teacher of English.

Notes on contributors  ix

Lesley Harbon  is Professor and Head of School in the School of International Studies and Education at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. She has been involved in intercultural scholarship in Australian secondary and tertiary education contexts since the mid-2000s. Meeri Hellstén  lectures in international and comparative education, and the higher education professional development programmes at Stockholm University. Her research focuses on international higher education from a comparative perspective on pedagogy, policy and practice. In her work Hellstén draws knowledge from diverse cultural communities within the indigenous Sámi region, the Finnish, Swedish and in the Australian higher education field, where she spent 25 years of her academic career. Leanne Holt is a Worimi woman with further ancestral connections to the Biripai nation. Leanne was recently appointed as Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Strategy) at Macquarie University, and is Deputy Chairperson of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Education Consortium (NATSIHEC). Leanne’s research interests relate to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander higher education policy and governance, with her PhD tracing the development of Aboriginal education policy in Australia. Tuija Itkonen  gained her PhD in Educational Sciences in 2018 from the University of Helsinki, Finland. Her publications include a co-edited book Silent Partners in Multicultural Education (2017), and her research interests include critical interculturality, intertextuality, multiliteracy, as well as educational material on diversity, equality and non-discrimination in schools. Hille Janhonen-Abruquah, PhD, is a university lecturer at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland. Her research focuses on cultural sustainability, education for diversities and everyday life practices. Sean Kearney is Associate Professor and Associate Dean, Academic, in the School of Education, Sydney at the University of Notre Dame Australia. He is a former US Marine Corps sergeant and high school English and History teacher in both the US and Australia. Sean has been coordinating international service-learning immersion programmes for the past seven years and is the Founding Director for the Dayamani Foundation, an ACNC charity aiming to help educate disadvantaged children in Tenali, India. Maria Lobytsyna,  PhD, teaches in the Department of Educational Studies, Macquarie University and also teaches at NSW School of Languages (Department of Education) developing distance education programmes. Her research expertise extends to the development of intercultural competencies in the classroom, innovative learning spaces and the Australian and Finnish Curricula.

x  Notes on contributors

Julie Maakrun is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, Sydney at the University of Notre Dame Australia. Julie is committed to education, with over 25 years of experience in both primary and secondary schools with the current focus on the provision of quality education that empowers pre-service teachers to respond to the demands of education. Julie lectures in general pedagogy and is an active member of the university community. Research interests are in service-learning, underlined by the international experience programmes undertaken with students in Kenya, Tanzania and Timor-Leste. Jae Major, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer in Literacy and English as an additional language in the Faculty of Education at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Jae has over 20 years’ experience as a teacher educator in New Zealand and Australia, and won a National Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT), Australian Award for University Teaching in 2015 for her work in intercultural competence with student teachers on international experiences. Josephine Moate,  PhD, is a teacher educator and researcher based in the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Jyväskylä. Josephine’s research has addressed questions of pre- and in-service language development, as well as the role of language in education. Josephine coordinates the JULIET programme that prepares class teachers to specialise in foreign language education. Robyn Moloney is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Department of Educational Studies, Macquarie University. Her teaching and research interests have included intercultural education, language teacher development and pedagogy. She now works as a Consultant in Teacher Education in a number of universities Jennifer Munday, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer teaching in the Creative Arts and Technology in the Faculty of Arts and Education at Charles Sturt University (CSU), NSW, Australia. Jenni has built a reputation within and beyond the CSU community as progressive in online, flexible, and distance education. Her contributions include investigation and publication in the scholarship of teaching in online learning, particularly in regard to the value of ePortfolios and reflective practice. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Pia Koirikivi, PhD, works as a full-time university lecturer and teacher educator in the field of Religious and Worldview Education in the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki. Koirikivi’s research interests focus on intercultural and inter-worldview education, subject teacher training and sense of membership in schools. Koirikivi also has a subject teacher qualification in the fields of religious education and psychology.

Notes on contributors  xi

Martina Paatela-Nieminen  is an Adjunct Professor of visual culture at the Aalto-University, an Adjunct Professor in Art Education and a University Lecturer in the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the University of Helsinki. Susan Page  is an Aboriginal academic whose research focuses on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ experience of learning and academic work in higher education and student learning in Indigenous Studies. Her current position is Professor in the Centre for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges, where she is leading a universitywide Indigenous Graduate Attribute project. Early in her career, Susan was awarded a university Excellence in Teaching Award (University of Sydney). Hanna Posti-Ahokas,  PhD (Education), Post-doctoral researcher in the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland. Her current research on teacher education focuses on internationalisation, pedagogical development and innovative approaches to education for diversities. David Saltmarsh was Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia until September 2016, teaching Policy, History, Sociology and Cultural Studies of Education. He was co-editor of Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education from 2004 to 2010. Ashley Simpson,  PhD, is a Research Assistant Professor at the School of Foreign Studies, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, China. Simpson’s research interests include Intercultural Education and Intercultural Communication, Discourse theories and methods, and, Critical approaches to Democracy and Human Rights. Katrina Thorpe Thorpe is the inaugural Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Indigenous Research Fellow at the Centre for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges, University of Technology Sydney. Katrina’s current research is focused in the areas of Indigenous Studies in preservice teacher education, Aboriginal education in schools and place-based Learning from Country pedagogies. Katrina’s doctorate titled ‘Narratives of Learning at the Cultural Interface: The Influence of Indigenous Studies on Becoming a Teacher’ was conferred in 2018. Tuija Turunen  holds the position of Dean of the Faculty of Education, University of Lapland, Finland. She also leads UNESCO/UNITWIN Network on Teacher Education for Social Justice and Diversity and circumpolar UARCTIC Thematic Network on teacher education. Her research interests focus on teacher education, educational transitions and wellbeing in educational contexts.

xii  Notes on contributors

Matthew Winslade, PhD, is the Sub-Dean for Workplace Learning in the Faculty of Arts and Education and Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education (HPE) at Charles Sturt University, NSW, Australia. Matt has a strong educational background, with over 20 years of teaching experience in the Health and Education field and has led numerous international student visits and placements. Matt’s research focuses on cultural and intercultural competency, teacher education and school–university partnerships.

Part I

Critiquing Intercultural Competence in teacher education

Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group http://taylorandfrancis.com

Chapter 1

Going forward with Intercultural Competence (IC) in teacher education and training Beyond the ‘walls built by ghosts’? Fred Dervin, Robyn Moloney and Ashley Simpson Introduction Daily practices in education can be frightening. A recent incident, reported by a Finnish student, shows that we are far from having won the battle(s) of interculturality (the reader can understand this last word the way s/he wants to at this stage). This took place within the context of initial teacher education in Finland, a country famous for its education, and concerns for well-being and equality. A white professor-teacher educator was introducing the concept of genres in the didactics of history. He presented the students with a collection of short texts about American slavery. In all the texts, that had been translated into Finnish, the ‘N-word’ appeared several times. The professor read the texts and said aloud the ‘N-word’ in Finnish. It is important to note at this stage that a Black student was also attending the lecture. The student who reported the incident started to complain about the use of the word and asked the professor, politely, to refrain from saying it because it made her feel uncomfortable. The professor confronted the student by asking her if she was trying to censor him. He also claimed that the N-word did not have the same connotation in Finnish and that Finland did not have a history of slavery (using the typical fallacy of Finnish exceptionalism) and thus, the word was ‘harmless’ in the Finnish language. The student left the lecture hall, accompanied by the Black student. The same week, a white professor was fired in the USA for having read a text written by Black author James Baldwin that contained the ‘N-word’. History has had its dose of such incidents and attitudes. In his Remarks, Benjamin Franklin (1783–1784/2014) talks of a Swedish minister giving a sermon to the chiefs of the Susquehanna Indians, telling them of the ‘facts’ that his religion rested on. In return the Indians told him about their own ‘facts’ about their beliefs. Franklin (ibid.: 425) notes: ‘The good missionary, disgusted with this idle tale, said: “What I delivered to you were sacred truths; but what you tell me is mere fable, fiction, and falsehood.”’ Another example is about one hero of our time: Albert Einstein. In his recently published diaries about his trips to China, Einstein (2018) quotes

4  Fred Dervin, Robyn Moloney and Ashley Simpson

Portuguese teachers he meets who ‘claim that the Chinese are incapable of being trained to think logically and that they specifically have no talent for mathematics’. Einstein does not challenge this assertion in any way in his diaries and appears to hold many negative and Western-centric views about the Chinese throughout. These examples are from the ‘West’. One could easily find similar examples in other parts of the world. In this chapter, we call these phenomena, beliefs and the ensuing attitudes, ‘walls that have been built by ghosts’ (鬼打墙, Gui Da Qiang). This Chinese aphorism refers to the story of a man trapped behind labyrinthine walls built by ghosts. It means that one is stuck in one’s own thinking, at one stage of one’s journey and unable to move on. In research on encounters beyond (national) borders, the concept of Intercultural Competence (IC) has been with us for decades, in the ‘West’ first and then globally, to counter – maybe? – the kind of static thinking found in the opening examples. Having spread to different fields of research (business, health, education, linguistics, etc.), one easily notices when one examines the literature and types of studies that have been led worldwide on the concept that ‘walls have also been built by ghosts’ in research – different kinds of walls, but walls too. We could say that we are not going forward with the intercultural and the concept of IC but still rehearsing the same (flawed) ideas around the world and following ‘false prophets’ from the British-American global neo-colonialist motorway of knowledge, supported by powerful supranational institutions and a world governance of research that over-privileges them. These have contributed to make IC in education a specific and politically-oriented figment of our imagination. At the same time, like the aforementioned examples, they have confined us in the ‘dream of the other’. And as Deleuze (1987: 83) would have it: ‘If you’re trapped in the dream of the Other, you’re in trouble’.

Anything new to say about IC? This is yet another book about the concept of Intercultural Competence, with a focus on teachers and teacher education/training. Let us start with a warning: any discourse on IC is ideological. This means that any perspective on the concept relies on (amongst others) political, sociological, personal, glocal ideologemes (bits and pieces of ideology) that are passed onto us by the media, decision-makers, glocal curricula, research, etc. This is why we have decided not to define IC in this first chapter but to let the reader discover and examine the ways the chapter authors understand the concept. We each have our own (incomplete) understandings of IC, of course. We agree on some aspects while disagreeing on others. We know that our understanding of IC is the result of our own experiences, ideological training and brainwashing, and would not want to give the impression that ours is THE right understanding

Going forward with Intercultural Competence  5

of IC. That is why we have decided not to share our definitions. We three have chapters in the volume that will give a clear idea of what they are. In this first chapter, we wish to guide the reader in his/her interrogation of the idea of IC, to help him/her tread their own paths through the muddy roads of IC in education. In a sense we act as conductors here. When they work with an orchestra, conductors use their bodies, faces and hands to communicate. In many cases the conductor and the players do not share a common language. But through their reading of the notes, they come to an understanding as to how the music should/could be played. Each orchestra conductor has his or her own way of conducting (different gestures and postures). Developing his/her own character and personality is essential. For Zolt Nagy (2009: n. p.): very often an orchestra is a preconception … you know it is like daily life  … two different people go to an office … somebody can manage that, their goal, somebody cannot … how to deal with, how to talk, how to manage the orchestra. In a similar way, for composer and conductor Pierre Boulez (1999: 23), learning to conduct is not about copying other conductors (for example Karajan or Solti), their gestures and postures but to find one’s own, the ones that make us feel comfortable with others and vice versa. In this first chapter we thus wish to help the reader find his/her own gestures and postures to be able to read the chapters through critical and reflexive lenses, without having ‘our’ predetermined way of understanding what IC is or should be. Today it feels like everything has been said and written about IC. It even appears that every single teacher’s and student’s IC has been analysed by scholars around the world (e.g. Danish French teachers’ IC; Chinese language learners’ IC; Migrant nurses’ IC in Finland, etc. Note the methodological nationalism of these labels). Interestingly, one of us (Fred) keeps receiving emails from postgraduate students from outside Europe (China, Iran, Mexico, amongst others) asking him to take part in very similar surveys about the concept in order for the students to summarise current scientific views on IC. These surveys, all in English, share the same values, same pre-discourses about IC, although they emerge from different contexts. When Fred asked the students who they contacted for their surveys, they only mentioned the names of white Western scholars, who are overrepresented in the field. We could go as far as say that the state of IC research and practice in education is somewhat worrying. First, IC is not always central in university departments of education, being often offered as an add-on. It is also sometimes substituted by other trendy words such as global or transcultural. Second, teachers in schools are often treated unequally in the opportunities they have to be educated and trained for interculturality. If educated and trained, they may be easily brainwashed to believe in and worship global systems of IC

6  Fred Dervin, Robyn Moloney and Ashley Simpson

(Byram, 1997; Deardorff, 2009) or they may receive hands-on intercultural training purged of any theoretical and methodological elements – yet full of neo-liberal ideologies: there has been a recent push in Finland, for example, to make people ‘play’ to learn about the intercultural. We feel that there is an urgent need to identify the multiple ideologemes, from both so-called ‘critical’ and ‘conservative’ researchers and practitioners, that have been packaged and sold around the concept. It is vital for teachers, teacher educators but also researchers and students to dig into these ‘walls built by ghosts’. The nicely packaged ideologemes often lead to pre-discourses about IC, see propaganda for wider dominant ideologies. It is high time we found important answers rather than mere echoes of these ideologies. Once the latter have been identified, one could offer keys to problematise and maybe construct new, alternative and fairer ways of dealing with the idea of IC. This is one central objective of the chapters of this volume. In what follows, we, the ‘conductors’, provide the reader with tools to work their way through the chapters as well as beyond this volume. In previous publications, we noted the following assumptions and controversies about IC (Dervin, 2016; Simpson & Dervin, 2019). First, it is important to note that interculturality is not something that was invented by the ‘West’, although it is often presented as such. Second, interculturality appears to be a mish-mash of a concept, used by policy-makers, businesspersons, educators and scholars alike to refer to certain categories of individuals (e.g. certain migrants – open secret: not all migrants are valued the same way). Third, the notion is a victim of Western-centrisms (ab/use of the words ‘culture’ and ‘identity’, while discarding the social and race in some cases), politicised discourses and practices but also idealistic ‘postmodern’ ideology (non-essentialism, non-culturalism). Fourth, the notion recycles concepts and notions without caring too much about their potential multilingual connotations (e.g. tolerance, respect, open-mindedness, democracy, etc.). Neither does it take into account the ‘social lives of concepts’ in our glocal worlds (Hann, 2016). Fifth, interculturality still seems to over-emphasise nation-states (even perspectives that refuse to do so) and to rely on ‘Western geography’ and ethnocentrism (e.g. use of the idea of the Orient to refer to China when the name of the country itself means the Middle Kingdom in Chinese, Zhōngguó (中国), Hann, 2016). Sixth, differentialism and comparativism, which are neither neutral nor disinterested, still dominate research on intercultural communication education. As Radhakrishnan (2013) notes: ‘behind the seeming generosity of comparison, there always lurks the aggression of a thesis’. Seventh, most perspectives are still very rationalist in the way they attempt to uncover some ‘truth’ about what people do and say when they meet ‘across cultures’ (see: the resistant idea of culture shock). We are all of us, to some degree or another, brainwashed to see interculturality, and IC, through these problematic perspectives, these walls.

Going forward with Intercultural Competence  7

What to do to take down the walls built by ghosts? In what follows, as an important complement to the chapters composing this volume, we suggest an approach that consists of two steps when dealing with the current crisis of IC in education. We illustrate the steps below by proposing a list of questions one may use to rethink IC (and enter into meaningful dialogues about it). Following the philosopher Michel Serres (2019) we believe that the first step should begin with a deep and serious ‘intellectual and emotional catharsis’. The word catharsis is from the Greek and refers to emotional discharge through which one can achieve a state of renewal. This is nicely illustrated by Henri Bergson (1907/1911: 32) in his description of how those ‘born with spiritual immune systems’ (criticality), manoeuver a rejection of conditioning: Inner knowledge and anomalous outer experiences show them a side of reality others are oblivious to, and so begins their journey of awakening. Each step of the journey is made by following the heart instead of following the crowd and by choosing knowledge over the veils of ignorance. Although the last part of the quote might put off some scholars and practitioners (‘following the heart’, such act being implicitly banned from ‘proper’ research), we believe that moving away from the current crowd of IC is essential to begin a ‘journey of awakening’. The second step could consist in making peace with discomfort and in becoming a ‘disturber of the peace’ (Spinoza, 1955: 374). Many ready-made ideas, discourses, words and phrases are imposed on scholars and practitioners about IC that many people do not dare to question or dis-use. A doctoral student we met recently did not want to reject a concept she felt uncomfortable with. When asked why she used it, she explained that everybody else uses it and that her supervisor had imposed it on her… We must disturb this ‘peace’ and create some discomfort amongst scholars and practitioners. We believe this is the only way we can move forward, be more creative with IC and open up multiple doors to alternative ways of conceptualising and problematising it. In what follows, we propose a list of issues and questions that can accompany this ‘journey of awakening’ through the two proposed steps. These questions can be used when reading the volume chapters or any other text related to IC: STEP 1: Intellectual and emotional catharsis

•

The intercultural is a category and a viewpoint created by the one who utters the word (researchers, decision-makers, etc.): Whose intercultural are we talking about? How is it defined? What supra/national institutions, institutions, scholars are used to justify its definition? Who does

8  Fred Dervin, Robyn Moloney and Ashley Simpson

•

•

•

•

•

it include-exclude? Are we satisfied with it? Does it correspond to our experiences of the world? Definitions and models of IC are mostly Western and globalised (see e.g. Simpson and Dervin, 2019 about the work of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental economic organisation, on global and intercultural competence). These definitions and models rely on socio-politico-economic positions: What are they? What are the accompanying ideologemes? Can they be identified? What consequences could they have on education and educational actors (students, teachers, leaders, teacher educators but also parents)? What components of IC are included? What meanings/connotations? In the use of words (concepts, notions, ways of talking about e.g. assessment of IC), whose words are we using (e.g. tolerance, respect, democracy, social justice)? How do these words translate into other languages? What connotations do they have in these other languages? Do we understand them the same way? Could they be made more meaningful or replaced by another term? Like words, (pseudo-)theories circulate around the world. How do we identify and problematise the use of ‘ready-to-think’ (e.g. we Chinese are this, you cannot understand you are not Finnish, the faulty ideas of culture shock or tolerance)? How do we deal with them? How do we define them? How do we negotiate them with others? Many researchers working on IC are reluctant to give too much power to culture today (e.g. Piller, 2017) and promote the deculturalisation of IC: how do we open up discussions of IC to include intersectional elements such as age, class, gender, race, amongst others? How do we examine how they overlap? Do we experience cases of ‘culture as an alibi/culture as an excuse’ whereby culture is everywhere, culture only is used as an explanation for what people say and do (Dervin, 2016)? Global times call for global voices and knowledge to be heard and listened to. IC is still very much Western-centric as noted before, how do we make sure that we dig into other knowledge to enrich and modify the definition and use of IC (e.g. different views of world order, minority fields relevant to the enriching of IC such as ethnic studies, etc.)?

STEP 2: Peace with discomfor t and disturbing peace

•

•

Who has the power to decide what the intercultural is, how IC is defined? Whose voices are not heard and should be empowered? Are we given the space to disagree and discuss? Can we question and disturb these power relations? How could we make people around us aware of the ideologemes contained in models of IC? At the same time how could we make them realise that these ideologemes might emerge from ‘underground forces’

Going forward with Intercultural Competence  9

•

•

of which they may not be aware (lobbies, freemasonry, politicians, etc.)? How could we question these ideologemes but also their use? How could we substitute them with other ideas that we find fairer and more ethically acceptable (in co-operation with students and other actors)? Should we ask the other who uses certain words or theories associated with IC what they mean with these words/theories, in English and in other languages? Could we question their apparent universalistic use? How could we question the arrogance and potential imperialism that can hide behind the use of certain terms? How could we systematically pinpoint cases of racism, language bias, sexism and classism when we see them occur and urge others to circumvent them? The same goes for ‘intercultural knowledgeism’, a form of discrimination against alternative ways of problematising and thinking about IC.

Encompassing these two reflexive steps, we also believe in the power of dialogue, esp. from a Bakhtinian perspective. IC often tends to be monological, in the sense that those who are in contact are treated as separate beings, like two different pieces of a jigsaw. What research on dialogicality shows (e.g. Brandist, 2002; Matsuo, 2014) is that intercultural speakers are part of the same piece. One cannot meet the other without the other meeting them. What one does with the other reflects what the other does with them. What one says depends on what the other says, and vice versa. There is a hyphen between self and other to which we must pay all attention. Extracting one or the other from intercultural encounters, as if they were independent from each other is an ontological error, negating the continuum between self and other. IC must be problematised and examined from dialogical perspectives. We thus suggest shifting intercultural competencies from the position of I or self-centrism (e.g. Byram, 1997; Deardorff, 2009) towards intercultural co-competencies based upon an ontology of the self-other, while going through the steps. When observing how the chapter authors deal with IC, we also recommend taking this aspect into account (see Figure 1.1).

About the volume Using the core questions outlined above, readers will find that the volume illustrates the diverse and uneven pathways which educators have taken, towards understanding the competences. Contributors, within their personal and professional contexts, have sought to bring a critical gaze to their work, to issues of power, and to the use of language. Common themes which emerge from the educators’ work include personal and pedagogical risk, growth, and, in a number of cases, struggle and frustration. Contributors look ahead to further disrupting practice, institutions, and students’ learning, in their ongoing practice.

10  Fred Dervin, Robyn Moloney and Ashley Simpson

Figure 1.1 Steps in observing and rethinking IC.

The studies largely feature the work of researchers in Australia and Finland, some separately, some together. Their personal and professional histories shape aspirations, expectations, needs, frustration with ongoing injustices, and anxieties, in university and school education. While both countries, have, at policy level, inscribed the apparent value of intercultural competences, both contexts are struggling to support critical investigation of problematic practice and uneven outcomes. The four non-discrete sections of the volume have loosely grouped the studies to reflect four interests: the ongoing critical examination of the concept of intercultural competences; the exploration of different ways in which intercultural competences are represented in teacher education, the use of reflexive approaches to intercultural competences in practice, and finally the possible intersections between intercultural competences and Indigenous Studies.

Going forward with Intercultural Competence  11

The first section is titled ‘Critiquing intercultural competences in teacher education’. A site frequently considered by curriculum writers to be the most ‘obvious’ flagbearer for intercultural competences, has been Languages Education. And yet it has become a problematic site where the concept has often fossilised. It has been the site where teachers, in the name of ‘intercultural’, have simplified, essentialised, focused on difference, and insisted that delivering cultural information is ‘doing intercultural’ (Harbon & Moloney, 2015; Moloney & Xu, 2015). Robyn Moloney, Maria Lobytsyna and Josephine Moate have sought to examine how a curriculum’s conceptualisation of intercultural learning is unevenly understood and enacted in two university/school contexts, Sydney and Jyväskylä. They explore conceptual understandings of language educators at three levels, teacher educators, teacher education students and in-service teachers. Their conclusions as to individual practice and contexts echo Crozet’s (2016: 157) perception that Even if all practitioners at all levels may all agree that modern foreign language teaching ought to endorse the IP (intercultural pedagogy) as one important aim of their teaching, they still have to decide for themselves how much, and at what pace, they can walk the IP talk in ways that breed success in their particular context of language teaching. Ashley Simpson constructs a strong argument that we need to pay attention to the wider discursive and ideological functions of notions such as democracy and culture, promoted and used by organisations such as the Council of Europe (Simpson, 2018). He uses a critical approach to interculturality to show that considerations of both democracy and culture can be deeply problematic, and can produce and reproduce forms of othering. Simpson analyses meta-discourses about democracy and culture from the Council of Europe Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy. Simpson illustrates how meanings and representations about culture and democracy can be manipulated to function as a form of ideology. In his chapter Fred Dervin presents two complementary models of IC, developed by himself and members of his team since the early 2000s. Dervin shows their complementarity and the problems both entail. The so-called Postmodern Model is based on a postmodern paradigm of identity and representations. Used in language education and teacher education in different parts of the world, this model has been recently complemented by the Confucian Model which relies on a revised understanding of Confucian Ethics, and on Dervin’s attempt at opening up discussions of IC to the intellectual history of China. Although the latter is work in progress, Dervin details the assumptions, core ideas and principles of this Model and explains how it can be used with the Postmodern Model. The addition of the Confucian Model allows to approach IC from an original ethical perspective that moves away from pseudo-theories about the intercultural emerging from the West.

12  Fred Dervin, Robyn Moloney and Ashley Simpson

Part II, ‘Exploring critical intercultural competences in teacher education’, contains three chapters. This section focuses largely on the programmes and activities within teacher education departments. Hanna Posti-Ahokas, Hille Janhonen-Abruquah and Christine Adu-Yeboah, analyse the collaboration occurring within a network of five universities in Finland, Ghana, Tanzania and South Africa from 2012 to 2016. The members of this network, called the Culturally Responsive Education network, engaged in joint teaching, research, conferences, and exchange programmes for students and faculty. The network is analysed as a space for intercultural learning through collaboration across contexts and amongst junior and senior education scholars sharing an interest in culturally responsive education. The network activities are portrayed as possible dynamic contexts for the development of participants’ intercultural competences and with potential for translation to activities benefiting all the institutions. They note that issues of power, access and continuity must be considered in all aspects of North–South–South partnerships to enable meaningful participation and learning by student teachers and teacher educators. In her chapter, Martina Paatela-Nieminen presents the application of an intertextual model in intercultural art education. The context is that of a course about art history within the framework of an Erasmus+ EU Programme. The students were asked to examine contemporary art and open-endedly weave relations to older art and cultural forms and in relation to the students’ local ‘cultures’ as well as to the global cultural memory. Paatela-Nieminen’s interest is in the students’ development of critical intertextual competence (her take on IC) and their complex understanding of an intercultural work of art. Tuija Itkonen conceptualises and advocates intercultural ethics in education practice. Itkonen’s approach to critical interculturalism is complemented with Paul Ricoeur’s philosophical hermeneutics of the (ethical) self, and amended with Emmanuel Levinas’ and Buddhist perspectives on ethics. This serves as a framework to examine instances of vocational education and training (VET) teachers’ ethically caring work with diverse students. The qualitative data of this study consists of 10 interviews and 85 open questions from educators in 5 Finnish upper secondary VET institutions in the metropolitan area of Helsinki, Finland. This study focuses on the (VET) educators’ role in promoting ethically caring teaching-learning conditions and facilitating social well-being for all involved. The second section ends with Sean Kearney and Julie Maakrun who analyse a range of international programmes which have become a feature of many teacher education programmes in Australia, and frequently promoted for their claimed ability to instil a ‘global-mindedness’ in future teachers. They critique to what extent the selected programmes prepare students to develop Intercultural Competence in international settings. Using an embedded, ethnographic case-oriented understanding of three such programmes,

Going forward with Intercultural Competence  13

this chapter presents an alternate viewpoint for the critique of such programmes in terms of their problematic relationship with intercultural competences in the teacher education students and the teacher profession more generally. The third section, ‘Reflexivity and IC in teacher education’, features chapters which explore teacher educators’ reflexive accounts of their practice. Teacher education has sometimes presented its responsibility to be the delivery of a concrete toolkit of skills and answers for any foreseeable contingencies in schools. In the case of Australia, young teachers are assessed using a tick-box series of graduate capacities against a set of teaching standards. There is the temptation for teacher educators to be regarded, and more importantly to regard themselves, as the source of all wisdom. A number of chapters in this section reveal teacher educators doing the opposite. Robyn Moloney and Tuija Turunen critique their own narrative histories of development and their learning experiences of challenge, identity and forward vision. Both narratives feature acknowledgement of difficulty and failure in some experiences, and the ongoing incomplete process of intercultural competences. Both narrators open up the question of whether they have understood how to adequately bring this personal interculturality to their practice as teacher educators. Jae Major, Jennifer Munday and Matthew Winslade continue this exploration of the teacher educator, in considering the intercultural competencies needed to lead an international experience for student teachers. This chapter reports a project where the authors engaged in critically reflective work to explore their experiences as programme leaders for international teaching experiences for student teachers to Vanuatu, Samoa and the Solomon Islands. Using an Academic Intercultural Competencies Model, they present and analyse three narratives, reflecting on the tensions and contradictions of international experiences, and the personal and professional complexities of managing intra- and inter-cultural interactions and relationships. Kaisa Hahl and Pia Koirikivi look critically at the assumption, in the Finnish context, that incoming ‘international’ student teachers will be automatically regarded as ‘intercultural experts’. The authors analysed the discursive language of both science and foreign language student teachers, to investigate what (kind of ) intercultural competences they expressed. Although many student teachers were aware of the fluidity of cultures and identities, traditional stereotypical images were nevertheless present in their discussions. In another layer of contradiction, or multiple representations, the student teachers regarded themselves as both international and critically aware of stereotypes, and yet also as representatives of essentialised cultural images of their countries of origin. David Saltmarsh recognises that the terms multicultural or intercultural in policies frequently disguise an insider/outsider position. In order to subvert this, he designed a task in which both he and his Teacher Education students

14  Fred Dervin, Robyn Moloney and Ashley Simpson

discovered, that, rather than expecting and looking for differences between cultural groups, it can be more valuable to explore shared or common experiences as a means of understanding one another. The chapter discusses a collaborative learner biography, used with groups of students. In sharing personal biographies and experiences of learning, the students critically observed the different ways their peers experienced learning and how they had negotiated difficult situations. Both the students and the facilitator realised that the group contained far greater individual diversity than had been imagined. Part IV features studies which have focused on intercultural competences in Indigenous education. Intercultural competences are seen as critical to achieving the dual non-exclusive aims of increasing the Indigenous teacher workforce, and developing all teachers’ ability to work with Indigenous Australians. Constructing intercultural competences in Indigenous educational settings has been commonly conceptualised in terms of three main pedagogical approaches, teaching knowledge about Indigenous people (knowing the other), promoting empathy with difference, and reflecting on one’s own knowledge and values (knowing and decolonising the self ). John Buchanan and Meeri Hellstén question the ways in which international mobility might serve or frustrate the needs of Indigenous or First Nations students. They draw on the situations of Australian Indigenous peoples and northern Scandinavia and Finland’s Sámi people, relating to teacher education, to illustrate some dynamics associated with mobility. Internationalisation, assumed by many to be a benign common good from which to harness intercultural understanding, can also be seen as a potentially vulnerable space of conflict, domination and the misuse of power. They investigate the challenges presented by universalism (incorporating cosmopolitan ideals of internationalism) for particularity, as manifest in postcolonial, minority and Indigenous social projects. Major injustices have occurred historically across and within structures, which have normalised power differentials, and inequities. Working towards Reconciliation processes, building capacity in intercultural competences in schools has been seen as a priority. The development of greater numbers of Aboriginal educators is also seen as a critical resource. Susan Page, Leanne Holt and Katrina Thorpe present fundamental challenges in their work in Australian universities. They explore eight intersecting and overlapping domains, to map and name explicitly both the individuals who might benefit from intercultural education and the environments which impinge upon their practice. They promote investment in environments that privilege intercultural education from an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education perspective. They look for leadership from schools and universities to adopt strategies that link outcomes in increasing the Aboriginal teaching workforce. The final chapter in this section, by Mercurius Goldstein, engages with the third of the three pedagogical strategies mentioned above, that is, knowing and de-colonising the self. Goldstein’s account of his ‘failure’ to achieve

Going forward with Intercultural Competence  15

an ongoing program in his school illustrates Page et al.’s argument above re institutions. Goldstein explores his professional learning encountered in the potential and limitations of a critical intercultural approach towards First Nations languages within a rural Australian school setting. It revisits and reflects on an earlier autoethnographic account of Goldstein’s efforts to develop intercultural competences in everyday classroom practice (Goldstein, 2017). The study finds that where educational projects grounded in a ‘critical intercultural’ approach are dependent on the energy and co-operation of individual actors working within institutional educational frameworks, such efforts can prove to be fragile and unsustainable. We are grateful to Lesley Harbon, for providing a critical overview, or ‘last word’, to the volume. Harbon takes us back to a classroom moment of awakening which started her journey. She reminds us of the significance of the individual catalyst experiences which awaken and propel us in our difficult journey of critical understanding. It is the work of educators to frame and interrogate these experiences, to ask the questions outlined in this chapter, and to push forward through critical engagement with theory. In becoming aware of the entrapments of easy assumptions and trendy words, we recognise and break down the ‘walls built by ghosts’, enabling us to move forward.

References Bergson, H. (1907/1911). Creative Evolution. New York: Henry Holt and Company. Boulez, P. (1999). Pierre Boulez – Entretiens avec Michel Archimbaud. Paris: Gallimard. Brandist, C. (2002). The Bakhtin Circle: Philosophy, Culture and Politics. London: Pluto Press. Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Deardorff, D. (ed.)(2009). The SAGE Handbook of Intercultural Competence. New York: Sage. Deleuze, G. (1987). Deux Régimes de Fous. Paris: Editions de Minuit. Dervin, F. (2016). Interculturality in Education. London: Palgrave. Einstein, A. (2018). The Travel Diaries of Albert Einstein: The Far East, Palestine, and Spain, 1922–1923. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Franklin, B. (1783–1784/2014). The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 41, 16 September 1783, through 29 February 1784. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Goldstein, M. (2017). A Place of Many Stones (pp.  43–52). In (eds) L. Harbon & R. Moloney, Language Teachers’ Stories from their Professional Knowledge Landscapes. London: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Hann, C. (2016). A concept of Eurasia. Current Anthropology 57(1): 1–27. Harbon, L., & Moloney, R. (2015). ‘Intercultural’ and ‘Multicultural’, Awkward Companions: The Case in Schools in New South Wales, Australia (pp. 15–34). In (eds) H. Layne, V. Trémion & F. Dervin, Making the Most of Intercultural Education. Series: Post-intercultural Communication and Education. Series editor: Fred Dervin, University of Helsinki, Finland. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

16  Fred Dervin, Robyn Moloney and Ashley Simpson

Matsuo, C. (2014). A Dialogic Critique of Michael Byram’s Intercultural Communicative Competence Model: Proposal for a Dialogic Pedagogy. Report of a research project, Japan. Available at: www.tufs.ac.jp/common/fs/ilr/ASIA_ kaken/_userdata/3-22_Matsuo.pdf Moloney R., & Xu, H.L. (2015) Intercultural Competence in Tertiary Learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language: Analysis of an Innovative Learning Task (pp. 97– 114). In (eds) R. Moloney & H.L. Xu, Exploring Innovative Pedagogy in the teaching and learning of Chinese as a Foreign Language. Springer: Melbourne. Nagy, Z. (2009). Master-class Pierre Boulez – 1ère partie. Available at: www. conservatoiredeparis.fr/nc/voir-et-entendre/videos/article/master-class-pierreboulez-1ere-partie/ Piller, I. (2017). Intercultural Communication: A Critical Perspective. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Radhakrishnan, (2013). Why Compare? (pp. 15–33). In (eds) R. Felski & S. Friedman, Comparison: Theories, Approaches, Uses. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Serres, M. (2019). Morales Espiègles. Paris: Editions Le Pommier. Simpson, A. & Dervin, F. (2019). Global and intercultural competences for whom? By whom? For what purpose?: An example from the Asia Society and the OECD. Compare. Spinoza, B. (1955). On the Improvement of Understanding, Ethics, Correspondence. New York: Dover Publications.

Chapter 2

Looking for Intercultural Competences in language teacher education in Australia and Finland Robyn Moloney, Maria Lobytsyna and Josephine Moate Introduction Teacher education is crucial to supporting equitable educational outcomes and social justice in schools. In a global context of increasingly mobile and diversified school populations, pre-service teachers, and their students, need new capacities and strategies to counter racism and ethnocentric attitudes which appear to emerge in classrooms in many national contexts (Welch, 2016; Dervin, 2016). Intercultural competence has been discussed in many iterations in teacher education internationally for a number of decades. There have been many individual initiatives to devise programs in teacher education to impact pre-service teacher competences (for example, Dervin & Dirba, 2006; Jokikokko, 2005). It is apparent that curricula in many countries feature, as a desirable outcome in student attributes, the development of a global cultural perspective. It is less common, however, for this goal to be well articulated in syllabus materials or teacher direction. Australia and Finland are no exception. According to our previous investigations (Harbon & Moloney, 2013) the curriculum area where this ‘global perspective’ is often more concretely articulated, and appears to be an explicit responsibility, is that of foreign language (FL) teaching. FL education is in many ways concerned with the crossing of cultural boundaries, encountering different ways of being and communicating and building different types of relationships. This chapter thus examines FL teacher education as a site where one might expect explicit attention to be given to building intercultural competences in pre-service and in-service teachers. This chapter examines the framing of intercultural competences in both Australia and Finland language teacher education from the perspectives of pre- and in-service FL teachers and teacher educators in Jyväskylä, Finland, and Sydney, Australia. The chapter begins by briefly outlining the different contextual factors that shape both the curriculum and educational outcomes in the two environments before introducing the methodology for data collection and analysis. Through the parallel cases our aim is to generate a

18  Robyn Moloney et al.

cross-case dialogue to offer a new perspective in the field and to recognise that FL education is never undertaken in isolation from the wider world. The two curriculum contexts of the study

For Finland the teaching and learning of foreign languages was a priority in the early stages of industrialisation and FL learning is a well-established feature of the national curriculum from the early grades of the comprehensive school system. As an officially bilingual country, all pupils have to learn Finnish or Swedish as a second language, and English has gradually taken precedence as the main foreign language learnt by most pupils ( Ruohotie-Lyhty et al., in press). The most recent Finnish curriculum (FNBE, 2015) frames schools as a vital part of a contemporary multilingual society. FL education in the new curriculum has a clear mandate to strengthen students’ desire and ability to act in culturally, internationally and linguistically diverse environments and contexts. The students are ‘guided in reflecting on the significance of attitudes and values and developing their skills in acting constructively in different contexts’ and instruction should develop students’ ‘competencies of global citizenship’ (FNBE, 2015, p. 114). The new curriculum refers to ‘knowledge and internationality’ (FNBE, 2015, p. 38) as a vital cross-cultural theme. The main objective is that Finnish students strengthen their ‘positive cultural identity and knowledge of cultures’ and learn ‘to look at issues from the perspectives of other people’s life situations and circumstances, and develops skills in acting as a cultural interpreter’ (FNBE, 2015, p. 38). Therefore, FL learners are seen as actors ‘in the culturally diverse world in national, European and global communities’ (FNBE, 2015, p. 119). Linguistic diversity and proficiency are defined as ‘a tool for increasing cultural competence’ (FNBE, 2015, p. 124). In the Australian Curriculum, ‘intercultural understanding’ is recognised as one of seven ‘general capabilities’ for twenty-first century education (Australian Curriculum: Languages, 2011) and is integrated as a background concept in every syllabus. With regard to FL learning in schools, Australia is caught in an apparent contradiction. A feature of Australia is its diverse multiculturalism, where, in cities like Sydney, 40% of the population speaks a language other than English and weekend schools for heritage language learning are growing rapidly at community level (Cruickshank, forth). However, English monolingualism is still a feature of sectors of the population and of educational leadership, and a ‘monolingual mindset’ (Clyne, 2007) limits the public perception of the value of school FL learning (Slaughter, 2009). FL study is envisioned in the Australian curriculum as an ‘opportunity for students to engage with the linguistic and cultural diversity of humanity, to reflect on their understanding of human experience in all aspects of social life, and on their own participation and ways of being in the world’ (Australian Curriculum: Languages, 2011, p. 6). In language syllabuses, specific learning

IC in education in Australia and Finland  19

objectives promote individual reflection on ‘moving between cultures’, with embedded learning objectives and outcomes in intercultural learning. This study aims to generate a cross-case dialogue between Finnish and Australian FL education and to demonstrate the value of looking at and across different contexts in the development of intercultural understanding (Bakhtin, 1986, p. 7). To avoid magnifying differences between contexts and reinforcing stereotypes, however, it is important to note that contexts and perspectives, as well as interculturality, are unstable and unfixed (Dervin, 2016) changing with the liquidity of modern society (Bauman, 2011). Moreover, we acknowledge our own diverse backgrounds, experiences and understandings are instrumental in shaping the design of the study, conduct of the research, and diverse interpretations of the data (Glesne & Peshkin, 1992).

Literature review Intercultural competences

Teachers and teacher educators have been shown to hold confused understandings of the polysemic terms ‘culture’ and ‘intercultural’ (Moloney & Oguro, 2015; Harbon & Moloney, 2013, 2017). Many definitions of intercultural competence highlight knowledge, skills and attitudes, as instrumental in the learning of respect, and tolerance of ambiguity (Deardorff, 2006). Linear models of intercultural competence have claimed to measure the success of the individual in ‘achieving’ levels of intercultural competence (Bennett, 1993). Such models have, however, encouraged linear and culturalist understanding, ignoring the essential role of the interlocutor and the social dialogic context in which interaction takes place (Dervin, 2016). Kramsch’s (1995) notion of a ‘third space’ as a place of critical observation between languages and cultures and Byram’s (1997, 2011) components or knowledges (‘savoirs’) in intercultural communicative competence illustrate how understandings of interculturality have continued to develop. These conceptualisations acknowledge that intercultural competence is not just ‘acquired’, but must continue to respond to different contexts at different times. Along with other authors in this volume we refer to ‘intercultural competences’ in the plural, to signify a loose and complex construct. Drawing on Dervin’s (2016) principles for work involving intercultural competences, we have used four principles to frame our work. Our principles are: (1) the importance of situated individual perspectives, (2) the instability of phenomena, such as understanding and intercultural competence, (3) discourse as an indicator of a momentary position containing traces of earlier and emerging values, and (4) the value of dialogue to foster critical understanding by bringing contradictions and complexities into view. These principles are explained in more detail below. Firstly, we recognise that teacher educators, FL teachers and pre-service teachers are individuals with their own personal perspectives of language

20  Robyn Moloney et al.

education. Moreover, each individual negotiates multiple identities as they interact with others as well as in relation to their own experiences, the context they are living in, the affordances they have and the responsibilities they carry. An individual perspective, therefore, is always complex and contextualised. Secondly, contextualised perspectives are not inherently stable nor fixed, just as intercultural competence is not a fixed capital, but rather is ‘composed of contradictions, instabilities, and discontinuities …[with] … instability of identifications, instability of discourses of culture’ (Dervin, 2016, p. 82). Thus, negotiated identities and perspectives are temporary and instable but can also be resistant to change or change in unanticipated ways. This suggests that within our investigation diverse understandings of culture will be present both within and between the different individuals and the two cases for our study. Thirdly, different perspectives and understandings are constructed through the discourse of participants. Discourse contains traces of what has been, that is previous understanding, as well as anticipating future understanding (Dufva, 2003). Examining the discourse of language teacher educators, preand in-service teachers as indicators of current-yet-dynamic understandings brings contradictions and instabilities into focus, that is where change has taken place and what kinds of changes might be currently underway. The discourse of our participants, for example, might well contain traces of essentialist, knowledge-based understandings of intercultural competences, with individuals framed as ‘objects’ or ‘solid representatives’ of a (national) culture, race, ethnicity, religion or worldview. On the other hand, their discourse might frame intercultural competences as something that can help people to move beyond assumptions about us/them, encouraging participants to investigate the continuum of similarity-difference, and move away from the dominance of difference. It is unlikely that our participants adopt a clear-cut position, but the negotiation between these different perspectives and alternative understandings is worthy of careful examination. This connects with our fourth principle that values both individual dialogue, as well as dialogue across the two cases and between us as researchers. As different understandings are made visible, challenging assumptions and encouraging more critical reflection, so cross-case dialogue develops. FL teacher education and FL teaching

In the university class for FL teacher education, enquiry and reflection are needed alongside the investigation of syllabus, policy, theoretical understanding of practice, and development of key skills (Kleinsasser, 2013). Pre-service teachers make an individual interpretation of the curriculum, according to their background beliefs and this is negotiated as a nexus between their professional and personal identity (Harbon & Moloney, 2013, 2017). Whilst pre- and in-service FL teacher development has received a significant amount of attention (e.g. Ruohotie-Lyhty, et al. in press; Jokikokko, 2005) little

IC in education in Australia and Finland  21

attention has been paid, however, to the way in which FL teacher educators construct their understanding and experiences (Willems, Stakenborg, & Veugelers, 2000; Ben-Peretz, Eilam, Landler-Pardo, 2011). In Australia the teacher educator designs tasks which may include reflective narrative (Moloney & Oguro, 2015), critique of textbooks, games, advocacy training, analysis of practicum experience, as well as lesson and unit planning. While exchange programs are encouraged, there is no mandatory requirement that FL pre-service teachers spend time in the country of their additional language(s). In Finland, teacher educators have similar responsibilities, but in addition emphasise research skills, to prepare teachers for the critical thinking skills they will need when implementing the curriculum in school. Finnish FL teachers are expected to be able to foster the cognitive, social and cultural competences, capacities and identity that pupils should develop through their education. Whilst the Finland curriculum outlines the learning objectives stipulated in educational policy, it is educational providers and teachers that implement the curriculum in response to local needs. This reflects the value placed on teacher autonomy and local decision-making in Finland (Bergroth, 2016). Changes in FL pedagogy

FL teaching globally has undergone changes in the last 20 years. Pedagogy which focuses on communicative skills alone has been critiqued as failing to stimulate critical cultural understanding and to meet deeper student needs and expectations of constructivist contemporary education. As sociocultural understandings of language have broadened, initiatives have been undertaken to revise practice with, for example, an increasing number of new language textbooks (for example, Pagni & Popoli, 2016) explicitly model an ‘intercultural approach’ to language learning (Scarino & Liddicoat, 2009). Whilst the trends outlined above are also familiar within the Finnish language teaching context, FL education in the upper secondary school builds on continuity of earlier language learning and resulting proficiency. As the material for language lessons, it can draw on the wider themes of the curriculum, such as Society and the surrounding world, Science, economy and technology, as well as popular culture. Cultural Studies is a compulsory course in the upper secondary school curriculum with specific attention given to different literary forms including stories and poems, as well as music and art. In addition to textbook materials, authentic materials are used as an opportunity to explore cultural differences, to develop cultural sensitivity and to become aware of the culturally bound nature of their own actions and evaluations. FL teaching in Finnish upper secondary school is not solely responsible for the cultural development of pupils but shares this responsibility with other subjects. At the intersection of these concerns and theoretical understandings, the research question addressed in this chapter is: How do FL teacher educators,

22  Robyn Moloney et al.

pre-service teachers and teachers perceive intercultural competences in two sample case study contexts in Australia and Finland?

Methodology Our constructivist epistemological understanding is that claims of knowledge are not infallible when it comes to the behaviour and actions of people. Research centred on meanings, and the understandings of phenomena as experienced by participants, demands a qualitative approach (Creswell et al. 2011). The sociocultural theoretical lens is concerned with multiple perspectives created through interaction. This research has employed research tools of interview and written narrative to access descriptions and interpretations of the lives of the interviewees (Kvale, 1996). The three levels of participants, teacher educators, pre-service teachers and in-service teachers, provide a multi-layered picture of intercultural competences. The perspective of FL teacher educators, for example, includes the responsibility of setting new directions in teacher training; the pre-service teacher perspective involves negotiating the theory and practice of FL education as part of a new professional identity; the in-service teacher perspective, however, involves negotiating the demands of professional development as part of an established professional identity. The data were collected in 2016. The aim was to analyse whether and how intercultural considerations are perceived at each level, and how intercultural competences are perceived in Australian and Finnish language teacher education. For the Australian case, the teacher educator and pre-service teachers were affiliated with Macquarie University, and the in-service language teachers from a Sydney metropolitan school. For the Finnish case, interviews took place with pre- and in-service teacher interviews at the University of Jyväskylä Upper Secondary Teacher Training School, and with a language teacher educator at the Department of Teacher Education, the University of Jyväskylä. The teacher interviews for both cases took place within the school environment. Interview questions invited teacher educators and teachers to describe their practice and perceptions of culture and intercultural, within their teaching. All interviews were conducted in English and the interviews were recorded and transcribed. Pseudonyms are used for participants. Table 2.1 displays the numbers of participants in the two contexts. Table 2.1 Number of participants in the study Participants

Australia N=

Finland N=

Teacher educators Pre-service teachers In-service teachers TOTAL

1 9 5 15

1 5 5 12

IC in education in Australia and Finland  23

Data analysis

The interviews were read and coded for repeated ideas, themes, and narratives about particular experiences. Through this thematic analysis approach (Ryan & Bernard, 2000; Ezzy, 2002, p. 90) themes and sub-themes around culture and intercultural competences were developed within and between the different data. As the key themes were developed, the data were grouped and differentiated as categories were formulated. Once the key themes had been developed, the final step was to focus in on individual pieces of texts, particularly those that seemed to contain contradictions or convictions in order to try to ascertain the different cultural discourses present in these texts.

Findings We present the data, examining extracts from participants’ interviews and narratives, from the two contexts separately, in order to provide a multilayered picture of the issues, values and practice of the different perspectives. This is followed by cross-cultural dialogue in the discussion section. Australia: (a) Teacher educator

The Australian teacher educator, Sarah, shared that her early understanding of culture as a school language learner was as artefacts with lessons on maps, rivers, festivals and food. She graduated as a teacher of French and German without having left Australia. Later, she travelled many times to Japan, and here she recognised the ‘invisible’ culture of her life in Australia (Lo Bianco, et al. 1999). She was thus attracted to the emerging pedagogy of intercultural language learning (Liddicoat et al. 2003), for this potential to help young Australians to learn about themselves, while learning about life in Tokyo or Paris. She became committed to professional development in this new intercultural approach to language learning and joined a team which developed national intercultural language teaching resources. And yet, she added teachers seemed to struggle with it, they often couldn’t let go of the exclusive culture-as-artefact teaching. They really thought they were ‘doing intercultural’ when they were just delivering cultural information. (Sarah) Sarah moved to tertiary teaching as a FL teacher educator, particularly wanting to train new teachers to grasp this critical approach. Thinking about how she developed her Teacher Education pedagogy, Sarah noted: I have three core messages for my pre-service teachers … the first is to take every possible opportunity to spend time in the country … it

24  Robyn Moloney et al.

is transformative and essential for intercultural learning … the second is that they need membership of a professional community … and the third is the importance of skills in critical cultural enquiry and reflective knowledge of the self. This is the hardest. (Sarah) Sarah expressed the continuity of her personal and professional learning in her transfer to her pedagogy as a teacher educator, and her ‘vision’ of the intercultural development of her pre-service teachers. She explained: I really want my pre-service teachers to ‘get it’, and to grow in intercultural competence … my workshops and assessments include autobiographical narrative exercises to elicit critical awareness of intercultural competence. But they make their own individual response, and, in their narratives, some still write stereotypical things, without digging deeper … there has to be diversity of response, I can’t expect the same cut-out. (Sarah) The discourse of this teacher educator focuses largely on enabling her pre-service teachers to think interculturally as a personal intellectual and developmental exercise in becoming a critical teacher. The teacher educator explained her perspective: There are lots of reasons to be discouraged in Australian language teaching, poor policy-making, falling numbers in elective language study, low achievement, little public perception of any ‘need to learn’. But, maybe this is one thing we can do, the intercultural. I have great belief in individual teachers and their continual advocacy and energy. One child’s life, and thinking, is still changed by one great teacher. (Sarah) This extract exemplifies the striking contrast between the paucity of FL education as a system in Australia and this teacher educator’s commitment to the value she ascribes to intercultural competences. The shift in her understanding of culture provides the basis for her pedagogical approach to pre-service teachers. As a tool for self-knowledge, she promotes critical reflection, both domestically and in travel and learning outside the university. Most of her discourse is focused on this as the prime source of learning. Her discourse is largely focused on the individual and does not contain reference to critical discussion of social issues or politics as a vehicle for critical intercultural work. Australia: (b) Pre-service FL teachers

The data in this section was generated from written narratives, written at the beginning of 2016, in the fourth and final year of study, and used with permission. The nine pre-service teachers (six female, three male) positioned

IC in education in Australia and Finland  25

their intercultural exploration at the individual level, through examination of their family history, immigration, language learning, and travel. Of the nine students, six were from families with immigrant backgrounds and family heritage backgrounds. Some of the pre-service teachers described how the negotiation of their hybrid identities has shaped their understanding of intercultural competences. Adelaide is ‘caught in the middle’ of her father’s Croatian background and her mother’s Maltese background, in her recognition of her ‘self ’ and her relationship with Australia. She concluded at a young age that the conflicting different meal-time etiquettes of these two groups meant that ‘neither way was right or wrong, it is just a matter of perspective’. But through a relationship with a French friend, she ‘discovered so much more about myself, about life in Australia, and my perceptions were constantly remoulded and reshaped’. For Adelaide it is the fluidity of identity that she discovered ‘through intercultural competence’ that she intends to convey to her future students: I realised there is no one Australian. What unites us is our openness to the world … I move fluidly between multiple spheres that overlap. I found myself through intercultural competence. But I’ll never find a community of people exactly like me. That’s what it is to be human: unique. It’s about recognising shared values, accepting others, including yourself, and seeking our own individual meaning to life. My understanding is not static, but constantly transforming. (Adelaide) Lilly is from Taiwan, but has settled permanently in Australia. She wants to replicate her self-discovery for her students, through language learning: Being in Australia made me realise that everyone is a distinctive individual and also allows me to find my own characteristic and value … In language teaching, it is essential that students are able to see themselves from a different angle, then to find their own identities beliefs and values by reflecting on language and cultures. (Lilly) The pre-service teachers variously share a sense of vision about their future work: It’s not really about the language itself, it’s about learning to live together, it has both educational and social purpose. ( John) The narrative extracts show that these pre-service teachers’ discourse reflects some of the aspects of intercultural competences supported by this volume. They use critical perceptions of themselves, their interactions and failures. Their discourse illustrates Abdallah-Pretceille’s (2004) assertion that the key question in the intercultural is the relationship with the other. They dig deep,

26  Robyn Moloney et al.

to reveal their failures and the ongoing instabilities in their intercultural competences. Most of the experiences they recount are close to home rather than dependent on overseas travel. We note that these responses have been created, however, as individual reflections, rather than emerging from class community activity. The participants’ abstract future application and educational vision suggests there may be a gap between the vision and pedagogical practice potentially undermining the implementation of the vision (Buchanan, 2015). Australia: (c) In-service teachers

The discourse of the participant Australian FL teachers focuses on the belief that study of cultural material and artefacts facilitates intercultural competences. Teachers suggested that, through observing information about the target culture, intercultural competences may be shaped through watching YouTube clips, documentaries, films in the targeted language, interviews and discussions on culture and socio-cultural topics provided in the textbooks. This practice, however, does not preclude an enquiry perspective. One teacher noted: With the Internet we use many YouTube clips and sites with advertisements, news reports, articles, etc … We also look at it from a philosophical point of view in that the French do not see the world necessarily as we see it and why. (Cori) Through ‘authentic texts’, that is materials developed for and by members of a particular cultural context (Liddicoat & Scarino, 2013: 95), teachers believe they can encourage critical reflection in students on cultural content. As in the example above, where the teacher Cori supposes a monolithic wold view possessed by ‘the French’, this may clearly still support polarisation and essentialised perceptions. Teachers were keen to acquire (and deliver) knowledge about the target language country, and referred to institutions where they can access authentic resources, such as Goethe-Institut and Alliance Francaise (Mary, Cori). Some teachers expressed the belief that the teaching of pragmatics (greetings and other etiquette scenarios) represented the core of intercultural competences. Robin explained that teaching pragmatics can help students explore behaviour in another place, and to interact with people appropriately. Although Robin recognised that intercultural competence ‘can be difficult to teach explicitly,’ she also shared how she addressed this in practice: We explore the different ways to be polite in Spanish [and compare them to how we do this in English] … I understand intercultural competence, to be the ability to communicate appropriately. Intercultural competent communication involves an understanding of the cultural norms

IC in education in Australia and Finland  27

pertaining to relationships, gender, power, age, politeness (and face), among other things … (Robin) While this focus on pragmatics is valuable to the language user, this approach may retain an exclusive focus on the other and on difference, limiting personal investment or reflection. Another important theme in the teachers’ discourse was the belief in overseas exchange programmes to produce a sense of belonging to a global world. As Cori comments, ‘Learning a language helps students belong to a global world in that they go on exchange’, although how these experiences transform into global belonging or critical intercultural competence was not addressed. Nevertheless, the discourse of most of the teachers included the objective of students developing tolerance and a non-judgemental attitude to the target culture through language. The Australian teachers also acknowledged the potential of the multicultural class in Australia, that is, exploring intercultural competences locally. They desire to build a classroom community where students can negotiate meaning and participate in critical intercultural interactions. Mary wanted students of immigrant backgrounds to be able to share their individual intercultural experience, and to have their intercultural perspectives valued: It is hard to recreate such situation in a class … It is something students can get from their experience overseas or in a local community here. Some have actually gone through that, kids who have moved to Australia  … I really try to encourage them because they do not often realise why it is important. They just sort of laugh about things but I actually feel they want to talk about them instead, and they just have not had a forum for that. (Mary) Teachers refer to the local ethnic communities or to those students who have recently migrated to Australia. Mary, for example, recognised critical breakthroughs in learning encounters between her students, in the breaking down of norms, but seemed to lack know-how in facilitating this in class, falling back again on experience outside the classroom: I believe there is some sort of thing that clicks in their minds when they start to understand the world … you can’t understand why someone else does something unless you have realised somehow in your own mind there is no such thing as “normal” for example, or “right”. It is hard to recreate such situation in a class, it is something they can get from their experience overseas or in a local community here. Some have actually gone through that, kids who have moved to Australia … Not all of them have travelled or have had much contact with other cultures, but the ones who have, can give to the others. (Mary)

28  Robyn Moloney et al.

We note the incidence in the quotes above of the use of the words ‘hard’ and ‘difficult’ in referring to enabling pedagogy for intercultural competences. Some Australian teachers also suggested some anxiety and isolation due their own limited professional opportunities for travel. By coincidence one of the Australian language teachers had come from Finland many years before and she offered a sharp perception of the difference in the FL learning climates: The attitude in Finland is different. Languages are as important as Maths and English. Also the teachers are very well trained. They have to stay overseas in a target language country. In Australia the language teachers are dedicated, they are working against the whole society. They have to be very driven to be doing it. Otherwise you would not last for very long because people do not value your work … (Kirsti) The perceptions of this teacher above resonate with the discourse of the other Australian language teachers. In the teachers’ discourse, contradictory currents of critical approaches and essentialised notions of culture and intercultural competences collide. Although the discourse suggests awareness of the value of exchanging perspectives within the classroom, how this is realised through pedagogical practice is left unsaid. Their students make observations of culture represented in films and YouTube clips, but may not know how to engage in deeper critical reflection. The concreteness of ‘authentic’ materials is an important resource for the teachers, and perhaps goes some way to support and even counter the feelings of isolation intimated in their discourse, as the sole proponent of intercultural competences within their school. In sum, across the different perspectives in the Australian case, there is some commonality in the recognition that intercultural competences, however understood, are central to their mission as language educators. The common understanding is that intercultural competences exist both as syllabus goals and as the result of personal experience in both teachers and learners. The teacher educator and the pre-service teachers appear to share some common critical framing of intercultural competences as an individual, unstable, uncomfortable change process. In-service teachers believe that intercultural competence may be produced by critical observation of culture within artefacts and media, and in some cases by supporting classroom student discourse. There is some recognition of the intercultural potential in exploring internal local diversity within the multicultural Australian classroom, yet little talk of social justice or broader aspects of intercultural competences globally, and only limited reflection on pedagogy which may enable deeper understanding of encounters with others in the local community and/or further afield.

IC in education in Australia and Finland  29

The Finnish case Finland (a) Teacher educator

The Finnish teacher educator Tiina described the scope of the five year teacher education program incorporating both Bachelor and Master’s level study and research projects for language pre-service teachers at her university. Finnish language teachers major in the language which they teach, and complete pedagogical studies in the Department of Teacher Education. Cultural knowledge is part of studies in both Department of Languages as well as in the Department of Teacher Education: We discuss it in the language pedagogy, plus we look at it in the curriculum, we discuss it in the learning targets … We discuss how the students see it, understand it … It depends how much they think about it, and also their own experience … Culture can be present as much or as little as you want. (Tiina) Tiina’s discourse reflects the flexibility within the Finnish system for teacher educators to cover the broad strokes of language pedagogy with pre-service teachers and to focus on the parts that seem most meaningful to a particular group of students. They trust that what should be covered, will be covered through the combined efforts of different departments. Tiina recognised that whether intercultural competences are fostered in teacher education largely ‘depends on the teacher educator, [and] on how well they [the pre-service teachers] can build them.’ Tiina continued that ‘culture’ may take on a different meaning related to ‘difference’ when discussing the teaching of a culturally and linguistically diverse class and, for example, recently arrived refugee students: We speak about it. If you are teaching a heterogeneous class, teaching students of various backgrounds. Teaching Finnish as a Foreign Language, it’s not only about language study, but the whole thing. (Tiina) Tiina suggests that the increasing diversification of the classroom has created a new demand for pre-service teachers with skills for intercultural encounters by cooperating with different stakeholders (parents, colleagues, pupils), being sensitive to different levels of language ability and being prepared to be responsible. The impetus to address intercultural competences is more keenly felt when considering new arrivals in Finnish society. This discourse suggests that it is this new tension about the ‘other’ that prompts specific pedagogical action regarding the development of intercultural competences.

30  Robyn Moloney et al.

Finland (b) Pre-service teachers

The Finnish pre-service teachers feel they are encouraged to bring an individual set of skills and knowledge to the language classroom. They feel they bring their own cultural identity as a frame for their pedagogical practice. Kreeta is a third year student, majoring in German and Swedish, and believes that the teacher’s personal choice of authentic texts is important. Kreeta integrates her favourite German songs into language teaching: I use my favourite German music that I like at the moment … I think students better understand and like it because it is modern. (Kreeta) The Finnish pre-service teachers suggest that creative activities can be vehicles for sharing the way in which they currently understand and relate to intercultural competences in language education. For example, Saara, also majoring in German, experimented with ‘drama and movement’ in the language classroom to develop her pedagogical practice. More proficient levels of communication will enable learners to understand changing cultural landscapes, to enhance their social skills and also their knowledge and understanding of modern culture/s of the target language. They also acknowledged the challenges of getting out-dated with their limited knowledge of current socio-cultural and political aspects of life in Germany. They communicated a strong responsibility to be competent in leading and participating in discussions, and to have up-to-date opinions and knowledge, about current affairs such as terrorism and politics. They believe the only way to achieve effective integration of intercultural competences into teaching is through critical knowledge and personal experiences in the target language countries. As Kreeta explains, Cultural knowledge is important. This is why we went to Germany. At the university you learn a lot but you cannot really have a modern picture of what Germany actually is, unless you experience it for yourself. Our teachers are German but they have been living in Finland for 20–30 years … We get a lot of information but it might not be true anymore. (Kreeta) Several of the Finnish pre-service teachers stated that they have gained cultural and global awareness through working with the country’s values and customs, and it is their desire to share this enquiry with their students. In terms of identity, they reported that their time spent abroad had a transformative effect and increased self-confidence. This on-site development is promoted through a mandatory stay in the target language country for a minimum of two months during their studies. They can choose to study or work during this time. A graduating teacher referred to the transformation of her personal and professional self through

IC in education in Australia and Finland  31

working in France, which changed her perceptions and gave her a desire to grow more: I spent one year in France as an Erasmus student, seven months as an assistant teacher in Northern France (English). These were the best experiences of my studies, I learned so much through these experiences … Then it is up to you how much time you want to spend there if you want to study or to work. (Mari) The discourse from this small sample suggests that this personal experience plays a major role in their development of intercultural competences and in the formation of pedagogical practice. Their idea is that FL learners in Finnish classrooms practice intercultural communication by sharing, discussing and communicating their broader knowledge and understanding of people and issues in other places, including current socio-political affairs. One further example of this is Juuli, a pre-service French teacher in her fourth year. She emphasised the importance of learning experience in the current socio-political context. For her, using media-based texts, especially news stories, became a priority in her pedagogy. It is important to learn about cultures and not only about stereotypes, like France, for example. It is also important if you have your own experiences or connections and you bring them to your students. It is also important to follow the news or action [current military conflicts and terrorism issues] and to know about history behind. How to make it happening, how to bring it to the class? It needs more work from the teacher. I want to do it somehow … ( Juuli) The discourse of the Finnish pre-service teachers offers a new perspective on intercultural competences in language learning, seeing this being developed through socio-political discussion exploring current global questions. This is made possible by advanced levels of FL comprehension and oral production. Their aim is to situate language in the modern, meaningful and rich cultural context. These Finnish pre-service teachers repeatedly commented that languages are about people: they wanted to become language teachers because they were interested in working with people within the broad community: I always liked languages and wanted to work with people, especially young people. ( Juuli) I applied for English, German and Swedish and got German. I always found interesting how humans work and how they interact and how communication works. So I thought the language studies will be the road in that direction. (Saara)

32  Robyn Moloney et al.

They also understand that communication requires social skills and intercultural competence just as much as linguistic knowledge. This discourse suggests that these pre-service teachers perceive their professional and individual growth as individual yet within a wider context. As Ruohotie-Lyhty and Moate have written: ‘the who cannot develop in isolation from the how of educational community … the how of the immediate community, however, is not isolated from the broad array of experiences that inform pre-service teachers’ notions of what it is to be a teacher prior to formal studies’ (Ruohotie-Lyhty & Moate, 2016, p. 319). The discourse of the pre-service teachers illustrates the way in which they draw on their own experiences in relation to others in the formation of their pedagogical practice. Unlike their Australian counterparts, the pre-service teachers focus more on the relationship between the individual and the socio-political make-up of different communities, rather than their personal relationship with and experience of their local communities. One Finnish pre-service teacher, Melissa, was training as a teacher of English and Spanish and had come from Somalia with her family ten years previously. She reported feelings of alienation as the only African-born student in the unit and her goal was to bring more socio-cultural awareness and empathy to the language classroom. Her discourse includes self-reflection and careful observation of her local environment: I want my language students to engage in meaningful socio-cultural discussions, to think about other people in the world, to discover their own beliefs in life. I am also interested in social justice. (Melissa) Melissa’s discourse goes beyond knowledge or cultural understanding of others to a responsiveness to the immediate environment and a sense of responsibility for those with whom one shares life. Melissa’s insights connect with the new impetus in teacher education to more consciously address intercultural competences as Finnish society diversifies. As with the other Finnish pre-service teachers, Melissa suggests that personal experiences are important material in the formation of pedagogical practice. But students do not appear to have a clear framework of pedagogical knowledge for how to promote critical reflection. This is a point we return to in the discussion of our study. Finland (c) In-service teachers

The discourse of five Finnish FL teachers is similar to the Australian teachers with a shared faith in studying cultural material/artefacts to facilitate intercultural competences. Teacher discourse included the notion of intercultural competences being shaped through exposure to music (including major music festivals such as Eurovision), YouTube clips, documentaries, films and literary works (short stories, poetry, songs) in the target language. Their use

IC in education in Australia and Finland  33

of such resources seems to be for linguistic content and cultural ‘knowledge’. As Karin observes, ‘Students can learn much more when they hear German music or when they watch German films.’ Another similarity between the discourse of the Australian and Finnish FL teachers was use of greetings and other pragmatic scenarios to provoke discussions and critical reflections on ethical issues: We don’t have a greeting culture in Finland. But in many other countries they do. For example, I start my class and I say ‘Buenos dias’, hello everybody. And nobody answers. I can ignore that, sometimes I do, or I say once more, Buenos dias, hello everybody, once more. And then perhaps five students say something or everybody says something. I say, ‘if you don’t answer, if you don’t greet me, it’s so impolite. You can’t do it in Spain. So, let’s practice it’. ( Jaana) When asked about intercultural competences, some teachers immediately referred to their own travels abroad, a long-standing requirement in Finnish language teacher education. The teachers discourse associated culture with the experience of social interaction and intercultural knowledge, that is, how to communicate with ‘different’ nationalities or ethnicities. Milla openly shared insights she had gained from her own travels, learning through trial and error as well as self-reflection: I must have made some errors in different countries. I have done something in the very Finnish way not realising it. For instance for the first time I visited some schools in France. There are all these different names whether you are the Head teacher of Upper Secondary school or the Head teacher of Primary school … you should use them. I did not know these titles, I was not culturally appropriate: [the French would say:] ‘this Finnish lady who visited us last week was a bit rude’. (Milla) Whether teachers are able to use these experiences to inform pedagogical practice remains unclear, however, as few explicit connections were made between the teachers’ intercultural experiences and their pedagogy. The teachers did, however, highlight exchange programs as something that complements classroom learning. Through exchange experiences, the teachers believe that students will gain from language learning and will learn to ‘survive in the world’: It’s very efficient, very useful for them to learn as many languages as they can … to really use it, a functional purpose, to be able to communicate about whatever you want to. It’s not only the language but the way you try and survive in the world where you don’t know the language that well. (Emmi)

34  Robyn Moloney et al.

The teachers emphasises the need for ‘real-life’ experiences achieved beyond the classroom to fulfil the intercultural aspect of the curriculum, a discourse that appears to be contrary to their enthusiasm for the role of material artefacts. As Milla observes: I think that the Intercultural aspect is built in our curriculum but of course it sort of depends on how to make it real … If you read a text about some cultural aspect it may be a bit dry and people do not necessarily understand what it means and what the differences are. (Milla) This remark underscores the dilemma faced by language teachers in both Finland and Australia; both groups highly value authentic cultural encounters and understanding, but the pedagogical challenge of how to recreate or fully capitalise on cultural experiences within the classroom remains unresolved. This dilemma is perhaps exacerbated by some teachers’ anxious and ambivalent discourse around the intercultural requirements of the curriculum. This teacher’s language shows her resistance to the moral obligation she sees in the curriculum: What is written in the curriculum is that we should be more tolerant, more respectful of other countries, and we do not necessarily have to adopt their ways, but to a certain degree to understand them and to respect them … We should be culturally sensitive and not only think that our way is the only way or is the best way. But our way is our way. (Milla) The notion that it is the arrival of immigrants which has imposed the necessity for greater international understanding and knowledge is repeated here. Intercultural competences remain framed as being only about the ‘other’: Of course because now we have more immigrants in Finland we really have the need for international understanding and for also international information. If you do not know about the different customs … then it is easier for you to be prejudiced because then you just think they behave in a really weird way and that’s it! (Milla) In this uncomfortable discourse, ‘international understanding’ suggests that background knowledge can reduce prejudice. This discourse problematically objectifies the other and assumes all Finns see themselves the same way (Dervin & Layne, 2013). This private discourse highlights the dilemmas that such teachers face. A complex personal negotiation may get in the way of teaching interculturality (Emmi) in relation to the curriculum, the surrounding society, their pupils and themselves. This negotiation is more complex and threatening if teachers (mistakenly) believe that they should be the source of knowledge.

IC in education in Australia and Finland  35

An initiative which allows for more independent student exploration is, however, the creation of student research portfolios in the Finnish Upper Secondary School language courses. In the portfolios, students may optionally choose to explore their own ‘intercultural dimension of the world’ ( Juanita). Juanita framed this as an opportunity to develop a sense of self, where pupils can gain awareness of their own culture before embarking on discovering a second culture. The teacher discourse indicates how complex this process is. It is interesting that in this task, the responsibility for fostering intercultural competences is accorded to students, rather than as a community or pedagogical responsibility, escaping from being a wider dialogue within Finnish language education. It is this challenge that we take up in the cross-case dialogue in the discussion below. In sum, within the Finnish context the teacher educator, pre-service teachers and language teacher perspectives firstly recognise intercultural competences as part of broad Finnish education, not solely language education. In teacher education, the degree of attention given depends on the interest of the teacher educator. Secondly, Finnish participants’ discourse suggests belief that intercultural competences are informed by personal experience (rather than pedagogical strategies) and are important in mediating encounters with others. Thirdly, the use of artefacts and authentic resources is popular pedagogic practice to observe cultural practice. The discourse of the Finnish pre-service teachers differs from the teachers in that the pre-service teachers appear to recognise culture not merely as something represented by artefacts, but dynamic and mediated by personal engagement. One pre-service teacher only, who had come from Somalia, recognised the potential of language education and intercultural competences, to address social justice. What is not clear in any of the perspectives from either context, however, is confident critical understanding of a role in fostering intercultural competences within language learning.

Discussion: Developing a cross-case dialogue This study sought to examine how different perspectives within FL teacher education frame intercultural competences in two contexts from Australia and Finland. This discussion briefly reviews the multiple answers to the research question before outlining how the cross-cultural dialogue is supported when these two cases are placed side-by-side. This raises further questions and calls for wider critical dialogue of intercultural competences in FL education research. Issues associated with FL education in Australia and Finland

In both the Australian and Finnish cases the language educators’ relationship with the wider community was strong, although in different ways. In the

36  Robyn Moloney et al.

Australian case the three perspectives communicated a sense of urgency that intercultural competences need to be understood and shared with students, and that FL educators are responsible for this task. Their commitment starkly contrasts with their often isolated status and lack of support from educational authorities. The in-service teachers recognise the connections between their roles and the diversity of students they work with daily and the pre-service teachers recognise their personal learning in intercultural competences, but are frustrated by how to transform this personal capacity into pedagogical practice. The Finnish case suggests, however, that it is not only the relationship with educational authorities, but the individual relationship with the wider community that can hinder pedagogical practice. Unlike the Australian case, the perspectives of the Finnish participants express little urgency regarding the responsibility to develop intercultural competences. Although intercultural competences belong to the remit of FL education, they also belong to the wider curriculum and FL education has a secure position within that curriculum. The tension in the Finnish case, however, is found in the discourse pertaining to the perceived changes in Finnish society. Whereas in the Australian case the multicultural society is understood to be an intercultural pedagogical resource, in the Finnish case the increasing diversity of society is seen as problematic. Rather than being a global outlook, the challenge has been moved closer to home suggesting a disjuncture in Finland, in the framing of intercultural competences, between what has been and what is now becoming. Values associated with intercultural competences in FL education

In the Australian case intercultural competences are understood as grounded in personal experiences. Participants understand that intercultural competences change the way they perceive themselves in the world. Interculturality was part of who and how they were as individuals in relation to their families, friends and local communities. In this discourse the individual is always in relation. Although teacher educator Sarah emphasised the value of travel and encounters away from home, her perspective suggested a significant shift towards understanding that intercultural competences mediate everyday life. The values associated with intercultural competences in the Finnish case are somewhat different. Whilst intercultural competences are the assumed responsibility of educators, personal experience adds meaning and aids interpretation, for example, of artefacts. Moreover, personal experience is something that is gained outside the classroom and brought to the classroom. How to value personal experiences as pedagogical resources, however, is less certain. Not all pupils have the chance to travel nor do all

IC in education in Australia and Finland  37

pupils that travel necessarily gain intercultural competences through their experiences. In neither the Finnish nor Australian cases the value associated with personal experience are not partnered by a similar value ascribed to critical reflection on or pedagogical ways of maximising intercultural competences for all. FL education values and benefits from disparate personal experiences outside the classroom but perhaps does not value as highly pedagogical ways and means of working with these experiences. It is at this point that we turn to the practices associated with intercultural competences in the two cases. Practices associated with intercultural competences

The perspectives shared by the participants in both contexts suggest that intercultural competences are developed through travel and social interaction. At each level in both contexts there is a strong belief in personal experience as an important aspect of intercultural competences. From the perspective of pedagogical practice, however, a significant gap seems to exist between personally significant individual experiences and the development of pedagogical practice that can transform individual experiences into community resources. In other words, the challenge from a practice perspective is how to make intercultural competences personally meaningful in the classroom without having to rely on experiences outside the classroom. The pre-service teachers in both contexts seem to represent fresh understandings. Finnish pre-service teachers were keen to be able to lead political discussion as part of their language pedagogy to facilitate intercultural competences. This suggests a sense of continuity between their personal and professional selves and that their own competences will be an active part of their future classroom. The Australian counterparts also recognised the capital of their personal and professional intercultural competences developed in relation to family and friends, and contemporary society. Drawing connections across the two contexts, the Australian pre-service teachers recognise the interculturality of their lived experience within diverse local communities, while their Finnish counterparts locate intercultural learning in discussion of unfolding socio-political developments beyond their borders, in the broader European arena. The perspectives of the in-service teachers in Finland and Australia, however, suggest that practices can ‘solidify’ and become unintentionally reductive. In this small cross-case study of FL teacher education in Australia and Finland, the FL teacher educator perspectives share a common goal to produce beginner teachers who have intellectual depth and critical capacities. Whilst this perspective aligns with the curricular goals in both contexts to develop interculturally aware citizens, the creation of equity in education and social justice in society receive little attention from this perspective. As FL teacher educators and researchers, these findings challenge us to reconsider how the

38  Robyn Moloney et al.

wider community of FL educators is responding to this challenge and is supporting the ongoing development of pedagogical responses to the world in which we live and would like to live. It is our hope that the findings from this study, as well the other studies included in this volume, support the recognition of new questions we now face in FL education. We turn to these questions in our conclusion.

Conclusion As FL education researchers we might wish that all practitioners have moved beyond narrow perspectives. We acknowledge, however, that the significant challenges the teacher participants face have shaped their practice to a significant degree. In the Australian context, isolated FL teachers struggle with the responsibility of sustaining pupil interest in (non-compulsory) language study. In the Finnish context, teachers struggle with the disjuncture between what have been the established norms of education (e.g. shared responsibility for intercultural competences) and the realisation that society is changing, necessitating a new response. By placing these different perspectives sideby-side, we can perhaps better understand why teachers hold on to older approaches and why the development of pedagogical approaches is challenging. It is striking that the perspectives from both cases, however, emphasise individual experience and understanding. Little has been said regarding how as a community of FL educators we build understanding of possible pedagogical responses. We hope that by presenting the disparate and uneven perspectives involved in FL education in this contribution we begin to build a shared understanding. Another question that is raised is why has the development of an appropriate pedagogical response been so difficult? It is not a new realisation that education should be meaningful nor that the role of the teacher is to make experiences available to pupils to develop dispositions such as intercultural competences, and understanding (e.g. Dewey, 1938/2007). The participants in our study readily recognised and appreciated the transformative potential of experience outside of the classroom, as do we, but we also wonder whether the significant appreciation of experiences beyond the classroom casts pedagogical efforts inside the classroom as poor reflections of ‘genuine’ encounters. Should we as language education researchers turn our attention to the potential of classrooms full of pupils with diverse experiences and teachers committed to language education? An important follow-up study from this small-scale investigation might examine the range of stories, experiences and intercultural encounters present in a ‘regular’ language class. Such a study might help teachers to better conceive of the actual resources pupils provide, in turn contributing to a more appropriate pedagogical response as we better understand and work together to develop intercultural competences in a diverse world.

IC in education in Australia and Finland  39

References Abdallah-Pretceille, M. (2004). Education interculturelle et éducation à la citoyenneté. In M. H. Éloy (Ed.) Les jeunes et les relations interculturelles (pp. 141–152). Paris: L’Harmattan. Australian Curriculum and Assessment Reporting Authority (ACARA) (2011). The Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Languages. https://acaraweb.blob.core.windows. net/resources/Languages_-_Shape_of_the_Australian_Curriculum_new.pdf Australian Curriculum and Assessment Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2013). Australian Curriculum: Languages Italian. Sydney: ACARA. Bakhtin, M. M. (1986). Speech Genres and Other Late Essays. Trans. Vern W. McGee. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Bauman, Z. (2011). Culture in a Liquid Modern World. Cambridge: Polity. Bennett, M. J. (1993). Towards Ethnorelativism: A Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity. In R. M. Paige (Ed.) Education for the Intercultural Experience (pp. 21–71). Yarmouth: Intercultural Press. Ben-Peretz, M., Eilam, B., & Landler-Pardo, G. (2011). Teacher education for classroom management in Israel: Structures and orientations. Teaching Education, 22(2), 133–150. Bergroth, M. (2016). Reforming the National Core Curriculum for bilingual education in Finland. Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education, 4(1), 86–107. doi:10.1075/jicb.4.1.04ber Board of Studies NSW. (2003). Japanese K-10 Syllabus. Sydney: Board of Studies NSW. Buchanan, R. (2015). Teacher identity and agency in an era of accountability. Teachers and Teaching, 21(6), 700–719. Byram, M. (2011). Intercultural citizenship from an internationalist perspective. Journal of the NUS Teaching Academy, 1(1), 10–20. Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Clyne, M. (2007). Are we making a difference? On the social responsibility and impact of the linguistic/applied linguist in Australia. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 30(1), 3.1–3.4. Creswell, J. W., Klassen, A. C., Plano Clark, V. L., & Smith, K. C. (2011). Best Practices for Mixed Methods Research in the Health Sciences. Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, 2094–2103. Cruickshank, K. (forthcoming). Community Language Schools: Bucking the Trend? In A. Chik, P. Benson, & R. Moloney (Eds.) The Multilingual City: Sydney Case Studies. Routledge. Deardorff, D. K. (2006). Identification and assessment of intercultural competence as a student outcome of internationalization. Journal of Studies in International Education, 10(3), 241–266. Dervin, F. (2016). Interculturality in Education: A Theoretical and Methodological Toolbox. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Dervin, F., & Dirba, M. (2006). On Liquid Interculturality: Finnish and Latvian Student Teachers’ Perceptions of Intercultural Competence. In P. Lintunen & H.M. Järvinen (Eds.) Kielenoppija tänään – Language Learners of Today (pp. 257–271). Jyväskylä.: Suomen soveltavan kielitieteen yhdistyksen julkaisuja.

40  Robyn Moloney et al.

Dervin, F., & Layne, H. (2013). A guide to interculturality for international and exchange students: An example of hostipitality? Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 8(1), 1–19. Dewey, J. (1938/2007). Experience and Education. New York: Simon & Schuster, Touchstone. Dufva, H. (2003). Beliefs in Dialogue: A Bakhtinian View. In P. Kalaja & A.M.F. Barcelos (Eds.) Beliefs about SLA: New Research Approaches (pp. 131–152). Dordrecht: Kluwer. Ezzy, D. (2002). Qualitative Analysis: Practice and Innovation. Melbourne: Allen & Unwin. Finnish National Board of Education (FNBE) (2015). The National Core Curriculum for General Upper Secondary Schools. Glesne, C., & Peshkin, A. (1992). Becoming Qualitative Researchers: An Introduction. White Plains, NY: Longman. Harbon, L., & Moloney, R. (Eds.). (2013). Language Teachers’ Narratives of Practice. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Harbon, L. & Moloney, R. (Eds.). (2017). Language Teacher Stories from their Professional Knowledge Landscapes. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Jokikokko, K. (2005). Interculturally trained Finnish teachers’ conceptions of diversity and intercultural competence. Intercultural Education, 16(1), 69–83. Kleinsasser, R. C. (2013). Language teachers: Research and studies in language (s) education, teaching, and learning in teaching and teacher education, 1985–2012. Teaching and Teacher Education, 29, 86–96. Kramsch, C. (1995). The cultural component of language teaching. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 8(2), 83–92. Kvale, S. (1996). Interviews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Liddicoat, A. J., & Scarino, A. (2013). Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. Liddicoat, A. J., Papademetre, M., Scarino, A., & Kohler, M. (2003). Report on Intercultural Language Learning. Canberra: Department of Education Science and Training, Australian Government. Lo Bianco, J., Liddicoat, A. J., Chantal, E., & Crozet, C. (Eds.). (1999). Striving for the Third Place: Intercultural Competence through Language Education. Deakin, ACT, Australia: Australian National Languages and Literacy Inst. Moloney, R., & Harbon, L. (2014). Transition from senior secondary to tertiary languages study: Student attitudes in three Sydney schools. Babel, 49(3), 4–13. Moloney, R., & Oguro, S. (2015). The effect of intercultural narrative reflection in shaping pre-service teachers’ future practice. Reflective Practice, 16(1), 96–108. doi: 10.1080/14623943.2014.969699 Pagni, G., & Popoli, C. (2016). Parliamo Italiano Insieme Level 2. Melbourne: Cengage. Ruohotie-Lyhty, M., & Moate, J. (2016). Who and how? Preservice teachers as active agents developing professional identities. Teaching and Teacher Education, 55, 318–327. Ruohotie-Lyhty, M., Korppi, A., Moate, J., & Nyman, T. (forthcoming). Seeking understanding of foreign language teachers’ shifting emotions in relation to pupils. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research.

IC in education in Australia and Finland  41

Ryan, G. W., & Bernard, H. R. (2000). Data Management and Analysis Methods. In N. K.Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research (pp. 769– 802). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Scarino, A., & Liddicoat, A. (2009). Teaching and Learning Languages: A Guide. Melbourne: Curriculum Corporation. Slaughter, Y. (2009). Money and policy make languages go round: Language programs in Australia after NALSAS. Babel, 43(2), 4–11. Welch, A. (2016). Cultural Difference and Diversity. In R. Connell, C. Campbell, M. Vickers, A. Welch, D. Foley, & N. Bagnall (Eds.) Education Change and Society (pp. 155–187). Melbourne: Oxford University press. Willems, G. M., Stakenborg, J. H., & Veugelers, W. (2000). Trends in Dutch Teacher Education. Leuven-Apekdoorn: Garant.

Chapter 3

‘I with an[other]’, otherness and discourse Reconstructing ‘democracy’ through intercultural education? Ashley Simpson Introduction Democracy and culture – where shall one start? Usually questions surrounding the subject matter provokes scholars to give definitions of what democracy and culture may mean (to them) and they might even go on to show the causality of the relationship between democracy and culture and vice versa. Here, an overt focus on definitions, causal relationships and wait for it, statistics, engenders ideological stances and positions which demarcate how democracy and culture are understood. In this chapter the author takes the stance that along with the critical work on interculturality (Byrd Clark & Dervin, 2014; Dervin, 2016) and intercultural communication (Holliday, 2011; 2013) in understanding culture as a fluid intersubjective process rather than a fixed state. I argue that democracy, also, should be problematised and critically reflected upon from these positions rather than being stated or defined (Mouffe, 2013). Democracy is here understood as ‘rule by the people’ (Mouffe, 2013: 80). Democracy and culture are not two separate concepts whereby x effects y – on the contrary, democracy and culture are irreducible – therefore, democracy cannot be reduced to culture and neither can culture be reduced to democracy (Mouffe, 2005a; 2013). Chantal Mouffe argues that in this sense the political project of liberalism (Rawls, 1993) and rationalist-based consensual approaches (e.g. Habermas, 1984) are blind to the ontological forces in which one’s identity (including but not exclusive to intersubjectivities such as, gender, culture, sexuality, social class, etc.) comes-into-being (Mouffe, 2005a). Thus, Costas Douzinas along with Mouffe argues, that liberal democracy can only deal with generalities and assumptions when it comes to protecting and safeguarding human rights as liberal democracy is blind to the specific and individual needs and/or demands notwithstanding the processes in which identities come-into-being (Douzinas, 2002; 2013). Using the Council of Europe’s Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy (2017) and inspired by the critical work on intercultural education (Byrd Clark & Dervin, 2014; Dervin, 2016; Dasli & Diaz, 2017) and intercultural

Otherness and discourse  43

communication (Holliday, 2011; 2013) this chapter will demonstrate the ways both democracy and culture function as a form of ideology. This case study will illustrate the problems associated with totalised and/or generalised forms of democracy and culture. In showing the problematic ways both democracy and culture can be othered – using stereotypes and representations to hierarchically situate one context and/or country vis-à-vis another context and/or country – the final section of this chapter, inspired by Chantal Mouffe’s work on democracy (Mouffe, 2005a; 2013) will problematise whether democracy can be understood as an intercultural competence. Mouffe’s work will be here used as a theoretical framework to discuss in depth the considerations drawn out from the data analysed. The data analysed in this chapter consists of an analysis of the Council of Europe report: Cultural participation and inclusive societies: A thematic report based on the Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy (2017), a discourse analysis of two video speeches by interlocutors explaining the Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy, and, two images found from the World Values Survey (2018) – statistical data from the World Values Survey 2014 report (World Values Survey, 2014) was used in the development of the Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy instrument. All of the data analysed is free and available within the public domain. At this juncture, it is important to note the influence of the Council of Europe as a supranational political body in Europe and its role in shaping domestic education policies and national curricular documents (Newman, 1994). In more recent times, the Council of Europe has published on developing intercultural competencies in education (Council of Europe, 2016a) and has called for an intercultural dialogue through education (Faas, Hajisoteriou & Angelides, 2014; Fuentes, 2016). As Biesta (2009) notes though, European Union and Council of Europe directives in education have to be understood through the apparatus of citizenship ideologies whereby the census notion of democracy has been promoted to depoliticise political agency and to prevent wider debates on citizenship within Europe (Biesta, 2009). In addition, Council of Europe directives on inclusion in education have arguably led to processes of exclusion and the distancing of non-European students (Sultana, 1995). A further example is the Europeanisation of teaching materials funded by organisations such as the Council of Europe in terms of the Eurocentric contents and biases found within teaching materials (Han, 2007). It is therefore important to pay attention to the wider discursive and ideological functions of notions such as democracy and culture which are promoted and used by organisations such as the Council of Europe (Simpson, 2018). In developing a counter-hegemonic political project contra to the criticisms of liberal democracy Mouffe articulates the notion of agonism (Mouffe, 2013). Agonism can be defined as the struggle between adversaries (Mouffe, 2013). Mouffe’s form of agonism acknowledges the constitutive character of social division and the impossibility of a final reconciliation (e.g. a political consensus) (ibid.). Thus, such forms of democracy encourage multiple forms

44  Ashley Simpson

of democracy around the world depending on a number of socio-political factors, including but not exclusive to, ethnicity, gender, geographical space, linguistic repertoire, race, religion, etcetera. Such forms of pluralistic organisation have the potential to be more responsive to self and the other as an agonistic form of politics is rooted in the ontology of the political – an ontological symbiosis of self, other, and the others-within-the-self (Mouffe, 2013). This ontological symbiosis rejects cosmopolitan forms of liberal democracy which Mouffe argues has engendered a politics of ‘us’ versus ‘them’ (ibid.). In this sense, the everyday politics around us, and our understanding about democracy has been constructed through othering – ‘using stereotypes and representations about the other when meeting her/him and talking about her/him’ (Dervin, 2016: 43). Thus, from my previous research on the subject matter I have coined the phrase ‘democratic othering’ whereby democracy discourses are hierarchically positioned through cultural essentialisms to often marginalise and discriminate against the other (Simpson & Dervin, 2017; Simpson, 2018).

Literature review The end of the Council of Europe report on Cultural participation and inclusive societies: A thematic report based on the Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy (2017) contains an appendix with key terms: Here culture is defined as: cultural activity that is based on cultural values emphasising cultural freedom, equality and pluralism. Cultural activity includes cultural action, products, services and intellectual property, as well as market and non-market activities which are carried out by any type of individual or collective actor (Council of Europe, 2017: 36). Here, the term culture is neither problematised nor explained coherently instead the definition (p.  36) contains a number of potentially contradictory voices (‘cultural activity’, ‘cultural values’, ‘cultural freedom’). The text seems laden with business-oriented phrases (e.g. products, services, intellectual property, market and non-market, actors) whilst continuously repeating words such as culture, freedom and equality. The definition comes across as simplistic in articulating what culture may mean whilst the ideological positioning of the notion through business phrases shows the word culture functioning as a misnomer (Dervin, 2016). Dervin’s use of misnomers about culture can be understood as ‘(wrong or inaccurate uses of a term), that is to say that they lead and contribute to certain interpretations of intercultural phenomena which are unreliable and even untrue’ (Dervin, 2016: 8). Though the language engendered around and within this text is significant here – the preface of the report focuses on the fact that arts funding (the authors use the

Otherness and discourse  45

word culture) has been cut by governments throughout Europe in recent years thus the authors position the word culture as an excuse and/or problem and as a convenient solution later in the report (Piller, 2011; Dervin, 2016). Seemingly the authors cannot see the irony of their statement ‘it is no wonder that culture is being leveraged as a resource’ (Council of Europe, 2017: 5) – here the authors are leveraging culture as a resource to promote and sell the Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy to governments and government ministries. Within the appendix of the report democracy is defined as a form of government where citizens choose the representatives that reflect their values and opinions (Council of Europe, 2017). Democracy, as understood by the Council of Europe, is underpinned by civil rights and liberties that are protected by an independent and impartial judiciary (ibid.). Like the definition on culture the definition on democracy can be questioned. Chantal Mouffe would argue that this definition published by the Council of Europe illustrates that liberalism, with its emphasis on individual liberty and universal rights; and democracy, which privileges the idea of equality and ‘rule by the people’ is a product of a specific history – the Judeo-Christian tradition (Mouffe, 2013). The ways this form of liberal democracy is enforced upon people and countries around the world can be problematic as often countries are compared and contrasted against one another (ibid.). There is also the problem that for example, democracy and human rights, are seemingly never internally reflected upon and are used to further marginalise the other – thus, there is a need to move away from the predominantly Anglophone and Eurocentric representations of how democracy discourses are symbolically positioned (Simpson, 2017; 2018). The Council of Europe report Cultural participation and inclusive societies: A thematic report based on the Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy (2017) comes at a time where tolerance and inclusion are emphasised as being important (Council of Europe, 2008; OECD, 2011). The Council of Europe 2016 report Democratic Security – Action Plan on Building Inclusive Societies (Council of Europe, 2016a) documents that ‘Participation in culture and the arts is said to encourage development of critical and strategic thinking skills, one of the competences for democratic cultures that should enable individuals to be more active, more effective citizens’ (Council of Europe, 2017: 13). The specificity of what ‘democratic cultures’ means in theory and in practice is yet to be seen. The 2016 report by the Secretary General of The Council of Europe on the State of democracy, human rights and the rule of law states that some of the competencies for democratic culture are: a commitment to decisions made by majorities, a commitment to minorities and their rights, and a willingness to engage in dialogue across cultural divides. This is useful in itself, but especially relevant as societies adapt to the arrival of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. (Council of Europe, 2016b: 98)

46  Ashley Simpson

There are a number of things to take note of here. Why is it [a democratic culture] ‘especially relevant’ as societies adapt to the arrival of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers? Does this assume that migrants, refugees and asylum seekers are unaware of democracy or need teaching about democracy? Another important question lies in why the report pays specific attention to ‘cultural divides’ (and not similarities)? Why is here ‘democratic culture’ singular whereas it has been referred to by its plural ‘democratic cultures’ in other publications (e.g. Council of Europe, 2016a)? One cannot take these questions simply or the issues associated with them as naïve inconsistencies. As Dervin (2016) demonstrates there are misnomers surrounding the academic debates surrounding ‘culture shocks’ and ‘cultural divides’ in intercultural encounters. Indeed, Dervin’s focus on the suffix ality in interculturality refers to the intercultural as a fluid and continuous process rather than a fixed state – thus, culture in the singular sense arguably does not exist (ibid.). Then there is a word about ideology, the focus of the Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy (2017) and many other Council of Europe publications is a tool and/or document for government ministers and ministries – the fact that migrants, refugees and asylum seekers are made reference to suggests here these groups are labelled and stigmatised as an other – a problem, an excuse. Culture here too is demarcated as a convenient excuse in order to project the authors ideological stances.

Analysis of speech excerpts In attempting to problematise the ideological paratexts behind the Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy (2017) this next section focuses on delving below the surface on discourses about the Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy (2017). In this section I first analyse two excerpts from videos about the Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy before analysing two images from the World Values Survey. In Excerpt 1 the speaker is the Director of The European Cultural Foundation. All excerpts are presented as verbatim. Excerpt 1. Launch of the Indicator Framework on Cu lture and Democracy (2018a). 1. The European Cultural Foundation firmly believes in this intersection between culture and 2. democracy and that this is our culture as effects everyone’s lives and everyday democracy 3. that is far beyond going to the ballot box SO the important thing with this framework is 4. finding ways to be able to make more tangible something that we hold very true and that is 5. this link between people and democracy which is the fact that democracy is BASED on 6. people so the tool allows the chance for us to put forward the more tangible neat ways this 7. is doing and I think the most important thing is the aspirational aspect of the tool where the

Otherness and discourse  47

8. framework is not finished but what it says is that the use of the framework will allow those 9. policymakers (0.2) those researchers (0.2) erm those country level national politicians to 10. really look at how their space is doing how their city their country is working in this 11. strong and important connection between culture and democracy. Excerpt 1 starts with the utterances that the ‘European Cultural Foundation firmly believes in the intersection between culture and democracy’ (line 1 and 2) and that ‘this is our culture’ (line 2). Here the possessive pronoun ‘our’ (line 2) attaches a sense of belonging to the speakers’ utterances whereby these discourses demarcate a sense of culture through what is perceived as being familiar juxtaposed to the unknown (other). This binary juxtaposition between the familiar and the unknown implies a totalised view of culture though the speaker does not problematise nor explain who ‘our culture’ refers to one can only guess, for example, it may refer to European Union citizens. The speaker goes on to utter that ‘we hold very true’ (line 4), here the pronoun ‘we’ is uttered but it is unclear as to who the speaker is orienting their utterances towards, these utterances are followed by the intensifier ‘very’ (line 4) followed by increased intonation of the word ‘BASED’ (line 5). This could indicate that the speaker is feeling the need to justify and convince their self (and audience) about what they are orating but perhaps this also shows the internal struggles within the self. Here, the perception of the other means the speaker feels the need to shout to hide the fact that they might feel threatened. In this sense, the speaker marks facework (Haugh, 2013) as the speaker feels the need to increase the intonation of their voice in attempting to disclose the fact that they might feel threatened or might offend the other by what they are saying. Thus, the speaker feels the need to protect their face so they engage in exteriorising speech acts to distance themselves from their utterances by deflecting to another. The speaker utters ‘those policymakers (0.2) those researchers (0.2) erm those country level national politicians’ (line 8 and line 9) and ‘their space’, ‘their city’, ‘their country’ (line 10). Here the speaker engenders culture and democracy as a referential object – an other, as seemingly culture and democracy cannot be internally reflected upon, in this sense, culture and democracy are exteriorised. Excerpt 1 reveals the ways both culture and democracy can be misused as a misnomer (Dervin, 2016). The fact that the speaker fails to problematise culture and democracy and how these notions relate to one another reveals a simplistic and potentially totalised view of both culture and democracy. The speakers’ shift in pronouns from our to we, etc., in the excerpt shows how the speech within the self is often inconsistent and the voices within the self are battling for ideological prominence (Bakhtin, 1981; 2012). In the sense, that the speakers’ utterances do not merely mark the functioning of ideologies but that the speech of the self contains the voices of others characterised by the others-within-the-self (ibid.). The excerpt demonstrates that when the

48  Ashley Simpson

self encounters issues associated with culture and democracy the self does so through its relationality to others. This is simultaneously an internal process as well as an external one. Thus, instead of denying or systematically projecting notions of culture upon the other I would instead call for a greater understanding of the self-other dialogue. In having a greater understanding of how both culture and democracy come-into-being through the synergy of the self-other relationship firstly one must deconstruct and then reconstruct totalised and/or generalised conceptualisations of democracy. In demonstrating this, Excerpt 2 is a video speech from the Council of Europe Director General for Democracy explaining the Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy. Excerpt 2. Launch of the Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy (2018b). 1. We see that the past time the investment in culture is shrinking at the same time we see 2. that democracy is challenged and maybe even weakened is there a connection between 3. these two and if it is where would it be best to invest to improve the overall situation to 4. have a democracy to have more tolerance to have less discrimination is it connected to 5. culture we believe it is but in order to explain what we think is obvious it is important to 6. have data and what we do now is a correlation data underpinning and explaining 7. correlation between freedom of expression for example on one side which is a very good 8. feature of democracy and at the same time a very good feature of culture so does it 9. contribute to the understanding of your own identity and the identity perhaps the of those 10. seen to be challenging democracy such as migration flow or new arrivals how these two 11. things play into each other how do we increase the resilience of our communities well we 12. believe through democracy to culture but our member states need evidence so culture 13. (0.2) Council of Europe helps with providing the evidence and also we try to help with 14. monitoring while the NonGovernmental sector will use this tool for advocacy purposes 15. so we really trust that this can help. Excerpt 2 starts with the utterances that investment in culture is shrinking and that ‘democracy is challenged and maybe even weakened’ (line 2). Here the speaker makes the causal link between investment and the state of democracy. The speaker then goes on to explain how its ‘best to invest’ (line 3) – seemingly culture and democracy through the use of colloquial language has become a gimmick. The speaker then goes on to utter simplistic value judgements that the ‘correlation between freedom of expression for example on one side which is a very good feature of democracy and at the same time a very good feature of culture’ (line 7 and line 8) – what does ‘very good’

Otherness and discourse  49

actually mean? Here, the intensifier very functions through substantiating the speakers’ argument. Also, one can be critical of the way the speaker presents both culture and democracy – the speaker sees them as being separate notions, as x (freedom of expression) effects y (culture), and, x (freedom of expression) effects z (democracy). Again, like in Excerpt 1, both culture and democracy are presented as binary and separate parts. The speaker then goes on to utter ‘your own identity and the identity perhaps of those seen to be challenging democracy’ (line 9 and line 10) – here the speaker inexplicitly engenders othering between the familiar (European citizens) and the perceived different characterised by the labelling of people categorised as ‘migration flow or new arrivals’ (line 10). Here the speaker uses the possessive pronoun ‘your’ (line 9) to make reference to Europeans and a sense of so-called ‘European identity’ whereas migrants and new arrivals are labelled as an other. These utterances make the discourses at the start of the excerpt problematic where the speaker utters ‘democracy is challenged and maybe weakened’ (line 2) – here the speaker is making reference to ‘investment’ but this could be used as a convenient excuse to disclose the speakers’ sentiments (that they see the threat to democracy coming from newcomers and migrants not investment). The speaker goes on to clearly demonstrate that people from different countries and/or cultures are seen as a threat through the utterances, ‘the resilience of our communities’ (line 11), here the possessive pronoun ‘our’ demarcates a sense of ownership and/or attachment over how culture is perceived whilst engendering a juxtaposition between what is our culture and what is yours/ the culture of the other. Finally, the ideological motives/sentiments of the speaker could be found in the utterances ‘well we believe through democracy to culture’ (line 11 and line 12), here, the speaker suggests that democracy should be a condition to alter/change someone’s culture. With the critical work on interculturality (Dervin, 2016) in mind these utterances are deeply problematic as they could infer strategies of cultural assimilation to migrants and newcomers within the European Union. Here the other is stigmatised as a ‘threat’ and/or a ‘problem’ through justifying the necessity of the Council of Europe Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy. Excerpt 2 shows how discourses about culture and democracy can be manipulated against the other which in turn can lead to discrimination and marginalisation. In this sense, democracy discourses other the other and are used for ideological purposes (Simpson & Dervin, 2017; Simpson, 2018) – here, to justify the necessity of the Council of Europe Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy. The excerpt hints at ways democracy would be used to modify/change someone’s culture based on the fact that they are a migrant or newcomer to Europe. Such discourses can mark cultural assimilation strategies thus it is important to develop counter-narratives to combat such ideologies (Holliday, 2011; 2013). Like Excerpt 1, Excerpt 2 shows how democracy is perceived naïvely whilst culture is either deemed as a convenient excuse and/or a problem (Dervin, 2016). Excerpt 2 also hints at potentially

50  Ashley Simpson

Eurocentric and perhaps ethnocentric sentiments whereby particular groups (newcomers and migrants) are stigmatised as being a threat and/or problem to/for democracy.

Analysis of World Values Survey At this juncture it is also important to take note of the data used in Council of Europe Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy (2017). Some of the data is derived from the World Values Survey (2014) and a closer inspection is required in order to ascertain the ideological positioning of the World Values Survey instrument. For example, the Welzel-Inglehart Cultural Map is a key component of the World Values Survey (for example, Inglehart & Welzel, 2010; Welzel, Inglehart & Kruse, 2015) in showing the correlations of different countries and/or cultures. Table 3.1 below highlights the key descriptors used to classify countries. The Inglehart–Welzel Cultural Map can be understood through the following description taken from the World Values Survey website: The global cultural map shows how scores of societies are located on these two dimensions. Moving upward on this map reflects the shift from Traditional values to Secular-rational and moving rightward reflects the shift from Survival values to Self–expression values. (World Values Survey, 2018) With the critical work on intercultural education (Byrd Clark & Dervin, 2014; Dervin, 2016; Dasli & Diaz, 2017) and intercultural communication (Holliday, 2011; 2013) in mind the information in table one and how the model has been developed in research articles (for example, Inglehart & Welzel, 2010; Welzel, Inglehart & Kruse, 2015) raises a number of alarming concerns. When the key notions and descriptions found in Table 3.1 are applied to particular countries the predominantly white and ‘rational’ European countries (such as, Sweden, Norway, Denmark etc.) are seen as being ‘secular’ and countries that have the most ‘self-expression’ (Inglehart & Welzel, 2010). Table 3.1 Inglehart–Welzel cultural map paraphrased Traditional values Secular-rational values Survival values Self-expression values

The importance of religion, parent–child ties, deference to authority and traditional family values. Less emphasis on religion, traditional family values and authority. Emphasis placed on economic and physical security. The importance of environmental protection, LGBTQ rights, gender equality and democratic participation.

Otherness and discourse  51

Whereas, countries that are seen as ‘traditional’ and countries which are described as having a ‘nationalistic outlook’ and/or an ‘ethnocentric outlook’ (survival outlook) can be categorised and labelled as ‘African-Islamic’ (ibid.). The descriptors offer an overtly simplistic understanding of culture and essentialise the people within each given country. How can a country be classified as ‘Orthodox’? ‘Catholic Europe’? ‘Islamic’? etc. For example, there are lots of different minority communities and different dialects within the ‘English speaking’ group – notwithstanding, the many different cultures and languages found within all of the countries found within these models. The binary juxtaposition of the axes (Traditional versus Secular-Rational/ Survival versus Self-expression) results in generalisations and assumptions about the people contained in the models as culture is essentialised – ‘Limiting self and/or other to a single identity, a single story (‘their essence’)’ (Dervin, 2016:114). It is also unclear why Muslim-majority countries are placed in italics – clearly to stigmatise and label Muslim-majority countries vis-à-vis Protestant Europe (the best countries on the map) (World Values Survey, 2018). Here Protestant Europe is hierarchically positioned as being the best – here, the white, rational, European country is worshipped whilst the non-white, Islamic or African county is labelled as being ethnocentric and/or nationalistic. The discourses contained within the Inglehart–Welzel Cultural Map mark cultural essentialism and potential racism as the other is stigmatised and labelled as being inferior to predominantly white European countries. The Inglehart–Welzel Cultural Map shows this by categorising Islamic and African countries at the bottom of the model whereas the countries labelled as Protestant Europe are shown at the top of the model (World Values Survey, 2018). The Inglehart–Welzel Cultural Map in advocating tolerance and the importance of democracy around the world fails to see the irony engendered by their so-called cultural map, their map potentially constructs a ‘differentialist bias’ (Dervin, 2016:114). Here, more assumed differences between cultures and/or countries are engendered instead of similarities thus potentially exacerbating more ignorance about countries and/or cultures rather than what the authors claim to be standing for. Seemingly, the Inglehart–Welzel Cultural Map and the correlational analyses used in the World Values Survey marks ‘democratic othering’ whereby democracy discourses and symbols are hierarchically positioned through cultural essentialisms to often marginalise and discriminate against the other (Simpson & Dervin, 2017; Simpson, 2018).

Discussion and conclusion: Democracy as an intercultural competence? This chapter has shown how and why a particular form of democracy should not be understood as an intercultural competence – when democracy is used as an ideology to other countries and/or cultures democracy should not be

52  Ashley Simpson

understood as an intercultural competence. When culture is seen as a problem, excuse, and solution (through democracy) by organisations such as the Council of Europe – democracy should not be understood as an intercultural competence. When both culture and democracy are used synonymously, or are uttered in totalised or generalised ways, democracy should not be understood as an intercultural competence. Also, migrants and newcomers should not be stigmatised or labelled as an excuse and/or problem in order to justify an instrument on democracy and culture. So how might democracy be understood as an intercultural competence? The critical work on intercultural education (Piller, 2011; Dervin, 2016; Dasli & Diaz, 2017) and intercultural communication (Holliday, 2011, 2013; Byrd Clark & Dervin, 2014) show the ways fluid notions of identity (national and self ) are constructed through discourse. At this juncture, it is important to note that the works cited above chart the ways ideologies (in the form of stereotypes, amongst others) can manipulate representations about people/groups/countries/contexts in order to serve socio-political agendas and purposes. So that brings us to the question: how can democracy be reconstructed through critical forms of interculturality to prevent ‘democratic othering’? In moving beyond ‘rationalist’ consensus-based approaches to democracy (Habermas, 1984) and ‘universalist’ (Rawls, 1993) understandings of democracy (and democratic values more generally speaking) Chantal Mouffe (2005a; 2005b; 2013) problematises democracy ontologically from the position of the political. Here, the political is understood as being constituted by a number of simultaneously contradictory, ambiguous and antagonistic forces (Mouffe, 2013). Mouffe argues that liberal approaches to democracy are blind to the political as liberalism, through universalism and rationalism, essentialises being as presence – thus, engendering a politics of ‘us versus them’ (ibid.). In this sense, Mouffe’s focus on the political acknowledges the permanent coexistence and irreducibility of forces within democratic societies, and indeed, within the concept of democracy itself in terms of how democracy comes-into-being (ibid.). Mouffe’s work on the political shows how democracy and democratic values (such as equality and human rights) are constantly unstable and fluidly interactive. In this sense, Mouffe argues against conceptualising democracy as something which is totalised, universal or as something which can be understood as an end. In echoing Rancière (2007) democracy should be understood as a beginning rather than an end. The main focus here should be to share insights and reflections on what democracy and culture may mean instead of using the other as a systematic example of ‘poor’ practices. It is important to problematise whether tools on democracy can be developed alongside and in conjunction with, intercultural education (Byrd Clark & Dervin, 2014; Dervin, 2016), so teachers and practitioners can detect and prevent guises of ‘democratic othering’ (Simpson, 2018).

Otherness and discourse  53

One of the ways this can be done in (and through) education is through engaging with the work of Claudia Ruitenberg (2009). Ruitenberg (2009) drawing on Chantal Mouffe (2005a, 2005b) identifies three practical areas Mouffe’s concept of agonism can be integrated and developed within educational settings. The first notion Ruitenburg discusses is educating political emotions: The emotions relevant to political education are not those associated with a personal sense of entitlement or with a collective based on an essentialist conception of identity, but rather emotions on behalf of a political collective, associated with views of particular hegemonic social relations. (Ruitenberg, 2009: 275–276) For Ruitenburg, feelings of solidarity and angst from the perspective of the collective are important in combatting social injustices. Collective feelings are understood dynamically, rather than being positioned I or self-centrically, thus taking into account the embodiment of the self-other relationship. The second notion Ruitenburg problematises is ‘Reviving an understanding of “the political”’. Here Ruitenburg demonstrates the necessity for students to engage in debating contra to the belief that education and/or teaching is politically neutral. Ruitenburg argues that engendering the political through debate is necessary whereby the ideal outcome is not the personal satisfaction of gain over a competitor, but the articulation of political differences in such a way that the “transformation of existing power relations and the establishment of a new hegemony” has been brought one step closer. (Mouffe, 2005a: 52 in Ruitenberg, 2009: 276–277) The third notion Ruitenberg articulates is ‘developing political literacy’. By this Ruitenburg means the ability to read the political landscape both in its contemporary configuration and its historical genesis (Ruitenberg, 2009). Specifically, for developing agonism in teacher education Ruitenburg argues: [students] cannot be taught political emotions by teachers who do not see the emotions as having a legitimate place in education or public life; nor can they be taught the difference between political, moral, and economic disputes by teachers who do not understand these distinctions themselves. (Ruitenberg, 2009: 277) Thus, it is important for teachers and all aspects of society to develop competencies so that teachers, and the wider public, can detect and prevent forms of democratic othering within all social settings. Through engaging with

54  Ashley Simpson

the critical work on intercultural education teachers can develop strategies to combat some of the ideologies used by the Council of Europe to position European countries as having better forms of democracy than other countries. There is also the need for reflexive critique in terms of how the Council of Europe systematically targets newcomers, migrants and the other as a problem and/or an excuse for an instrument showing the correlations between culture and democracy. One cannot be naïve to the ways data and statistics about democracy and culture are manipulated for certain ideological purposes. The task remains to continually problematise both democracy and culture so that new forms of understanding about democracy and culture can be continually accentuated and re-accentuated.

Appendix: Transcription symbols (0.2) A number inside brackets denotes a timed pause. This is a pause long enough to time and subsequently show in transcription. WORD in capital letters denotes increased intonation or shouting.

References Bakhtin, M.M. (1981). The dialogic imagination. Trans. C. Emerson & M. Holquist. Austin: University of Texas Press. Bakhtin, M.M. (2012). Sobranie sochinenij. (T.3). Teoriia romana (1930–1961.). Edited by Sergey Georgievich Bocharov and Vadim Valer’janovich Kozhinov. Moskva: Jazyki slavianskikh kul’tur. Biesta, G. (2009). What kind of citizenship for European higher education? Beyond the competent active citizen. European Educational Research Journal, 8(2), 146–158. Byrd Clark, J.S. & Dervin, F. (Eds.). (2014). Reflexivity in language and intercultural education: Rethinking multilingualism and interculturality. London: Routledge. Council of Europe (2008). Living together as equals in dignity. White Paper on intercultural dialogue. (CM(2008)30 final). Retrieved 2 May 2018 from www.coe.int/t/dg4/ intercultural/ WhitePaper_InterculturalDialogue_2_en.asp Council of Europe (2016a). Action plan on building inclusive societies (2016–2019). 1251 Meeting, 15–16 March 2016, CM(2016)25, Council of Europe, Strasbourg. Council of Europe (2016b). State of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Report by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Council of Europe, Strasbourg. Cultural participation and inclusive societies: A thematic report based on the Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy. (2017). Rm.coe.int. Retrieved 30 March 2018 from https://rm.coe.int/cultural-participation-and-inclusive-societies-a-thematic-reportbased/1680711283 Dasli, M. & Díaz, A.R. (Eds.). (2017). The critical turn in language and intercultural communication pedagogy: Theory, research and practice. New York/Abingdon: Routledge. Dervin, F. (2016). Interculturality in education: A theoretical and methodological toolbox. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Otherness and discourse  55

Douzinas, C. (2002). Identity, recognition, rights or what can Hegel teach us about human rights? Journal of Law and Society, 29(3), 379–405. Douzinas, C. (2013). The paradoxes of human rights. Constellations, 20(1), 51–67. Faas, D., Hajisoteriou, C., & Angelides, P. (2014). Intercultural education in Europe: Policies, practices and trends. British Educational Research Journal, 40(2), 300–318. Fuentes, J.L. (2016). Cultural diversity on the Council of Europe documents: The role of education and the intercultural dialogue. Policy Futures in Education, 14(3), 377–391. Habermas, J. (1984) [1981]. Theory of communicative action, volume one: Reason and the rationalization of society. Trans. Thomas A. McCarthy. Boston: Beacon Press. Han, C. (2007). History education and ‘Asian’ values for ‘Asian’ democracy: The case of Singapore. Compare, 37(3), 383–398. Haugh, M. (2013). Im/politeness, social practice and the participation order. Journal of Pragmatics, 58, 52–72. Holliday, A. (2011). Intercultural communication & ideology. London/New York: Sage. Holliday, A. (2013). Understanding intercultural communication: Negotiating a grammar of culture. London: Routledge. Inglehart, R., & Welzel, C. (2010). Changing mass priorities: The link between modernization and democracy. Perspectives on politics, 8(2), 551–567. Launch of the Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy. (2018a). Council of Europe. Retrieved 30 March 2018 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P27f8qyZX6k& feature=youtu.be Launch of the Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy. (2018b). Council of Europe. Retrieved 30 March 2018 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-zvqwZu6UE& feature=youtu.be Mouffe, C. (2005a). On the political. London/New York: Routledge. Mouffe, C. (2005b). The return of the political. London: Verso. Mouffe, C. (2013). Agonistics: Thinking the world politically. London/New York: Verso. Newman, S. (1994). The Council of Europe and teacher education, in Galton, M.J. & Moon, B. (Eds.) Handbook of teacher training in Europe. London: David Fulton Publishers. OECD (2011). Perspectives on global development 2012: Social cohesion in a shifting world. Paris: OECD Publishing. Piller, I. (2011). Intercultural communication: A critical introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Rancière, J. (2007). Hatred of democracy. London: Verso. Rawls, J. (1993). Political liberalism: The John Dewey essays in philosophy. New York: Columbia University Press. Ruitenberg, C.W. (2009). Educating political adversaries: Chantal Mouffe and radical democratic citizenship education. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 28(3), 269–281. Simpson, A. (2018.) Democracy as othering within Finnish education. International Journal of Bias, Identity, and Diversities in Education, 3(2), 77–93. Simpson, A., & Dervin, F. (2017). Democracy in education: An omnipresent yet distant other. Palgrave Communications, 3(24). doi:10.1057/s41599-017-0012–5 Sultana, R.G. (1995). A uniting Europe, a dividing education? Euro-centrism and the curriculum. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 5(2), 115–144.

56  Ashley Simpson

Welzel, C., R. Inglehart & S. Kruse (2015). Pitfalls in the study of democratization: Testing the emancipatory theory of democracy. World Values Research, 8(1), 1–67. World Values Survey (2018). World Values Survey. Retrieved 16 April 2018 from www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSContents.jsp World Values Survey (2014). World Values Survey Wave 6 (2010–2014). Retrieved 2 May 2018 from www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSDocumentationWV6.jsp

Chapter 4

Creating and combining models of Intercultural Competence for teacher education/training On the need to rethink IC frequently Fred Dervin

Introduction This is Passage Four of an important excavated text from early China called the Guodian Chu Slips (郭店楚簡, dated 300 BCE): 四海之内， 其性一也。 其用心各异， 教使然也 (As for everyone within the Four Seas, their nature is one) That they are different in the way they use their minds is brought about by education.) The slips, which were used for teaching, were found in Guodian Tomb (Hubei Province, Central China) in 1993. The tomb belonged to a noble scholar, teacher to a royal prince. This passage summarises well one of the main messages of this chapter: people are different and similar within and across societies, cultures, languages and countries (‘the Four Seas’ in the quote). It is through the conditioning of their environments, societies, interactions with others and education that people build up difference. In this chapter I argue that one of these conditioning elements, education, should help break such patterns and shake up the divide between the ‘oneness’ of nature and the tendency to construct interculturality as something problematic. Teacher education/training appears to be the best place to bridge this gap as it influences the ‘practice of teachers in schools and colleges and thereby [it has] a strong effect on the quality of educational experiences for learners’ (Menter, 2016: 3). This means that teacher education/training should broaden the minds of student teachers, teacher educators and researchers by providing

58  Fred Dervin

them with new and alternative perspectives on what it means to meet people across today’s multifaceted borders – be they national and/or social. The notion of interculturality has been with us since the beginning of times (in law, philosophy, theology, etc.), although we had to wait until the mid-twentieth century for the term to be formally introduced in research. Since then a certain number of Western-centric ideological approaches to IC have spread to the entire world, without always taking into account the ‘social lives of concepts’ (Hann, 2016). What is striking about current, often static, models of IC is their insistence on making interculturality monological (self-centred, ignorance of the other as a real companion in developing and constructing IC) and their lack of ethical reflections, beyond imposed ‘neo-liberal’ ideologies such as autonomy, criticality, creativity and tolerance (amongst others). I consider this chapter, in combination with the preceding chapters, as a contribution to the critiques of these issues. In what follows, I review and reflect on two interdisciplinary models of IC for teacher education/training, that I have developed since the 2000s. I present the differences and similarities between the models, show how complementary they could be and why they are relevant for teacher education/ training. It is important to note that the second model is in the process of being developed and that it is thus a work in progress. Some words of warning about interculturality

Before we start exploring the two models of Intercultural Competence, I feel the need to share warnings about the very notion of interculturality (see volume introduction as a companion). Ideological as it is, the notion of interculturality must always be regarded from critical and reflexive perspectives in order to clarify one’s position towards it. This can allow us to avoid giving the impression, as much as possible, that our models are THE right models, the only alternatives to other models of IC. As I am about to present two complementary models of Intercultural Competence it is important to remind readers that any discourse on interculturality is ideological, political and that they represent both visions and convictions. This means that through education, whenever we propose, implement, and discuss interculturality, we impose values, behaviours, attitudes, expectations, discourses, willy-nilly. Although we may believe that certain visions of interculturality are better than others, we must accept that, objectively, no one can claim to be right or wrong, better or worse in their visions of interculturality. This also means that one must be transparent about the way(s) one defines, problematises and uses the notion of interculturality. It also requires being clear about the ethical issues that derive from it, for us, as educators but also for other educational partners (students, parents, etc.). In this sense I agree with Hannah Arendt (1966: 468) who claims that education that aims to ‘destroy the capacity to form (any convictions)’ cannot but be totalitarian.

Models of IC for teacher education/training  59

There is a clear lack of agreement about the notion of interculturality in research, practice and decision-making today, and the multiplicity of approaches and meanings needs to be discussed and clarified to make the notion more useful and its uses more transparent. Ignoring this warning might do more harm than good for those who are ‘forced’, through education, to work on/with it and to use it. Finally, being transparent about the visions/convictions hiding behind the notion might help us be clear about the geo-political ideas that guide our understanding. We cannot ignore that most models of Intercultural Competence today find their origins in Euro- and North American contexts. My second warning goes hand in hand with the previous one. Hannah Arendt (cited in Weissberg, 2000: 22) is inspiring when she asserts that: ‘I have always believed that, no matter how abstract our theories may sound or how consistent our arguments may appear, there are incidents and stories behind then which, at least for ourselves, contain in a nutshell the full meaning of whatever we have to say.’ So, my second warning is that one should always bear in mind that, for interculturality, one cannot ignore the influence of the personal on the way we problematise the notion. As a human experience that triggers encounters, emotions, feelings, amongst others, research and practice discourses of interculturality cannot do away with experiences. This means that a given vision of interculturality is not only influenced by political, ideological, theoretical and societal discourses but it always falls under the guise of the personal and reflects somehow a mélange of these influences. People who know me well will find easily the influences of these on my own writing about interculturality. For example my current interest in China has had a big influence on my rethinking IC. The third warning about interculturality relates to the concept of power. Although it has often been treated as neutral transactional encounters, interculturality encompasses and contributes to unbalanced power relations. These may relate to the intersection of different identity markers that are made relevant in encounters (gender, sexual orientation, race, social status, linguistic identity, etc.). The inter- of interculturality always comes first. Interculturality is, like any encounter between social beings, about interaction, co-construction, clashes, etc. Within the context of interculturality, relations overweigh the individual. This also applies to the way we theorise and educate/train for interculturality, pushing and doing away with ideas from what we consider the ‘periphery’, outside the accepted paradigms. This chapter also contributes to questioning this problematic and widespread attitude.

Towards teachers’ critical and reflexive Intercultural Competence: The Postmodern Model (2008 –2016) Introduction to the model

The first model under review corresponds to the ideology of Critical and Reflexive Interculturality as it has been developed by (European) scholars such

60  Fred Dervin

as Abdallah-Pretceille (2006); Holliday (2010); Piller (2011); Dervin (2016, 2017). The model was inspired by thinkers from different fields such as anthropology (Bensa, 2010; Wikan, 2002), sociology (Bauman, 2004; Maffesoli, 1993); philosophy (Bergson, 1900; Jullien, 2012), social psychology (Gillespie & Cornish, 2010); and psychology (Laing, 1967). M. Bakhtin’s dialogism (1982), H. Bergson’s process philosophy (1900), and M. Maffesoli’s (1993) and Z. Bauman’s (2004) sociology of postmodernity represent turning points in the way this model was designed and used. Its basis occurs at theoretical, methodological and socio-representational levels. Although it aims at developing theoretical and methodological reflexivity it does not lay so much emphasis on ethics in social relations. Its starting points, as we shall see below, derive from a view of relations which is somewhat sceptical and pessimistic. Its main assumption is that we are all involved in processes of representing self and other, often in negative ways through multiple -isms such as racism, culturalism, eurocentrism. At the same time, the model is somewhat idealistic, as it suggests that such issues can be ‘removed’ and somewhat ‘healed’ through education. Assumptions

The Postmodern Model is based on the following assumptions, which guide the core principles presented in the next subsection: • • • • •

Every educational context is intercultural; one cannot experience education in terms of encounters and learning without ‘doing’ interculturality. Whenever people interact, different identities are negotiated between them although one or two of these identities might become crystallised (e.g. race and/culture). Interculturality is about the negotiation of everyone’s diversities with others (internal plurality beyond mere ‘culture’). Interculturality is about the inter- of encounters (interaction, interconnection). Interculturality is about unbalanced power relations; Consequences: People manipulate each other, and are deceitful. A lot of research on the use, misuse and abuse of the concept of ‘culture’ in intercultural encounters has made a convincing case for shifting away from the all-cultural (ex. Piller, 2011). Culture is often used as ‘an imprisoning cocoon or a determining force’ (Baumann, 1996 – ‘in my culture, we don’t do this!’).

Core principles

Seven principles have derived from these assumptions: 1. Intersectionality must be practised in education, beyond an overemphasis on the triad of culture, ethnicity and race. Socio-economic/politicohistorical categories must be used to try to explain, understand and solve intercultural issues.

Models of IC for teacher education/training  61

2. Educators must identify undertones and nuances in their students or the relations taking place in a given school rather than facile generalisations and ready-made assumptions. As a consequence, they are able to notice and potentially act upon representation, stereotypes, xenophobia (fear/ hatred of the other), xenophilia (‘exaggerated’ love of the other), etc. 3. In order to do so, perspectives that take into account the ‘collective ego’ (Maffesoli, 1993), rather than individualistic approaches must be adopted. The self always acts in interaction, with and/or against the other, in often unscheduled, incoherent and inconsistent ways. Educators must thus always put interactions first rather than individuals. 4. In interaction with the other, the self gets to negotiate its difference. Although people are different across and within groups, there is a need to take into account similarity too. Choosing one side of the difference-similarity continuum with the other represents a bias that needs addressing. Nie (2011: 28) calls it ‘the oppositional habit of thought’. In accordance with Hannah Arendt (1958: 155): ‘If people were not different, they would have nothing to say to each other. And if they were not the same, they would not understand each other’. Total opposition has too often been used as a key to intercultural dialogue. The model argues that it contributes to create ‘radical others’. What is needed is tools to reflect on shared humanity (Nie, 2011: 11). 5. Intercultural encounters are neither objective nor a-political. Discourses of skin colour, culture, language, ethnicity, coupled with gender, social class (see 1) reflect ideologies. Educators must thus pay attention to politically coloured statements and actions, and the power differentials that go with them. It means for instance that educators must avoid certain typical ‘let it pass’ attitudes and behaviours (e.g. racist slurs must be discussed in class). They must also pay attention to the choice and use of words (e.g. ‘migrant’ learners; ‘African’ habits). 6. Since representation of self, other, contexts of interaction, amongst others, are central in the model, educators must bear in mind that interculturality is, like any other act of interaction, somewhat playful. Representations do trigger dreams and nightmares, attraction and repulsion, exoticism and normality, which influence the way one interacts with others. In general, these aspects are invisible to the observer’s eyes but, also, often to the one who experiences them. Following Karl Kraus (2014: 34), we could argue that ‘To reconstruct the world it is necessary to strengthen the real backbone of life, the imagination.’ This is what the Postmodern Model suggests interculturality is about. 7. Although the previous principles and assumptions might appear testing for teachers, the final principle is a reminder that Intercultural Competence cannot always function the way we wish it to function. As a consequence, although success is something to strive for, failure in achieving the previous principles or in making our student teachers grasp and

62  Fred Dervin

negotiate their core values and ideas, must also be considered, especially as a way to dig deeper into the principles. Examples of applications in teacher education

The Postmodern Model has been taught in many different countries (China, Finland, France, Luxembourg, amongst others) over the past decade. It has been used in initial teacher education at the University of Helsinki (Finland). Having been taught and practised the assumptions and principles of the model, Finnish student teachers have used it during their practicums in schools. With the model, student teachers are made to reflect on their own practices, on their mentors’ practices but also on interactions at school more generally. It is also meant to help them make their own pedagogical and ethical decisions. In what follows, we share some examples of narratives from a cohort of student teachers’ diaries from Helsinki where they explain how they were able to notice teachers’/their own implicit and explicit representations and potentially discriminatory discourses/actions by using the model. They wrote down these narratives during a three-month practicum in a Finnish teacher training school in 2014. For an in-depth analysis of similar narratives, see Dervin and Hahl (2015). In the first example, the student is surprised at the fact that a teacher puts the spotlight on a Black student (the only Black student in her class) to ask him how he feels about an advertisement that the student teacher had just shown to the whole class. The ad showed an African American rapper being passively aggressive to a female model to advertise for a fragrance. When the student teacher asked the class to respond to the ad, no one reacted. This is when the mentor takes over and points at the Black student: ‘He answered to my mentor’s question in humorous indifference but his crouched shoulders and mumbling voice seemed that he was put into an awkward spot [sic]’. A very similar example is shared by a student teacher about another teacher who insisted on asking a Black student about the kinds of fruits that ‘people eat in your culture’. Obviously embarrassed by the question, the Black student was almost in tears and told the teacher that she had no idea because she was born in Finland and had never been abroad. The student teacher tries to explain the teacher’s behaviour, not by e.g. accusing her of being biased or racist, but by suggesting that ‘maybe she wanted [the student] to share that special knowledge with the rest of the class’. The next example follows a similar pattern but it relates to a student teacher’s decision to use a picture of the Neanderthal in his history lesson. The student teacher calls it ‘a small blunder on my part’. In his class, the student teacher has a student who, he asserts, looks like the picture of the Neanderthal that he projected on the wall for the students to see. When the picture starts showing, he realises that this may serve as a bullying trigger for the student, and he panics. He notes: ‘I feared that she would find the situation

Models of IC for teacher education/training  63

awkward but at least on the surface she was cool as a cucumber’. As a consequence of his ‘fear’ the student explains that ‘this true story reminds me of important it is to check the teaching material to avoid making “different” students feel embarrassed [sic]’. The final example is more explicit than the previous ones and links up interculturality to social class. In one civics class, a student teacher witnesses the following: ‘The civics teacher taught communism by first asking the students to put all their money on the desks. This of course gave everybody in the classroom some idea of the economy and social class of the students. This aspect was probably ignored by the teacher.’ Critiques of the Postmodern Model

The model was developed in Finland by me and has led to multiple publications (Dervin, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017; Dervin & Hahl, 2015; Dervin & Layne, 2013, etc.). It can be regarded as critical in the sense that it has helped to question so-called culturalist (where culture explains all the problems faced) and/or ambiguous models of Intercultural Competence (Dervin, 2016). However, over the years that I developed the model I have not felt fully satisfied with it. My multiple stays in other parts of the world and interactions with other researchers and students have opened my eyes to the fact that the model still tends to be theoretically and methodologically Eurocentric, based on ideologies developed mostly in the ‘West’ (postmodernist ideologies). Furthermore, the model also has a rather negative flavour by assuming that people manipulate each other somewhat constantly, that they are ‘bad’ and must be ‘unmasked’ for their ‘sins’ of essentialism, culturalism, etc. (Belleau, 2015). As a consequence, it lacks individual and interactional ethical aspects. Stays in China and engagement with students and scholars from around the world have allowed me to become aware of these biases and problematic assumptions, and to look for some alternatives and complementary perspectives.

The Confucian Model (2017–) For many consecutive years now, I have spent time in China, lecturing and doing research. It is through my renewed encounters with Confucian ethics, that the development of the second model started, as a complement to the first one. I had been aware of the Analects of Confucius but I often felt that I misunderstood their meanings. The Analects is a collection of ideas attributed to the Chinese philosopher Confucius, compiled and written by his followers. Confucius (551–479 BCE) was a teacher, editor, politician and philosopher. Confucius is the Latinised word for his Chinese name Kongzi or Kongfuzi (Master Kong). Confucianism, his ‘philosophy’, emphasises constant self-improvement and continuous social interaction.

64  Fred Dervin

Confucianism has been discussed but also (mis-)used in scholarship on intercultural communication education (Dervin, 2011). Other Chinese schools of thoughts such as Daoism, Mohism and Legalism, which have been ignored in this scholarship, will be explored in my future publications. The Confucian Model does two things that the Postmodern Model did not (at least explicitly): it lays a strong emphasis on individuals’ interpersonal reflexivity and ethics, and it represents an attempt to shift from Euro-Anglo-centrism to Chinese thought (and/or to combine both). This model also translates my own recent shifts in the way I see intercultural encounters. At the time of writing the model is still a work in progress, not fully developed and should be considered as such in this chapter. Some readers, like one reviewer of this chapter, might feel that this model is theoretically poor and that it ‘only’ derives from Confucian principles. There have been many discussions about Confucianism for instance in philosophy. Many European thinkers have asserted that Confucianism is neither a ‘theory’ nor a ‘philosophy’ (e.g. Heidegger and Derrida, see Yao, 2000). However this represents a strong bias that we interculturalists must question. The ‘West’ does not have the right to judge what is theoretical and/or philosophical, usually based on their own criteria. If we want to rethink IC, I argue that we need to rethink the way we see ‘research’ and ‘theory’ today. Difference and similarity between the two models?

In this first subsection, I discuss the difference and complementarity of the two models. In order to do so, we take a detour via Greek mythology and Chinese folklore with the figures of Sisyphus and 吴刚 (Wu Gang). These two figures should be treated as ‘ideal-types’ here and not as static truths. As myths, they represent a conveniently limited method for comparing the starting point of two models. As such they are not meant to represent the ‘West’ and China. The two different characters have a lot in common as both were punished for something they did. Their punishment consisted of having to perform an endless hard job. Sisyphus, a king from Peloponnese (Greece), was punished for his self-aggrandising craftiness and deceitfulness. Sisyphus also killed travellers and guests, thus breaking the basic Greek rule of generosity and courtesy. Punished by Zeus, he was forced to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it come back down the hill. Endlessly, he would push it back up. The story of 吴刚, from the Tang Dynasty (618–907), has many different versions. The one retained here, tells of 吴刚 having found a teacher to help him in his quest for immortality. Yet, 吴刚 did not show enough interest and motivation to follow the teachers’ precepts (for instance when he was taught to play Chinese chess, he gave up after two days). As a result, like Sisyphus, 吴刚 was sent to the Moon to chop a laurel tree. However, every time he would chop it, the tree grew back again and again.

Models of IC for teacher education/training  65

To us, the case of Sisyphus is symbolic of the Postmodern Model. The Greek King was actually a rogue, a deceiver and someone who wanted to get rid of the other. The vision of the Human that he depicts is rather negative in a sense. It is an image of someone who cannot be trusted. In other words, he sinned so he is punished. As asserted before the Postmodern Model relates to the ideas of ‘good’ and ‘bad’, as well as sins such as culturalism that deserve to be eradicated. In other words, the model sees the Human as a ‘bad’ person whom we should educate and punish. The story of 吴刚, on the other hand, can be considered more positive. Wu Gang was a ‘good’ person. Although he also had to perform a never-ending task, the reason why he was punished relates to laziness and a lack of enthusiasm – neither deceit nor murder like Sisyphus. This sets a different tone for the Confucian Model: People are good and mean to be good. This model was inspired by Confucius (551–479 BCE) and Mencius (372–289 BCE). The latter uses the parable of a man seeing a child about to fall in a well to explain that man is good: He would certainly be moved to compassion, not because he wanted to get in the good graces of the parents, nor because he wished to win the praise of his fellow villagers, nor yet because he disliked the cry of the child. (Mencius, 2A: 6) In terms of similarities and complementary the two models have a lot in common. Both Models require constant work, and endless training and education. No one can claim to be able to follow and ‘perform’ the Models perfectly. Furthermore, the two models aim at triggering discussions and negotiations of things that are often silenced in education (e.g. negative representations, conflicts, modesty, etc.). Finally, the combination of the two models can help student teachers/teachers think about what is happening in the classroom, in relation to what is being taught-learnt, and beyond the classroom. The Confucian Model Why Confucius?

In fields other than education, scholars have noted the benefits of including Confucianism in today’s research. For H. Fingarette (1972: vii) Increasingly I have become convinced that Confucius can be a teacher to us today – a major teacher, not one who merely gives us a slightly exotic perspective on the ideas already current. He tells us things not being said elsewhere; things needing to be said. He has a new lesson to teach. Nie (2011) explains that ‘[Confucianism] is now reviving and increasingly recognized as a valuable resource for cross-cultural dialogue, for inspiration

66  Fred Dervin

about human life, and for envisioning the future of the world’. Finally Yao (2000: 283) goes as far as explaining that ‘Confucian education is far from being useless and antiprogressive. It can be adapted and transformed not only to become part of modern life, but also to contribute to a more comprehensive education system for a ‘post-modern’ society’. In a study I published in 2011 I noted the problematic misuses and abuses of Confucius in research on internationalisation of higher education emerging from the ‘West’ (Dervin, 2011). As such, working from a Confucian perspective is problematic especially when one needs to rely on translations of the Analects from the Chinese language. There are currently about 500 different translations and interpretations in English. So it is important to justify the choice of translations. Yao (2000: 246) also notes that there is, as a consequence, not one kind of Confucianism but many: ‘an array of social, cultural and spiritual traditions’. For Cheng (2008), Confucianism has witnessed several waves of globalisation. McArthur (2010: 148) explains that ‘over the centuries, rulers, including Chinese emperors and Japanese samurai lords, philosophers and educators throughout East Asia and even Western philosophers have generally construed the life and teachings of Confucius in a manner that has suited their own agendas’. This means that Confucius’ ideas can allow ‘multiple and sometimes contradictory interpretations’ (Nie, 2011: 135). Bueno (2018) gives a good example of Confucius’ multifacetedness in the Brazilian context, where the philosopher has been used for different purposes: religion and worldview (The religious Confucius, The Christian Confucius, The Esoteric Confucius, The Chinese mystical Confucius), politics (The Political Confucius) and education (Teacher Confucius). In my work, I use Anne Cheng’s (1981) translation of the Analects into the French language and that of Puett and Gross-Loh (2016) in English. Both have commented extensively on their understanding of Confucianism in lectures given around the world. I also use Huang’s (1997) translation as a counterbalance to the two previous translations. Huang’s translation is more literal than other translations and seems to capture well the subtleties of the Chinese version. Beyond the misunderstandings of Confucian ethics

Nie (2011), Cheng (2008) but also Puett and Gross-Loh (2016) explain for example that Confucius is often seen in the ‘West’ as a rigid traditionalist while his ideas appear to be very ‘postmodern’ when they are read carefully. A few scholars have written about the kinds of stereotypes about Confucianism in the ‘West’ and China. Often reduced (wrongly) to the keywords of collectivism, social orientation and harmony (e.g. Chang 1997) it is important to note that Confucians actually opposed the society in which they lived, calling for everybody to have equal opportunity for growth. For example, Confucius did not encourage conformity and submissiveness towards authority; he believed that everyone is complex and changes constantly (no single, unified

Models of IC for teacher education/training  67

being) and that every encounter and experience offers a chance to actively create a new and better world. Creel (1960: 1) explains that Tradition paints [Confucius] as a strict pedant, laying down precise rules for men to follow in their conduct and their thinking. The truth is that he carefully avoided laying down rules, because he believed that no creed formulated by another person can excuse any man from the duty of thinking for himself. One can see here many links with the Postmodern Model. A major difference between the two models is the fact that Confucius was calling for us to elicit positive reactions in those we interact with, which means, training our emotions, engaging in a constant process of self-cultivation to react in the ‘right’, ethical way to each particular situation. Reflexive altruism, concern with the good of others, is the main learning objective for Confucians. Confucius does not issue moral commands in the Analects but stimulates our moral sentiments. The Postmodern Model, through its emphasis on critical theory and methodology, is often perceived as highly moralistic. The main outcome of Confucianism is called the Dao (the Way; 道). This Way represents the path we forge constantly through our choices, actions and relationships. It is thus created anew every moment of our lives and represents an endless potential to transform us and the world in which we live. In order to follow the Way, people are urged to consider the use of rituals. This word has often been misunderstood in the ‘West’ as it is usually seen as negative in our neo-liberal world (rituals make us follow blindly). For Confucius, rituals are the daily moments that can make us become different and better human beings, especially when we are able to break away from our own patterns. When we meet people, we respond emotionally to them (in Chinese: Ren Qing 人情). However, we could learn to respond in better ways, with ‘propriety’ (in Chinese: Yi Li 义理). Propriety refers to the process of cultivating our emotions so that we internalise better ways of responding to others, breaking from our ‘normal’ ways of being to develop different sides of ourselves. Rituals in the Confucian sense, are transformative and allow us to be different for a moment. Ritual training represents an interesting perspective for IC training as it teaches us to ‘break’ from our current selves, transform both self and potentially the society at large, shape us into becoming more ‘humane’. Ritual training is not conforming to existing social orders, but, in an endless process, sensing how to act appropriately and spontaneously, with compassion and understanding, in every situation (Puett & Gross-Loh, 2016). Core principles

The core principles of Confucian ethics can be summarised as the way to be junzi (君子), an omnipresent figure in the Analects. The idea of junzi has been

68  Fred Dervin

translated in many different ways in English: ‘Superior man’; ‘gentleman’; ‘exemplary person’; ‘moral person’; ‘nobleman’. Although these translations appear unsatisfactory, what they all reflect is the ethical significance of this figure. For Confucius, striving to become junzi is leading us to the Dao (see above). Throughout the Analects, the figure is characterised as follows: • • • • • •

•

Junzi is an intellectual resister Junzi does more and speaks less • ‘A gentleman is ashamed if his words outshine his actions.’ Junzi is loyal, obedient and knowledgeable • ‘Junzi should be harmonious, but can have different opinions and should not just follow blindly.’ Junzi aims for the long-term benefit of others • ‘A gentleman helps others to fulfill good, not vice.’ Junzi transcends personal concerns and prejudice • ‘A gentleman is at peace and ease, but not arrogant.’ Junzi disciplines himself and considers the consequences of her/his actions • ‘With righteousness as the essence, a gentleman should act according to the rites, express himself with modesty, and achieve it with faithfulness.’ Junzi grasps the value of virtues. • ‘The noble man is not a utensil’ (thinks broadly and does not limit himself quickly to a certain worldview).

All these characteristics can help junzi to perform and negotiate ren (humane conduct in English, 仁). Complementary of the two models for teacher education and training

One can easily see how the characteristics of the Confucian Model can (1) complement the Postmodern Model, with more individual-interactional and reflexive perspectives based on similar ideologies (e.g. modesty, broad thinking, centrality of the other) and (2) add important ethical perspectives (goodness, harmony, openness). Both models also hint at the fact there is no endpoint to IC, that it is a lifelong endeavour to negotiate again and again. Like the principles of the Postmodern Model, the principles of the Confucian Model can be used for peer- and self-assessment by teachers and student teachers to reflect on their IC. Summative assessment is, for obvious reasons, out of the question. If introduced alongside, the two models can help those involved in teacher education/training reflect on interculturality theoretically, methodologically and ethically. They represent together a strong addition to discussions on aspects of IC that are often pushed aside

Models of IC for teacher education/training  69 Table 4.1 Principles of the two models Postmodern Model

Confucian Model

Use intersectionality Identify undertones and nuances Take into account the ‘collective ego’ Work from the difference-similarity continuum Place power and ideologies at the centre of intercultural analysis Problematise interculturality in relation to imagination Bear in mind that interculturality can be both successful and a failure

Resist intellectually Be modest Be harmonious but critical Be good to others Be open Be self-critical

such as resisting, critiquing, and discussing goodness, modesty and the role of imagination. Table 4.1 summarises the principles of the two models. In the ways the models are formulated, one can notice the different and similar purposes that they serve: the Postmodern Model clearly urges its users to reflect on theoretical and methodological positions, while the Confucian Model calls for ethical positions that seem to fit well the objectives of the other Model. Note that the location of principles of the models on the same row merely follows the order of presentation in the chapter and does not mean that each principle has an equivalent in the other model.

Concluding remarks The composer and conductor Pierre Boulez (2015: n. p.) summarises well what we face when we do interculturality, if we replace the word music with the latter: ‘Music is a labyrinth with no beginning and no end, full of new paths to discover, where mystery remains eternal’. How to deal with this mystery is a challenge for preparing teachers. This chapter has presented two complementary models of Intercultural Competence, which offer some reflections on ‘new paths to discover’. In these concluding remarks, I must first insist that the models should not be considered as set formulas for how educators should act in a school. I agree with Hannah Arendt (1954: n. p.) when she writes: Education is the point at which we decide whether we love the world enough to assume responsibility for it, and by the same token save it from that ruin which except for renewal, except for the coming of the new and the young, would be inevitable. And education, too, is where we decide whether we love our children enough not to expel them from our world and leave them to their own devices, nor to strike from their hands their

70  Fred Dervin

chance of undertaking something new, something unforeseen by us, but to prepare them in advance for the task of renewing a common world. ‘Renewing a common world’, I believe, is what educators should strive for. One cannot always win as far as interculturality is concerned – in other words: It may work or it may not, depending on contexts, emotions, interlocutors, moods, etc. What matters is the theoretical, methodological and ethical groundings that teachers are presented/confronted with to reflect on how to ‘do’ interculturality with and for their students. These should change through their engagement with scholars and practitioners, and through their experiences and encounters. Static, macdonaldised and taken-for-granted models of IC represent a danger for education. The models under review modestly try to rethink IC, bearing in mind that they are not perfect and that they might lead to success and/or failure. Longterm engagement with them in initial and in-service teacher education could have an influence on (student) teachers. ‘Transformation’ has already been examined for the Postmodern Model (e.g. Dervin, 2015; Dervin & Hahl, 2015). Our goal is now to see how the second model can be implemented in teacher education in different contexts, and be used, and modified hand in hand with the first one. Education for/with interculturality is a never-ending story for which we must fight. If there is ethics of education, this fight must be it … French poet and critic Nicolas Boileau wrote about the art of writing in 1674: ‘Make haste slowly; do not be discouraged, but return to the work frequently’. The French original for the end of the English quote reads ‘vingt fois sur le métier remettez votre ouvrage’. This translates literally as ‘put your work twenty times upon the anvil’ (a large block of metal upon which another object is ‘worked’) (Mould, 2011: 69). This summarises well the message of the two Models: If you don’t succeed at first, try, try again. IC is a never-ending process, an eternal theoretical, methodological and ethical endeavour …

References Abdallah-Pretceille, M. (2006). Interculturalism as a paradigm for thinking about diversity. Intercultural Education, 17 (5), 475–483. Arendt, H. (1954). The Crisis of Education. Available at www.digitalcounterrevolution.co.uk/2016/hannah-arendt-the-crisis-in-education-full-text/ Arendt, H. (1958). The Human Condition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Arendt, H. (1966). The Origins of Totalitarianism. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Bakhtin, M. M. (1982). The Dialogic Imagination. Austin: University of Texas Press. Bauman, Z. (2004). Identity. Cambridge: Polity Press. Baumann, G. (1996). Contesting Culture: Discourses of Identity in Multi-ethnic London. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Belleau, J.-M. (2015). Ethnophilie. Rennes: PUR.

Models of IC for teacher education/training  71

Bensa, A. (2010). Après Lévi-Strauss. Toulouse: Anacharsis. Bergson, H. (1900). Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic. New York: Kessinger Publishing’s Legacy Reprint Series. Boulez, P. (2015). Boulez 90: New Dialogues at the National Sawdust. http:// concerts-boulez90.com/pdf/Programme_National%20Sawdust.pdf Bueno, A. (2018). Confucius for Brazilians. International Journal of Latin American Religions, 2(1), 117–124. Chang, H. C. (1997). Language and words: Communication in the Analects of Confucius. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 16(2), 107–131. Cheng, A. (2008). Can China Think? Paris: Editions du Collège de France. Confucius (1981). Les Entretiens. Translated by Anne Cheng. Paris: Points Seuil. Confucius (1997). The Analects of Confucius. Translated by C. Huang. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Confucius (n.d.). The Analects. Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics. Creel, H. G. (1960). Confucius and the Chinese Way. New York: Harper. Dervin, F. (2011). A plea for change in research on intercultural discourses: A ‘liquid’ approach to the study of the acculturation of Chinese students. Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 6 (1), 37–52. Dervin, F. (2015). Towards post-intercultural teacher education: Analysing ‘extreme’ intercultural dialogue to reconstruct interculturality. European Journal of Teacher Education, 38(1), 71–86. Dervin, F. (2016). Interculturality in Education. London: Palgrave. Dervin, F. (2017). Critical Interculturality. Newcastle: CSP. Dervin, F., & Hahl, K. (2015). Developing a portfolio of intercultural competences in teacher education: The case of a Finnish international programme. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 59(1), 95–109. Dervin, F. & Layne, H. (2013). A guide to interculturality for international and exchange students: An example of hostipitality? Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 8(1), 1–19. Fingarette, H. (1972). Confucius: The Secular as Sacred. New York: Harper. Gillespie, A. & Cornish, F. (2010). Intersubjectivity: Towards a dialogical analysis. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 40, 19–46. Hann, C. (2016). A concept of Eurasia. Current Anthropology, 57(1), 1–27. Holliday, A. (2010). Intercultural Communication and Ideology. London: Sage. Jullien, F. (2012). L’écart et l’entre: Leçon inaugurale de la Chaire sur l’altérité, 8 décembre 2011. Paris: Galilée. Kraus, K. (2014). In These Great Times: Selected Writings. Amsterdam: November Editions. Laing, R. D. (1967). The Politics of Experience and the Bird Paradise. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Maffesoli, M. (1993). La contemplation du monde. Paris: le Livre de Poche. McArthur, M. (2010). Confucius: A Thrownless King. New York: Pegasus Books. Mencius (n.d.). Harmondsworth: Penguin Classics. Menter, I. (2016). Introduction. In: Beauchamp, G., Clarke, L., Hulme, M., Kennedy, A. et al. (Eds.). Teacher Education in Times of Change. Bristol: Policy Press, 3–17. Mould, M. (2011). The Routledge Dictionary of Cultural References in Modern French. London: Routledge.

72  Fred Dervin

Nie, J.-B. (2011). Medical Ethics in China. London: Routledge. Piller, I. (2011). Intercultural Communication: A Critical Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Puett, M. & Gross-Loh, C. (2016). The Path. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Weissberg, L. (2000). Introduction: Hannah Arendt, Rahel Varnhagen and the writing of (auto)biography. In: Weissberg, L. (Ed.). Arendt, Rahel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewess. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 3–69. Wikan, U. (2002). Generous Betrayal. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Yao, X. (2000). An Introduction to Confucianism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Part II

Exploring critical Intercultural Competences in teacher education

Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group http://taylorandfrancis.com

Chapter 5

From cultural visits to intercultural learning Experiences of North–South–South collaboration Hanna Posti-Ahokas, Hille Janhonen-Abruquah and Christine Adu-Yeboah Introduction The growing demand to educate interculturally competent teachers has created a need to analyse international partnerships among higher education institutions as contexts for intercultural learning and the development of intercultural competences. International collaboration in higher education has received increasing research attention, often focused on the benefits of internationalisation for institutions (e.g. Seeber, Cattaneo, Huisman, & Paleari, 2016) and individuals (e.g. Messelink, Van Maeleb, & Spencer-Oatey, 2015), though scholars have also analysed the power relations embedded in international partnerships (e.g. Botha & Breidlid, 2013; Holmarsdottir 2013; Khoo, 2011). In teacher education, much of the recent research on internationalisation and interculturality has contributed to knowledge on internationalising programmes ( Jarvis, Bowtell, Bhania, & Dickerson, 2016) and pedagogies to support intercultural learning (Dervin, 2014; Lehtomäki et al., 2015; Posti-Ahokas et al., 2017). In the present chapter, the focus is on mobility-focused student and staff partnerships in a network of five universities in Finland, Ghana, Tanzania and South Africa in the field of teacher education and educational science. The network is analysed as a space supporting the intercultural learning of the individuals participating in the various groups within the collaboration. We analyse how the network supported its members’ learning and how this learning influenced institutional improvement. The North–South–South network, or the Culturally Responsive Education (CRE) network, was coordinated by the University of Helsinki, Department of Teacher Education. The network was funded from 2012 until 2016 by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and coordinated by the Centre of International Mobility under its development cooperation programmes for higher education. During the network’s funded period, nearly 100 students and staff members participated in physical mobility activities, including 16 student exchanges (three to five months each), 21 teacher exchanges (one to two weeks each), three network meetings, five administrative visits and

76  Hanna Posti-Ahokas et al.

a one-week intensive course with 26 travelling participants. In addition to the mobility activities, 20 students participated in a multi-site online course, and members of host institutions engaged in the network through activities organised and attended by visiting students and staff. The network members shared an interest in CRE (Gay, 2002, 2010, 2013) and the potential role of qualitative research in supporting the development of quality education. Their shared interest enabled them to develop various network activities focused on a common theme. CRE refers to education that is relevant and addresses cultural variations and power issues among learners and within societies at large. The approach views and reflects culture beyond ethnic and national classifications. Thus, we considered the CRE approach particularly important in supporting the participants’ focus on transcending simplistic comparisons of the five countries. According to Gay (2013), culturally responsive teaching focuses on developing learning that is meaningful and empowering for the learner. Learners are addressed in a comprehensive way and multidimensionally engaged in learning activities. Furthermore, since learning seeks to promote change and freedom, it is both transformative and emancipatory. The network engaged with the notion of cultural responsiveness as both an area of study and a guide for the planning of network activities, such as the formation of diverse groups comprising members from several partner universities and study programmes and the identification of tools and technologies that could be used in diverse contexts. Within the network, the participants peer reviewed good practices in teacher education within the partner universities. During exchange activities, intensive courses on qualitative research methods, network meetings and conference presentations, they also engaged in dialogues with students, teachers and teacher educators. The participants were then guided to analyse their gained experiences and findings and bring them back to their own learning communities. A peer reviewed edited volume (Lehtomäki, Janhonen-Abruquah, & Kahawanga, 2017) gave voice to the discussions carried out within the network. Taking a dynamic, relational approach to the development of intercultural competences (e.g. Dervin, 2016), this chapter analyses the process of developing intercultural competences in social interaction. Our aim is to explore the dynamic relationships within the network that enabled a movement from cultural visits (e.g. participating in an intensive course or completing a short teacher exchange between partner organisations) towards deeper learning experiences that make academic collaboration more meaningful for both individuals and institutions. We analyse the dynamic relationships among individuals, groups and institutional learning across contexts, exploring how the initial acquisition of knowledge and skills develops into awareness and, finally, embedded learning and improved practices and processes. Ultimately, these practices and processes support the development of intercultural competences.

From cultural visits to intercultural learning  77

Intercultural learning in international higher education collaborations A recent evaluation of Finnish higher education development cooperation (Salmi, Mukherjee, Uusihakala, & Kärkkäinen, 2014) pointed to the challenges of achieving sustained institutional impacts given currently available funding instruments and labelled North–South–South cooperation as a small-scale internationalisation platform for Finnish higher education institutions. Within the prestige–dominated discourse on the internationalisation of higher education (e.g. Seeber et al., 2016), research focusing on learning and professional development within international collaboration has been given little attention. In this review, we discuss the most relevant research findings to frame the subsequent analysis of the CRE network. The research on international collaboration as a strategy for internationalisation follows two distinctive streams. The first stream, which we call the ‘benefits approach’, has a managerial focus and examines the benefits of partnerships. These analyses consider institutional effectiveness (Spencer-Oatey, 2012) and employability (as the desired outcome of international mobility) (Messelink, Van Maele, & Spencer-Oatey, 2015; Potts, 2015) as determinants of success. The second stream, or the’learning-oriented approach’, seeks to understand the nature of the learning that occurs during international collaborations (Holmarsdottir, 2013; Jarvis et al., 2015) and study abroad (McLeod & Wainwright, 2009). Both streams are important for evaluating the value added by international collaboration: The benefits approach focuses on the instrumental value, while the learning-oriented approach examines the intrinsic value of international collaboration. Further, growing opportunities for intercultural dialogues through online learning (for examples, see Dervin, 2014; Zong, 2009) challenge the rationale of collaboration based on physical mobility. However, in partnerships between the Global North and South, the role of technology must be given specific attention due to differences in technological infrastructures (Queiros & de Villiers, 2016). Within the context of North–South–South collaboration, issues of power and equity are central to collaborative success. Khoo (2011, p. 350) argued that the contradictions of internationalisation are starker than ever due to the financial pressures for higher education institutions to focus on marketised, competitive forms of internationalisation, thus eroding ethical and cooperative development policies and programmes for mutual learning. Experiences of various North–South–South collaborations (Bastien, Mukoma, Ezekiel,  & Helleve, 2013; Botha & Breidlid, 2013; Desai, 2013; Holmarsdottir, Farang, & Nomlomo, 2013) have been described as useful but challenging, and the importance of such projects has been argued to lie in their promotion of real dialogue and understanding between the Global North and South. Holmarsdottir (2013) examined existing forms of North–South and North–South–South collaboration, questioning whether these regions should

78  Hanna Posti-Ahokas et al.

collaborate at all and, if so, what key challenges such collaborations face. As early as the 1980s, King (1985) pointed out that North–South collaboration seemed to be a process initiated in the North and participated in by the South. Holmarsdottir, Farag and Nomlomo (2013) questioned whether old ideas of development aid have merely been newly packaged and labelled as collaboration. Botha and Breidlid (2013) further noted that Southern partners are seldom able to steer North–South–South collaboration, suggesting that, as a result, collaborative arrangements for ‘capacity building’, ‘development’ and ‘mutual exchange’ not only fail, but also reproduce structures that undermine these goals. In essence, money makes such collaborations asymmetrical. Jones (2007) referred to a specific global education discourse dominated by large Non-Governmental Organisations and influencing the unequal power relations. Botha and Breidlid (2013) went further, asking a question that is seldom explicitly asked: How has hegemonic educational discourse helped to promote the capitalist world system and globalisation and to defend positions of power? They questioned whether Northern partners’ critical thinking is critical enough and whether they see that their knowledge transfer is biased and embedded in a historical legacy of colonialism and imperialism. Desai (2013) observed a more nuanced process in a project driven by the North and benefiting the South and, based on her results, proposed the existence of a continuum encompassing the binary perspectives. She encouraged Southern partners to actively contribute new knowledge to collaborations, arguing that collaborations are based on asking who benefits in what way. Her experience came from a 10-year North–South–South project funded by the Norwegian Programme for Development, Research and Education (NUFU) showing how contestation and negotiation can eventually lead to successful partnerships. The project began with insufficient funding, and its allocation was contested by a Southern partner in danger of dropping out. Over the years, trust was sensitively built around funding issues and through intellectual ownership, such as first authorship of publications. Based on her findings, Desai (2013) claimed that universities are privileged spaces and that academics are well placed to work towards the common good. She further argued that the nature of North–South–South collaboration depends a great deal on the roles played by individual academics. According to Bastien, Mukoma, Ezekiel and Helleve (2013), establishing an enduring and sustainable partnership requires Southern institutions to be fully engaged in the project’s overall lifespan. They clearly stated that the quality of a partnership depends on trust and respect. They also observed that the implementation phase of a project presents immense opportunities for reciprocal learning and scientific development. Periodic scheduled calls and frequent verbal communication provide updates and a mutual understanding that facilitate progress in the partnership. There is also a risk of looking at projects as venues for ‘cooperation’ (i.e. aid or working with someone), rather than ‘collaboration’ (i.e. reciprocal

From cultural visits to intercultural learning  79

recognition and mutual learning) (for further discussion, see Holmarsdottir et  al., 2013). North–South–South collaboration could potentially build shared cultural horizons and epistemic communities (Chisholm, cited in Holmarsdottir et al., 2013), as well as epistemological sensitivity ( JanhonenAbruquah, Riitaoja, & Posti-Ahokas, 2016). Botha and Breidlid (2013) further proposed including students’ own experiences and paying more attention to their home environments in order to build learning environments that offer horizontal components in learning across social worlds. Given these considerations, North–South–South collaboration could create a stronger allegiance to equity and justice, thereby supporting the objectives of critically and globally oriented multicultural (or intercultural) education, as defined by Zilliacus, Holm and Sahlström (2017).

Approach to intercultural competences within the network Dervin (2016) suggested looking at intercultural competences (IC) from a liquid realistic perspective in order to highlight their dynamic nature. IC should be viewed as a dialogic process through which learning occurs in the interaction or navigation between the simple and the complex and through learning from failures (Dervin, 2016, pp.  82–85). According to Dervin (2016), IC should be collectivised to allow for shared responsibility for what happens in interculturality. The idea of collectivising IC is appealing from the perspective of the CRE network under analysis in the present study. As network participants with various roles, we focused our learning on the interactions taking place among the different groups that formed within the network. The network dynamics were also determined by negotiation, navigation and learning from failures. Therefore, in order to analyse how the network enabled learning at both the individual and the institutional levels, we focus our analyses on collective discussions and collaboratively written reports. The work done within the network was guided by the notion of cultural responsiveness (Gay, 2010, 2013) and the social theory of learning (Lave & Wenger, 1998). CRE addresses learners in a comprehensive way through multi-dimensional engagement in learning activities. The network activities were planned to create learning spaces through student and teacher mobility, joint coordination, joint courses and qualitative research. The social theory of learning sees learning as an experience: as doing, belonging and becoming. Thus, the focus is on the process of being an active participant in the practices of social communities and on the construction of identities in relation to these communities. Lave and Wenger’s (1998) concept of communities of practice is used to recognise the roles the network participants played in determining their engagement and connections across boundaries, including academic specialisations and professional practices.

80  Hanna Posti-Ahokas et al.

A recent series of research papers and analyses explored effectiveness and interaction in intercultural collaboration in the context of a collaboration between Chinese and British universities (Reid, 2009a; Spencer-Oatey, 2012). This project suggested a learning process model for intercultural partnerships (Reid, 2009b) that highlighted the active learning that occurs in international projects. The model distinguishes levels of acquisition, awareness and embedding in the learning process. While the first two levels focus on individuals’ knowledge acquisition and increasing reflexivity, the third level also recognises the collective and institutional forms of learning that result from the first two levels. We found this model useful in framing the experiences reported by the participants of the North–South–South network.

The CRE network as a learning space An overview of the network activities is provided in Table 5.1. The network received funding for two partly overlapping phases: one from 2012 to 2014 and one from 2014 to 2016. The first six months were a period of joint planning and a clarification of roles and responsibilities. Student and staff exchanges commenced in early 2013. A total of 96 network members, including students and faculty, received mobility grants for participating in intensive courses or exchange periods lasting from one week to five months. Representatives of all partner institutions met twice a year in network meetings hosted by the partner institutions. During the final stage of phase one, the network initiated the idea to edit a book compiling the research conducted by the network members under the umbrella of CRE. The network coordinator compiled four qualitative reports to the funding agency to summarise the network’s activities and impact. Participant evaluations and reports were collected from students and faculty participating in the activities. In addition, individual interviews were conducted with selected network members to analyse the participants’ individual experiences. All of these evaluative activities were conducted collaboratively by the network participants. Therefore, the analyses presented here should be considered self-evaluative and designed to improve future collaboration. The following sections summarise the learning processes mapped throughout the life cycle of the network using the three-stage learning process model for intercultural partnerships (Reid, 2009b). The processes of reviewing, reflecting and revising are introduced to depict how the network engaged in shared reflection to improve practices and take responsibility for the successful completion of the projects. The data for the analysis are drawn primarily from notes of group discussions among the project partners in June 2014, the three qualitative project reports (October 2013, October 2014 and May 2016) and an evaluative member check interview conducted in one of the Southern partner institutions in July 2017. The objective is to highlight the dialogic, collaborative learning

3Q* — — — — • —

— Student exchange Staff exchange Intensive courses Book Network meetings Evaluation/ reporting

4Q — — — — • —

1Q • • — — — —

2013 2Q • • — — • —

3Q • — — — — —

4Q • • — — • •

1Q • • — — — —

2014 2Q • • — • • •

3Q • — — • — —

4Q • • — • • •

1Q • — • • — —

2015

*Key: Q refers to a quarter-year (e.g. 3Q refers to the third quarter of the year, or July to September).

2012

Key activities

Table 5.1 Timeline and key activities of the CRE network

2Q • • — • • —

3Q • — — • — —

4Q • • • • • •

1Q — • — • • —

2016 2Q — — — • — •

From cultural visits to intercultural learning  81

82  Hanna Posti-Ahokas et al.

processes of groups and institutions. The analyses have been conducted in multiple stages: continued discussions during the funded project periods, collaborative writing during the reporting phases and an evaluative analysis of the project documentation after the funding period. Approved reports for the funding agency, conference papers and research articles (referred to in this chapter) have served as member check mechanisms throughout the project.

The processes of reviewing, reflecting and revising network activities First, examples of ways in which the network activities were adjusted to changing conditions are given to describe the dynamics of the network and to highlight the challenges faced in establishing collaboration among five institutions located in different contexts. In the beginning, most network members had never met one another in person. Regular meetings among partner universities (monthly on Skype and twice a year in person) served as important spaces for shared reflection on and direction for activities. The Skype meeting turned out to be extremely valuable over the period when no face-to-face contacts were run. The monthly meetings kept the momentum going and the participants motivated and involved (Final report, May 2016). Technical challenges related to unreliable Internet access resulted in occasional absences of some institutions from the monthly meetings. Furthermore, dependence on online communication increased during the sudden outbreak of the Ebola virus in the summer of 2014, which caused major challenges for the planned mobility periods and intensive courses. Ultimately, network mobility activities were halted for eight months, and the focus was shifted to activities that did not require travelling. A multi-site online course was planned for students and researchers focused on writing papers for the joint publication. The newly established network faced several practical challenges related to implementing the mobility periods. Furthermore, most partner institutions were unfamiliar with the funding instrument, resulting in administration challenges. For example, it was soon realised that more emphasis needed to be paid to the criteria for student selection, as the first outbound students from North to South faced unnecessary challenges due to a lack of sufficient tutoring in the host university. Later, the network agreed to prioritise mature students, to send students to mobility periods in pairs and to assign students thesis advisors (selected from the network participants) in their host institutions. Differences in academic calendars also created some challenges. Students took part in the courses that were available at the time of their exchanges, but were not always able to complete the full courses. Since the studies were recognised in the students’ home institution curricula, extra flexibility from the home institutions was required. These negotiations to adjust institutional processes to the specific context of the CRE network can

From cultural visits to intercultural learning  83

be considered critically important spaces for intercultural dialogic learning. The joint objectives of the network motivated the participants to find flexible solutions. Despite all participants’ willingness to make the network operational, various challenges were faced throughout the funded projects. Challenges related to the payment of scholarships and the costs of receiving visiting students and researchers were solved on a case-by-case basis. All partner institutions had to be flexible in order to accommodate the network activities within their processes and timelines. For the University of Helsinki, Department of Teacher Education, which was the network’s main coordinator, the network was the first of its kind. Thus, the first phase was characterised by efforts to set up new practices and processes to manage the network. Gradually, the practical challenges diminished as the partners’ communication improved and the institutions learned to manage the project. However, dramatic organisational changes in the coordinating university caused continued administrative challenges during the second phase of the project. As a result, ownership of the network was again transferred to individuals rather than institutions. At the institutional level, it was tough to put the beautiful words of the benefits of internationalisation into daily practice. It is easy to say that internationalisation and, especially, internationalisation at home are favourable and in line with the Department’s goals and visions, but when it comes to practicalities in the form of arranging cash payments for visiting lecturers and staff, finding office space, providing pots and pans and bedsheets and pillows for the visiting lecturers and students and, in general, welcoming visitors, the practices are not there. It is ‘no one’s work’ (Final report, May 2016).

Linking individual learning processes with institutional development This section focuses on the interplay of individual and institutional processes. Initially, collegial connections served as the catalyst for the formation of the network of five universities from four countries. It was through the persistence of committed individuals that the formal project agreements with all partner institutions were finalised. These formal agreements provided the framework for the network’s activities and enabled the learning of individuals and groups. Participation in the project was truly based on each participants’ own interest, as no salaries were paid. In other words, those who took part really wanted to take part. They felt the participation was somehow beneficial for their own academic career. Motivation was either to finish or collect data for bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral theses while studying abroad or to search for international partners for further collaboration. The added value for each participant was that they were able to do their normal work – whether studying or teaching – but now in the context of North–South–South cooperation. Each participant’s work gained a new dimension (Final report, May 2016).

84  Hanna Posti-Ahokas et al.

To strengthen institutional support to individual members, the network engaged in research under a commonly agreed theme of CRE. This commitment enhanced the network’s motivation to provide quality supervision for master’s and doctoral students visiting partner institutions. After the first cycle of student exchanges, the participants in previous exchanges acted as important tutors for newcomers in the host institutions. The growing group of people familiar with the network members and institutions, therefore, served as a critical source of support for the network. During their visits to partner universities, the participants engaged in dialogue with students, teachers and teacher educators and brought their findings back to their own learning communities. But the network activities have not only had an impact on those ones who have participated in mobility activities; they have also influenced the whole work community. Visiting students and lecturers have taken part in daily activities in hosting universities. They have contributed to lectures, workshops and seminars in hosting universities and, thus, played an important role in internationalisation at home (Final report, May 2016). However, individual perspectives, as evaluated through member check interviews, may be more critical than the collective experiences recorded through participant evaluations. Therefore, such perspectives should be paid special attention: If it is a mobility project, if you don’t get to travel, what do you do locally? … Mostly, people are looking at it as you get to travel abroad. Individual benefits come first. The institutional benefit—people look at it differently. (Member check interview, July 2017) Finding meaningful ways to participate in the network locally or virtually remained a challenge for individuals. The online course was one attempt to provide opportunities for wider participation. The teacher exchanges were considered most successful when they were combined with other network activities, such as network meetings, intensive courses or administrative visits. They also enabled the dissemination of information about North–South–South activities to the other faculty members and students who were more peripheral to the core activities. New person-to-person connections and relations leading to possible future cooperation were also established. The conditions set by the funding instrument (e.g. no possibility of paying salaries or funding research) were seen as constraints. However, these constraints challenged the network participants to find other meaningful ways to engage in the network: One of the strengths has been the complementarity: members’ knowledge, skills and expertise benefit each other and impact teaching and

From cultural visits to intercultural learning  85

collegiality in the workplace. At the personal level, as the funding has been only for mobility activities, all the work done had to complement each network participant’s regular work or study. Another strength has been the capacity building and professional development of members’ subject expertise and research. (Final report, May 2016) These examples show how network activities fed into individual and institutional objectives in various ways. However, the process of embedding learning at the institutional level requires time. Thinking of who [individually] will benefit also leads to the department to benefit and eventually to the university … this will make the university gain points in terms of ranking … in terms of how many of the staff have had international collaboration. (Member check interview, July 2017) At the institutional level, the network activities have started slowly to grow into departments’ and faculties’ international affairs structures, administrative procedures and curriculum planning. This is a process that takes time, but as the network activities become part of faculties’ organisational routines, it provides sustainability for the network activities. In the vision and mission statement documents at the faculty level, both outbound mobility and internationalisation at home are recognised, but the implementation and academic relevance of the mobility need to be worked on further. This is where CRE network activities have been important. (Final report, May 2016) Again, it is important to recognise the tensions resulting from projects in which only certain individuals get immediate benefits: I know, in Google Scholar, my university gets some ranking, but my colleagues see it as my individual benefit. (Member check interview, July 2017) Whilst network members view their involvement in the collaboration as their contribution to their institutions’ international recognition and advancement, non-members see this as a privilege the network members have been selectively ‘handpicked’ to enjoy. Thus, members are torn between disclosing their involvement in the international collaboration and publicising the network and not, which would reduce the benefits to the institution. Making projects visible beyond their immediate beneficiaries is critical for concretising institutional benefits and ensuring sustained institutional commitment to North–South–South partnerships. In this section, the impacts of the CRE network have been analysed at personal, group and institutional levels. Table 5.2 summarises how participation in the CRE network supported learning processes from the initial acquisition stage towards the embedded learning of individuals and institutions.

86  Hanna Posti-Ahokas et al. Table 5.2 Learning processes at the individual and institutional levels

Acquisition

Awareness

Embedding

Individual level

Institutional level

• Initial contacts between partner institutions through individuals • Learning from project themes, particularly culturally responsive education • Individual fact finding before intensive courses • Joint planning meetings to agree on ways of collaborating • Individual learning through staff and student exchanges • Reflective reports by individuals on mobility periods and intensive courses • New ideas and perspectives to participants’ studies, teaching and research • Engaging in joint teaching and research • Continued professional development through CRE network

• Cooperation agreements among participating institutions • Administrative challenges in inter-institutional processes • Identification of participants • Finding flexible solutions to successfully implement staff and student exchanges

• Collaborative reflection of intensive course and network meeting participants • Mobility periods increasingly linked to regular activities of host institutions • Publication of an edited volume by the network • Secured funding for a second phase • Course on culturally responsive observation at University of Helsinki

The single arrows refer to the hierarchy of the learning process model (Reid, 2009b), while the multi-directional arrows point to our findings concerning the inseparable dynamics of individual and institutional learning.

Dissemination of network outcomes The volume Culturally responsive education: Studies in the Global South and North (Lehtomäki, Janhonen-Abruquah, & Kahangwa, 2017) produced by the CRE network contains 13 articles written over the course of the various

From cultural visits to intercultural learning  87

network activities and influenced by the participants’ opportunities to visit and discuss with colleagues within the network’s partner universities. The articles in the book give voice to the network members’ discussions concerning the challenges facing different educational contexts. Today, the book remains a visible outcome of the project that will benefit participating institutions in various ways. In addition to the book, the network members presented three papers at international conferences and published short articles in national and institutional publications. Furthermore, these publications, together with the ‘day in a school’ online and live courses, influenced the development of a research methods course titled ‘Culturally Responsive Observation’ at the University of Helsinki. This course complements the courses already offered by the Faculty of Educational Sciences and adds a new dimension to the university’s research method courses. Finally, the present chapter represents an important effort to summarise and analyse the learning that occurred within the network.

Conclusion The findings indicate that the CRE network enabled the sharing of both knowledge and experience in a variety of areas. Through seminars, workshops and access to online resources, the network contributed to knowledge, research, teaching experiences and resource sharing. The activities of the CRE network were explorative in nature, and the rules of operation were guided by ideals of mutual benefit, equal participation and democratic decision making. One of the strengths of the network was its complementarity: Members’ knowledge, skills and expertise benefited other members and impacted teaching and collegiality in the workplace. Another strength of the network was the capacity building and professional development of the members’ subject expertise and research. Successful network activities engaged the participants in collaborative learning processes; thus, managing and participating in the network was a context for intercultural navigation and negotiation. This phenomenon is perhaps similar to Dervin’s (2016) proposed approach involving collectivising and sharing responsibility for developing intercultural competencies. The notion of CRE provided tools for the network members to analyse educational contexts in ways that transcended simplistic comparisons of countries and nationalities (see Janhonen-Abruquah et al., 2016; Patel, 2015). The application of CRE helped to highlight similarities and differences across contexts and to reflect culture beyond ethnic and national boundaries. Furthermore, CRE offered the network members tools for reflecting on how education responds to cultural variations and related power issues in and around educational contexts. The network members reported adopting culturally responsive activities and strategies in teaching. Exchange visits helped them identify good practices, which they then remodified and contextualised.

88  Hanna Posti-Ahokas et al.

The collaborative work within the network also encouraged the continued sharing of ideas on CRE and its use in developing education in specific contexts. Thus, CRE provided a useful, equity-focused framework for discussing, observing and problematising ‘culture’, thereby contributing to the intercultural understanding of the network participants. The partners’ commitment grew as they took part in network activities and experienced individual benefits for their study and work careers. The continuation of activities built trust among the network partners, creating a basis for further collaboration. Our analyses highlight the interdependency of individuals, groups and the network as a whole in enabling collaboration and learning, thus reflecting the idea of the development of intercultural competences as a collective process. Individual learning experiences contributed to collective learning and motivated contributions to the network. While institutional arrangements provided the framework for collaboration, the network also influenced the participating institutions. Though analysing these long-term institutional influences is not possible given the data available for this analysis, it can be said that, though continued collaboration is critically important for institutional learning and the development of practice to enhance intercultural competences, sustaining the network’s activities beyond the funding period has proved challenging. In the context of development cooperation, changes to the policy priorities of the funding country also influenced the length, substance and geographical focus of the network’s partnerships. Thus, our findings indicate that North– South–South collaboration is particularly vulnerable to changes in institutional policy frameworks and that its success is highly dependent on the genuine commitment of the individuals within different partner institutions. Therefore, analysing collaboration from both the benefits perspective and the learning perspective is critical for understanding the conditions for sustained collaboration that can enable meaningful intercultural learning.

References Bastiena, S., Mukomab, W., Ezekielc, M. J., & Helleved, A. (2013). Research partnerships between the North and the South: Experiences from school-based health promotion projects in sub-Saharan Africa. COMPARE forum: The idea of North–South and South–South collaboration. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 43, 276–281. Botha, L. R., & Breidlid, A. (2013). Challenging hegemonic knowledge production through North–South collaboration. COMPARE forum: The idea of North– South and South–South collaboration. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 43, 270–275. Dervin, F. (2014). Exploring ‘new’ interculturality online. Language and Intercultural Communication, 14, 191–206. doi:10.1080/14708477.2014.896923 Dervin, F. (2016). Tools for change—Dynamic and realistic intercultural competences. In Interculturality in Education (pp. 71–99). UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

From cultural visits to intercultural learning  89

Desai, Z. (2013). North–South–South collaboration: Internationalising higher education, capacitating the South or furthering donor agendas? COMPARE forum: The idea of North–South and South–South collaboration. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 43, 266–270. Gay, G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53, 106–116. Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice. Multicultural education series. New York: Teachers College Press. Gay, G. (2013). Teaching to and through cultural diversity. Curriculum Inquiry, 43, 48–70. Holmarsdottir, H. B. (2013). Introduction. The idea of North–South and South– South collaboration. COMPARE forum: The idea of North–South and South– South collaboration. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 43, 265–266. Holmarsdottir, H. B., Faragb, A. I., & Nomlomo, V. (2013). North–South–South collaboration: Old ideas in new boxes? COMPARE forum: The idea of North– South and South–South collaboration. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 43, 281–286. Janhonen-Abruquah, H., Posti-Ahokas, H. & Riitaoja, A.-L. (2016, November). Perspectives on quality in higher education: Knowledge work, ethics and educational commitment. Presented at the Conference of the International Consortium for Educational Development (ICED), South Africa. Jarvis, S., Bowtell, J., Bhania, L. & Dickerson, C. (2016). Supporting professional learning and development through international collaboration in the coconstruction of an undergraduate teaching qualification. Professional Development in Education, 42, 403–422. doi:10.1080/19415257.2015.1026454 Jones, P. W. (2007). Education and world order. Comparative Education, 43, 325–337. doi:10.1080/03050060701556273 Khoo, S.-M. (2011). Ethical globalisation or privileged internationalisation? Exploring global citizenship and internationalisation in Irish and Canadian universities. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 9, 337–353. doi:10.1080/14767724.20 11.605320 King, K. (1985). North–South collaborative research in education. International Journal of Educational Development, 5, 183–191. Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Lehtomäki, E., Janhonen-Abruquah, H., & Kahangwa, G. (Eds.). (2017). Culturally responsive education: Reflections from the Global South and North. Abingdon: Routledge. Lehtomäki, E., Posti-Ahokas, H., & Moate, J. (2015). Global connectedness in higher education: Student voices on the value of cross-cultural learning dialogue. Studies in Higher Education, 41, 2011–2027. doi:10.1080/03075079.2015.1007943 McLeod, M. & Wainwright, P. (2009). Researching the study abroad experience. Journal of Studies in International Education, 13, 66–71. Messelink, H. E., Van Maele, J., & Spencer-Oatey, H. (2015). Intercultural competencies: What students in study and placement mobility should be learning. Intercultural Education, 26, 62–72.

90  Hanna Posti-Ahokas et al.

Patel, T. (2015). Crossing disciplinary, epistemological and conceptual boundaries in search of better cultural sense-making tools: A review of principal cultural approaches from business and anthropology literatures. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 28, 728–748. Posti-Ahokas, H., Janhonen-Abruquah, H. & Longfor, R. (2017). GET OUT! Developing pedagogical practice for extended learning spaces in intercultural education. In Itkonen, T. & Dervin, F. (Eds.), Silent partners in multicultural education (pp. 147–172). Information Age Publishing. Potts, D. (2015). Understanding the early career benefits and learning abroad programs. Journal of Studies in International Education, 19, 441–459. Queiros, D. R. & de Villiers, M. R. (2016). Online learning in a South African higher education institution: Determining the right connections for the student. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 17, 165–185. Reid, S. (2009a). The learning process in intercultural collaboration: Evidence from the eChina–UK programme. Retrieved from https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/ cross_fac/globalpeople/resourcebank/gppublications/learning_process_model_ic.pdf Reid, S. (2009b). The learning process model for intercultural partnerships. Retrieved from https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/globalpeople/resourcebank/gppublications/learning_process_model.pdf Salmi, J., Mukherjee, H., Uusihakala, J., & Kärkkäinen, K. (2014). Evaluation: Finland’s support to higher education institutions, North–South–South and HEI ICI programmes. Helsinki, Finland: Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. Seeber, M., Cattaneo, M., Huisman, J., & Paleari, S. (2016). Why do higher education institutions internationalize? An investigation of the multilevel determinants of internationalization rationales. Higher Education, 72, 685–702. doi:10.1007/ s10734–015–9971-x Spencer-Oatey, H. (2012). Maximizing the benefits of international education collaborations: Managing interaction processes. Journal of Studies in International Education, 17, 244–261. doi:10.1177/1028315312454545 Zilliacus, H., Holm, G., & Sahlström, F. (2017). Taking steps towards institutionalising multicultural education—The national curriculum of Finland. Multicultural Education Review, 9(4), 231–248, doi:10.1080/2005615X.2017.1383810 Zong, G. (2009). Developing preservice teachers’ global understanding through computer-mediated communication technology. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25, 617–625.

Chapter 6

Constructing critical Intercultural Competence and appreciation of diversity The case of exchange student teachers in Finland Martina Paatela-Nieminen Introduction To become interculturally competent is considered important today because we live in a world of cultural, linguistic, religious and philosophical diversity (Finnish National Core Curriculum, FNCC, 2016, p. 22). However, there is no clear consensus on what intercultural competence means. The renewed FNCC for basic education has introduced a new transversal competence, namely cultural competence, interaction and self-expression (FNCC, 2016, p.  21). This curriculum understands cultural diversity positively (FNCC, 2016, p.  22). Competence is seen to be a fundamental entity that includes skills, knowledge, values, attitudes, will and ability to act relevantly in a situation (FNCC, 2016, p. 21; Unesco, 2013, p. 12). Cultural competence adds respect for human rights, appreciative interaction and a means for expressing oneself and views of others (FNCC, 2016, p. 22). However, the curricular document does not present any concrete methods for becoming interculturally competent. Dialogue is the basis for all interaction and intercultural dialogue has only recently begun to be applied and explained by institutions (Council of Europe, 2018). Intercultural competence is understood as dialogue and interaction that offer a place for learning from each other (Hartikainen & Mattila, 2011, pp. 85). Intercultural dialogue is encouraged because it strives to make pupils aware of their plural identities, including gender, class, age, ethnicity, region, history, nationality and occupation (Hartikainen & Mattila, 2011, pp.  85–89; Unesco, 2011; Council of Europe, 2008, p.  17; Unesco, 2013, p.  10). It also helps them to know their own cultural heritage in order to construct a cultural identity (FNCC, 2016, pp. 22). Dialogue is also seen as a process that encourages one to question certainties (Unesco, 2013, p. 14). Intercultural competence thus includes a critical aspect. Good dialogue requires the ability to act in a way that is built on motivation and a sense of competence (Halinen, 2011, p.  77). To become interculturally competent one needs to take part in a dialogue, as defined in the Council of Europe White

92  Martina Paatela-Nieminen

Paper: ‘Intercultural dialogue is understood as an open and respectful exchange of views between individuals, groups with different ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic backgrounds and heritage on the basis of mutual understanding and respect’ (Council of Europe, 2008, p. 10). This definition has been recently extended. Besides focusing on socio-cultural aspects, it is also important to ensure that intercultural dialogue takes diversity into account as a resource (Saillant, 2017). The argument of this chapter is that an intertextual model is valid for teaching cultural competence, interaction and self-expression. I also argue that the proposed intertextual method and model can develop critical intercultural competence in teacher education. The background of the intertextual method is to be found in post-structuralism, postmodernism, semiotics and linguistics. The method was originally developed for art education and artistic research (Paatela-Nieminen, 1996; 2000) and intercultural art education research (Paatela-Nieminen, 2008; Paatela-Nieminen, Itkonen & Talib, 2016). Intertextuality is a thinking attitude for studying, interpreting and producing meanings in relation to a variety of texts, for example, visual, verbal, auditory and kinaesthetic (related to movement), and it is done open-endedly (Paatela-Nieminen 1996; 2000). A work (of art) under study is understood as text which consists of a methodological field of the textual networks of several sign systems and cultural connections. This offers an infinity of possibilities for the readers to produce plural meanings as well as bringing their unconscious to the open-ended reading process (Paatela-Nieminen, 2000). The broad definition of text (visual, verbal etc.) has also been defined in the Finnish National Core Curriculum (FNCC, 2016, p. 23). Art educators have also been encouraged to read art as text (Savva & Telemachou, 2016, p. 149) and to view it in wider cultural contexts (Hatton, 2016). Intertextuality applies dialogue as defined by Mikhail Bakhtin as an intersection of textual surfaces in a space where any text absorbs and transforms another (Kristeva, 1993a). The textual intersection includes the subject as both a writer and reader of texts. A text is thus both a dialogue (subjective reading and writing process) and an ambivalence of several different discourses at the same time (history, society and culture). A text develops at the intersection of these two aspects (Kristeva, 1993a, pp. 64–91; Paatela-Nieminen, 2000). Dialogue and ambivalence are parts of intertextuality and refer to the palpability of signs that contain an infinity of possibilities (Kristeva, 1984). I argue that intertextuality can work as a method for intercultural dialogue because it focuses on the social and cultural in dialogue as well as the ambivalence and infinity of possibilities in signs, thus producing an awareness of pluralities and diversities. This chapter describes the application of the intertextual model (see Paatela-Nieminen & Itkonen, 2017) in intercultural art education and examines students who participated in an Erasmus+ EU Programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport and who came to study in the unit of

Critical IC and appreciation of diversity  93

research and teaching in the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the University of Helsinki. Specifically, the study focuses on seven Erasmus students who attended a course entitled Art & Culture (5 ECTS). The course deals with art history, but the subject is, however, not taught linearly from the beginning of times to contemporary art in the traditional way. Instead, as the course’s viewpoint is intertextual, the students are asked to study contemporary art as a starting point and then open-endedly weave relations from there to older art and culture. They study Finnish art in relation to the art of the students’ local cultures as well as in relation to the global cultural memory. This process was an intersubjective, collaborative adventure for the students who did not know beforehand how it would end. The specific research question asks how cultural diversity is experienced, discussed and produced when participating in intersubjective and intercultural dialogue, in relation to the proposed intertextual method. The question is answered by testing the intertextual model in intercultural art education a) when relating contemporary art intertextually to older art and art history, b) when studying Finnish art in relation to the art of the students’ local cultures as well as in relation to the cultural memory, and c) when examining the Erasmus students’ collaborative study processes, their intercultural dialogue and the creation of a co-constructed artistic end product. The research method used was a qualitative content analysis, with which specific themes from the data were identified. The data is based on the students’ (e-)portfolios and their artistic end products as well as their videorecorded presentations. The research is part of a larger action research project. The structure of this chapter consists firstly of briefly presenting the intertextual method and model, then the data and the Erasmus students’ analysis according to the collected categories, and lastly, the results and conclusions.

The intertextual method: constructing critical intercultural diversity competence I will now briefly introduce the intertextual method, explaining the theoretical background to the model that is here applied in practice (see Table 6.1). The intertextual method (Paatela-Nieminen, 1996; 2000) applies the concepts of Gérard Genette (1997a; 1997b), Julia Kristeva (1984) and Deleuze and Guattari (1987). Genette’s systematic linguistic approach helps to determine a text’s relation to its context open-endedly (Genette, 1997a). To start with, a work (of art) under study is first seen as a source text, a paratext, that works as a threshold of open-ended questions for the reader (Genette, 1997a). The text itself tempts the reader to ask questions and in the search for answers the reader relates the text to its setting and context and her/himself personally. Secondly, the text is open-endedly connected to other texts, for example a work (of art) is related to other works (of art). Genres work as tools for grouping texts that are similar to each other through some artistic, social, ideological or political relations (amongst others). In order to study the texts

94  Martina Paatela-Nieminen

according to a uniting principle, they are arranged in a palimpsestical continuum, from the newest text to the oldest. Genette’s palimpsestical reading, moving from the newest text to the oldest, is a way of producing transformations and variations from the textual continuum (1997b). A palimpsestical reading offers understanding as to how a newer text, the hypertext, transforms a preceding text, the hypotext (Genette 1997b). This is a way of re-writing transformations and variations from the continuum and understanding how a contemporary work of art (the hypertext) transforms, modifies, and recycles older art (the earlier hypotext) in a palimpsestical continuum. In this way, it is possible to produce interesting difference(s) from the continuum for further study. Thirdly, Kristeva breaks up Genette’s contextual and genre-based thinking. The difference is further studied in a space of plural sign systems with the result that diverse as well as new meanings are produced for it. Kristeva focuses on a subject in which personal drives, the unconscious and the collective cultural memory become part of the subject’s reading process (Kristeva 1984). In a similar vein, a text has a logical structure and grammar, called the phenotext, and a dynamic unconscious force, the genotext, that produce meanings together (Kristeva 1984). Meanings are layered in the cultural memory and they are produced in the subjective reading process. According to Deleuze and Guattari (1987), the reading process can also be unstable and proceed with unexpected rhizomatic off-shoots. It depends on the reader as to which meanings s/he finds important to produce and develop further. The aim of the intertextual method (Paatela-Nieminen, 1996; 2000), described briefly above (see Figure 6.1), is to offer a theoretical construction for producing and understanding the intertextual relations expanding through cultures, subjects and media and also for creating new meanings. The method has been applied as a step-by-step model (Paatela-Nieminen & Itkonen, 2017) in teacher education practice (see Table 6.1). In this model, the open-ended

s ion lat l re ult ura

o ati rel

Genotext & Phenotext New meanings

Intersubjective relations

Figure 6.1 Intertextual relations.

ns

erc

ial

Hypertext

ed

Int

erm

Int

Paratext

Critical IC and appreciation of diversity  95 Table 6.1 An intertextual model for art education practice A text’s relations to its context (see paratext) • Take a curious approach and find yourself a visual text (work of art, image, place, object, etc.) that fascinates you. • Explain in writing in the (e-)portfolio your personal enthusiasm for the chosen text. • Look at the visual text as a starting point in order to identify the most interesting question about it. Then resolve your question by studying the subject matter using artistic and scientific sources. Write up your findings in the (e-)portfolio and document your study process. Palimpsestical relations between texts (see hypertext) • Next, connect your own visual text to others by searching for related imagery (e.g. 3 –5 images). • Include visual texts from the same genre that have, for example, a common theme, topic, content, form or function according to a principle of importance to you. Or find texts that can be structured, classified, categorised or typified based on your own your interest. • Include visual texts that have preferably been produced at different times and/or in other cultures. • Sort the visual texts into a palimpsestic continuum from the newest to the oldest. • Study the visual continuum to identify traces of sameness (imitations, repetitions) and differences (variations, transformations) in order to reveal the most interesting detail. Write about your discovery and document your process. Cultural relations within a space of plural meanings (see phenotext, genotext and rhizome) • Continue to study the most interesting detail by making a break with the existing visual conventions of the genre and freely exploring the difference in relation to wider cultural sign systems (e.g. advertisements, art, literature, theatre, music) and/or cultural, linguistic, religious and philosophical networks • Let your feelings, drives, unconscious, associations and rhizomatic offshoots take part in your subjective remembering process. • Study the detail open-endedly as a space of varied meanings in order to produce cultural diversity. • Utilise artistic and scientific sources when documenting your process. The intertextual production of a new work of art • Exploit existing works of art and imagery of the visual culture from your intertextual study process to develop new meanings by transforming the form, media and/or content of a work of art/image thematically, quantitatively, stylistically and/or by changing the mood. • Produce a new meaning for a work of art/image by blending and remixing parts of existing visual imagery with the new ideas and/or recycling parts of art works from different periods and/or media into new combinations. ○ and/or • Create new meanings for the existing works of art and imagery by transforming the functions of styles (e.g. cubism, expressionism) and/or moods (humorous, satirical, serious, playful, ironic, polemical). ○ and/or (Continued)

96  Martina Paatela-Nieminen • Create an entirely new interpretation. • Document the process and produce your artistic end product. Critical dialogue • Reflect on your own intertextual process, considering how the process of producing pluralities affected your thinking. Write down your reflections. • If you did group work, reflect on your intersubjective process, asking yourselves if you managed to produce intercultural understanding in your intersubjective and/or intermedial dialogue. Write down your reflections.

structure of textual relations between texts and culture are focused upon. The model has been developed in action research over several years and in many courses and it still continues to become more practical for a range of educational purposes.

The students The Erasmus students formed two groups. The four students in Group A came from Germany, Spain, Canada (currently an exchange student at a Spanish university) and the Netherlands. The three students in Group B came from Austria and Germany. The data, and the study material, are based on the students’ visual and written (e-)portfolios and their artistic end products as well as on their video-recorded presentations. Group A’s e-portfolio was rich in personal writing and reflection (40 pages) and their artistic end product was a voice file. Group B gave a more formal PowerPoint presentation of their mutual process including their artistic end product, which was a series of 14 photos and a video. Both presentations were documented on video. Group A’s presentation gave no new information in relation to their detailed (e-) portfolio, whereas Group B’s documented presentation complemented their portfolio. I chose to study Group A’s exhaustive process and to take group B’s more formal and condensed process descriptions into consideration in the results, although it would have been interesting to study how the intersubjective processes of these two groups had differed.

Analysis The research method was qualitative content analysis in which the aim is to find specific themes in the data. The data was collected with the guiding categories developed from the intertextual method: a paratext’s relations, its palimpsestic relations, and its cultural relations. These and the artistic production are described below and the reflection is included in the results. The students’ written and spoken (video recordings) experiences were located within these categories and a detailed synthesis arising from their experiences was written up. The students’ names have been changed.

Critical IC and appreciation of diversity  97

A text’s relations: a work of art is related to its context In accordance with the intertextual method, the Erasmus students started by getting to know Finnish art during their stay in Finland. To create a personal and contextual relation to works of arts, the students first visited Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki to choose a Finnish contemporary work of art that they found personally meaningful. The students were initially surprised when visiting Kiasma, and their immediate impressions were of bewilderment and perplexity. This was expected because both the starting point, contemporary Finnish art, and the intertextual model were new to them. However, after getting to know the museum they started to feel more comfortable. The students noticed that the works of art had an impact on each of them differently. They then decided to study a work of art as a text that touched them in a particular way and prompted them to ask several questions and seek answers. After the experience, recalling memories and feeling various emotions the students studied the works of art as texts that act as a threshold for producing interesting question(s) arising from the text itself (Genette, 1997a; Paatela-Nieminen, 1996; 2000). In what follows, parts of the students’ paratextual (Genette, 1997a) processes are presented. Zoe and Heike chose to study works of art as texts that contradicted their personal ways of thinking. Zoe’s choice was Roskavideo, Rubbish Video (2014) by Janne Nabb & Maria Teeri, because it inspired her to question and change her thinking habits: ‘When we were younger we were taught that when we were finished with something, we would immediately throw it away and forget about it – all because that’s what was told to us by our elders.’ However, Rubbish Video raised the question about using rubbish for creating something new. Zoe started to relate the video to its local context: ‘Maybe it is also some form of recycling movement because as we know and have experienced, there is a lot of consciousness towards reducing, reusing and recycling here.’ To find answers, she studied recycling in relation to Finnish culture. Heike, for her part, studied Jenni Hiltunen’s work, Grind (2011), a four-minute video projection of Jamaican dance. This video appeared to be in total conflict with her own German cultural background and previously learnt ways of interpreting art correctly. However, Heike was able to go beyond the learned cultural ways of seeing stereotypes to construct her cultural identity: ‘I’m from Germany and there Jamaican dancehall queen dancing is mostly just viewed as something really vulgar, obscene and sexual that women do in discotheques and clubs. People who dance that way are often times being looked at by others and people talk bad about them and judge them, just based on their style of dancing’. Heike started to question the stereotypes and prejudices that her society had earlier taught her. Her question was related to the bewilderment of realising that people can see a dance style in different ways: ‘As I watched the performance and simultaneously read

98  Martina Paatela-Nieminen

those articles and heard people bad-mouthing the dance style, the impression got stuck in my head, in my friends” heads and in the heads of many other people worldwide that the twerking style must be something obscene and vulgar, something “good girls” don’t do.’ To understand this issue further she related the dance to its context, its Jamaican roots, and studied the history of twerking. Wilma and Marta experienced their works of art through the senses. Wilma studied Jaakko Niemelä’s work, Usko, Faith (2006–2015), an installation of a room with a collapsed ceiling, which affected Wilma physically: ‘For me this piece of art started to symbolize this breaking free of something boring or something too regulated. I sense this urge or necessity for the ceiling to collapse, because that way, finally, new light can come in.’ Wilma’s question about Faith dealt with Dutch culture and breaking Dutch cultural habits: This art piece reminds me of this tendency in my culture, and how it feels to get only a little bit of freedom, even though there is a world that you can imagine where even more freedom would be possible. There is freedom, but socially there is still this unspoken frame in which one should behave. I personally believe that this tendency in my culture can be really problematic for the people that live in it. Marta studied Kaarina Haka’s piece, Nimetön, Nameless (2016), an installation falling between painting and sculpture: ‘Personally I think that art works from emotions and impulses. Pieces of paper that get goose bumps. Colours capable of making us feel in different ways.’ Marta’s question concerned Haka’s work of art, which seduces the viewers’ senses and offers materials that transmit warmth, peace, tranquillity and innocence. Marta studied these emotional and visual factors from the basis of colour theory and proceeded from there to Western ways of seeing space. All the students managed to find a work of art that interested them personally and asked a question about it. By studying the answers that came from various sources and references, the students contextualised their works of art in Finnish and Jamaican cultural settings to which they further related their own cultural identity. Zoe, Heike and Wilma critically questioned their local cultural preconceptions in their intercultural learning process. Marta’s process raised an aesthetic question within the context of Western art.

The palimpsestical relations between texts: a work of art is related to other works of art The Erasmus students continued their intercultural study, but at this point the students started to work together, intersubjectively. However, it is not always easy to accept another view even though the other does not always mean something external or outside oneself but may be an internal part of each of us.

Critical IC and appreciation of diversity  99

According to Kristeva (1991; 1993b), a foreigner lives within us and exists in a hidden part of our identity. When we recognise the foreigner within ourselves, we might be able to overcome hatred or fear of the other. The students’ dialogue was not always smooth: ‘It was like we hadn’t developed a language to talk about art together yet.’ The students started to share their subjective experiences with each other and agreed that they needed a mutual theme, a guiding principle of interest. They debated whether they would find something in common in all of their experiences despite their different choices of texts. They managed to construct their intersubjective group identity by discovering similarities in their experiences. They had all studied individuality and something that they thought was not commonly accepted or decent, such as making art out of rubbish, twerking, being between rules and freedom, and pondering in-between a sculpture or a painting. Their principle became agency: ‘By “agency” we mean the free will one has to act, think and be however they please, no matter what has been previously spelled out for them.’ They started to create a palimpsestic continuum from a genre of works of art that they thought depicted agency (Genette, 1997b; Paatela-Nieminen, 1996; 2000). The students studied Finnish works of art found in the Finnish National Gallery that comprises three Finnish art museums: Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, the Ateneum Art Museum that includes the main collection of Finnish art and the Sinebrychoff Art Museum of old European art. They studied the texts palimpsestically, from the newest to the oldest, to ascertain transformations from the continuum in order to produce differences. Instead of using their own original choices, the students chose a new text from Kiasma, Emerging Thoughts, by Anna Estarriola (2015), which consists of a big grey beanie with 60 different heads inside it. According to the students, art and thought are subjective and represent one’s own individual experience of free will. For them, the heads in Estarriola’s work represented the emotions and feelings that one experiences and which are influenced by the community or by the individuals that surround them. The students linked individual agency to Helge Dahlman’s work of art, War (1946–1948), in the Ateneum Art Museum. Although the students connected this work of art with Finnish wars and shortage of goods, it also envisioned for them a brighter future and growing agency. Then the students visited the Sinebrychoff Art Museum and found a painting entitled Greeks Entering Troy, by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (1770s). This painting depicts the ancient Greek myth about the Trojan horse and it showed the students: ‘How even though we act how we want, we don’t always get the outcome we want.’ After getting to know the Finnish art scene, the students focused on their individual cultures, each student looking for two texts from their home countries (Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain) this time with the guiding principle of agency in mind. Each student selected two texts from their own home country and discussed them together. They produced a palimpsestic image continuum, from the newest to the oldest, where they included

100  Martina Paatela-Nieminen

all the works of art that they had studied interculturally. They discussed and produced a difference from the continuum. In Todd McLellan’s photograph, Things Come Apart – Wind Up Clock (2011–2013), Zoe saw a society in which people are constantly rushing against time and have everything scheduled down to the minute: The hands of the clock can represent society and its expectations to get things done when they dictate it. They lead and control our thoughts and emotions. The breaking of the wind-up clock represents going against society’s standards of time. It represents freedom and breaking free, agency, that signifies doing whatever one wants ignoring what is expected/spelled out for everyone to do. On the other hand, 18 Minutes (a 3-minute video installation), by Adad Hannah (2010) restricts agency. The student saw a person acting against her/ his will but, at the same time, the picture represents an action that was not expected of her/him or of others: In life, sometimes we want the same things but for different reasons and in order to achieve these things you must go through some steps to accomplish it. For this to happen, only you can assert your own agency. What you do is your decision alone, no matter previous thoughts or warnings. Heike chose Der arme Poet, The Poor Poet by the German artist Carl Spitzweg (1839). According to Heike, the poet barely earns a living with his art of writing, studying and philosophy. Despite his poor living conditions, he continues working: It is his free will, his agency, to act that way, to do what he personally loves. Society, especially the German society of today would tell him to get a job, make money and stop living in a dream world. The poor poet doesn’t let society’s value system determine his way of life though. He chooses for himself and faces the consequences stoically. Hermine Oberück’s work, Alltag von Menschen mit geistigen Behinderungen, Unreasonable, Everyday Life of People with Intellectual Disabilities (1988), is a photo of a girl with Down Syndrome. Heike thinks that Oberück shows agency in defining beauty in many different ways, for example, by taking pictures of the overlooked and ignored. She thought that having a disability does not mean being ugly or segregated from the rest of society: ‘The girl in the photo looks confident, happy and content with herself and to me personally she is beautiful, her smile is captivating and her face is glowing. My agency, my free will, is to find her beautiful, whether society’s standards agree or not’.

Critical IC and appreciation of diversity  101

De aardappeleters, The Potato Eaters by the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh (1885) has always been present in Wilma’s life in the Netherlands. Due to this it was hard for her to look at the painting with new eyes: I couldn’t manage to really look at it, instead it was like a cliché of my town. Now I will look at it again, through the principle of agency. I never liked this painting, because I felt like it depicted the people of our town like animals almost. Something to be viewed, but something quite far away from the viewer. I wonder how these people themselves might have viewed this painting at the time. Were they happy to see themselves this way? Did they have a choice in the way they were depicted? I don’t think so. In that way they might not have agency in that moment. The artist and engineer, Theo Jansen, developed a series of kinetic sculptures since the 1990s, called Strandbeest: Animaris Apodiacula, Beach Beasts (2012–2013). Using wind power, the Beach Beasts can ‘walk’: When looking at the Strandbeest, I feel a similar kind of excitement as when I meet an animal in the forest. It’s uncanny how much they seem like animals or insects maybe. Some of them seem dangerous, I feel the urge to run from them. Others endear me, I might say I find them “cute” I think this is all a result of Jansen’s effort to create animals that live without his assistance. Sometimes he describes himself as God, the creator of new species, and his animals as ones that evolve over time. This idea to me is very interesting in light of our theme agency. In a very straightforward way it could be said that the sculptures “seem” to have agency, they have mechanisms that work on wind energy. And so, even if the artist or no one for that matter is present, they might move around. However, as an experiment 25 years in the making, one can see that Jansen’s goal is not to create sculptures that can move with the use of wind energy. His goal is to create life. Life that has agency per definition, and that can choose when to actually go to the beach and when not. Marta chose two Spanish cultural icons, Salvador Dali’s Persistence of Memory (1931) and Picasso’s Guernica (1937). These depict agency in two ways: ‘Just as time isn’t deterministic and rigid, our perception also has its own agency. When I see this I feel there is no time, there are no rules. The painting has its own “agency”’. The students noticed that the palimpsestic continuum showed a relation between their different depictions of free will, agencies and the use of similar topics at different periods. They also discovered several transformations and variations in the visual continuum of agency, such as the use of different media: painting, sculpture, installation, video, photography and the use of lighting. The students continued to discuss and produce the most interesting difference that they had found in the continuum which was beauty.

102  Martina Paatela-Nieminen

Cultural relations: a space of plural meanings The students drew out beauty as the most interesting difference in the palimpsestic continuum. They produced an intercultural space for their intercultural dialogue on beauty, with its different meanings in different sign systems. According to the students, there is beauty in art, but the way that beauty is visualised varies within the different texts. They gave examples of different visualisations of beauty. The work Unreasonable – Everyday Life of People with Intellectual Disabilities, portrays beauty in the main character, who was photographed as a shining person without disabilities. In Rubbish Video, beauty is being created out of trash, and in the installation, Faith, beauty is derived from a broken ceiling. The students agreed that beauty is plural because is eternally subjective and dependent on the viewer. The intertextual way of studying art history opens works of art to cultural connections. The students discussed the standards of beauty that depend on times and cultures. These standards influence culture as a whole and the students thought that they tended to be more traditional and that societies are often guided by them: The evolution of beauty throughout the ages has also impacted society in how we all act in one way or another. It feels as if we are letting voices dictate what beauty is and how it should be and as a result we tend to ignore and not acknowledge the beautiful things we possess because we are constantly comparing ourselves to what society has marked out for us. The students also discussed the different standards of beauty in their own countries and related themselves to photos of persons who are considered to be beautiful people: Rachel McAdams, Penélope Cruz, Doutzen Kroes and Claudia Schiffer – and these were placed next to pictures of themselves: ‘We could see from the “beautiful” people that we selected, that there are similarities between them, and we discussed how beauty standards are nowadays possibly becoming more global.’ Indeed, according to Kristeva, global cultural logic flattens the complexity of subjects (2000, p. 13). The students’ intersubjective dialogue was challenging because talking and writing about art need practice. It is laborious and difficult to translate one’s visual and emotional experiences into words especially when art vocabulary in general is not familiar, which is often the case with teacher and kindergarten students. Also, the students’ skills in using English varied considerably. It was one student’s mother tongue while the others were using it as their second language with varying levels of fluency. However, the intercultural dialogue was a meaningful process for finding personal interests: The individual combined with the group process really enabled me to reflect in many new meaningful ways. Then we started our tentative process of working together, and then alone again, and having

Critical IC and appreciation of diversity  103

to check back in with each other each time, just to see if we were still following one another. Many times we were not following each other of course. I wouldn’t say that this was mostly because of cultural differences, but really also just because of personal differences and the fact that all of us were really unfamiliar with this type of process. Slowly we started to be able to talk more together, and I personally really found my interest. The intercultural process was also an important way ‘to get to know one’s own culture further, while exploring Finnish culture and each other’s cultures. It has been really interesting and rewarding to work in a multicultural team. Everyone has been able to share art from their respective home countries’.

The students’ artistic end products The intertextual process helped the students to create new ideas artistically. The students were fascinated by beauty and the question of how to relate themselves to it in real life. They discovered that some of them had low self-esteem that caused them difficulties in considering themselves beautiful, while others thought that saying ‘I’m beautiful’ was arrogant. In their dialogue, they decided to contest and transform their ideas about beauty: ‘People often say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing you are the beholder.’ For their artistic end products the students created an audio file of their changing thought processes concerning their own beauty. The file starts with negative thoughts, such as ‘I don’t like the colour of my eyes’ and ‘That dress looks so much better on her’. Then the file proceeds to present more neutral ideas, such as ‘There are different types of bodies, this one is mine’ and ‘These are my eyes. Look at them’. The file continues with positive ideas, such as ‘Today I feel amazing’ and ‘I love myself ’. The students’ end product created an intertextual relation to the work of art by Anna Estarriola Emerging Thoughts by transforming the artist’s idea and presenting it in different media. Intertextual reading shows how ideas are recycled interculturally and intermedially. The students’ voices are heard in an audio file which sounds like a stream of consciousness, in which their various voices represent the collective cultural memory of women and their struggle to find a relation to their beauty. Their process also depicts how they (we all) are influenced by the negative, neutral and/or positive thoughts of others. The students produced a new idea for agency, in that their perception of their beauty is not just their own, but shared in the collective cultural space/memory. In accordance with Kristeva, it can be seen that the students’ practice of intertextual dialogue reshaped their subjectivity and identity as it was formed in and through art (Lechte, 1990, p. 53).

104  Martina Paatela-Nieminen

Results Critical intercultural competence is understood here as an ongoing learning process that takes place in a dialogue and produces self-expression. It focuses on understanding and respecting intercultural diversities as well as producing new ideas. The intertextual method provides an open-ended structure for comprehending textual transformations and creating new meanings. Dialogue is both the subject’s reading-writing process and an infinity of possibilities of signs at the same time. In this case, the intertextual model offered the students a new way to study art history interculturally, starting from contemporary art to old art and art history. With the model, the students learned more about their personal choice of contemporary art work through their questions that situated the art piece in its cultural context (text’s relations). In this way, they substantiated their intellectual curiosity and motivation for learning to learn. They also produced an image continuum of similar texts based on their theme, agency (texts’ relations). When reading palimpsestically, they could trace transformations and see how a newer work of art varied and transformed the older ones. These traces show how times and cultures vary, transform and recycle meanings. The students also managed to produce a difference, that of beauty, from the visual continuum. When the students examined the difference in an intercultural space, they realised that beauty could be understood interculturally in different sign systems and in diverse ways (cultural relations). This in turn created understanding of how plural meanings exist in different times and cultures. The students’ artistic end products illustrated how the intertextual study process helped them to create their new ideas artistically. Criticality is embedded in the intertextual study process itself. The intertextual process is challenging, however, and demands the interest and motivation to question, find out, analyse, assess and produce meanings and create new solutions. The learning process depends on the students’ will and motivation to produce knowledge and learning to learn. The process may remain vague or it may strengthen deficit beliefs if the study process is not profound enough for the individual mind but simply repeats familiar ideas. A curious and open attitude is needed for the intertextual dialogue, and this requires bearing uncertainty, as the process is open-ended and the individual is in the process of growth. At its best, the process is like an adventure that proceeds through ideas not known before. The students developed their critical intercultural competence in cooperation with others. The intertextual dialogue is a multifaceted intersubjective learning process. The beginning of the investigation process is often slow because it takes time to develop an interesting subject and discuss it with others. However, once the idea is found, the process usually proceeds and at best the students become interested in their own learning. They produced their artistic (e-)portfolio and outcome together. However, dialogue

Critical IC and appreciation of diversity  105

is further challenging because it is sometimes difficult to translate one’s visual and emotional experiences into art language in English, which was a second language for most. These issues made their dialogue sometimes perplexing. The students’ cultural identities were challenged in their intersubjective dialogue when they critically questioned their assumptions and cultural habits of understanding while producing plural interpretations. They mentioned that it is important to appreciate different values, for example, when they discussed their own and intersubjective views about agency. They stressed how they had to remember to respect others’ agency as they realised how diverse interpretations are. The intertextual dialogue seemed to encourage tolerance, for example, when they realised that even though they all came from different cultures, they could find a connecting idea in any art piece. According to the students’ presentations, (e-)portfolios and creative outcomes, the Erasmus students in both groups succeeded in creating an interesting intersubjective process and outcome. Their intercultural process combined Finnish art and art from their own countries. While remixing local art from Kiasma to global beauty icons they produced a new glocal hybrid for their end products. The local art they discussed also created a space for understanding the intersubjective theme of beauty in plural ways. Beauty was experienced personally and it revealed to them the collective cultural memory of the plural meanings of beauty.

Conclusions The intertextual way of studying art history is new in the context of exchange student teachers. However, offering the students an authentic experience of intersubjectively studying contemporary and other works of art in the art museums seemed to work well. They also managed to apply the intertextual model to studying the relations between works of art, creating an intersubjective study process and co-constructing an artistic end product. The reading process is a holistic experience because it includes logical thinking while simultaneously following the unconscious logic of dreams, in a sensory and bodily way. However, all these issues are challenging and success primarily depends on the students themselves and their artistic learning process. The intertextual model provides a structure for open-ended learning but it is not a recipe. In this case, it seemed to help stellar students to get involved in their study process. However, not all students were interested in open-ended processes. This gave me the idea that I would next develop different examples of intertextual processes for those students who find open-ended learning too laborious. Depending on the task and the target group, studying art history intertextually has the potential to become a profound (paratext and hypertext) and culturally vast (phenotext, genotext and rhizome) dialogue. As the method is

106  Martina Paatela-Nieminen

subjective, one may in the best case become motivated by learning to learn. However, intersubjective learning needs negotiation because the process should be equal for all participants. The intersubjective process encourages plural voices and may thus succeed with diverse children. However, the target group defines the open-endedness of the process. With the help of my colleagues, I have tried this method of teaching art history to pre-schoolers in a museum and high school students in their art classes. In both cases, the pre-schoolers/students have been encouraged to study texts open-endedly although the number of texts has been restricted, for example, by limiting the number of works of art. It is important for the occupation of future teachers to understand diversity. I think that these future teachers learned how art and cultural forms travel intertextually in-between different cultures and the process changes them. They also realised how differently we all think about the same texts. Although the intertextual method has originally been developed for research in the fields of arts, art education, visual culture and image studies, it may also have potential in other areas. I would also recommend the use of the intertextual model for teaching practice in art education as well as in other fields where it is important to study and produce plural meanings as well as to create new ones.

References Council of Europe (2008). White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue. ‘Living Together as Equals in Dignity’. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Ministers of Foreign Affair. https:// www.coe.int/t/dg4/intercultural/source/white%20paper_final_revised_en.pdf Council of Europe (2018). Intercultural Dialogue. https://www.coe.int/t/dg4/ intercultural/policy_EN.asp? Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1987). A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Minneapolis, London: The University of Minnesota. Finnish National Board of Education (2016). National Core Curriculum for Basic Education 2014. Helsinki: Finnish National Board of Education. Genette, G. (1997a). Paratexts. Thresholds of Interpretation. Literature, Culture, Theory series, 20. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Genette, G. (1997b). Palimpsests. Literature in the Second Degree. Lincoln, London: University of Nebraska. Halinen, I. (2011). Intercultural Competence. In L. Jääskeläinen & T. Repo (Eds.), Schools Reaching out to a Global World. What Competences do Global Citizens Need? (pp. 76–81). Helsinki: Finnish National Board of Education. www.oph.fi/download/139354_Schools_reaching_out_to_a_global_world.pdf Hartikainen, M., & Mattila, P. (2011). Intercultural Competence. In L. Jääskeläinen & T. Repo (Eds.), Schools Reaching out to a Global World. What Competences do Global Citizens Need? (pp. 85–89). Helsinki: Finnish National Board of Education. www. oph.fi/download/139354_Schools_reaching_out_to_a_global_world.pdf

Critical IC and appreciation of diversity  107

Hatton, K. (2016). A Poetical Journey: In What Ways are Theories Derived from Postcolonialism, Whiteness and Poststructural Feminism Implicated in Matters of Intercultural Arts Rresearch? In P. Burnard, E. Mackinlay & K. Powell (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Intercultural Arts Research (pp. 46–56). Abingdin: Routledge. Kristeva, J. (1984). Revolution in Poetic Language. New York: Columbia University. Kristeva, J. (1991). Strangers to Ourselves. New York: Columbia University. Kristeva, J. (1993a). Desire in Language. A Semiotic Approach to Literature and Art. Oxford: Blackwell. Kristeva, J. (1993b). Nations without Nationaism. New York: Columbia University. Kristeva, J. (2000). Crisis of the European Subject. New York: Other. Lechte, J. (1990). Julia Kristeva. London: Routledge, Paatela-Nieminen, M. (1996). Intertekstuaalinen tutkimus englantilaisista Alice in Wonderland kuvituksista vuosilta 1984–1994 ja Alices in Wonderlands – Multimedia. [Intertextual Study on English Alice in Wonderland – Illustrations between 1984–1994 in the Form of a Multimedia]. Licentiate thesis. Helsinki: University of Art and Design, Department of Art Education (library ed.) (nowadays Aalto University). Paatela-Nieminen, M. (2000). On the Threshold of Intercultural Alices. Intertextual Research on the Illustrations of the English Alice in Wonderland and the German Alice im Wunderland in Intermedia Research in the Field of Art Education. Doctoral thesis in the form of a multimedia on CD. University publication series A 29. Helsinki: University of Art and Design (nowadays Aalto University). Paatela-Nieminen, M. (2008). The Intertextual Method for Art Education Applied in Japanese Paper Theatre—a Study on Discovering Intercultural Differences. The International Journal of Art & Design Education. Vol. 27, issue 1, pp. 91–104. doi:10.1 111/j.1476–8070.2008.00561 Paatela-Nieminen, M., Itkonen, T., & Talib, M. (2016). Reconstructing Imagined Finnishness: The Case of Art Education through the Concept of Place. The International Journal of Art& Design Education. Vol. 35, issue 2, pp. 229–242. doi:10.1111/ jade.12057 Paatela-Nieminen, M., & Itkonen, T. (2017). Reading the World as Texts: Intertextuality in Theory and Practice for (Art) Education. In T. Itkonen, F. Dervin (Eds.), Silent Partners in Multicultural Education (pp. 21–22). Charlotte: IAP. Saillant, F. (2017). Diversity, Dialogue and Sharing. Online Resources for a more Resourceful World. Paris: UNESCO. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002487/ 248717e.pdf Savva, A., & Telemachou, N. (2016). Voices and Positions. Facilitating Dialogue through Arts and Media. In S. Gonçalves, & S. Majhanovich (Eds.), Art and Intercultural Dialogue. (pp. 143–160). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. https://www.sensepublishers.com/media/2716-art-and-intercultural-dialogue.pdf Unesco (2000). World Culture Report. Cultural Diversity, Conflict and Pluralism. Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Unesco (2011). A New Cultural Policy Agenda for Development and Mutual Understanding. Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. http:// unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002147/214747e.pdf Unesco (2013). Intercultural Competences. Conceptual and Operational Framework. Paris: UNESCO. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002197/219768e.pdf

Chapter 7

Intercultural ethics in education Tuija Itkonen

1. Introduction The concept of ‘intercultural’ challenges practitioners in educational contexts around the world. There seems to be a demand for lists of ‘competences’ thought necessary to be an ‘interculturally competent’ educator. The plethora of prescriptions for how to address intercultural issues is confusing (e.g. Dervin, 2016, amongst others). In this study, such remedies are called for educators in upper secondary vocational education and training (hereafter VET) in Finland. The context, rich at the outset with intersecting individual needs and aspirations, varying levels of skills, abilities, dispositions and worldviews, is quite complex for (VET) educators. Every day teachers facilitate and manage teaching-learning contexts that often entail dilemmatic decision-making – all the while trying to keep an ethical balance between personal, professional and administrative demands and preferences. In support of teachers’ professionalism as ‘humanity cultivators and transformative intellectuals’, Chen, Wei and Jiang (2016, pp.  1–3; cf. Talib, 2005) argue for an ‘ethical turn’ for research and practice in teacher education to help teachers develop their practical knowledge and professionalism. This chapter addresses the issue. A number of scholars, Martine Abdallah-Pretceille (1986, 2006), Shi-xu (2001) and Edward Said (1978) among them, have argued that the prevailing cultural/national discourses tend to deny individuals’ their human agency by essentialising and over-simplifying complex (cultural) realities. Acceptance of alternative perspectives is slow due to the fact that many ‘intercultural’ models still operate around the world (e.g. Dervin, 2016; Holliday, 2010, 2011; McSweeney, 2002). This has catered towards seeking after ‘quick fixes’, prescriptions or ‘competences’ thought necessary to manage intercultural issues in business (e.g. Fougère & Moulettes, 2007; McSweeney, 2002), politics (e.g. Phillips, 2007) as well as in education (e.g. Dervin, 2016; Dervin & Machart, 2015; Holliday, 2010, 2011). This chapter takes a step beyond linear dialectics of ethics and competence-based approaches towards intercultural encounters by (1) providing a theoretical look into critical and reflexive interculturalism

Intercultural ethics in education  109

and (2) complementing it with philosophical hermeneutics of the self as understood by Paul Ricoeur (1992), amended with that of Emmanuel Levinas (2000), and Buddhist perspective on ethics – all three perspectives essentially working from the premise of co-emergent and co-involved, shared humanity. This serves as a framework to examine instances of vocational education and training (VET) teachers’ ethically caring work with diverse students. The qualitative data of this study consists of 10 interviews and 85 open questions from educators in 5 Finnish upper secondary VET institutions in the metropolitan area of Helsinki, Finland. Through this exploration, this chapter aims to conceptualise and advocate intercultural ethics in education. The chapter begins with a brief look into the context of the data. This is followed by providing a theoretical background into critical and reflexive interculturalism and ethics in education from unconventional perspectives as indicated above. Analysis provides a view into the VET teachers’ dilemmatic decision-making and ethical caring, as well as reflection thereof. The chapter concludes with reflections on intercultural ethics and suggestions for teacher education and for future research.

2. The context Upper secondary VET provides a rich context for intercultural matters in Finnish education. Initial VET is a popular choice for post-compulsory school graduates as it not only provides initial preparation and qualifications for employment but also serves as a platform for further secondary and tertiary education. VET also provides paths to (re)educate and (re)train immigrants, migrants and those who otherwise are in need of qualifications or have gaps in their employable skills (Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, 2010, 2016). According to the official information from Education Statistics Finland available at the time of writing (https://vipunen.fi/fi-fi/yhteiset/Sivut/Kansainv%C3%A4lisyys.aspx), nearly 58% of all new students entering post-comprehensive levels (and leading to a degree or qualification) chose VET as their educational platform in 2015. While about 55% of the new VET students spoke languages other than the two official languages (Finnish and Swedish) in 2015, the corresponding amount in 2010 was 42 %. Furthermore, almost 48% of those students entered VET colleges located in the Southern region of Finland, mostly in the metropolitan area of Helsinki. Approximately 20% of all the new VET students not speaking the two official Finnish languages chose to study in the field of health, welfare and sports (https://vipunen.fi/fi-fi/yhteiset/Sivut/Kansainv%C3%A4lisyys. aspx), a sub-field of which, practical nurse training, is the source of data for this study. The numbers above reveal some of the implications the diversification of Finnish society has on Finnish (VET) education. As with any educational context involving students, educational and administrative staff, VET is a

110  Tuija Itkonen

mélange of varying levels of professional and personal background characteristics: aptitudes towards learning and teaching, studying skills, engagement and motivation, as well as of differences in behaviour and conduct, individual abilities and outcomes accordingly (cf. OECD, 2016). Alongside Finland, upper secondary VET is a popular choice in countries such as Australia, Austria and the Netherlands, to mention a few (OECD, 2106). Although large numbers of young people are expected to graduate from upper secondary VET programmes, the numbers of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) are on the rise throughout OECD countries (OECD, 2017). A 25-year longitudinal study on Finns born in 1987 by Ristikari et al. (2016) showed that inequalities in educational attainment tend to persist over generations, particularly among those with disadvantaged backgrounds, i.e. those with low socio-economic status, low-educated parents, and immigrants (cf. OECD, 2016; Beicht & Walden, 2017; on issues of refugees, race and white privilege in VET, see Chadderton & Edmonds, 2015). In sum, the context provided above is quite complex for VET educators to manage as they coach students through numerous pedagogical situations which often involve dilemmatic decision-making – all the while trying keep an ethical balance between personal, professional and administrative demands and preferences. This study focuses on the (VET) educators’ role in promoting ethically caring teaching-learning conditions, facilitating social well-being for all involved.

3. Theoretical underpinnings 3.1 From cultural to intercultural and the trouble with ‘competence’

The concept of ‘intercultural’ takes on various meanings depending on the context, user and purpose. Often used interchangeably with notions of multiculturality, transculturality, cross-culturality, etc., the concept is confusing, or as Dervin (2016) argues, polysemic (cf. Phillips, 2007; Piller, 2011, amongst others). He proposes the suffix -ality attached to the intercultural, for the reason that interculturality lends itself well for (intercultural) encounters to be thought of as a co-emergent, fluid processes, always in the making rather than being something that is fixed (cf. Abdallah-Pretceille, 1986, 2006; Holliday, 2010). When ‘intercultural’ is used to conceptualise, frame and explain teaching-learning contexts, the term is loaded with political and ideological implications in educational policy and practice (Shi-xu, 2001). Teachers, as all of us, operate with social imaginaries (Taylor, 2004) as kinds of tacit and unconscious road maps that carry a potential risk of creating new and/or maintaining existing differential biases and injustices, and of exposing certain groups to different forms of discrimination (Dervin, 2016, pp. 3–4; cf. Ahmed, 2012; Gorski, 2008; Holliday, 2010).

Intercultural ethics in education  111

There are many intercultural models available for education (for a critical look of currently operating ones, see Dervin 2016), including those for training in the health care sector (e.g. Hvalič-Touzery et al., 2017; for an extensive literature review of cultural competence models and cultural competence assessment instruments in nursing over the past decades, see Shen, 2014). Rooted in dichotomising Western viewpoints (Said, 1978) and relying on deterministic perceptions of cultures as homogeneous and static (Dervin & Tournebise, 2013; Holliday, 2011; Itkonen et al., 2015b; McSweeney, 2002), they tend (implicitly) to perpetuate prejudices, stereotypes, and ethnocentrism (e.g. Abdallah-Pretceille, 1986, 2006; Holliday, 2010; Shi-xu, 2001). Operating from the premise of accumulation of knowledge about specific cultures/nations and, hence, of acquired competence(s) expected to help deal with intercultural encounters also enables using culture (instead of people) as the culprit for misunderstanding, but also verbal and physical conflicts (Dervin & Machart, 2015; Phillips, 2007; Sen, 2006; Wikan, 2002). The burden of attaining ‘cultural competence(s)’ to manage encounters complicated by perceived differences is assumed as the responsibility of an individual, here a teacher. The discourse on competence(s) also leads to mismatch and confusion within the complex social realities of life in educational contexts: for the lack of clear definitions and due to the sheer variety of miscellaneous approaches towards cultural competence to choose from, it is difficult if not impossible to properly assess cultural competence (e.g. Shen, 2014). This discourse also does not pay enough attention to intersectionality (Anthias, 2013; Núñez, 2014) in terms of individuals’ identity formations (multiple, perceived and acquired): identity formations are continually informed by stereotypes, representations and ideologies, which then influences (intercultural) encounters, discourses about the self and the other (Dervin, 2012; Holliday, 2010; Itkonen et al., 2015b; Itkonen et al., 2015a; Sen, 2006). Scholars of critical and reflexive interculturalism point to the very nature of interaction. Taking contexts closely into account, they pay attention to intersectionality, the co-construction and negotiation of multiple identities (as in gender, religion, sexuality, age, social class, etc.; see e.g. Anthias, 2013; Sen, 2006). Examining discourse and appearances beyond the immediate surface, the critical interculturalists de-construct, criticise and re-construct. They steer away from the over-emphasis of culture and differentialist bias by replacing narratives of differences with that of shared values and commonalities (Abdallah-Pretceille, 1986, 2006; Dervin, 2016, pp. 103–106; Holliday, 2010; Shi-xu 2001; cf. Itkonen & Paatela-Nieminen, 2015a; Itkonen et al., 2015b, amongst others). In other words, critical and reflexive interculturalism models the concept around ‘awareness of and sensitivity to the essentially different behaviors and values of “the other culture” but around the employment of the ability to read’ the underlying universal ‘cultural processes’, as Adrian Holliday (2011, p. 2) states.

112  Tuija Itkonen

Before moving on to the next section, I wish to make two points. Firstly, the concept of diversity merits attention as it closely rivals the notion of ‘interculturality’ in its instability, polysemy, ideological and political denotations and connotations. Often referring to differences and homogenised ‘oneness’ (as opposed to multiplicity), the use of the term in education may enable systematic (hidden) injustice and make teachers (scholars, leaders, politicians, administrators, etc.) accomplices to injustices (Dervin, 2016, p. 28; see also Ahmed, 2012; Itkonen et al., 2015a, 2015b; Wikan, 2002; Wood, 2003). The critical interculturalist does not accept tacit consensus by taking diversity at face value but questions the very notion of it and is aware of the terms often being used wrongly or inaccurately, thereby hiding the people behind the notions (Dervin, 2016, p. 8). Furthermore, since individual identities are negotiated and co-constructed through interaction – a process that involves intersections of e.g. gender, sexuality, ethnicity or social class – the term diversity should rather be thought in the plural as diversities (Dervin, 2013; cf. Sen, 2006, p. 13). In line with the above, my understanding of interculturality and diversity concerns all of human interaction, i.e. inter-culturality encompasses any type of diversity among people we encounter and not only in terms of traditional connotations such as ‘ethnicities’, ‘cultures’, ‘immigrants’, or the like. 3.2 From ethics to intercultural ethics in education

In his 1970 book, Michel Foucault (p. 4) describes the silent interaction taking place between the spectator and the figures in the 1656 painting Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez: ‘A mere confrontation, eyes catching one another’s glance, direct looks superimposing themselves upon one another as they cross. And yet, this slender line of reciprocal visibility embraces a whole complex network of uncertainties, exchanges, and feints’. For me, Foucault’s words could apply to any human encounter (denoted as intercultural or not): if the apparent is taken for face value or taken for granted during human interaction, then we may miss out on the richness behind the masks, fronts and representations. The way I understand Foucault here is that, through the act of looking and seeing, the spectator is integrally part of what takes place in the world of the painting – and beyond, since each of us encountering others (or images/ideas/representations) arrives at the scene with personal sets of histories, narratives, identities, values, and so forth (cf. Berger, 1972; Taylor, 2004). This is where ethics comes into play as the need for individuals to reflect upon available choices while making decisions and how the choice, not always clear in terms of right of wrong, affects ourselves and our conduct towards and about others. For teachers, it is the complex web of intersecting positionalities, ideologies and relations intertwined that cause uncertainties, contradictions, ethical ambiguities, and (moral) dilemmas in everyday contexts (see Campbell, 2008, for an extensive literature review of

Intercultural ethics in education  113

the field of professional ethics in teaching; Colnerud, 2006, 2015; cf. Itkonen et al., 2015b). It should also be noted that the Western perspective of ethics in education has tended to rely on linear dialectic (teacher-student) with relational constituency of expectations of reciprocity attached to it (Chang & Bai, 2016, p. 26; see Noddings, 1984, on ‘care ethics’ in education) – which, of course, tends to polarise interaction and supports the idea of (accumulated) competency for the part of the teacher. Paul Ricoeur’s (1992) hermeneutics of the self resonates with the critical intercultural perception of an individual’s self hood (identities) always in the process of becoming, co-constructed and co-existing in and through interaction in a mutually shared world. Steering away from dichotomising perceptions of self and other-than-self, the duality of which is based on comparison only (oneself similar to other), Ricoeur (1992, p. 3) suggests a type of otherness that is so intimately and intrinsically constitutive of one’s self hood that ‘one cannot be thought without the other, that instead one passes into the other’. This notion he calls oneself-as-another and signifies the importance of the ‘as’ with an implication of oneself inasmuch as being other. Buddhist metaphysics shifts the experience of non-duality of self-other to encompass all life, all beings interdependent through co-originating dynamics (Chang and Bai, 2016, pp. 23, 25). Drawing from the contemplative Buddhist traditions to amend the Western perception of ethics, Chang and Bai (2016, p. 25; Bai, 1999, p. 7) argue that it is possible to find a more stable foundation for ethical action ‘when caring proceeds from the understanding of “self-and-other” as a continuity, which informs an eudaimonic 1 view of morality that aims at mutual harmony and flourishing among all beings whose existence is perceived to be interdependent and co-emergent’. According to Ricoeur (1992, p.  170), the distinction between ethics and morality involves the heritage of both Aristotelian deontological and Kantian teleological perspectives: ethics is that which is considered good and morality as that which imposes itself as obligatory. Morality constitutes only ‘a limited, although legitimate and even indispensable, actualization of the ethical aim, and ethics in this sense would then encompass morality’, i.e. ethics stands ‘for the aim of an accomplished life’ and morality ‘for the articulation of this aim in norms characterized at once by the claim to universality and by an effect of constraint’ (pp. 170–171). Extending ethics from interpersonal relations to systems and structures of shared spaces (e.g. education), Ricoeur (1992) defines ethical intention ‘as aiming at the “good life” with and for others, in just institutions’ (p. 172) – the good life for each of us as the ‘ideals and dreams of achievements with regard to which a life is held to be more or less fulfilled or unfulfilled’ (p. 179). Institutions, he continues, are the shared historical communities such as people/ethnicity, nation, region, and so forth, ‘a structure irreducible to interpersonal relations and yet bound up with … the notion of distribution’ (p. 194), implying the need for justice and fairness.

114  Tuija Itkonen

As far as education (as an institution) is concerned, the interplay of learning-teaching, enmeshed with ‘co-emergent and co-incidental view of ethical relations’, can be thought of as ‘a collaborative project of collective wellbeing rather than a dialectic between two distinct monads encased in a circle of reciprocity’, as Chang and Bai (2016, p. 26, italics original) state. They suggest that teaching should be viewed ‘as a form of self-cultivation wherein ‘self ’ implies ‘self-with-other’, and that this shift in understanding benefits teachers in expanding their ‘capacities of patience, attention, discernment, and responsiveness’ (ibid.) – which then helps teachers to tackle ethical dilemmas and be more readily responsive in the immediacy of everyday situations without being consumed by expectations of reciprocity. Alongside Ricoeur (1992), I find Chang and Bai’s (2016) ethical orientation useful for conceptualising intercultural ethics. The perspectives complement each other: they operate from the premise of the interconnectedness of shared and plural humanity and find encouragement in mutuality rather than from juxtapositions. The co-incidental and co-emerging ontological involvement of oneself-as-another or oneself-with-other are seen as intuitively constitutive of our being and as instinctive and immediately reflexive ‘as reaching out to catch a falling teacup’ (Chang & Bai, 2016, p. 25). This also resonates with Emmanuel Levinas (2000) for whom the ethical relationship between the Same and the Other manifests in ‘the deference of the Same to the Other’, and because of that, ‘the ethical relationship no longer has to be subordinated to ontology or the thinking of being’ (p. 127). Considering ethical responsibility for other human beings, Levinas argues that ‘ethics contrasts with intentionality, as it also does with freedom: to be responsible is to be responsible before any decision’ (p. 172), much like a word prior to any language (i.e. the ethical imperative towards the other is as immediate and transcendent as language without any preceding thought; see Levinas, 2000, The Saying, p. 161). For Ricoeur (1992), ethical subjectivity includes the notion of solicitude in an ethically caring relationship. He links solicitude to the self and the ethical aim as a ‘dimension of value, whereby each person is irreplaceable in our affection and our esteem’ (p. 193). Linking solicitude to the sense of justice and the notion of equality, he states that ‘equality, however it is modulated, is to life in institutions what solicitude is to interpersonal relations’, and explains it further (p. 202): Solicitude provides to the self another who is a face … Equality provides to the self another who is an each. In this, the distributive character of ‘each’ passes from the grammatical plane … to the ethical plane. Because of this, the sense of justice takes nothing away from solicitude; the sense of justice presupposes it, to the extent that it holds persons irreplaceable. Justice in turn adds to solicitude, to the extent that the field of application of equality is all of humanity.

Intercultural ethics in education  115

In summary of the theoretical framework conceptualised above, I advocate an ethical shift in the general perception of interculturality in education towards the direction of intercultural ethics: a direction that looks beyond shallow lists of categorisations inferring stable systems and linear models of interaction and conduct (see section 3.1.; reference to other chapters in book), one that addresses the issue of perceived ‘differences’ from the point of view of mutuality, shared humanity and values rather than ‘culturally competencing’ ourselves and others out of the full human agency entitled to each of us.

4. Design This chapter draws upon a set of qualitative data that includes 10 semistructured interviews and 85 responses (voluntary and anonymous) to open comments from educators involved in practical nurse training in five Finnish VET institutions in the capital area of Helsinki, Finland. The survey was conducted in co-operation with the Department of Teacher Education and the Center of Continuing Education Palmenia, University of Helsinki, Finland, in 2011–2012. Two male and eight female educators (ages 35–65 years with 6–28 years of work experience) were selected of those (n = 61, N=177) who indicated their willingness to be interviewed in an electronic survey. Informants reflected on diversities and interculturality in their work during the individual, semi-structured interviews which took 30–60 minutes (recorded and transcribed). The interviews and open comments and were read and reread several times with intercultural ethics as the theoretical lens and a guide. The analysis of the data was conducted by means of discourse analysis (Fairclough, 2003), a method that allows me to look behind the mere descriptions on the surface of the data and to critically examine the discourses. This study focuses on (VET) educators’ reflection upon diversity and interculturality in their work, concentrating on the types of situations involving dilemmatic decision-making and ethical caring. The excerpts chosen from the interviews are coded in H+numeral, and the open comments with the letter C+numeral. Excerpts have been translated from Finnish into English by the author.

5. Towards intercultural ethics Despite its relatively small scale, the data provides an incisive view into the VET teachers’ dilemmatic decision-making and ethical caring, and reflection thereof. While strong differentialist/ethnicist tendencies – tendencies that often polarise intercultural interaction and leave teachers wishing for ‘competences’ – could be detected in the data (see Itkonen, et al., 2015b), there were also indications of deep ethical caring among the informants as well as of needs for fairness and social justice, i.e. solicitude (see section 3.2). Interestingly, one of the interviewed teachers (H4) chose to talk about her observations about VET teachers working with immigrant/diverse students

116  Tuija Itkonen

during the two decades of her career. She discussed at length how many of the teachers in health and social care field, often disposed as caring individuals at the outset, exhausted themselves in the process. She comments on the well-meaning but overprotective teachers: There were teachers who really took it upon themselves to care and help … and they said they were exhausted: when I help, the student is grateful and it feels good, but the student doesn’t understand that the teacher is not responsible for everything … but they [the diverse students] eventually took [the help] for granted and the teachers became exhausted. (H4) As said, the Western ethical perspective with relational constituency of reciprocal expectations attached (Chang & Bai, 2016; see Noddings, 1984, on care ethics) is alive and well here. And, as she (4H) continues on the teachers’ expectations in the midst of ambiguities and difficulties – ‘Aren’t there any books to read so would know how to do this? Where’s the recipe?’ – we are on our way towards lists of competences. 5.1 Ethical matters concerning diversity and interculturality

It seems that interculturality in the professional context of (VET) teaching is quite sensitive to talk about; it brings about personal passions and, at times, unease. Despite the fact that political correctness is expected of educators, their social imaginaries (Taylor, 2004) often get in the way. Nevertheless, decisions on action and conduct need to be made, and maintaining an ethical balance in the process is not always easy. Some of this struggle can be detected in the teachers’ ambiguous articulation and ambivalent messages: talking stops short, new thoughts interrupt, quick corrections, repetitions and long pauses in their speech. Such confusion can be detected for instance in the following teacher talking about (cultural) differences in students’ aptitudes towards learning: And is said that [pause] … here it becomes again [pause] … 1 go back to [pause] … differences in cultures, that how you work on this. When you go to a Finnish [pause] … and this is not racist labeling but it just shows so clearly [pause] … for instance [nationality]or [nation] are pretty humble and assess themselves … but then in [nationality] cultures they start from yeah I deserve a [a good grade] … (H5) The teachers reflected on dilemmatic situations on many different levels: interaction with students, choosing suitable pedagogies and assessing students. They spoke of discomfort and concern over difficulties in meeting institutional and policy-level expectations while trying to maintain equal standards

Intercultural ethics in education  117

in practice and outcomes. They were concerned about being part of structures they fear would not prove sustainable for students in the long run (cf. Itkonen et al., 2015b). One of the most ethically challenging matters for VET teachers in the health and social care training involved serious insufficiencies in some of the diverse students’ Finnish language skills (n=31 open comments, discussed in each interview). The teachers understood that language skills affected all aspects of students’ performance and attainment all across the board. The following examples speak of an ethical concern for the students’ futures as employees in health and social care field: It’s difficult when a student is set up to do tasks way too challenging for someone with weak language skills. This is against the rights of the student. Good language skills are a must in order to understand the study content as a whole and not just a loose sentence here and there. (C44) Assessment is difficult: do I assess language skills or vocational skills? (C59) My student worked diligently and conscientiously in the field. For her to be certified, however, she is expected to handle abstract-level Finnish. Depending on the employer or educational practitioner, assessing student attainment seems unequal, at times language proficiency is adequate, sometimes not. (C64) Gaps in language proficiency also affected safety and communication with health and social care clients, which the teachers saw would ultimately undermine vocational craftsmanship. A teacher reflects: The assessment of a student’s learning is validated better that it actually is only because of poor language skills. Much less is required from diverse students than from others – which is of no use to them and doesn’t help develop vocational skills. Good vocational skills and sufficient language skills enable well-balanced, skillfull employment. (C23) The (institutional, systemic) expectancies of bias and deficiency detected in the above samples tend to perpetuate for the (diverse) graduates as they enter the labour markets and participate in the economies of the surrounding society (cf. Ahmed, 2012; Wortham, 2006, amongst others). Whilst it is crucial for teachers to recognise and question these types of ideological and institutional processes and forms that (re)produce oppressive conditions, they are often left feeling uneasy over the future of their student despite having tried their best under the circumstances (cf. Itkonen et al., 2015b). The teacher in the following is making an effort to stay positive at the face of challenges: Working with diverse students … is usually fun and rewarding. Usually the atmosphere is open and tolerant as long as one self is open and tolerant. Of course there are challenges but all’s well with common sense and

118  Tuija Itkonen

an open mind. Asking and showing that you really are interested in the person whatever the language, culture or color or whatever, you get really far. It’s not necessarily important to deeply know different cultures. Instead, versatile interactional skills are a big help. (C9) While the teacher above points to the importance of interactional skill, we must remember that interaction always takes place in contexts of power imbalance and that mutual understanding must be co-negotiated and coconstructed (Shi-xu, 2001; Dervin, 2016). Human encounters are never fixed but rather co-emergent, fluid processes of becoming (cf. Abdallah-Pretceille, 1986, 2006; Holliday, 2010). It seems that the more meta-level thinking and reflection the teacher has done, the less confrontational the communication about interculturality and diversity is. Although the teacher below hesitates somewhat, she understands the importance self-reflection as a source to navigate intercultural encounters: But you become … you become more and more sensitive. And if you have some experience of [multiculturalism], then you already are a bit [pause] … Those who have experience and who have multicultural backgrounds then those [pause] … it can be linguistic how you twist and turn … it gets finer and finer. You cannot force anyone but everyone for themselves. But slowly and warmly, positively. Everyone can examine themselves. (H4) As Chang and Bai (2016, p. 26) claim, when teaching is viewed as ‘a form of self-cultivation wherein self implies self-with-other’, ethical reflection helps teachers’ gain in discernment, patience and capacity to be readily responsive in the immediacy of everyday pedagogical as well as collegial contexts. Reflexivity also increases teachers’ sensitivity and courage to question the taken-for-granted biases and stereotypes, to pay attention to intersectionality, and to acknowledge diversity within diversities. This supports teachers’ willingness and readiness to question and think about their own identities and outlooks, to consider perspectives outside their immediate (professional) selves, and encourages dialogue. 5.2 Solicitude – aiming at good life with and for others in just institutions

Much of the VET teachers’ communication centred on immediate everyday intercultural encounters, concerns over language, values, systemic issues and the like. Yet, the presence of deep ethical caring, concern over fairness and social justice, i.e. solicitude, was detected as well. This was particularly clear in the way one special needs VET teacher (H9) spoke about his work among diverse students, including young people and adults with mental or physical

Intercultural ethics in education  119

disabilities and/or under the threat of dropping out and becoming marginalised. In order to best demonstrate an ethical intention of ‘aiming at the “good life” with and for others in just institutions’ (Ricoeur, 1992, p. 172), I use this teacher as a case study for this part of the analysis. At the outset, the outlook of the special needs teacher was open towards shared and plural humanity, and he regarded diversity as an added value in his work: Whether an immigrant or a special needs [student] or any young person or an adult … there aren’t those border fences. I think it a kind of richness you must start from. Meet the person as a human being. (H9) The strength of this teacher’s self-knowledge and deep deference towards ‘the other’ (Levinas, 2000) enables him to commit himself to professional caring. Along with a few other teachers, he voiced himself as one of the key adults/ figures in a struggling student’s process of learning necessary life and vocational skills. He spoke of flexibility, of personalising learning paths beyond the usual, and of other extensive efforts to provide chances for the student to succeed, to develop a sense of self-efficacy and to learn. Equipped with positive attributions about his students and colleagues, believing in everyone’s ability to learn regardless of challenges, and realising his role as an agent of change in the individual lives of students (cf. Gay, 2010; Talib, 2005), the VET teacher (H9) asks: ‘What can be done to get that person forward in this world and to find those moments of success?’ He continues on the crucial role of gaining self-esteem: ‘Everyone needs self-esteem whatever culture you’re from, it’s the same whether you are under the threat of being marginalised or whether it’s about language or mental or physical challenges – it’s about succeeding. Everybody is good at something.’ Concentrating on shared commonalities rather than hiding behind differentialist bias and categorisations, the teacher (H9) spoke of facilitating community/work-like teaching-learning conditions in support of students’ sense of belonging: We all support each other here just like in a work environment. We’re all in the same working team … everyone holding a position of their own but part of the same working community and colleagues and do our job the best we can. (H9) He also spoke of creating teaching-learning circumstances that allow for exchange of ideas, opinions, personal histories and perspectives as well as strategies to manage and rise above disappointments and challenges. This type of peer-mentoring he himself modelled as well. Alongside working as a teacher, he had continued his professional development by educating himself further over the years, and now depicted himself as a coach giving guidance and supporting individual growth in students rather than as an authoritative figure

120  Tuija Itkonen

giving orders from above. Yet, the way he spoke is telling of clear pedagogical thinking and professional tact, as in the excerpt below: It’s just to get everyone moving on as equals. We all have our deficits and our strengths and the deficits we transform into strengths … Not authoritatively … I can be criticized as well. Otherwise I can’t change my ways either … And I set myself in their shoes but am clear in that things must be done according to the best of our abilities … Set goals in life and get over disappointments. (H9) For this teacher, the interplay of learning-teaching with and among his students is all part of the ‘collaborative project of collective wellbeing’ (Chang & Bai, 2016, p. 26, see section 3.2.). It supports the critical intercultural perceptions of identities being fluid and always in the process of becoming, co-emergent through interaction (see section 3.1.). Not once did this special needs VET teacher mention (intercultural) competences. In essence, his humble yet strong sense self – gained by meta-level self-reflection, his open attitude towards shared and plural humanity, and his ethical sensitivity towards diversity, the other – has freed him from the need to treat students (colleagues) according to essentialising categories that often rid people of their full potential and agency. His sense of fairness and justice ‘takes nothing away from solicitude’ but instead ‘presupposes it, to the extent that it holds person irreplaceable’ (Ricoeur, 1992, p. 202; see section 3.2.). Furthermore, if teaching is viewed ‘as a form of self-cultivation wherein ‘self ’ implies ‘self-with-other’, then this teacher’s solicitude affects his pedagogical thinking, ethical decision-making and action thereof, and as such, expands his ‘capacities of patience, attention, discernment, and responsiveness’ (Chang & Bai, 2016, p. 26, see section 3.2.). His example shows how a teacher is able to aim at good life with and for others in just institutions.

6. Concluding reflections This study examines teachers’ work among diverse VET students. It demonstrates that VET teachers navigate through difficult dilemmatic decisions concerning their students’ learning and well-being while trying to maintain an ethical balance both professionally and personally. The study shows that there are teachers whose work is ethically caring, fair and just, the kind that promotes well-being and social justice for all involved. It was a pleasure to find these positive indications as the trend tends to weigh on the negative towards teachers. The study at hand advocates an ethical shift in the general perception of interculturality. This shift steers away from shallow lists, stable systems and linear models of interaction and conduct but also from the need to ‘competence’ ourselves and others out of the full human potential entitled to all of us. The shift addresses the issue of perceived differences from the perspective

Intercultural ethics in education  121

of mutuality, shared and plural humanity. Conceptually, the intercultural ethics advocated here is rooted in critical and reflexive interculturalism that provides a framework to open up prevailing discourse on intercultural issues. It also rests upon Ricoeur’s notions of oneself-as-another and solicitude inferring justice and equality in institutions as well as in Levinas’ notion of the irreplaceability of each of us demanding the kind of ethical caring that goes beyond ontology, as a reflex. Along with the above, the Buddhist perspective on ethics serves as the underlying premise of co-emergent and co-involved, shared humanity. I believe this shift helps teachers, teacher educators and educational decisionmakers to think in more nuanced ways about educational and social realities, how the intersecting gendered, classed, ethnic, political, etc. identifications and ideologies affect teachers and other educational practitioners but also society at large. I also think that teachers need to be taught to do this. They need opportunities to openly discuss and reflect on intercultural and ethical issues at meta-level. These types of opportunities need to be facilitated for teachers with the help of teacher educators and or other specialist in the field of critical interculturalism and ethics. This is especially needed at work places but significantly so in teacher education and continuing education in terms of coherence of learning objectives and ideologies. Increased support from national and municipal political and educational leadership who really understand critical approaches towards diversity and interculturality is also important. Finally, perhaps the main point of this study is that instead of speaking of ‘intercultural’ encounters, we really should start talking about ‘human’ encounters, especially in education. As said, if we take the apparent for granted while interacting with others, then we may miss out on the richness behind the masks, fronts and representations.

Note 1 Aristotle depicts the term eudaimonia in his Book One of the Nicomachean Ethics, as ‘happiness’, ‘the highest human good’ or ‘living well and doing well’ for all humans. It is achieved through active co-involvement in society. For Aristotle, personal, private well-being results from this socio-political engagement regardless of how individuals may think in terms of what happiness means to them personally (Aristotle, 1999, p. 175). As Eric Heinze (2010, p. 40) explains, eudaimonia has a meta-ethical purpose for Aristotle in that ‘any positive ethics as such must assume and aspire to some eudaimonia, even if opinion varies on what eudaimonia is or how it is pursued’.

References Abdallah-Pretceille, M. (1986). Vers une pédagogie interculturelle [Towards intercultural pedagogy]. Paris: Anthropos. Abdallah-Pretceille, M. (2006). Interculturalism as a paradigm for thinking about diversity. Intercultural Education, 17(5), 475–483. doi:10.1080/14675980601065764

122  Tuija Itkonen

Ahmed, S. (2012). On being included: Racism and diversity in institutional life. Durham: Duke University Press. Anthias, F. (2013). Hierarchies of social location, class and intersectionality: Towards a translocational frame. International Sociology, 28(1), 121–138. doi:10.1177/ 0268580912463155 Aristotle (1999). Nicomachean Ethics. (2nd ed., T.H. Irwin, Transl.). Indianapolis, IN: Hackett. Bai, H. (1999). Decentering the ego-self and releasing the care-consciousness. Paideusis, 12(2), 5–18. Beicht, U. & Walden, G. (2017). Transitions of young migrants to initial vocational education and training in Germany: The significance of social origin and gender. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 2017, 1–26. doi:10.1080/13636820.2016. 1275032 Berger, J. (1972). Ways of seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books. Campbell, E. (2008). The ethics of teaching as a moral profession. Curriculum Inquiry, 38(4), 357–385. doi:10.1111/j.1467–873X.2008.00414.x Chadderton, C. & Edmonds, C. (2015). Refugees and access to vocational education and training across Europe: A case of protection of white privilege? Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 67(2), 136–152. doi:10.1080/13636820.2014.922114 Chang, D. & Bai, H. (2016). Self-with-other in teacher practice: A case study through care, Aristotelian virtue, and Buddhist ethics. Ethics and Education, 11(1), 17–28. do i:10.1080/17449642.2016.1145491 Chen, X., Wei, G. & Jiang, S. (2016). The ethical dimension of teacher practical knowledge: A narrative inquiry into Chinese teachers’ thinking and actions in dilemmatic spaces. Journal of Curriculum Studies. doi:10.1080/00220272.2016.1263895 Colnerud, G. (2006). Teacher ethics as a research problem: Syntheses achieved and new issues. Teachers and Teaching, 12(3), 365–385. http://dx.doi:10.1080/134506005 00467704 Colnerud, G. (2015). Moral stress in teaching practice. Teachers and Teaching, 21(3), 346–360. doi:10.1080/13540602.2014.953820 Dervin, F. (2012). Impostures interculturelles [Intercultural hoaxes]. Paris: L’Harmattan. Dervin, F. (2013). Towards post-intercultural education in Finland? In K. Pyhältö & E. Vitikka (eds.), Oppiminen ja pedagogiset käytännöt varhaiskasvatuksesta perusopetukseen [Learning and pedagogical practices from early childhood through comprehensive education]. pp. 1–11. Helsinki: Opetushallitus. Dervin, F. (2016). Interculturality in education: A theoretical and methodological toolbox. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Dervin, F. and Machart, R. (eds.) (2015). Cultural essentialism in intercultural relations. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Fairclough, N. (2003). Analyzing discourse: Textual analysis for social research. New York, NY: Routledge. Foucault, M. (1970). The order of things: An archaeology of the human sciences. New York: Random House. Fougère, M. & Moulettes, A. (2007). The construction of the modern West and the backward rest: Studying the discourse of Hofstede’s culture’s consequences. Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 2(1), 1–19. doi:10.2167/md051.0

Intercultural ethics in education  123

Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching. Theory, research, and practice (2nd ed.). New York: Teachers College, Columbia University. Gorski, P. (2008). Good intentions are not enough: A decolonizing intercultural education. Intercultural Education, 19(6), 515–525. doi:10.1080/14675980802568319. Heinze, E. (2010). The meta-ethics of law: Book One of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. International Journal of Law in Context, 6(1), 23–44. doi:10.1017/S1744552309990280 Holliday, A. (2010). Cultural descriptions as political cultural acts: An exploration. Language and Intercultural Communication, 10(3), 259–272. Holliday, A. (2011). Intercultural communication and ideology. London: Sage. Hvalič-Touzery, S., Hopia, H., Sihvonen, S., Diwan, S., Sen, S., & Skela-Savič, B. (2017). Perspectives on enhancing international practical training of students in health and social care study programs: A qualitative descriptive case study. Nurse Education Today, 48, 40–47. http://dx.doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2016.09.013 Itkonen, T. & Paatela-Nieminen, M. (2015a). How is the Other produced in two Finnish ABC (e-) books – An intertextual reading. In K. Hahl, P-M. Niemi, R. Longfor and F. Dervin (eds.), Diversities and interculturality in textbooks. Finland as an example. pp. 30–60. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Itkonen, T., Talib, M.-T., & Dervin, F. (2015b). ‘Not all of us Finns communicate the same way either’: Teachers’ perceptions of interculturality in upper secondary vocational education and training. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 67(3), 397–414. http://dx.doi:10.1080/13636820.2015.1062998 Levinas, E. (2000). God, death, and time (B. Bergo, Transl.). Standford, CA: Stanford University Press. McSweeney, B. (2002). Hofstede’s model of national cultural differences and their consequences: A triumph of faith – a failure of analysis. Human Relations, 55(1), 89–118. doi:10.1177/0018726702551004 Noddings, N. (1984). Caring: A feminine approach to ethics and moral education. Berkley, CA: University of California Press. Núñez, A.-M. (2014). Employing multilevel intersectionality in educational research: Latino identities, contexts, and college access. Educational Researcher, 43(2), 85–92. doi:10.3102/0013189X14522320 OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) (2010). Learning for jobs. Synthesis report of the OECD Reviews of Vocational Education and training. doi:10.1787/9789264087460-en OECD (2016). Education at a glance 2016: OECD indicators. OECD Publishing, Paris. http://dx.doi:10.187/eag-2016-en OECD (2017). Youth not in employment, education or training (NEET) (indicator). doi:10.1787/72d1033a-en Phillips, A. (2007). Multiculturalism without culture. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. Piller, I. (2011). Intercultural communication: A critical approach. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Ricoeur, P. (1992). Oneself as another (K. Blamey, Transl). Chicago & London: The University of Chicago. Ristikari, T., Törmäkangas, L., Lappi, A., Haapakorva, P., Kiilakoski, & … Gissler, M. (2016). Suomi nuorten kasvuympäristönä. 25 ikävuoden seuranta vuonna 1987 Suomessa syntyneistä. [Finland as a growth environment for young people. 25-year

124  Tuija Itkonen

follow-up of those born in Finland in 1987]. National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) and the Finnish Youth Research Network. Report 9/2016. Said, E. (1978). Orientalism. New York: Random House. Sen, A. (2006). Identity and violence: The illusion of destiny. London: Penguin Books. Shen, Z. (2014). Cultural competence models and cultural competence assessment instruments in nursing: A literature review. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 26(3), 308–332. doi:10.1177/1043659614524790 Shi-xu, (2001). Critical pedagogy and intercultural communication: Creating discourses of diversity, equality, common goals and rational-moral motivation. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 22(3), 279–293. doi:10.1080/07256860120094000 Talib, M.-T. (2005). Eksotiikkaa vai ihmisarvoa [human dignity or exoticism]. Research in educational sciences 21. Turku: FERA. Taylor, C. (2004). Modern social imaginaries. Durham: Duke University Press. Wikan, U. (2002). Generous betrayal. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Wood, P. (2003). Diversity: The invention of a concept. San Francisco: Encounter Books. Wortham, S. (2006). Learning identity. The joint emergence of social identification and academic learning. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Chapter 8

Building Cultural Competence in initial teacher education through international service-learning Sean Kearney and Julie Maakrun

Introduction The demands of globalisation have resulted in the critical need for teachers to have the requisite pedagogical knowledge and skills to meet the increasing cultural diversity of students (Hamsa, 1998). Globalisation is both driven by and a driver of higher education: it is a phenomenon resulting from an increasing worldwide connectedness that combines economic, political and social changes (Burbules & Torres, 2000). One outcome of the phenomenon of globalisation has been the drive by higher education institutions towards greater international involvement. Universities around the world have recognised the increasing importance of internationalisation as a mainstream element of higher education (Harman, 2005). The internationalisation of higher education is a ‘process of integrating international or intercultural dimensions into the teaching, research and service functions of institutions’ (Harman, 2005). Encased within the overarching framework of internationalisation is the development of an individual’s global mindedness. The idea or ideal of graduating global-minded students is to open their mind through the understanding of culture and utilising that knowledge to better interact within one’s own and outside one’s own environment (Hunter, Hatch, & Johnson, 2004). The drive to actively seek, understand, interact and communicate effectively across diverse contexts has seen international activities within universities expand in volume, scope and complexity (Altbach & Knight, 2007). Such activities include, but are not limited to: study-abroad, international internships, and both exchange and immersion programmes (Schuerholz-Lehr, 2007). The challenge then for initial teacher education (ITE) providers is to understand the best methods by which to tailor programmes that can address cross-cultural effects that assist in the preparation of culturally responsive teachers (Siwatu, 2007; Villegas & Lucas, 2002). Culturally responsive teachers possess a level of cultural knowledge, values and dispositions that better enable them to act in an informed manner and engage in effective intergroup communication, which can lead to community-building across social, cultural, political, environmental, geographic and economic boundaries

126  Sean Kearney and Julie Maakrun

(Whaley & Davis, 2007). This is important for future educators to instil a culturally responsive pedagogy and foster community in diverse classrooms. An examination of teacher training programmes in Western countries found that traditional teacher education programmes fail to adequately prepare teachers to critically ‘re-examine their own position of privilege and cultural superiority’ or question the construction of their own identity within their own lives (Mangram & Watson, 2011, p. 97). The critical examination of ethnocentric views is necessary for teacher training programmes to produce more culturally responsive teachers that evolve from a traditional ethnocentric view of culture and people to an ethno-relative position (Bennett & Bennett, 1993; Hammer, Bennett, & Wisemean, 2003). This view recognises that Intercultural Competence (IC) is co-constructed and should not focus on ethnocentric views, which are characterised by prominent mindsets that presume the superiority of one’s own worldview, sometimes including the lack of acknowledgement of the other (Bennett, 2008). Rather, IC is a more complex process that requires individuals to be reflexive in their actions and go beyond the surface level interactions to create meaning (Dervin, 2016). IC is described as a cumulative, progressive and non-sequential process that requires the development of critical thinking and critical self-reflection skills (Perso, 2012; Wells, 2000). For the purposes of this chapter IC is defined as an individual’s ability to function effectively across cultures drawing upon a set of knowledge, skills and personal attributes to be able to engage successfully with people from different backgrounds whether at home or abroad ( Johnson, Lenartowicz, & Apud, 2006). As a process, IC requires a person to build capacity to be able to function effectively across cultures (Whaley & Davis, 2007), as opposed to the acquisition of such knowledge, skills and attitudes, which more traditionally defined IC. The degree of IC exhibited by an individual reflects their ability to use their developed knowledge, skills and personal attributes or traits to better connect with other cultures. It is the use of those knowledges, skills and personal attributes that form the basis of the analysis of these immersion programmes. As a process of development and change, IC for the purpose of analysis, will draw upon the work of Dervin (2016) who problematises the more concrete models of IC and believes in a more ‘liquid’ realistic approach (p. 80), which recognises that IC is complex and cannot be thought of linearly in the acquisition of skills or competences. Instead this approach recognises the ‘contradictions, instabilities and discontinuities’ that are inherent in IC (p. 84). This analysis will focus on the development of IC, which are characterised by attitudes that value cultural differences and being open and curious. When these attitudes are combined with developing cognitive understanding and skills, it leads to an internal ‘frame of reference shift’ (Deardorff, 2006, p. 256). This internal shift is characterised by empathy, flexibility and an ethno-relative view of the world. Internal shifts enhance one’s ability to

Building IC in initial teacher education  127

participate in effective and appropriate intercultural communication and behaviour. A further requirement of the internal shift is a degree of critical thinking and self-reflection in order to recognise changes that result in both internal and external outcomes, or changes in one’s cognition, attitudes and behaviour. Therefore, the development of IC is ongoing (Deardorff, 2006) and as an ongoing process is it dynamic and understood within given social and cultural contexts (Stier, 2006). Tertiary educators and tertiary education programmes continually look for ways to enhance, broaden and deepen student experiences and engagement within their institutions. This chapter examines three voluntary programmes that were developed as short-term, international service-learning immersion programmes within an undergraduate ITE course at an Australian university. The development of an international service-learning immersion project, allowed the teacher educators to implement a programme to foster ownership of, sensitivity to, and participation in community-building activities for TES. Such activities were created for their potential to transform students’ understanding of social, global and civic issues and the subsequent responsibility of the need to take action (Swick, 2001). Built in to these programmes were mechanisms to encourage internal shifts in individual’s attitudes to help them develop their own cultural competence. The goal of this chapter is to briefly present the three programmes and analyse the extent to which they aid the development of IC in TES.

Methodology A qualitative ethnographic case-oriented understanding (Schutt, 2009) approach was used to explore the impact of the immersion experiences on the TES during and after their respective immersions. Although these are not true ethnographies, the approach adopts aspects of the ethnography, which helps the reader to better understand the specific methodology employed. The researchers were immersed with the TES to better understand their experiences and its impact. Similar to ethnography, the researchers cannot be separated from the experience as they fully participated in the immersion, which impacts on the data. Completely objectivity was not the goal; instead, they seek to interpret the impacts of the immersion on the TES in the light of the shared experience. Fifty-seven students participated in the three immersion programmes in 2016 ranging from two to four weeks’ duration. Participants ranged from 19 to 29 years of age and all were undergraduate TES. Informed consent was given to take part in the study with no abstentions. The TES were observed daily and in one of the immersions were also recorded; as a documentary was being made of the trip. In addition to observations and selected recordings, pre- and post-trip meetings were recorded for the purposes of the research. All TES participants were also asked to keep a journal of their experience,

128  Sean Kearney and Julie Maakrun

which would later be used by the researchers to confirm observations and triangulate data. A combination of data collection and analysis methods was employed to understand the immersion experience: ethnographic observations (Atkinson & Hammersley, 1998) were supplemented by a review of student journals, recordings and interviews the TES participated in. The data was analysed utilising phenomenographical analysis, which sought to ascertain the degree to which the TES were impacted by the immersion according to critical factors that are prevalent in service-learning, according to the literature, to ascertain the nature of the immersion from the TES perspective and the impact of the experience from each participant’s point of view. For the purpose of this chapter the data selected deals solely with TES’ IC. That data was extrapolated from the total data set and further analysed by each researcher individually, in the first instance, for emerging themes of interculturality before the three researchers engaged collaboratively in critical discourse that sought to interpret each immersion experience, its impact on the TES, collectively, and the factors of interculturality that were apparent. This was done through progressive focusing (Simons, 2009), which identified relevant themes and common issues prevalent in all TES experiences. Generalisations across identified themes were then acknowledged as ICs (Denscombe, 2010). The limitations of utilising a methodology such as the one employed are varied. The power dimension between the teacher educator as researcher and the TES participants is a shortcoming of the methodology, but difficult to overcome. The ethnographic aspect of embedding with the TES mitigates some of the power dimension effect, although the authors concede that it does not negate the affect. Observations revealed that after the first few days most, if not all, TES seemed to forget or ignore that they were being formally observed. TES submitted their journals, which were used to confirm or contradict their own findings through observation. This was thought to provide a more authentic illustration of the impacts of the immersion. The authors recognise that the data cannot be without bias as they shared many of the same experiences as the TES; however, despite the inherent bias, the authors believe that the internal validity of the study, or the reliability of the results presented, are strengthened by the researchers’ own experience of the immersion. This chapter presents a small subset of the data in relation to the IC of the participants with specific regard to their future careers as educators. Working at schools in poor communities in India, Kenya and Timor Leste with few resources and children who speak little to no English would be a difficult task for even the most experienced teachers. This chapter focuses on how the TES were able to cope with immersing themselves in a community and a school environment that was not only foreign to them but also stretched their abilities as TES. Additionally, the impacts of the immersion are explored as

Building IC in initial teacher education  129

a means of expanding the global mindedness of the TES and how that may impact on their future profession. The findings presented are reflective of the commonalities in each of the immersions, not the particular immersions or the individual students who participated in each. Findings

Service-learning by its very nature involves a relationship developed between two people. Those people have varying similarities and differences, as do all people, including culturally. The international service-learning immersions reported on here are one instrument by which students’ IC can be developed, which can subsequently lead to individual transformation. The immersion programmes reported on were established to increase, amongst other things, TES’ IC. As future educators, TES need to develop a global perspective that can increase their confidence and independence teaching in multicultural, heterogeneous classrooms. The findings presented, although not complete, are drawn from pre- and post-trip focus group interviews, participants’ reflective journals and researcher field notes. Articulation of the findings is framed through a realistic perspective to IC. This perspective, according to Bergson (1934), is composed of paradoxes, uncertainties and discontinuities; the main goal of which is to get used to the ‘rolling and pitching’ of human life. The results presented here will emphasise TES’ awareness of how they position themselves in the immersion, which will reflect their awareness of the instability inherent in any situation or encounter between self and other (Dervin, 2016). The secondary focus will be on TES ability to become reflexive about what they have learned. Findings presented here are not exhaustive of the immersion programmes or of intercultural competencies, but are based instead on a combination of discourse and action and have been selected so as to be relevant to the context of this book. Self

One important outcome of the service-learning immersion programmes is acceptance of self and others. This acceptance is inherently linked to the personal characteristics of individuals and has the capacity to determine steady patterns of cross-situational behaviours (Costa & McCrae, 1992; Funder, 2001). These characteristics are important if one wants to determine the effects of experiences such as these. For this reason, pre-immersion focus group interviews were held to capture what the TES believed to be necessary characteristics for involvement in their immersion experience. Whilst answers varied considerably, one consistent theme was that participants had a clear sense of what they believed to be required for their immersion. Many of the TES’ ideas coincided with what Deardorff (2009) considered to be

130  Sean Kearney and Julie Maakrun

the requisite individual characteristics for IC: empathy, open mindedness, curiosity and a sense of discovery. One comment that was reminiscent of others was: Having a very flexible, approachable, understanding and empathetic disposition I would imagine would help when participating in a servicelearning program. I think it will almost require removing a wall that someone might have, and wholeheartedly opening yourself to the experience, blocking anything that might potentially hold you back. I think you need to have an attitude of an unpredictable nature, knowing that everything will not go to plan, and you need to have the flexibility to roll with that. This comment encapsulates participant mindsets that operate beyond a mono-cultural frame of reference (Hammer, 2013). Participants were able to recognise, even before participation, that through these kinds of dispositions, they are able to build an appreciation that people, circumstances and situations will all be different. These mindsets further assist in providing a foundational platform from which participants could continue to develop their level of IC. The understanding represented in the interviews indicates participant introspection, which can be further seen as an awareness of self, of diversity and identity. A post-trip comment that encapsulates these dispositions follows: Since returning from the trip I am so much more grateful for the things I  have … I have always been grateful for what I have, but seeing how people live in Kenya it has put so much more into perspective for me. I am more conscious about what I buy and I ask myself if I really need it, if I don’t I won’t purchase it. I am trying to be more present being back home. Researcher 2 (R2) also noted these individual transformations. In one observation it was noted that the TES were debriefing amongst themselves almost daily. On day 12 he noted: The TES have become more and more sophisticated in their ability to self-reflect and analyse their own behaviours and the effect of those behaviours in their interactions with the children, the local teachers, and most notable amongst themselves. They are sharing their daily experiences as a means of self-reflection and peer-learning after less than two weeks in-country … extraordinary. The acceptance of self and others was an important outcome of the immersion for TES and they were cognisant of the importance of self-reflection on their individual development. The focus of their learning is reflexive, which will help them continue to develop their IC.

Building IC in initial teacher education  131

Interaction

In addition to the individual traits and characteristics, there is a requisite knowledge and skill base that allows students to be able to better engage and learn from the immersion experience. This is not to say that without these requisite skills and knowledge that the TES will not learn, only that having them will better facilitate the learning and help them to better engage in the experience. A key skill noted by a majority of participants was the need for effective communication and strategies for communication. Inherent in ‘communication’ are the skills of listening, observing and interpreting. Communication skills were the catalyst for fostering effective relationships for the TES whilst on their respective immersions. The use of effective communication strategies, which was part of the pre-trip learning that all TES took part in, allowed the TES to realise the importance of the relationships they built and to foster those relationships to maximise their experience. One participant noted, ‘To experience another way of life, to live with the families and experience part of their day to day life changed my perspective on my own life.’ This statement implies that the TES was able to critically reflect on their experience, which then had a significant effect on the way they started to see their own life. Introspection such as this should not be taken lightly. Another student on a different immersion noted, ‘the experience of living with and sharing the daily experiences of our home-stay family was more than I expected. I have formed solid relationships with my “family” and a sense of connection with them’. These comments embody some of the internals shifts that occurred within participants. These shifts came as the result of a developing awareness of the complexities of interacting cross-culturally. These attitudes and skills were also noted by researcher observations, most specifically in TES’ ability to communicate. One such observation follows: Collectively the TES seem to be communicating more effectively with the children in the classroom without the help of teacher translations. The TES are more open and are building relationships of trust with the children. ‘Student’ had a one-on-one talk with one of the children today about their behaviour in class. Despite the language difficulty, it was easy to sense the level of trust that had been built between the child and ‘Student’. This seemed like a major turning point. Upon returning from the immersion experience, engaging in critical reflection, many of the participants were able to express shifts that had occurred, not only in their personal lives, but for them as future educators. One comment that reflects this professional reflection, was from a student who was about to graduate: I believe that this service-learning trip has made me a more confident and understanding person. I was extremely nervous about my internship

132  Sean Kearney and Julie Maakrun

and graduating as I felt that I was not ready/worthy of graduating yet. After stepping in front of that year 2 Class and overcoming language barriers to be able to teach students, I now feel that I am capable and ready to be in the workforce. The language barrier challenged the way I taught and approached situations. This barrier gave me a new found appreciation for hand gestures and explicitly demonstrating what is required. I believe that is a skill that I have overlooked when teaching in Australia. Interaction is a main component of the communication that helps to express one’s IC. The TES describe their experiences in the above statements in ways that illustrate their developing communication skills and their growing awareness of the importance of that communication in building culturally responsive relationships.

Discussion Whilst the preceding results are only a fraction of the overall data collected, they aim to illustrate how service-learning and IC came together in a shortterm, cross-cultural immersion programme. The student comments and related researcher observations shed light on the effects such immersion programmes can have and open up further discussion. Service-learning is a well-established pedagogy that provides experiential learning opportunities that have been reported to be beneficial in a number of ways. Despite the abundance of literature on service-learning and cultural competence, each service-learning programme is unique and the benefits of one programme cannot necessarily be applied more generally. This chapter presents a small subset of data in relation to three short-term, international, cross-cultural, service-learning immersion programmes to better understand their collective effect on IC through the lens of Dervin’s (2016) realistic approach to IC. The limited findings presented here reflect that through a cross-cultural, international service-learning immersion students were able to recognise and address their own ethnocentric views of the world as they engaged in a culturally different environment. The individual transformations that were observed and confirmed through interviews and journals were seen as significant. A focus of ITE programmes is ensuring TES become inclusive educators. In Australia, it could be argued that many TES belong to the dominant, white hegemonic culture and thus may have little or no knowledge or understanding of diversity or the problems associated with it (McCormack & O’Flaherty, 2010). Further, much of the literature about service-learning is written from a white hegemonic lens and is focused more on the university student’s learning, as opposed to the benefits or challenges to the host institution (Kiely, 2005). The behaviours of the TES, collectively, illustrated a significant shift in their ability to handle complex, cross-cultural situations, which can be seen a positive effect of the experience.

Building IC in initial teacher education  133

Participants were able to empathise the complex nature of cultural diversity, which made them more self-reflective about their own life choices. Although many, but not all, students portrayed a high level of cultural competence and understanding before taking part in the immersion, this could be illustrative of these particular TES’ desire to participate in these sorts of programmes. It was apparent that the level at which TES’ were operating towards the end of the immersion demonstrated the positive effects of the experience. For these immersions to be considered successful the TES must develop, or at the very least build upon their own IC. Targeting the critical issues of instability and discomfort, that are inherent in international service-learning is essential to move beyond a surface level understanding of cultural awareness, which simply educates about peoples, cultures and histories (Downing & Kowal, 2011; Fredericks, 2006), rather than assisting students to develop greater levels of IC. Interaction was also seen as a positive outcome of the immersion experiences. Participants were able to critically examine and analyse, not only their own but others’ attitudes and behaviours, which made them more effective communicators and added to their burgeoning skillset and knowledges of culture and diversity. The level of both personal and professional knowledge that resulted from these immersions, as expressed in the reflections of both participants and researchers, is imperative in ensuring the ongoing success of these programmes. In these immersion programmes, targeted pre-immersion learning and teaching is centred on the complex nature of culture and cultural diversity. Reflecting on the skills and attitudes that may be helpful in the development of communication that is culturally appropriate and at the centre of IC not only maximises the learning experience for the TES, but to a greater extent ensures that they have the capacity to empathise and understand the ‘service’ they provide to the host organisation. The researchers believe that the combination of pre-trip formal learning, in-country briefings, students’ reflective journals and the nature of these immersions (embedding in a community, home-stay accommodation, extended hours at the school and in the community) all combined to amass the positive impacts of the immersions on the TES.

Conclusion The limited data presented in this chapter does not seek to be conclusive, but rather to open and continue the conversation started in this book. The need for more globally minded graduates is an issue many, if not all, universities are facing. The rise of globalisation and current trend of dispossessed people is at levels unseen since WWII, which means those of us in the ‘global north’ (Connell, 2007) world will continue to see our classrooms grow more diverse. IC is an important attribute, specifically for future educators, to ensure that they can empathise with students from diverse backgrounds and

134  Sean Kearney and Julie Maakrun

critically analyse their own actions with reference to different cultures. A full understanding of the complexities of IC and its relation to education requires TES to be reflexive about their experiences to continue to develop a more realistic approach to IC. What is required of the twenty-first-century graduate is to be able to better respond to the social and political inequities in an ever-changing world. How individuals understand themselves, the manner in which they respond to an experience, and their ability to think critically as a means to grow as globally minded individuals are important factors in building IC. Universities, and more specifically ITE programmes, need to continue to devise ways to meet the diverse needs of future educators to ensure that they are prepared for the classrooms they will enter upon graduation. There are many ways that ITE can embed experiences that help students develop their IC in their courses; this chapter only briefly touches on one of those. International programmes in universities are on the rise (Altbach & Knight, 2007); however, simply implementing these programmes will not guarantee that students benefit from them. Whilst institutions grapple with the complexities of how to institutionally embed service-learning and IC, given the pressures they face from political, pedagogical and their own institutional limits, the nexus between the who and how becomes critical. These programmes need to be well thought out and students need to be explicitly taught the skills and knowledge necessary to maximise the effect of those programmes. It has become evident that high-quality, short-term, international, cross-cultural immersion programmes can have a significant impact on TES competence, both personally and professionally. In addition, the programmes presented here have allowed TES to continue to address their own ethnocentric perspective of the world so as to continue to build their own levels of IC once the program ends. This chapter has illustrated how international service-learning immersion programmes promote and foster the development of IC. The programmes presented allowed for TES to engage with the diverse cultures, which enhanced their understanding of engaging with the cultural plurality of diverse communities. For many of the participants, this cultural plurality will be reflected in the classrooms where they will ultimately work (Kearney, Perkins, & Maakrun, 2014).

References Altbach, P. G., & Knight, J. (2007). The internationalization of higher education: Motivations and realities. Journal of Studies in International Education, 11(3–4), 290–305. Atkinson, P., & Hammersley, M. (1998). Ethnography and participant observation. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Strategies of qualitative inquiry (pp. 110–136). London: Sage.

Building IC in initial teacher education  135

Bennett, M. J. (2008, July). Introduction to the field of intercultural effectiveness. Paper presented at the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication, Portland, OR. Bennett, J. M., & Bennett, M. J. (1993). Intercultural sensitivity: Principles of training and development. Portland, OR: Portland State University. Bergson, H. (1934). The creative mind: An introduction to metaphysics. New York: Kensington Publishing Corp. Burbules, N. C., & Torres, C. A. (Eds.). (2000). Globalization and education: Critical perspectives. New York: Routledge. Connell, R. (2007). Southern theory: The global dynamics of knowledge in social science. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin. Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Four ways five factors are basic. Personality and Individual Differences, 13(6), 653–665. Deardorff, D. K. (2006). Identification and assessment of intercultural competence as a student outcome of internationalization. Journal of Studies in International Education, 10(3), 241–266. Deardorff, D. K. (2009). The SAGE handbook of intercultural competence. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc. Denscombe, M. (2010). The good research guide for small-scale social research projects (4th ed.). New York: Open University Press. Dervin, F. (2010). Assessing intercultural competence in language learning and teaching: A critical review of current efforts. In F. Dervin & E. Suomela-Salmi (Eds.), New approaches to assessment in higher education (pp.  157–173). Bern: Peter Lang. Dervin, F. (2016). Interculturality in education: A theoretical and methodological toolbox. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Downing, R., & Kowal, E. (2011). Putting Indigenous cultural training into nursing practice. Contemporary Nurse, 37(1), 10–20. Fredericks, B. (2006). Which way? Educating for nursing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Contemporary Nurse, 23(1), 87–99. Funder, D. C. (2001). Accuracy in personality judgment: Research and theory concerning an obvious question. In B. W. Roberts & R. Hogan (Eds.), Personality psychology in the workplace (pp. 121−140). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Hammer, M.R., Bennett, M.J., & Wiseman, R. (2003). The Intercultural Development Inventory: A measure of intercultural sensitivity. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 27(4), 421–443. Hammersley, L. A. (2013). Community-based service-learning: Partnerships of reciprocal exchange? Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 14(3), 171–184. Hamsa, I.S. (1998). The role of the national board for professional teachings standards. Journal of Teacher Education, 118(3), 452–458. Harman, G. (2005). Internationalization of Australian higher education: A critical review of literature and research. In P. Ninnes & M. Hellstén (Eds.), Internationalizing higher education: Critical explorations of pedagogy and policy (Vol. 16, pp. 119– 140). Hong Kong: Springer Netherlands. Hunter, L. M., Hatch, A., & Johnson, A. (2004). Cross-national gender variation in environmental behaviors. Social Science Quarterly, 85(3), 677–694.

136  Sean Kearney and Julie Maakrun

Johnson, J.P., Lenartowicz, T., & Apud, S. (2006). Cross-cultural competence in international business: Toward a definition and a model. Journal of International Business Studies, 37(4), 525–543. Kearney, S., Perkins, T., & Maakrun, J. (2014). A transformative experience: A short-term cross-cultural service-learning immersion to Kenya. Issues in Educational Research, 24(2), 229–237. www.iier.org.au/iier24/kearney.html Kiely, R. (2005). Transformative international service-learning. Academic Exchange Quarterly, 9(1), 275–282. Mangram, J., & Watson, A. (2011). Us and them: Social studies teachers’ talk about global education. Journal of Social Studies Research, 35(1), 95–116. McCormack, O. and O’Flaherty J. (2010). Pre-service teacher’s views and attitudes towards integrating development education active learning methodologies into their teaching’. Teacher and Teacher Education, 26(1), 1332–1339. Perso, T.F. (2012). Cultural responsiveness and school education with particular focus on Australia’s First Peoples: A review & synthesis of the literature. Menzies School of Health Research, Centre for Child Development & Education, Darwin Northern Territory. Schuerholz-Lehr, S. (2007). Teaching for global literacy in higher education: How prepared are the educators? Journal of Studies in International Education, 11(2), 180–204. Schutt, R.K. (2009). Investigating the social world: The process and practice of research (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press. Simons, H. (2009). Case study research in practice. London: Sage. Siwatu, K.O. (2007). Preservice teachers’ culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy and outcome expectancy beliefs. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23(7), 1086–1101. Stier, J. (2006). Internationalisation, intercultural communication and IC. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 11(1), 1–12. Swick, K. (2001). Service-learning in teacher education: Building learning communities. The Clearing House, 74(5), 261–264. Villegas, A.M., & Lucas, T. (2002). Preparing culturally responsive teachers rethinking the curriculum. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(1), 20–32. Wells, M. I. (2000). Beyond cultural competence: A model for individual and institutional cultural development. Journal of Community Health Nursing, 17(4), 189–199. Whaley, L., & Davis, K. (2007). Cultural competence and evidence-based practice in mental health services: A complementary perspective. American Psychologist, 62(6), 563–574

Part III

Reflexivity and Intercultural Competence in teacher education

Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group http://taylorandfrancis.com

Chapter 9

Two teacher educators ‘re-thinking’ practice Intercultural competences in teacher education pedagogy Robyn Moloney and Tuija Turunen Introduction There is increasing critical interrogation as to quality practice in the field of intercultural competences (IC) in teacher education. This is related to the research evidence on the positive relationship between teacher education, teachers’ professional competences and students’ learning (Hattie, 2003). Teachers’ professional competences effect school and curriculum development and their own professional development (Pyhältö, Pietarinen, & Soini, 2012). Teacher educators are one of the key factors in enabling future teachers’ professional competences to engage with the diversity of their teaching career. To successfully do their work, teacher educators need to put critical and ethical questions at the centre of their work. They need to challenge preservice teachers to take a reflective and critical perspective on local curriculum, on school practice and policy, and on social justice issues in schools of increasing diversity. They need to encourage their students to take risks, to dig into the hidden, and to recognise and model their own capacity in intercultural competences. This requires a teacher educator to detach from their roles and become reflective researchers of their own practice. According to Lunenberg, Dengerink and Korthagen (2014) this process does not happen ‘overnight’ but is a slow process of emerging professional identity. There is recognition in different contexts globally that teacher educators are a neglected research group (see for example, Gore & Morrison, 2001; Willems, Stakenborg, & Veugelers, 2000; Ben-Peretz, Eilam, & Landler-Pardo, 2011; Wang, Moloney & Li, 2013). While there is much attention to teacher education curriculum content and meeting mandatory national standards, there is very limited research attention to the teacher educators themselves and the intersection of their identity with their university pedagogy. It has been suggested that teacher education internationally is limited by retaining a largely local perspective and remaining a context of limited critical growth (Mayer Luke & Luke, 2008).

140  Robyn Moloney and Tuija Turunen

The two authors, both teacher educators, wanted to know whether they could identify Intercultural Competences (IC) in their development and in their practice. To achieve this, they conducted a critical examination of each other’s narratives of professional development. In their analysis and interpretation, they examine whether and how ‘critical’ intercultural competences can be (re)defined and implemented in their practice in teacher education. The chapter hopes to contribute to the emerging research literature of new critical perspectives on the relationship between teacher educators’ professional development and their practice.

Literature review Teacher educators’ professional development

The process of becoming a teacher educator may often involve a transition from a role of classroom teacher. This is also the case with the authors of this chapter: they had both served as teachers, then continued with their studies, gained PhD degrees and were employed by universities. Research has noted the widespread lack of induction for teacher educators, the often unguided process of acquiring the required new knowledge and skills to be a teacher educator (Williams, Ritter, & Bullock, 2012), and the necessary shift in identity from classroom teacher to teacher educator. Williams et al.’s (2012) review of beginning teacher educator self-studies concludes that becoming a teacher educator involves three complex and challenging tasks: examining beliefs and values grounded in personal biography, including those associated with being a former schoolteacher; navigating the complex social and institutional contexts in which they work; and developing a personal pedagogy of teacher education that enables construction of a new professional identity as a teacher educator. Teacher educators’ learning is essentially a social practice and lies in the interplay between social competence and personal experience, and as such is a dynamic, two-way relationship between people and the social learning systems in which they participate (Wenger, 2000). Accordingly, in the light of the lack of any programmed induction to their teacher educator positions, the authors have used their personal experiences before and during their academic positions, to track their professional development (PD). This chapter provides an insight to the PD as teacher educators after ten plus years in academia.

What are intercultural competences? Rapidly changing classrooms and new challenges to teacher competences demand fresh critical examination of the problematic impact of earlier notions of intercultural competence (and associated terms, amongst which intercultural awareness, sensitivity) over the last two decades. The notion of

IC in teacher education pedagogy  141

a simple linear progression, or measurable stages, in ‘successful acquisition’ of intercultural competence has been shown to be inadequate to reflect the messy, unstable and always-unfinished process. We refer to ‘intercultural competences’ in the plural, to signify a loose and complex construct. What Dervin (2016) describes as a ‘liquid realistic perspective’, proposes that IC needs to be ‘composed of contradictions, instabilities, and discontinuities’ (Dervin, 2016, p. 82). In this chapter we consider that this instability occurs at three levels: it is experienced at the heart of any intercultural experience, in the subsequent (always partial and selective) reporting of it, and the further multi-perspective analysis of that reporting: ‘instability of identifications, instability of discourses of culture’ (p. 82). Discomfort is another element of intercultural competences as experienced by the two authors, in that ‘interculturality’ (an ongoing process) is always about entering risky territory, and may involve and embrace failures. It has been suggested for example that we should design opportunities and activities for pre-service teachers to experience and respond to discomfort and potential failure (Dervin, 2015). This type of work may be focused not only on observing apolitical cultural differences but on issues such as racism, power and injustice. A further element of a new approach to intercultural competences is the move from individual focus and self-achievement, to a dialogic approach, where IC must be constructed in interdependence with others (Moloney, Harbon, & Fielding, 2016). This takes on a role also in research, where when reporting what a subject has said, as ‘evidence’ of their intercultural competences, we must identify the influence of others, and especially the personhood of the researcher/ interviewer/ interpreter (Amadasi & Holliday, 2017, Glesne & Peshkin, 1992). Dervin (2016) has offered a number of principles which he believes must be active in constructing intercultural competences. These include avoiding exclusive focus on difference, avoiding focus on the individual agent, examination of instabilities and process, consideration of intersectionality with other factors, a focus on social justice issues, close reflectivity, awareness of discourse and power differentials, and the need to dig into the hidden. While the notion of intercultural learning has been supported in the discourse of the curriculum in both Australia and Finland (see Moloney, Moate & Lobytsyna, this volume), a number of researchers have pointed to the limited success of intercultural pedagogy in school classrooms (Dervin, 2016; Moloney, 2013) and the prevalence of teacher confusion as to its meaning, intent and pedagogy. There have been many individual initiatives to devise programmes and individual units in teacher education to impact student attitudes and competences (Bagnall, 2008; Díaz, 2013; Liu & Milman, 2010; Moloney & Oguro, 2016). And yet, some of these may be critiqued for being underpinned by assumptions of linear or hierarchical models of ‘intercultural development and success’ (Moloney & Oguro, 2016) and assumptions of essentialised cultures. We must continue to look to teacher education to provide renewed and disruptive opportunities to challenge both teacher educators and their students,

142  Robyn Moloney and Tuija Turunen

to examine intercultural competences. This study challenged two teacher educators to examine the nature of their personal and professional experiences through the lenses intercultural competences, and whether and how they play any role in their professional work.

Two Contexts: Teacher education in Australia and Finland Teacher education in Australia takes place in a four-or-five-year double degree, combining both discipline study (for example, Science, Mathematics, a foreign language) with education theory, methodology classes, and practicum experience in schools. It is accessible to a relatively wide range of matriculation result outcomes in secondary school graduates. University teacher education degrees are accountable to the National Standards in Graduate Teacher Education and there are many mandatory elements proscribed, to standardise university programmes (AITSL, 2011, 2013). In profiling the attributes and knowledges that the graduate teacher needs to have, the Standards make no mention of intercultural competences, or multilingualism. Author1’s university has recently slashed the Teacher Education programme time allocated to issues of multiculturalism and intercultural learning. Finnish teacher education has a research-oriented approach, meaning that teaching in teacher education programmes is based on research and that student teachers complete empirical studies as part of their qualification. To qualify as an early childhood education teacher, one completes a bachelor degree including a bachelor thesis. At primary and secondary levels the minimum qualification is a master’s degree including both bachelor and master’s thesis. Entering teacher education programme, especially to primary school teacher education, is very competitive. According to Eurydice (2014), in 2014 only approximately 20% of applicants were accepted. Finnish education system in general has been very successful in international testing contexts, and it has been suggested that one reason behind this success has been the high academic standard of teacher education (Sahlberg, 2010).

Methodology Narrative research is recognised to be of particular significance in capturing teacher development (Barkhuizen, Benson & Chik, 2013; Golombek & Johnson, 2004), involving the intersection of the personal and professional identities. We submit that the development of the teacher educator similarly involves not only the acquisition of a body of knowledge and pedagogy, but also the holistic role modelling of a personal identity, and of intercultural competences. Teacher educators want to see the development of critical and transformative learning (Nieto, 2000) in their pre-service teachers, as the key to enabling future transformative learning in school classrooms.

IC in teacher education pedagogy  143

As has become accepted in work of this kind, we understand identity as multiple, fluid and often conflicted in nature (Hall, 1990), and with the notion of agency, to explain teacher choices and decisions. We recognise also that identity is always related to social cultural and political contexts (Cummins, 1996; Lave & Wenger, 2002; Norton, 2000). Finally, we understand that identity is constructed and negotiated through language and ongoing interactions with others (Bucholtz & Hall, 2004).

Research design While this is a study of two teacher educators, we have borrowed a methodology which has been commonly used in research enquiry into teacher professional practice, that is, the related modes of self-study, narrative enquiry, life history or auto-ethnography. In the use of such methods to investigate work contexts, Denshire (2014, p. 832) has particularly highlighted the capacity to ‘destabilize boundaries between a professional’s work and the rest of their life, and break through the dichotomy between selves and others’. The element common to all these methods is reflection. Reflection attempts to bring coherence to experience, using both processes of observation and inference (Dewey 1933/1986). It may involve a critical ‘conversation’ with the self (Schön 1987; 1991), and, ideally, a critique of the fundamental assumptions on which our beliefs have been found (Mezirow 1990). Hamilton et al. (2005) represent self-study as an umbrella field which may use diverse methods to provide the evidence and context for understanding practice. As has been the case in this study, self-study research often begins in discussion that may outline a problem of practice, and then proceeds to select a mode of reflection, in this case, narrative enquiry. Narrative enquiry identifies experience as a story which becomes meaningful through interpretation. The narrative enquiry researcher tracks process, experience and progress of the work through narrative writing. We see the narrative process, and this study, as a selective re-thinking and re-ordering. Scarino (2013) has written that: The value of narrative is that it puts temporal experience into some kind of order that is meaningful at a particular time and in a particular context. It is this configuration, or, rather, the process of configuring, which represents a renewal or revised understanding. (Scarino, 2013, p. x) Building on recommendations (Barkhuizen, Benson, & Chik, 2013) and the methodology of other studies (e.g. Clandinin & Connelly 2000; Liu & Xu, 2013; Tsui, 2007) this study designed its self-study process into three methodological steps: (1) Process 1: Following an initial discussion, both researchers acted as narrative writers. They independently wrote texts of first person reflective narrative exploring chosen periods of their personal history and their relationship with teaching and teacher education.

144  Robyn Moloney and Tuija Turunen

(2) Process 2: Each researcher read the other’s narrative carefully. This involved making observations of the narrative, coding for themes. The partner wrote an interpretation of the other’s narrative, examining the text for emerging themes and concepts, and their relationship to an understanding of intercultural competences. The partners were cognisant that their interpretation of the other’s narrative involved a further construction, through the lens of their own experience and background. (3) Process 3: Using Skype, email and one live meeting, the researchers compared their interpretations, engaged in dialogic negotiation, challenging some perceptions of the other. Following a final draft, Robyn visited Finland for the first time, which enhanced her understanding further of Tuija’s perspective. They developed a further collaborative, but not reductive, analytical discussion section. Through processes of categorisation, events in the data are linked to more general relevant concepts, and relationships may be identified between background influence, intercultural competences, identity, and finally, critique of practice. We do not suggest that the processes are ‘complete’ or have achieved objectivity, not that the conclusions are stable or ‘fixed’. The interpretations and reflective discussion sections have been placed, however, within a third-person voice of analysis and commentary.

Narrative 1 Tuija, interpreted by Robyn Tuija chose to begin her narrative with her language-learning history, remembering as a child watching Estonian cartoons and her pleasure in being able to follow the stories. She started English learning at age 9 and remembers the impressions of a ‘whole new world opening’. At age 13 (Year 7) she started Swedish language study and recalls her pleasure in understanding news and advertisements in Swedish and being able to communicate with Swedish speaking Finns, repeating the impression that there was ‘a new world with the new language’. The narrative suggests that Tuija considers that her response to this school language-learning was the beginning of her intercultural opportunities and interests, or even perhaps, that in her schooling, language-learning was considered as the sole purveyor and vehicle of intercultural competences. Despite her language study, however, she met very few non-Finnish people, or foreigners. She describes her immediate family as a ‘monocultural’ family who travelled very little. She reflects on what appear to be some international elements in the primary school curriculum, such as the subject called Ympäristöoppi, which featured some ‘lessons about other countries’. In retrospect, however, she reflects, that the teaching was very much from a European perspective, in a middle-class white framework. Summing up the values and beliefs she

IC in teacher education pedagogy  145

brought forward from her schooling, she can identity an early interest in ‘global citizenship’ and a great sense of curiosity and adventure. Tuija narrates that her dream was to become a primary school teacher and she achieved this by winning a coveted place in a primary school education programme. She notes that in her training ‘as a student teacher I do not have any recollections of learning about intercultural themes’. She recollects that very few of the cohort had travelled overseas and that socioeconomically they were all ‘the same kind of students’. During her last school practicum experience, however, Tuija created an important turning point for herself, in designing an innovative activity for a history classroom. The success of the learning impressed her, and influenced her teaching future. She organised an imaginary debate between conquistadors and Indigenous people in South America. The rest of the class acted as journalists reporting on the debate. One-third of journalists were to support the conquistadors, one-third the Indigenous people, one-third to be neutral. Thus, the learning process ended up with three different reports of the same debate. I still consider this learning process very successful and recall how some students had difficulties to adopt the role of conquistadors because of what they did to Indigenous people. I had to negotiate a lot with them and explain that this was only a game. The reports written about the debate were of good quality. The students indicated that they really caught up with the idea that history is always written from some viewpoint and can be very different from different perspectives. This was also a very important learning curve to myself as a junior teacher. Tuija’s early teaching, for nearly ten years, was in a small mostly monocultural locality in Eastern Finland, where she describes how, in the locality, there were ‘only few people with other cultural backgrounds … those few outsiders from different background, aroused curiosity and were known to everybody’. For example, in the integration of children from Russian immigrant families, into the Finnish school, Tuija recollects that teachers’ attitude was universally that ‘the quick adoption of Finnish was a good thing’, and that ‘little attention was paid to the students’ cultural background … The only thing that we paid attention to was the language. I do not recall any discussions among teachers’. With the idea to move out of a school teaching career, Tuija gained a licentiate degree, and moved to take up a post as a university lecturer at University of Lapland, Rovaniemi. She taught courses related to early childhood and early primary education, and completed a PhD in 2008, which was a discourse analysis of Finnish pre-school curricula. Tuija was spreading her wings professionally by attending some international conferences. She took up a chance to work at an Australian university,

146  Robyn Moloney and Tuija Turunen

Charles Sturt University, in a rural town, Albury, New South Wales, for three years, with her husband and young son. She wrote: My motivation, I would say, was excitement and adventure. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful idea to spend three years in a foreign country and learn the culture from inside! Her reflective description of the challenges of settling in a rural Australian town features both positive and negative memories. The family was committed to maximising their learning, and to ‘diving into’ what they saw as ‘the Australian culture’. They sought out and participated in many activities that they regarded as iconic Australian social activities in the town. Tuija and her family made efforts to be sociable and friendly, and they made some good relationships with new friends, from whom they learnt a lot. After some time, some aspects of what she perceived to be ‘the Australian’ attitude and way of life seemed to ‘rub against’ her home values and what she believed to be appropriate. For example, through her eyes: The other differences I recognized were related to a life attitude and the way of life. The Australians seemed to be relaxed and saying “She’ll be right” “No worries” and the phrase “Take your time” became familiar. On one hand I respected this relaxed way of life, but, sometimes I would have welcomed a more earnest attitude, when there were real worries. Like all newcomers placed in an unknown environment, Tuija faced significant practical and emotional difficulties with limited English linguistic proficiency, and limited knowledge of procedures and expectations. These resulted frequently in both a negative self-image, and negative feelings towards communication with Australians: I did not clearly understand how the society worked and because of that, it always took some extra effort and studying in advance. Before going to see a doctor or handling with some other things, it was quite common that we would study first from the internet and check up on vocabulary. The biggest issue was a feeling of being stupid. I learnt to recognize quickly from the eyes and look of a person when he/she had difficulties to understand me and I still remember the feeling of powerless and shame. Sometimes people started to talk with me slowly, which from my point of view made the situation even more embarrassing. The Australians were friendly and did not mean any harm, but I could not help having negative feelings when communicating. These occasions happened nearly every day. From the tone of her narrative writing at this point, Tuija still remembers clearly the vulnerability and anxiety she experienced in her intercultural

IC in teacher education pedagogy  147

learning in Australia. In particular, she feels grief and guilt for her young son’s difficult experience (‘hard position’) in his Australian school. Children acquiring an additional language in an ‘immersive’ school situation, commonly go through a ‘silent period’ (Krashen, 1982) where they are actively listening and mapping the new language, but may be slow, or anxious, in production of oral responses. And yet, this is not well known in schools, and the teachers negatively referred to Tuija’s son as ‘the silent boy’ and had sometimes negative perceptions of his attitude and behaviour. There were frequent misunderstandings due to language, assumed knowledge, and inappropriate expectations, and her son was punished for apparent misdemeanours by the school: ‘he was often in detention without knowing why’. Robyn, in reading this, and responsible for training teachers of English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EALD), is uncomfortable and ashamed of this failure. Even as university-educated parents, with positive intercultural goals in coming to Australia, Tuija and her husband experience the pain and failure of not being able to help their child. She narrates that they felt ‘helpless’ in supporting him because ‘we did not understand the Australian school culture either’. Their experience, coincidentally, may have paralleled the experience of the Russian parents in the Finnish schools, ten years earlier, and of every immigrant parent today experiencing injustice in school provision for, and understanding of, their child (Markose & Simpson, 2016). Dervin (2016) has commented on the intersectionality of issues, beyond ‘culture’, such as language, which contribute to injustice, inequalities, discrimination and disadvantage (ibid., p. 83) Two gradual and successive changes occurred to Tuija’s perceptions while in Australia, however. Firstly Tuija notes that she gained critical observation of life in Finland: ‘from a distance it was easier to look at it and observe it a little bit like an outsider’. Perhaps due to some degree of homesickness, this still tended to focus on difference, however. With her family she constructed a critique (note the word ‘odd’ in the extract below) of aspects of life in Finland which have become visible to them: ‘I and my husband look at these things with curiosity and often laughed either to Finns or to Australians’. In these interactions, Tuija and her husband, in looking at these supposed ‘intercultural elements’, are deconstructing, criticising and reconstructing what is hidden, to expand their understanding (Dervin, 2016, p. 106). Tuija also looks for critical self-knowledge, as her perception of her identity also becomes re-shaped against the Australian context: I think that while in Australia, I became very much aware of the Finnish culture … With my family we often talked about the differences between Australia and Finland. We noticed the odd features of Finnish culture like the missing of small talk, sticking to facts, seriousness and always being in time, rather too early than too late. I started to see these features also as part of my personality.

148  Robyn Moloney and Tuija Turunen

However, Tuija gradually moved, in the last year of her stay, towards complexifying her understandings. She perceives that she must dig deeper, behind superficial appearance, essentialised cultures, and differences: After about two years of living in Australia I gradually started to think about the values and history behind the Australian and Finnish cultures. It took much thinking, reading and discussions, but step by step I started to see ‘behind the scene’. Notions, such as the fact that equality and individuality meant different things in Finland and Australia, were awakening. I realized that also common concepts such as community had very different meaning in these two countries. Departing from her earlier focus on ‘difference’, Tuija makes a connection of partial commonality between the linguistic and social disadvantage of Aboriginal Australians and Finns, in past times: When thinking about Indigenous Australians and their position, I realized that Finns had been in a little bit similar position over hundred years ago. For example all higher education was provided in Swedish because Finnish was not regarded as a sophisticated language for that. Most of the Finns’ standard of living was fairly poor. She achieves a deeper engagement and critical perspective, which her narrative indicates she has brought forward as an element of intercultural competences: All this was eye-opening and I realized that cultures are much more than just habits or ways of doing things” Her re-entry into life in Finland was also experienced through this new critical perspective, as she notices and critiques behaviours which were earlier invisible to her. As she ponders whether her time in Australia changed her as a person, she does not make grand claim to successful achievement of reaching intercultural competences, as a so-called ‘professional interculturalist’ might do (Dervin, 2016, p. 102). Tuija considers herself rather to be now in a continuous process of development. In her narrative Tuija uses tentative somewhat self-deprecating language: ‘I think I am more aware of cultural differences and perhaps more sensitive and open. I try to keep the friendliness which I learnt in Australia, with me’. Tuija seems to be moving towards Said’s (1993) idea of an ‘amateur interculturalist’ who is on an unfinished irregular pathway, and who will continue to question ideology and look for complexity. In her work in a Teacher Education department, Tuija perceives that she has tried to bring her intercultural competences to her work. For example, she identifies her ability to look critically at the Finnish university system ‘a bit like an outsider’. She sees she is using her competences in a number of

IC in teacher education pedagogy  149

ways. Firstly, with international students, she feels she is able to empathise and ‘better understand their questions and thresholds they might experience’. Importantly, in communicating more easily with colleagues overseas, ‘I am more willing to see the person rather than the culture’. In her undergraduate teaching she challenges her students to think critically, and to re-think their perception of local educational practice: I tease the students to think about the obvious cultural matters from another angle. An example of this is school lunch, which we in Finland provide free of charge to all school kids. It is a warm, healthy meal, introduced nearly a hundred years ago. That is a good thing, but at the same time there are many bad experiences and memories of being forced to eat the meal even if one really disliked it … So this is the other side of the coin, I like to make my students to think critically about it. The bigger message behind these kind of stories is that they should re-think all the traditions at school and reflect their own self-evident ways of thinking, and values behind them. This critical re-thinking is done in the context of classroom discussion, constructed together with students. Tuija’s narrative has tracked some selected episodes in her progressive development. In her language-learning, her travel, her enthusiasms and anxieties, she has moved towards understanding of commonality, the need for digging into deeper exploration. She has expressed commitment to sharing some of this in her pedagogy, in stimulating her students to re-think: ‘with deeper knowledge one learns to value and understand … also to reflect on one’s own environment and even to recognise the amusing part of it … understanding the values behind’.

Narrative 2 Robyn, as interpreted by Tuija Tuija felt that Robyn’s narrative can be read through themes of languagelearning, personal experiences and learning reflections. Robyn starts her story with her recollections of pleasure in learning languages at school, even though there were no options to travel. According to her narrative, she was the only person in her family studying languages: ‘I studied French and German throughout secondary school, and Indonesian also in the senior years. This was considered unusual, I was a bit of a language nut.’ After graduation as a languages teacher Robyn spent nine months in Paris as an ‘assistante d’anglais’ or English assistant teacher. She expected that she would communicate easily with her university level French but in fact, like Tuija, she faced language incompetence in dealing with native speaker speed and idioms. She found herself frustrated with powerlessness, ‘crying in the Police office on the Isle de la Cité, failing, on the fourth attempt, to get our car registered’.

150  Robyn Moloney and Tuija Turunen

Living in France, even though it sometimes included difficulties, proved to be also a positive learning process and Robyn narrates the following sense of hubris: I came away from Paris with pride in my accent, with a lot of useful stories, and I now considered myself to be a bona fide French teacher. But I also had, especially, new empathy and respect for immigrants learning English in Australia. Similarly to Tuija, Robyn’s language studies had represented the first limited opportunity to develop intercultural competence. Her first personal experience, living in Paris, represents a second level of opportunity, and yet, as Dervin (2016) states, without recognition of the complexity, and role of key relationships and failures, intercultural competences remain simplistic. It is only through struggling with the feelings of instabilities and discontinuities it was possible to gradually build intercultural competence. Robyn later became a teacher of Japanese, and refers to her first visit to Japan as ‘a life-changer’. Being in Japan impacted her sense of identity, and her sense of responsibility for understanding and engaging deeply in relationships with Japanese friends. These personal experiences were also related to the discovery of Robyn’s own home practice, in hosting Japanese homestay students, encounters not without failure and disorder. For example, before she got to know common do’s and don’ts in the Japanese home environment, Robyn tells how unconscious actions of hers in the Australian home context, would cause distress to the Japanese homestay students: Small incidents caused distress or embarrassment: putting bubble-bath in the bath, serving a whole baked chicken carcass at the table, pegging underwear ‘in public’, on our backyard line. Outside her language-learning related activities, however, Robyn has also in recent years been engaged, within Australia, in an encounter between her ‘east-coast’ middle-class white context and Western Australian Indigenous contexts. In this encounter, the privileged features of her taken-for-granted lifestyle became even more visible: I suddenly learnt I was not just Australian, I was a white, east coast Australian, Sydney-centric. I have middle class values, and I expect to get a good education and buy a house. I expect to be treated well by justice and health systems. My first language is English. Robyn has narrated that the outcomes of this learning, however, in extended family, have involved pain, grief and challenge. Dislocation, and isolation are not fashionable topics of intercultural narratives. Robyn has written however, that more than any other intercultural context, the failures in this particular context have caused her to re-think her competences and the integrity

IC in teacher education pedagogy  151

of her ‘identity’ as a researcher and teacher educator, in the intercultural area. She wrote: ‘Ultimately intercultural competences, for some, can be a lonely place, poorly understood by others.’ Robyn’s ongoing experiences ‘at home’, exemplify her belief that intercultural learning does not require a plane ticket, but can also happen with challenge in one’s home country, town and neighbourhood, if a person is ready to be exposed to other than the mainstream culture: I learnt that intercultural learning can be done at home, and that we are dependent on others. But the hard part of it always needs to be about me. Personal episodes that contradict the prevailing orthodoxy and cause discontinuities have potential to build up intercultural competences (Dervin, 2016). However, as Robyn’s narrative demonstrates, one needs to be open to experiences and be ready to re-think one’s understanding. Robyn’s Doctorate of Education in 2008 was about identifying intercultural competence in young language learners, but in retrospect she reflects that ‘this was typical of the entrenched idea, that intercultural learning is the sole responsibility of, and partner to, language learning’. As a former school teacher, and now as a teacher educator since 2009, Robyn advocates for (all) teachers, the need for intercultural competences in all curriculum areas. At the end of her narrative Robyn seems frustrated, and makes a strong case that not only student teachers but also all academic staff need to be educated in intercultural competences. Robyn revealed that at least one-third of the pre-service teacher cohort at her Australian university is multilingual, but there was no recognition of these students’ capacities by the largely monolingual academic staff. Along with her powerlessness in the reduction of units focused on multiculturalism and intercultural learning, this annoys Robyn, and exemplifies the contradiction of monocultural Teacher Education provision in a very diverse city: there must be an obligation to position intercultural competences as a vital graduate teacher capacity. To me this means to create opportunities for individual pre-service teaches to become self-aware of their own privilege, to develop critical views of curriculum and policy, and to know how to be, and how to teach, in the Sydney classrooms with often 90% linguistically diverse children and Aboriginal children. While carrying her own instabilities and unfinished processes, Robyn writes that she feels a sense of urgency in her mission: I need to help and urge teacher educators to move beyond assumptions about us/them, our practice must support multiple identities, and it must be negotiated with others equally in the university and the school classroom.

152  Robyn Moloney and Tuija Turunen

Based on her personal experiences she makes a conclusion that beginner teachers’ practice in their own future multilingual class must be grounded in intercultural competences, in their everyday work with children and young people at primary and secondary school. Teacher educators should be able to response to this requirement in their professional practice.

Discussion This chapter is interested in two teacher educators’ stories of their personal and professional experiences and their effects on intercultural competences in their academic work. We recall Clandinin and Connelly’s (1996, 2000) identification of the three types of stories that teachers tell: secret stories (private true accounts of both success and failure, told only to a very close friend), cover stories (the public version of their successes) and sacred stories (official stories, such as policy, or theory). Robyn and Tuija’s narratives include elements of all three types of stories, from the intimate and painful, to their practice, and their theoretical vision of future outcomes. Using an additional perspective, cross-mapping these stories may be a way to more fully understand the nexus between, in this case, teacher educators’ personal and professional learning about intercultural competences, and whether they activate it in their teaching. This project worked at two, if not three levels of critique: the writing of the narratives, the interpretation of the narratives by the partner, and the critique of the dual narrative exercise. For both authors these tasks progressively increased in complexity as we went. In writing the narrative, as a solo exercise, we had choice, creativity and autonomy in our reflective production. In the interpretation of the other’s narrative, there was responsibility not to misinterpret, and misrepresent, but also an obligation to respectfully make some overt framing of our perceptions in the interpretation. In assessing the whole exercise, and in opening up the disruptive questions below, we have felt a sense of professional discomfort and the need for courage in our own institutions. These are all good outcomes, indicative of dipping the toe in intercultural competences, in Teacher Education, as defined in this volume. Following Jokikokko’s (2005) study we were reminded of a group of pre-service teachers who experienced an intensive course in intercultural competence in teaching. In follow-up interviews, their most common comment was that they needed ‘courage’ to speak and act interculturally in their school environments. Working on a cross-case dialogue, we identify a number of Dervin’s (2016) suggested processes of intercultural competences, in both interpretations of the teacher educators’ narratives of their learning processes. Both educators were able to move beyond a sole focus on difference, to perceptions of commonality. To some extent, they perceived deeper learning as due to relationships and interactions and learned from periods of failure and frustration

IC in teacher education pedagogy  153

which they were aware pushed them to critical insight, albeit painful. Both narratives showed processes of accumulated enquiry and discovery, on an unplanned, often disrupted and unfinished track. When it comes to their representation of their teaching practice, the evidence is slim, concerning how their learning is brought forward into their pedagogical practice. In these two teacher educators’ narratives, considering the effort of their own learning processes, there appears to be limited evidence of the activation of intercultural competences in their teaching. Any teacher or teacher educator’s practice will clearly be shaped by individual beliefs about what is appropriate in their teaching role, and perhaps also by institutional or governmental structures, even though curriculum profiles goals in intercultural development. Robyn lectures on relevance of IC to general teachers’ attitudes as a social justice issue, in striving for equity for English language learners, and complains about monolingual staff attitudes. Tuija has indicated that she continued to learn through shift of perspective, in re-acculturation into her Finnish educational community. She uses this to actively encourage students to think critically, dig into the hidden, and re-think their own perspective of Finnish practice in education. The teacher education context in Finland heavily features student research, which in itself may necessitate critical enquiry skills. This may produce a backdrop of assumptions of skills in students, however, which may reduce the perceived ‘need’ for explicit discourse or need for tasks eliciting intercultural competences. In seeking explanations for these apparent limitations, as an outcome of this study, we have developed questions for reflection: What processes of critical re-thinking can these two individuals, and other teacher educators, usefully bring to their practice or is there a reluctance, or perception of inappropriateness, to tell the secret story, in the professional academic mode? Do national institutions attach value to intercultural competences as a capacity in graduate teacher attributes and is there a connection with intercultural goals in school curriculum? These disruptive questions give us opportunity to further critique both our practice and our respective teaching environments. We suggest that these critical questions could be usefully applied to teacher educators’ professional practices and many departments of Teacher Education globally.

Conclusion This chapter has represented an attempt to ask whether and how teacher educators could identify Intercultural Competences (IC) in their development, and in their professional practice. Bearing in mind the role of teacher

154  Robyn Moloney and Tuija Turunen

educators in young teachers’ development (Lunenberg, Dengering, & Korthagen, 2014), the nature of their pedagogy and their discourse with their students are crucial in building student teachers’ critical thinking, cultural awareness and sensitivity. The study indicates that both teacher educators are limited in bringing their experiences and professional learning forward in their teaching. The study raises questions of what may impede more active application of teacher educators’ intercultural competences into their work with pre-service teachers. In this era of population movements, and educational inequities, there is urgent need, not only in both contexts, but globally, for teachers with intercultural competences to work in diverse classrooms. The study raises issues of teacher educator subjectivity, pedagogy and what is valued institutionally, in teacher education. There are implications for all Teacher Education programmes, and the educators who deliver them, globally. The chapter, while a small scale study conducted at the level of individual educators, hopes to generate further critical perspectives on the relationship between teacher educators’ intercultural competences, professional development and practice.

References AITSL, Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (2011). Accreditation of Initial Teacher Education Programs in Australia: Standards and procedure. Melbourne: AITSL. Retrieved from www.teacherstandards.aitsl.edu.au AITSL, Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (2013). Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. Melbourne: AITSL. Retrieved from www. teacherstandards.aitsl.edu.au Amadasi, S., & Holliday, A. (2017). ‘I already have a culture’. Negotiating competing grand and personal narratives in interview conversations with new study abroad arrivals. Language and Intercultural Communication, 17, 254–269. Bagnall, N. (2008). Teacher cultural reflection and cultural action learning: Researching a cultural dimension in teacher education. Ethnography and Education European Review, 4, 101–116. Barkhuizen, G., Benson, P., & Chik, A. (2013). Narrative Inquiry in Language Teaching and Learning Research. London: Routledge. Ben-Peretz, M., Eilam, B., & Landler-Pardo, G. (2011). Teacher education for classroom management in Israel: Structures and orientations. Teaching Education, 22(2), 133–150. Bucholtz, M., & Hall, K. (2004a). ‘Language and Identity’. In A. Duranti (Ed.) A Companion to Linguistic Anthropology, pp. 369–394. Malden, MA: Blackwell. Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (1996). Teachers’ professional knowledge landscapes: Teacher stories – Stories of teachers – School stories – Stories of Schools. Educational Researcher, 25, 24–30. doi:10.3102/0013189X025003024 Clandinin, J., & Connelly, M. (2000). Narrative Inquiry: Experience and Story in Qualitative Research. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Cummins, J. (1996). Negotiating Identities: Education for Empowerment in a Diverse Society. Los Angeles: California Association for Bilingual Education.

IC in teacher education pedagogy  155

Denshire, S (2014). On auto-ethnography. Current Sociology Review, 62(6), 831–850. Dervin, F. (2015). Towards post-intercultural teacher education: Analysing extreme intercultural dialogue to reconstruct interculturality. European Journal of Teacher Education, 38(1), 71–86. Dervin, F. (2016). Interculturality in Education: A Theoretical and Methodological Toolbox. London: Springer Nature. Dewey, J. (1933/1986). How we think: A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), The Later Works of John Dewey. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. Díaz, A. (2013). Intercultural understanding and professional learning through critical engagement. Babel, 48(1), 12–19. Eurydice. (2014). Teachers_and_Education_Staff. https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/mwikis/eurydice/index.php/Finland Glesne, C., & Peshkin. (1992). Becoming Qualitative Researchers: An Introduction. White Plains, NY: Longman. Golombek, P. R., & Johnson, K. E. (2004). Narrative inquiry as a mediational space: Examining emotional and cognitive dissonance in second language teachers’ development. Teachers and Teaching, 10(3), 307–327. Gore, J. M., & Morrison, K. (2001). The perpetuation of a (semi-) profession: Challenges in the governance of teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17 (5), 567–582. Hall, S. (1990). Cultural identity and diaspora. In J. Rutherford (Ed.), Identity: Community, Culture (pp. 222–237). London: Lawrence and Wishart. Hamilton,V. (Ed.) (2005). Reconceptualizing Teaching Practice: Self-study in Teacher Education. London: Falmer. Hattie, J. (2003). Teachers Make a Difference. What is the Research Evidence? Australian Council of Educational Research. Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. Oxford Pergamon Press. Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (2002). Legitimate peripheral participation in communities of practice. In R. Harrison (Ed.), Supporting lifelong learning: Perspectives on learning (pp. 111–126). London: Routledge Falmer. Liu, Y., & Xu, Y. (2013). The trajectory of learning in a teacher community of practice: A narrative inquiry of a language teacher’s identity in the workplace. Research Papers in Education, 28 (2), 176–195. Liu, L. B., & Milman, N. B. (2010). Preparing teacher candidates to teach diverse student populations through reflective practice. Reflective Practice, 11(5), 619–630. Lunenberg, M., Dengerink, J. & Korthagen, F. (2014). The Professional Teacher Educator roles, Behaviour, and Professional Development of Teacher Educators. Rotterdam: SensePublisher. Markose, S., Simpson, A. (2016). ‘I want them better than me’: Pedagogical strategies employed by four immigrant parents in the face of perceived forms of exclusion by school authorities. Race Ethnicity and Education, 19(3), 659–682. http:// dx.doi:10.1080/13613324.2014.885423 Mayer, D., Luke, C., & Luke, A. (2008). Teachers, national regulation and cosmopolitanism. In Critical Readings in Teacher Education: Provoking Absences (pp. 79–98). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers

156  Robyn Moloney and Tuija Turunen

Mezirow, J. (1990). How critical reflection triggers transformative learning. In J. Mezirow (Ed.), Fostering Critical Reflection in Adulthood (pp. 1–20). San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass. Moloney, R. (2013). Providing a bridge to intercultural pedagogy for native speaker teachers of Chinese in Australia. Journal of Language Culture and Curriculum. doi:10 .1080/07908318.2013.829081 Moloney, R., Harbon, L., & Fielding, R. (2016). An interactive, co-constructed approach to the development of intercultural understanding in pre-service language teachers. In F. Dervin & Z. Gross (Eds.), Intercultural Competence in Education (pp. 85–213). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Moloney, R. & Oguro, S. (2016). Transforming pre-service language teachers’ understanding of teaching critically. In M. Dasli & A. Díaz (Eds.), Critical Turn in Language and Intercultural Communication Pedagogy. London: Routledge. Nieto, S. (2000). Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education. New York: Longman. Norton, B. (2000). Identity and language learning: Gender, ethnicity and educational change. Editorial Dunken. Pyhältö, K., Pietarinen, J. & Soini, T. (2012). Do comprehensive school teachers perceive themselves as active professional agents in school reforms? Journal of Educational Change, 13(1), 95–116. Sahlberg. P. (2010). The secret to Finland’s success: Educating teachers. Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education – Research Brief. September 2010, 1–8. Said, E. (1993). Representations of the Intellectual. New York: Vintage Books. Scarino, A. (2013). Foreword. In L. Harbon & R. Moloney (Eds.), Language Teachers’ Narratives of Practice. (pp. xiii– xviii). Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Schön, D. (1987). Educating the Reflective Practitioner. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Schön, D. (1991). The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing. Tsui, A. (2007). Complexities of identity formation: A narrative inquiry of an EFL teacher. Tesol Quarterly, 41(4), 657–680. Wang, D., Moloney, R., & Li, Z. (2013). Towards internationalising the curriculum: A case study of Chinese language teacher education programs in China and Australia. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 38(9), 8–18. Wenger, E. (2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization, 7(2), 225–246. Willems, G. M., Stakenborg, J. H., & Veugelers, W. (2000). Trends in Dutch Teacher Education. Leuven-Apeldoorn: Garant. Williams, J., Ritter, J., & Bullock, S. M. (2012). Understanding the complexity of becoming a teacher educator: Experience, belonging, and practice within a professional learning community. Studying Teacher Education, 8(3), 245–260.

Chapter 10

Leading international teaching experiences Negotiating tensions, contradictions and discontinuities Jae Major, Jennifer Munday and Matthew Winslade Introduction Intercultural competence is recognised as an important element underpinning the ability to live well in a globalised world. Along with the closely related term – multiculturalism – intercultural competence has become an established term in the education landscape of many countries, and is a matter of ongoing consideration and goal setting for higher education institutions. One popular way to develop intercultural competence amongst students is through international experiences. Such experiences encompass short stay mobility programmes of 2–5 weeks that frequently include practicum opportunities, and longer study abroad programmes of one semester duration or more where the focus is on course work in an overseas institution. In teacher education, a growing body of literature has investigated the affordances and limitations of international experience programmes in developing intercultural sensitivity and competence amongst pre- and in-service teachers (e.g. Alfaro & Quezada, 2010; Dantas, 2007; Parr & Chan, 2015; Santoro & M ajor, 2012). It is generally agreed in the literature that international teaching experiences require careful planning, and should incorporate a theoretically grounded and credit-bearing academic programme, adequate preparation, and supported critical reflection during the experience in order to fully exploit their transformative potential (Buchanan, Major, Harbon & Kearney, 2017; Dehmel, Li & Sloane, 2011; Stephan & Stephan, 2013). While there is a significant body of research about the impact of study abroad and international experiences on students’ intercultural competence, there is very little that explores the experiences of academics who lead international experiences, or that considers the intercultural competencies they need to do this effectively. There seems to be an assumption that academics who choose to lead international experiences already have the requisite understandings and skills to successfully guide students towards deeper intercultural understandings and competence.

158  Jae Major et al.

This chapter addresses this gap in the literature by reporting a project where the authors (all teacher educators) engaged in critically reflective work to explore their experiences as programme leaders for three international teaching experiences for student teachers from Charles Sturt University (CSU), a large regional university in New South Wales, Australia. The authors supervised international teaching experiences in Cambodia and the Solomon Islands ( Jae), Vanuatu ( Jenni), and Samoa (Matt) between 2011 and 2016. The key questions that guided this project are: What are the experiences of teacher educators who lead short-term international mobility programmes? What intercultural skills and competencies do teacher educators need to effectively facilitate such programmes? The drive for internationalisation across the higher education sector is reflected in CSU’s commitment to broaden opportunities for students to experience and engage in and with other cultures. To this end, CSU has progressively developed a suite of international programmes for exchange, study or professional experience. Financial encouragement through travel scholarships is available for interested students so they may gain ‘international exposure and a competitive edge in the graduate market’ (CSU Global, 2016). Becoming an academic leader of an international experience at CSU is achieved by submitting an expression of interest to the faculty unit responsible for organising each experience. Factors that determine selection to lead an international programme include previous experience of travelling and living in diverse cultures, understanding of intercultural competence and diversity, ability to supervise teaching practice, and research connected to the programme. In the next section, we summarise the literature related to faculty experiences of international mobility programmes. Then we outline key understandings of intercultural competence and critical reflection which underpin our understandings about the development of intercultural competence, before describing the design of the project and the processes of critical reflection used in data analysis. Findings are presented as narratives organised around three main themes that emerged from the data: international experiences as inherently contradictory, inter and intra-cultural competence, and personal challenges. From these narratives we discuss and elaborate Academic Intercultural Competencies identified by Kidman, Lang and Cacciattolo (2017) as necessary to effectively work with student teachers during international experiences.

International mobility programmes from faculty perspectives As mentioned above, there are few studies about the role and experiences of academic faculty who lead international experience programmes. A small number of studies consider the experiences of faculty who teach in

Leading international teaching experiences  159

international contexts for short periods as part of internationalisation projects (see for example Dunn & Wallace, 2006; and Smith, 2012). These studies agree that there is little planned preparation for faculty who undertake international teaching experiences themselves and promote the need for professional development and cultural induction for academics prior to departure for international teaching experiences (Dean, London, Carston & Salyers, 2015; Dunn & Wallace, 2006). Mizzi (2017) promotes a ‘pedagogy of preparedness’ for visiting faculty in international institutions, drawing on border pedagogy notions of a critical orientation to intercultural experiences. This requires visiting faculty to deconstruct their own backgrounds ‘to reveal positionality and privilege’ (Mizzi, 2017, p. 257) in relation to the international context and to enhance intercultural competence. Dean et al. (2015) investigated the ‘expectations, motivation and experiences’ (p.  9) of faculty involved in international experience programmes for students in a Canadian university. Their participants reported a lack of preparation and support for the work required to organise and manage the logistics of international mobility programmes. Dean et al. conclude that ‘student learning [on international experiences] might be compromised when faculty who lead such initiatives are not provided adequate administrative support, training, and mentorship to facilitate the educational process for their students’ (p. 19). They promote mentoring as a means of preparation for faculty new to international programme leadership, and see this as important for succession planning. Research from a number of disciplines (including nursing, social work and education) identifies challenges for staff who lead international mobility experiences, such as staff workload in organising international experiences, safety and health, finances, emergencies, family responsibilities, and compromised academic opportunities (Dean et al., 2015; Gray et al., 2016; Zanchetta et al., 2013). Maginnis, Anderson, Brown and Stanley (2015) suggest that the role of academics supervising international clinical placements includes ‘travel guide, medic, interpreter, role model on almost 24/7 duty, a liaison person and a den mother’ (p. 4). In the context of teacher education, Australian academics have been at the forefront of recent research reflecting on their experiences as leaders of international experiences, and concluding that this work is complex and challenging both personally and professionally (Fitzgerald, 2017; Lang, Cacciattolo & Kidman, 2017; Parr, 2012; Parr & Chan, 2015; Williams & Grierson, 2016). Parr (2012) describes the ethical tensions he grappled with while leading a group of students on a transnational teaching experience in Johannesburg, South Africa. Using the notion of education as border-crossing, Parr recognises both the positive potential of the experience to ‘potentially deepen our awareness of the histories, cultures, knowledges and identities that we bring to our work in education’, and the danger of the project becoming a ‘colonialist enterprise’ (2012, p. 99).

160  Jae Major et al.

Fitzgerald (2017) also uses border-crossing along with the metaphor of the cultural broker to reflect on her experiences of leading international practicum experiences in Italy. She draws on Aikenhead (1996) to describe border-crossing in terms of being a tourist or a traveller depending on the level of support and guidance needed (a tourist requiring more support than a traveller). A cultural broker could be either a tour guide (providing high support for tourists) or a travel agent (providing guidance to travellers). Using these metaphors, Fitzgerald describes how she found herself in each of these roles at different times, concluding that leading international experiences involves movement back and forth between roles in order to manage one’s own experiences and to support student teachers. Fitzgerald suggests that academic leaders must draw on a ‘diverse range of strategies and resources’ (p. 22) appropriate to the context, and be willing to ‘share and critically reflect on the border crossing mistakes and blunders made to further the learning of others’ (p. 23). In a similar vein, Williams and Grierson (2016) highlight the importance of teacher educators maintaining an ‘awareness of their own journey alongside that of teacher candidates’ (p. 67) as they negotiate the complexities of leading, mentoring and offering professional development for student teachers and host teachers in international practicum contexts. In furthering the development of intercultural competence for international programme leaders, Kidman, Lang and Cacciattolo (2017; see also, Lang, Cacciattolo & Kidman, 2017) propose a model of ‘academic intercultural competencies’ (AIC) which has three key elements distilled from critical reflection on their experiences as academic leaders of international experiences in Malaysia. The three elements that contribute to AIC are personal resources, context of experiences and academics’ support mechanisms. Personal resources are academics’ life experiences, confidence, commitment and the adaptive expertise to ‘apply knowledge effectively to novel problems’ (Kidman, et al., 2017, p.  33). Context of experiences refers to academics’ knowledge and understanding of the international experience environment; a complex space where the academic is responsible for the well-being and learning of students as well as him or herself. Academics’ support mechanisms are the ‘mind shifts’ accompanying academics experience as they lead and participate in international practicums, and the coping mechanisms they employ to solve problems for themselves and their students. Critical reflection and sharing narratives with colleagues are two examples of support mechanisms that academics might use. Kidman and her colleagues suggest that further research is needed into these elements of AIC. As the diagram below indicates, AIC develop at the intersection of these three elements, and achieving a balance between the elements supports this process. We use this model to analyse and make sense of our own experiences as programme leaders.

Leading international teaching experiences  161

U 1. Personal Resources A 2. Context of Experiences

B AIC C

3. Academics Support Mechanisms

Figure 10.1 Academic Intercultural Competencies Model from Kidman et al. (2017, p. 30)

Intercultural competence and critical reflection Intercultural competence is understood and defined in a range of ways. The most often cited definitions incorporate the development of knowledge, attitudes, skills and behaviours (e.g. Byram, 1997; Deardorff, 2006) for ‘effective and appropriate behavior and communication in intercultural situations’ (Deardorff, 2011, p. 66). Dervin (2016) critiques such approaches to intercultural education for focusing too much on individual cognitive development and ignoring the interactive, relational and co-constructed nature of interculturality. He also suggests that many approaches focus on narrow learning about cultures as static, self-contained entities which risks essentialising and stereotyping on the basis of cultural affiliations. Instead, Dervin (2016) proposes that intercultural competence ‘is composed of contradictions, instabilities, and discontinuities’ (p. 82), and so intercultural education must ‘create situations of encounters that can help students to test their resistance to discomfort and potential failure, and to learn to be reflexive’ (p. 83). Leading an international experience creates situations of discomfort and potential failure for academics also, and challenges their intercultural competence. International teaching experiences are inherently full of tensions and discomfort requiring reflexive responses, and it is the ability to reflect critically on one’s experiences that is central to developing intercultural understandings and skills (Hahl & Löfström, 2016; Parr & Chan, 2015). Hahl and Löfström (2016) suggest that critical reflection is important for academic leaders of international experiences so they can avoid essentialising the culture and people of the country context they are visiting. They promote reflection as a tool for analysing events and developing understandings about intercultural competence and its practical applications. In a similar vein, Parr and Chan (2015)

162  Jae Major et al.

urge teacher educators to ‘take a proactive role in reflecting on diversity so that they can encourage and engage their student teachers in a similar practice’ (p. 303). They suggest that this is best done as a dialogic practice to develop a critical stance to one’s own ‘deeply held beliefs, conceptions and assumptions’ (p. 303) as part of the process of building intercultural competence. Dervin (2016) includes reflexivity as one of ten suggestions for effective intercultural education, acknowledging that ‘feelings, experiences, and history’ (p. 105) impact teachers’ work in this area. Other suggestions include the ideas that ‘failure in interculturality is normal and we can learn from it’ (p. 104); that rather than focusing on cultural norms one should consider the ‘exceptions, instabilities, and processes’ (p. 104) of intercultural encounters; and that interculturality is an ongoing process of ‘delv[ing] into the hidden [and going] under the surface of discourses and appearances’ (p. 106). This approach to intercultural education reflects a more relativist stance which acknowledges the recursive and fluid nature of intercultural competence, and the inherent ambiguities of intercultural encounters. Combining these ideas, we understand intercultural competence as a process of ongoing learning through critical reflection to develop knowledge, attitudes, skills and behaviours that enhance our ability to negotiate successful intercultural relationships. These notions of critical reflexivity informed both theoretical and methodological aspects of the project. In the next section we describe the methods we used to collect and analyse data.

The research project The international experience programmes described in this chapter, and our approach to the research project, are based on a ‘critical incident approach’ through planned reflective practice (McAllister, Whiteford, Hill, Thomas & Fitzgerald, 2006). Critical reflection is common where researchers are concerned to ‘acknowledge the values from which they are operating’, to consider multiple perspectives, and to remain open to new possibilities in analysing data (Hickson, 2016, p. 382). In action, critical reflection involves deconstructing experiences in order to better understand how meaning is made from them. This requires reflexivity – that is, ‘being aware of how we interpret actions, perceptions and responses’ (Hickson, 2016, p. 386), and using this awareness to re-interpret and guide our responses. Through a process of deconstruction and reinterpretation using alternative perspectives (Morley, 2014), it is possible to build intercultural understandings. To promote this process of deconstruction and reinterpretation, we kept personal journals recording our reflections on aspects of culture, leadership, education and practical living skills in each context. On our return to Australia, we undertook a series of reflective conversations about our experiences, using our personal written reflections as stimulus. We framed our experiences around our own critical incidents, and found that these took on the qualities

Leading international teaching experiences  163

of narratives. The conversations were recorded and transcribed for further analysis using a collaborative narrative analysis approach. According to Marcolino and da Graça Nicolletti Mizukami (2008), the process of constructing a narrative with others embeds reflection as a mediating process between the experience and the narrative. Simply by re-presenting an experience as narrative invites reflection as meaning is constructed. Furthermore, using a collaborative analysis approach meant that each researcher’s analysis had equal standing and we were able to agree on interpretations from our own and each other’s research perspectives and expertise (Phoenix et al., 2016). This approach was useful to ensure that our research was not served by a single perspective, but benefited from the engagement of our multiple perspectives (Cornish, Gillespie & Zittoun, 2014, p. 80), enabling us to probe and interrogate our assumptions and discuss alternative understandings of each narrative. The three elements of the Academic Intercultural Competencies Model (Kidman, Lang & Cacciattolo, 2017) also provide us with a lens to further consider our data. Analysis of our narratives revealed core themes that could then be connected to intercultural competence. We have chosen three salient themes to explore here: international experiences as inherently contradictory, inter and intra-cultural competence, and personal challenges, using our narratives to exemplify each theme. These themes were selected firstly because they were prominent in our conversations, secondly they are particularly relevant to our interest in intercultural competence, and finally because they revealed tensions and contradictions that were evident at macro, meso and micro levels of our experiences.

‘I just felt completely wrong a lot of the time’ – International experiences as inherently contradictory Jenni’s narrative

I was really scared about being the privileged Australian, and we stayed with privileged Australians who had their business in Vanuatu … And there was a whole lot of stuff going on there [Vanuatu] that was Australian aid or New Zealand aid or Japan aid – and, you look at it, and you think, ‘Isn’t it amazing, all these countries meddling, trying to drag Vanuatu into the twenty-first century’, I suppose. But … those tenders … Australia will advertise for [aid] tenders to build this government house or do this bit of industrial stuff, and the money goes to Australian business. And they come in and they do the job, and they might employ a few Vanuatuan people, but basically, they just come there, do the job and go away again. And, [they think] ‘Aren’t we good and kind for doing that’! So I had a lot of very tense feelings about our place there. I just felt completely wrong a lot of the time.

164  Jae Major et al.

Jenni’s feelings of discomfort about her privilege as a white Westerner were amplified in the Vanuatu context because of the many large aid-funded projects apparent in Port Vila, where the programme was based. These feelings extended to the programme she was leading raising concerns that while it might be beneficial for the Australians student teachers, there may not be the same benefits for the local schools, children and host teachers. Jenni found that her previous experiences of leading international experiences in developed countries did not help in the face of what seemed like blatant exploitation in a developing country. As a way to cope with the personal tension and feelings of helplessness she decided to work on a photographic essay, a researched creative work, to explore and make meaning of what she saw happening in the local context. On days when she wasn’t needed at the site of the student placements she visited sites where she could take photographs to ‘tell the story’ beyond Vanuatu in an exhibition on her return to Australia. Our collaborative critical reflection triggered awareness of the complexities of each context of experience and the tensions related to our presence there. Jenni drew on her personal resources as an artist to develop a strategy for coping with the tensions and discomfort she felt. Our subsequent reflective conversation was a support mechanism that enabled the development of our understandings about the contradictory nature of international experiences and the need to discuss this with student teachers. The fact that this conversation occurred after the experiences does not negate its value; however, opportunities to engage in such discussions during international experiences would support the development of academics’ intercultural competence with potential benefit the development of intercultural relationships during the programme. Our conversations raised the prospect that our programmes were simply forms of edu-tourism which ‘used’ the partnerships in each country with little regard for the needs and longer term benefits to our partners. Doubts about international experiences as a valid way to develop intercultural competence and achieve internationalisation goals are echoed by a number of researchers who express concern about the potential for such experiences to in fact reinforce stereotypes and deficit thinking about difference (Buchanan & Widodo, 2016; Major & Santoro, 2016; Parr & Chan, 2015). Major and Santoro (2016) express concern about the ways in which international partnerships between institutions in developed and developing countries can ‘inadvertently reinforce unequal power relations’ (p. 12) and enact a form of neo-colonialism. Similarly, in the context of student teacher exchanges between Australia and Indonesia, Buchanan and Widodo (2016) question ‘the mechanisms that drive, shape and constrain international exchanges’ suggesting that there is an ‘imbalance in the esteem of the two education systems’ (p. 362). They raise concerns about an ‘export industry’ mentality in relation to international exchanges, while acknowledging the difficulty of nurturing intercultural relationships that are ‘respectful yet not uncritical’ (p.  362) through such experiences. Parr and

Leading international teaching experiences  165

Chan (2015) suggest that ethical issues arise when institutions from the ‘developed world’ view and use the ‘developing world’ as an educational resource. They also problematise international teaching experiences as edu-tourism, and contend that such programmes should make explicit to participants the associated cultural challenges and ethical dilemmas (p. 44). In the context of intercultural education, Gorski (2008) raises questions about the value of programmes that do not address social justice issues. He suggests that intercultural education that focuses only on ‘interpersonal relationships and cultural awareness’ (p. 521) without interrogating power hierarchies is a form of colonisation. It is dominant groups that benefit most from such education at the expense of marginalised groups whose cultures and practices are appropriated. Critical reflection that highlights awareness of these tensions is an important first step towards an academic intercultural competence that includes the ability to interrogate power hierarchies and challenge deficit and colonising approaches to international experiences.

‘This is not what I came here to do’ – Inter and intra-cultural competence Jae’s narrative

So we were in a tiny community, maybe ten shops in this community, a landing strip, and the place we were staying at was a gated lodge and it had security because they’d had trouble with theft and problems with people being harassed in the past. Just along from the lodge was a new Kava Bar that had opened up recently. And the students found that Kava Bar within five minutes of getting into the place and some of them made friends with the couple who owned it, who were local people, and started going there of an evening. And that was okay for the first few days. And then I started talking with other people in the community, started to understand that actually this Kava Bar was seen as a bit of a problem in the community. Kava is not part of the Solomon Islands’ culture. The bar was serving alcohol, which was – it wasn’t licensed to do that, so that it was actually illegal, not that the police were going to do anything about it. But also that – this was a group of all women on that first trip – and the Kava Bar was seen as not a salubrious place, not an appropriate place for women to frequent. And you know, ‘proper upstanding good women’ did not go to the Kava Bar. And in fact, there weren’t very many women who went to the Kava Bar anyway, it was mostly men. So I got a bit uneasy about it. The incident that, kind of, sealed it for me was on the Friday night of the first week a group went down there and then came back, and that was all fine. But then, three of them snuck off without telling me – they went back to the Kava Bar, you know, late, really late, and the first thing I knew about was when the manager of the lodge rang me at 12.45am to

166  Jae Major et al.

say ‘,We’re about to lock our gates and some of your students are not back’. So I had to trot off down to the Kava Bar with a security guard and say, ‘You need to come back because otherwise you’re going to be locked out for the night. And why were you down here anyway? Because we agreed that you wouldn’t go anywhere without telling me because I need to know where you are.’ So anyway, I was really angry. And they were all terribly apologetic and the next day I basically said ‘,The Kava Bar is out of bounds for these reasons.’ That was fine, except that for a couple of them, they really resented and resisted the fact that I was telling them what they could and couldn’t do. And it became a source of tension for the rest of the time. And they just did not want to own the fact that it wasn’t appropriate for them as representatives of CSU to be frequenting a place that was seen as inappropriate by the community. And particularly as women, they weren’t prepared to accept that I did actually have the right to, kind of, ban them, you know, make that place out of bounds. And I hated the fact that they made me feel – or it made me feel like a grumpy parent or something. You know? I thought – this is not what I came here to do. Student teachers involved in international experience programme at CSU are drawn from undergraduate and postgraduate initial teacher education programmes (EC, primary and secondary), as well as master’s level programmes for experienced teachers. Most groups have a range of ages (from 20–50+ years), experiences, and expectations both of themselves, of the programme and of the academic leader. While the preparation of the student teachers includes the expectations the institution has of them, and deals with some of the expectations of the experience, at no stage is there a structured discussion about students’ expectations of the programme leader and what his/her role is. As a result we all have experienced times when there has been a clear disconnect in the expectations about our respective roles. The narrative above highlights this disconnect as Jae struggled with a lack of clarity about the ‘rules of engagement’ for the trip, which exacerbated the challenges of managing and mediating community relationships and reputation, intra-group conflict and power struggles. As everyone involved was an adult, Jae assumed that she didn’t need to be explicit about appropriate behaviour in the community. However, behaviours that would go relatively unnoticed in a larger community were highly visible in this small village, something that no one was prepared for. There had been no discussion about this and Jae’s reluctance to make explicit her expectations left the students free to determine what was appropriate for themselves. The mismatch in expectations that became apparent was then a source of conflict and tension, damaging the relationship between programme leader and some students for the duration of the trip. Leading an international experience requires both intra-cultural competence and inter-cultural competence. An important aspect of interculturality

Leading international teaching experiences  167

‘is that it can only happen through interactions with another person …’ (Dervin, 2016, p. 72) and so is jointly constructed, rather than individual. International experiences require programme leaders to negotiate interactions with ‘complex people and in specific contexts’ (p. 80) including the participating students. Intra-cultural competence is needed to build positive and effective group relationships and dynamics amongst the students and staff who come together for short-term international experiences. Despite personal resources that included prior experience of supervising international teaching practicums and a background in researching and teaching about cultural diversity, Jae lacked knowledge and understanding about this particular context of experience, not having visited the Solomon Islands before. Instead of positioning herself as the leader who took responsibility for managing intercultural interactions, it might have been more fruitful for Jae to position herself as a co-learner with the student teachers and to have posed the ‘problem’ of the Kava Bar as one for the group to solve. As the sole academic leader for the programme, and with no access to the Internet, there were limited support mechanisms available, which also compromised Jae’s ability to effectively mobilise academic intercultural competencies in this situation. As a result she missed the opportunity to collaborate with the student teachers to critically reflect on the implications of their behaviour for the small community in which they were living for a month. The potential for this incident to be a stimulus for developing intercultural competence amongst the student teachers was lost, as Jae struggled to work out her role. Accompanying academics take on multiple roles during an international experience (Maginnis et al., 2015). Some of the formal and informal roles we have found ourselves inhabiting on international experiences include practicum supervisor, mentor, counsellor, cultural guide, friend, teacher, disciplinarian, health worker, conflict mediator … We take on these roles in order to ensure that all the student teachers have a productive experience, where the challenges do not become unmanageable, the group functions effectively, host relationships and partnerships are maintained, and learning occurs. However, some of these roles have sat uneasily for each of us, at different times, as we work out who we are as programme leaders who are also engaged in our own journeys of intercultural growth and development. It is clear that we do not always get it right.

‘Life still goes on at home’ – Personal challenges Matt’s narrative

Definitely, three weeks does put a bit of pressure on as well when you’ve got family and different commitments. I know the first time I went [to Samoa] a few of the students got sick early on, and I didn’t have a great

168  Jae Major et al.

deal of sympathy … and then I got sick, and I developed a lot more sympathy for them. I actually ended up with Giardia the first time. I found that it’s an interesting [situation]. As it’s a parasite if you don’t eat you feel really quite well, so then you eat, and as soon as you eat you feel sick, so you just stop eating. So I lost a lot of weight … And so I’ve become a lot more ‘nana-ish’ if the students do get sick, I actually have a fair bit of sympathy, because I know how horrible it is when you’re away and I have found myself taking on the ‘Dad’ sort of role for the students, you know, when they are sick, and making sure they’re okay, and checking in – being protective, I guess, is the word. In terms of general life, life still going on at home, school’s there, kids still have to be taken to sports, picked up, you know, and my wife has quite a stressful, full on job and is still doing all that sort of stuff as well. The first time I went, I was in contact every day. The last time I went, maybe every four, five days, because you, sort of, know the conversations, there’s all this stuff going on and you’re, like, ‘Okay. Got to go’ and head to deal with a situation that has arisen. I know I’ve also had students – a mature student that [her husband] owned quite a large business in town and he had an accident where he actually had a piece of machine go through his leg. Trying to help her deal with that, she had kids at home, and I went, ‘Geez, ok should I organise to get her out of here now?’ It did make me think, what if I had to go now, would they [the students] be okay. When I go, the project is my job for those weeks and I’m in school every day, but then you still have the other things that you need to catch up on as well. The last programme I was on I had a writing deadline for a text book due towards the end of the three weeks. The date was firm and I had made a commitment to it so I had to juggle the programme with writing. It meant I had to sacrifice time that I would have spent supporting students and in school in order to meet my deadline. I also had to spend a lot of my evenings in my room at the computer, I think it made me a lot more stressed than on previous trips, because it was always in the back of my mind. I also knew there would be a lot of admin type things to catch up on when I got back to the office. On a personal level the trip was just before my son’s final exams so there was a bit of guilt there as well. He actually also got his P plates whilst I was away, so I missed that as well. In order for exchange programmes to have the desired impact they need to run for a number of weeks and up to a month. This time frame has significant implications for staff members who lead international experiences. Many CSU programmes are located in developing countries and these areas are often associated with health (especially gastric), communication and isolation issues. In addition, the timing of the programmes can

Leading international teaching experiences  169

also impact ongoing work commitments and family. Matt highlights the challenges associated with being overseas and working remotely to facilitate an overseas exchange programme whilst endeavouring to maintain existing working commitments associated with academia such as writing and administration. He also draws attention to other factors such as time away from family commitments that can lead to guilt or a sense of detachment from home life, and the potential impact that living and working in a developing country may have on an academic leader’s health, not only whilst they are away but also when they return to resume their normal work. Amongst us we have had to deal with the death of family members, personal illness, family issues, and work demands while leading international experience programmes alone and often in locations with limited or unreliable Internet access. The AIC model is presented as a Venn diagram to indicate the integrated nature of the three elements (Kidman et al., 2017) that results in intercultural competence. The intersection of personal resources and support mechanisms enabled Matt to manage many of the personal challenges of leading an international experience in Samoa. He had strong personal resources in several areas that enabled him to navigate personal challenges. In addition to previous experience in leading group travel, he had well-established relationships with both the student teachers and the host institution in Samoa. Furthermore, the foci of the teaching experience were health and sports, areas of discipline strength and confidence for Matt. In terms of support mechanisms, he was able to maintain regular contact with family at home and there well designed processes to manage health issues and emergencies. Despite these strengths, the context of experience in this case placed significant tension against the other two elements. In particular, the health issues that arose in Samoa led to a shift in mindset for Matt. After he fell ill, he re-evaluated the situation (i.e. the impact of the context on his students) and the support mechanisms necessary for everyone. Something Matt acknowledges he was unprepared for prior to the experience. Leading an international programme requires patience, interpersonal skills, and a willingness to care for the students beyond normal working hours and beyond the teaching context of the international experience. The effort and resilience required to maintain an emotional equilibrium in a group in a foreign setting can be exhausting for the leader. Matt’s narrative highlights the conflicting feelings that academics may experience about leading international programmes. The pressure academic staff experience during an extended period away from campus and family is rarely considered or even raised in the literature, yet is a significant factor influencing the decision to lead international experience programmes, and has implications for their sustainability. Furthermore, without adequate support, the ongoing development of AIC for programme leaders is potentially compromised.

170  Jae Major et al.

Academic intercultural competence In this chapter, we have used the term intercultural competence to describe a process of ongoing learning through critical reflection about knowledge, attitudes, skills and behaviours related to intercultural experiences. We have offered three narratives about the experiences of academic leaders of international mobility programmes. In managing these experiences, we drew on and further developed our own interculturality as we navigated and mediated relationships with and between our students, our hosts and within complex cultural contexts. International experiences are personally and professionally challenging, characterised by tensions, contradictions and discontinuities in both inter and intra-cultural contexts and interactions. These tensions, contradictions and discontinuities can be thought about in relation to the three elements of academic intercultural competencies (personal resources, context of environments, and support mechanisms) identified by Kidman et al. (2017), and how these are mobilised in international spaces. Each is discussed below. As the sole accompanying academics for the international programmes discussed in this chapter, we ‘found ourselves tapping into our personal experiences in different ways’ (Kidman et al., 2017, p.  33) in order to solve the challenges we faced. Our experiences as teacher educators and researchers of intercultural competence were important personal resources that sustained and helped us to reflect on and respond to critical incidents. These personal resources included experience in supervising and monitoring student teachers on teaching practice, discipline expertise to guide and support student teachers’ planning to teach, strategies to negotiate and manage inter and intra-cultural interactions, and resilience to respond to challenges such as illness, conflict, emergencies, and the external demands of workplace and family. Adaptive expertise is an essential aspect of how personal resources are mobilised, and it would be beneficial to the development of AIC to undertake collaborative reflection prior to an international experience to identify and consider how personal resources might be productively engaged in diverse contexts. Being a programme leader for the first time, or leading the inaugural programme in an international context are particularly challenging experiences. There is the challenge of establishing and building relationships with host institutions and individual teachers; the challenge of learning and understanding the cultural, linguistic, and social complexities and nuances of the context; and the challenge of working out and balancing multiple roles and expectations as programme leader. As our knowledge of each context developed through repeated programmes, so did our ability to draw on this aspect of AIC. However, there remain inherent tensions. For example, there is an expectation that accompanying academics will share their knowledge and understandings about the cultural context with students, but this can lead to simplistic and stereotypical descriptions. On the other hand, a lack of preparation for the context can leave students feeling overwhelmed and unable

Leading international teaching experiences  171

to exercise intercultural competence in their interactions. The international experiences described in this chapter all took place in developing countries where arguably the differences and discontinuities were heightened as we struggled to observe the cultural mores of each context, particularly when students challenged these cultural ‘rules’. Getting the balance right is not easy and we have each learned from our experiences, as we develop the capacity to be constantly reflexive, engaged in a process of deconstructing cultural and intercultural encounters and meanings, and accepting that there will be failures (Dervin, 2016). Beyond personal resources and knowledge of the context, collaborative critical reflection has proved to be the most important support mechanism contributing to our academic intercultural competencies. Our conversation and commentary on our own and each other’s experiences have enabled us to undertake what Williams and Grierson (2016, p. 68) refer to as a ‘double image’ or the ability to see situations in multiple ways in order to gain self-understanding. Just as interculturality can only be developed in interaction with others (Dervin, 2016), so critical reflection is best undertaken collaboratively so as to access others’ perspectives. As Kidman et al. (2017) found, it was through subsequent discussions about our experiences that we were able to make sense of them and learn from our failures. Access to support mechanisms is crucial for AIC and careful consideration about how best to provide this, along with the other two elements, is needed to ensure that academics develop critical interculturality and in turn can foster this amongst student teachers.

Conclusion Developing intercultural competence with student teachers requires a critically reflective approach that encompasses what Dervin (2015) describes as ‘“post-intercultural education” that is, education that is based on a critical, socioconstructivist and anti-essentialist understanding of the “intercultural”’ (p. 72). Fostering this in the context of international experience programmes requires that academics who lead these programmes have the necessary skills and competencies. Rather than assuming that this is the case, institutions would do well to consider how best to develop and support academics’ intercultural competencies. The three elements of the AIC model offer a way of undertaking this task. For example, personal resources might include having resilience and critical reflexivity in the face of personal and professional critical incidents; context of experiences might include understanding the complexities and demands of the particular cultural and political context, and building relationships and partnerships with host organisations in the international context; academics’ support mechanisms might include having a sound understanding of the foundations of critical intercultural competence and modelling this to students, and having the skills to facilitate collaborative critical reflection with students.

172  Jae Major et al.

There is a range of ways in which these elements could be developed and nurtured. Dean et al. (2015) suggest formalised mentoring programmes where new programme leaders can gain support and guidance from more experienced colleagues. This approach would enable staff to share ‘lessons learned’, and also could be used as succession planning to safeguard programmes from changing staff interest and availability (Dean et al., 2015, p. 21). Support mechanisms during an international programme could include regular email contact or text messaging with colleagues or mentors for guidance and ongoing critical reflection. This could enhance faculty resilience and decision-making as they respond to emerging situations. Universities wishing to maintain long-term international programmes must invest in adequate preparation and support to achieve stability in programme leadership, and to avoid attrition due to ‘personal health, aging issues, increased family responsibilities, and disillusionment over the purpose and logistics of international education projects’ (Dean et al., 2015, p. 18). Stability in programme leadership also promotes positive relationships and partnerships with international host organisations over time. Thorough preparation programmes along with structured mentoring embedded in a professional learning community could provide the ongoing support and encouragement needed for faculty to critically reflect on their experiences, and continue to enhance their own academic intercultural competencies. The AIC model also provides cues for critical reflection on one’s own intercultural competencies, and this has proven productive in the project described in this chapter. Using the three elements, we were able to reflect again on our narratives and initial analyses, and deepen our understandings of our own interculturality. The model potentially offers a stable approach to the inherently unstable and frequently uncomfortable process that characterises the development of intercultural competencies (Dervin, 2016). Critical reflection on inter and intra-cultural encounters, in the light of one’s personal resources, the context of experience, and available support mechanisms is an enabling approach to critical interculturality for academics who lead international experience programmes.

References Aikenhead, G. S. (1996). Science education: Border crossing into the subculture of science. Studies in Science Education, 27, 1–52. Alfaro, C. & Quezada. R. L. (2010). International teacher professional development: Teacher reflections of authentic teaching and learning experiences. Teaching Education, 21(1), 47–59, doi:10.1080/10476210903466943 Buchanan, J. & Widodo, A. (2016). Your place or mine? Global imbalances in internationalisation and mobilisation in educational teacher experiences. Asia Pacific Education Review, 17, 355–364. Buchanan, J., Major, J., Harbon, L. & Kearney, S. (2017). Preparing teachers through international experience: A collaborative critical analysis of four Australian programs. In C. Reid & J. Major (Eds.), Global Teaching: Southern Perspectives on Working with Diversity (pp. 167–188). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Leading international teaching experiences  173

Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence. Philadelphia, PA: Multilingual Matters. Cornish, F., Gillespie, A. & Zittoun, T. (2014). Collaborative analysis of qualitative data. In U. Flick (Ed.), The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis (pp. 79–93). London: SAGE Publications. doi:10.4135/9781446282243.n6 CSU Global. (2016). About us. Retrieved from: https://www.csu.edu.au/csuglobal/ about-us Dantas, M. L. (2007). Building teacher competency to work with diverse learners in the context of international education. Teacher Education Quarterly, 34(1), 75–94. Dean, Y., London, C., Carston, C. & Salyers, V. (2015). Who assists the faculty? The need for mentorship programs for faculty undertaking global education initiatives. International Electronic Journal for Leadership in Learning. September. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281524876 Deardorff, D. K. (2006). Identification and assessment of intercultural competence as a student outcome of internationalization. Journal of Studies in International Education, 10(3), 241–266. Deardorff, D. K. (2011). Assessing intercultural competence. New Directions for Institutional Research, 149, 65–79. Dehmel, A., Li, Y. & Sloane, P. (2011). Intercultural competence development in higher education study abroad programs: A good practice example. Interculture Journal: Current Applications of Intercultural Communication. Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. www.interculture-journal.com/index.php/icj Dervin, F. (2015). Towards post-intercultural teacher education: Analysing ‘extreme’ intercultural dialogue to reconstruct interculturality. European Journal of Teacher Education, 38(1), 71–86. Dervin, F. (2016). Interculturality in Education. A Theoretical and Methodological Toolbox. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Dunn, L. & Wallace, M. (2006). Australian academics and transnational teaching: An exploratory study of their preparedness and experiences. Higher Education Research & Development, 25(4), 357–369. Fitzgerald, A. (2017). Tourist, tour guide, traveller, travel agent? Reflections on leading and learning from international professional experiences. In A. Fitzgerald, G. Parr & J. Williams (Eds.), Narratives of Learning through International Professional Experience (pp. 15–27). Singapore: Springer. Gorski, P. (2008). Good intentions are not enough: A decolonizing intercultural education. Intercultural Education, 19(6), 515–525, doi:10.1080/14675980802568319 Gray, T., Hall, T., Downey, G., Jones, B., Truong, S., Power, A., Bailey, P. & Sheringham, C. (2016). Enhancing Programmes Integrating Tertiary Outbound Mobility Experiences (EPITOME) Final Report. Canberra, ACT: Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching. www.olt.gov.au/project-SP14-4587 Hahl, K. & Löfström, E. (2016). Conceptualizing interculturality in multicultural teacher education. Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 11(3), 300–314. Hickson, H. (2016). Becoming a critical narrativist: Using critical reflection and narrative inquiry as research methodology. Qualitative Social Work, 15(3), 380–391. Kidman, G., Lang, C. & Cacciattolo, M. (2017). Pre-service teachers’ international teaching placement: Outcomes for the accompanying academic. In A. Fitzgerald, G. Parr, & J. Williams (Eds.), Narratives of Learning through International Professional Experience (pp. 29–45). Singapore: Springer.

174  Jae Major et al.

Lang, C., Cacciattolo, M. & Kidman, G. (2017). The global education practicum: Perspectives from accompanying academics. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 45(2), 145–161, doi:10.1080/1359866X.2016.1204425 Maginnis, C., Anderson, J., Brown, A. & Stanley, D. (2015). The benefits of an international workplace learning experience from the educators’ perspective. Australia Nurse Teacher Society E-Bulletin, Spring Edition, 7(3), 2–5. Major, J. & Santoro, N. (2016). Supervising an international teaching practicum: building partnerships in postcolonial contexts. Oxford Review of Education, 42(4), 460–474. doi:10.1080/03054985.2016.1195734 Marcolino, T. Q. & da Graça Nicolletti Mizukami, M. (2008). Narratives, reflective processes and professional practice: Contributions towards research and training. Interface: Comunicação, Saúde, Educação, 4(se), doi:10.1590/S1414– 32832008000100007 McAllister, L., Whiteford, G., Hill, B., Thomas, N. & Fitzgerald, M. (2006). Reflection in intercultural learning: Examining the international experience through a critical incident approach. Reflective Practice, 7(3), 367–381. doi:10.1080/14623940600837624 Mizzi, R. C. (2017). Bridging borders: Toward a pedagogy of preparedness for visiting faculty. Journal of Studies in International Education, 21(3), 246–260. Morley, C. (2014). Using critical reflection to research possibilities for change. British Journal of Social Work, 44, 1419–1435. Parr, G. (2012). Leading an international teaching practicum: Negotiating tensions in a site of border pedagogy. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education. 40(2), 97–109, doi:10.1080/1359866X.2012.669824 Parr, G. & Chan, J. (2015). Identity work in a dialogic international teaching practicum. Teaching Education, 26(1), 38–54. Phoenix, A., Brannen, J., Elliott, E., Smithson, J., Morris, P., Smart, C., Barlow, A. & Bauer, E. (2016). Group analysis in practice: Narrative approaches. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 17(2). http://nbnresolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs160294 Santoro, N. & Major, J. (2012). Developing intercultural competence through study trips abroad: Transformation or tourism? Teaching Education, 23(3), 309–322. Smith, K. (2012). Exploring flying faculty teaching experiences: Motivations, challenges, and opportunities. Studies in Higher Education, 39(1), 117–134. Stephan, W. & Stephan, C. (2013). Designing intercultural education and training programs: An evidence-based approach. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 37(3), 277–286. Williams, J. & Grierson, A. (2016). Facilitating professional development during international practicum: Understanding our work as teacher educators through critical incidents. Studying Teacher Education, 12(1), 55–69. doi:10.1080/17425964. 2016.1143812 Zanchetta, M., Schwind, J., Aksenchuk, K., Gorospe, F. & Santiago, L. (2013). An international internship on social development led by Canadian nursing students: Empowering learning. Nurse Education Today, 33, 757–764.

Chapter 11

International student teachers as intercultural experts? Kaisa Hahl and Pia Koirikivi

Introduction Education should give pupils an understanding of the surroundings one lives in and provide tools for critical reflection and understanding of others (e.g. Sobre, 2017; Hernández-Bravo, Cardona-Moltób, & Hernández-Bravo, 2017). According to the aims of intercultural education, this can be done by taking the diversity of pupils’ linguistic, religious, and other backgrounds into account in teaching and by supporting pupils’ engagement in the local community and global world (Davis, Phyak, & Bui, 2012). The concept of culture is used in critical intercultural studies to describe a combination of various sets of values, worldviews and habits that change over time (Dervin, 2011). Like all social identities, cultural identities are created in certain contexts and they can have a strong impact on people’s lives (Davis, Phyak, & Bui, 2012). Furthermore, these identities are also ‘fluid’ (Bradatan, Popan, & Melton, 2010, p. 176) by nature and uniquely perceived by each individual (Dervin, Paatela-Nieminen, Kuoppala, & Riitaoja, 2012). Following the ideas presented in international literature regarding intercultural education (e.g. Davis, Phyak, & Bui, 2012; Malazonia, Maglakelidze, Chiabrishvili, & Chiabrishvili, 2017), the new Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education 2014 (FNBE, 2016) emphasises that teaching and learning activities should enhance all pupils’ engagement to local communities, improve their abilities to work with people from different countries and backgrounds, and to foster interest toward different cultures. These new starting points of the curriculum provide vast freedom for the schools and teachers. However, they also challenge teachers as no clearly defined guidelines exist for carrying out intercultural education. Similar situations and challenges are also recognised by many other countries (e.g.  Hernández-Bravo, Cardona-Moltób, & Hernández-Bravo, 2017; Malazonia et al. 2017). Likewise, there has been much discussion about the ways that teacher education programmes should prepare student teachers to recognise and reflect on questions of cultural plurality (Holm & Londen, 2010). Otherwise teaching staff may even reinforce cultural stereotypes and perceive the children as

176  Kaisa Hahl and Pia Koirikivi

stereotypical representatives of a certain culture, and thus neglect the individuality of the pupil (Sobre, 2017). Despite the large number of studies about the importance of intercultural competences, notably less attention has been given to the development of these competences in teacher education programmes and particularly in relation to subject teacher education (subject teachers or specialists who teach at the secondary school levels) (Zembylas & Papamichael, 2017). In order to contribute toward filling this gap in research, this study investigates how international student teachers studying in a subject teacher education programme conceptualise cultural diversity and intercultural competences as part of their professional expertise. This study answers to the following research question: How do international student teachers conceptualise cultural diversity and intercultural competences as part of their professional expertise.

Intercultural education as a transversal theme in Finnish basic education In addition to teaching subject content, teachers should ensure that pupils practise a variety of skills and mindsets that are needed in today’s world. In the newly revised Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education 2014, published by the Finnish National Board of Education (hence FNBE) and implemented in 2016, the basic values of all teaching and learning activities entail to support pupils’ ‘cultural competence based on respect for human rights, skills in appreciative interaction and means for expressing oneself and one’s views’ (FNBE, 2016,1 pp. 22–23). Although the curriculum does not use the concept of ‘interculturality’ or directly refer to intercultural competences, it uses the concept of ‘cultural competence’ and includes aims about guiding students to ‘appreciate the traditions and customs of their own family and community as well as those of others’ and to ‘have international experiences’ (FNBE, 2016, p. 102). The cultural and linguistic plurality is particularly visible in the way the new curriculum states that ‘education supports the pupils in building their personal cultural identity and their growth into active actors in their own culture and community’ as well as support the pupils’ ‘interest in other cultures’ (FNBE, 2016, p. 16). These aims demonstrate that the curriculum covers many of the same content areas that are generally attached to intercultural competences. It remains unclear, however, what or how various traditions and experiences of internationality should be present in everyday learning processes. Regarding intercultural education, one of the most notable differences between the new Finnish National Core Curriculum and the old curriculum from 2004 is the way the old document separated certain ‘cultural and language groups’ (FNBE, 2004, p. 31) as groups that needed extra support in their identity construction and affiliation with the Finnish society. These groups included the Sami and Roma pupils, sign-language users, and immigrant pupils (FNBE, 2004, pp. 31–34). In relation to all of these groups,

International student teachers as experts?  177

the curriculum highlighted that education should provide opportunities for the pupils of these groups to express and reinforce their minority identity, native language and culture at school. Furthermore, in relation to immigrant pupils (which referred to both first and second generation immigrants), the curriculum explicitly pointed out that instruction ‘must support the pupils’ growth into active and balanced membership of both the Finnish linguistic and cultural community and the pupils’ own linguistic and cultural community’ (FNBE, 2004, p. 34). This division between the Finnish community and the pupils’ ‘own linguistic and cultural community’ thus suggested that identities, such as ‘Finnishness’ or a ‘minority identity’, are entities that can exist side by side, but that the multitude of affiliations concern only those pupils who have immigrant families. It also discussed all immigrant pupils as a single group and implied that all immigrant pupils need extra support for their identity construction. Contrary to this, the new curriculum does not make this type of division of cultural affiliations and identities between Finnish-born and non-Finnish-born pupils but, instead, cultural and linguistic plurality is seen as a starting point for all pupils. It is important to note that although Finland has often been considered a monocultural country, it has for centuries had people of different home languages (including the Sami and Roma), numerous groups of minority religions, and different social classes (Holm & Zilliacus, 2009). However the arrival of immigrants has brought in new dimensions of diversity (Holm & Londen, 2010). As a change from the previous document, the new curriculum is more in agreement with the international literature (e.g. Bradatan, Popan, & Melton, 2010; Malazonia et al. 2017; Sobre, 2017) that has pointed out that people view the role and importance of cultural traditions and habits individually. In this critical understanding of multiculturalism, there are no permanent causalities between a person’s cultural sense of herself and her actions (Dervin, 2011). Following this, education should give the pupils means and opportunities to think about their various social affiliations and the significance of these for their own identity (Sobre, 2017). Therefore teachers should be cautious about not creating stereotypical images that would solidify social groups, such as nations, cultures, or religions in a too simplistic way but to recognise that there exists diversity within and between all groups (Dervin et al., 2012).

Developing intercultural awareness through reflection Reflection refers to a conscious way of analysing one’s thinking and doing and it is an important tool that teachers in many different countries are trained to use in order to become aware of their own preconceptions, assumptions, skills and knowledge (Schön, 1987). Indeed, reflexivity has become one of the most central issues of teacher education during the last few decades (e.g. Husu, Toom, & Patrikainen, 2008). Reflection is tightly connected to lesson planning but,

178  Kaisa Hahl and Pia Koirikivi

instead of focusing only on the immediate ways of acting, it is also essential for student teachers to be guided to reflect on the larger philosophical and educational aims that direct their teaching (e.g. Husu, Toom, & Patrikainen, 2008). As Andreotti (2014) has indicated, teachers’ ability to reflect on their thinking and actions is vital not only for improving practices for the now but also for revealing and deconstructing the ways in which certain mindsets and power relations are maintained both explicitly and implicitly through education. Therefore, reflection should be a journey into one’s ways of thinking and into the collective referents behind those ways of thinking and acting (e.g. Andreotti, 2014; Husu, Toom, & Patrikainen, 2008; Schön, 1987). Reflection has also been recommended as an influential tool in studies about intercultural dialogue as one needs to have an understanding of oneself in order to have a respectful dialogical relationship with others (Abu-Nimer, 2001). Reflection is particularly useful for developing intercultural competences that consist of a variety of skills and knowledge that are difficult to detect and assess by another person but oneself (Dervin & Hahl, 2015). Previous studies on teachers’ intercultural competences have explored these competences from various viewpoints and special attention has been given, for example, to language and communication skills and to attitudes towards habits, beliefs and traditions of ‘the other’ (e.g. Bastos & Araújo e Sá, 2015; Dimitrov & Haque, 2016; Günay, 2016). In order to approach the question of intercultural competences from a viewpoint that is not strictly subject-specific but applicable to all subject teachers, we use and further develop a model of three dimensions of intercultural awareness as suggested by Andrade and Pinho (2003, as in Bastos & Araújo e Sá, 2015, p. 133). These are the (1) social and political dimension, (2) the personal dimension and (3) the pedagogic or methodological dimension (Andrade & Pinho, 2003). All of these levels are present and intertwined in educational practices and, therefore, they are essential to be considered in teacher education. Although the model was originally developed for language learning, we use a slightly modified version that is also applicable for teachers of other subjects, such as Mathematics and Chemistry. Following the ideas presented by Andrade and Pinho (2003) about the respectful encountering of others, Bastos and Araújo e Sá (2015) depict the first dimension titled social and political dimension as relating ‘to understanding the educational role that the language curriculum may play in the construction of societies equipped to deal with diversity’ (p. 133). In this study, we further expand the social and political dimension to cover the ways in which the notions of culture and cultural diversities are depicted and transmitted through educational practices both explicitly and implicitly in various subjects (see also Malazonia et al., 2017). This includes the curriculum as well as the teachers’ approaches to discussing diversities. The social and political dimension is central as culture is often attached to nations as being identical to a country that is monolingual and homogeneous (Risager, 2007). Piller (2011, pp. 61–62) has argued that in schools ‘children are socialised into a national identity’ either through hidden

International student teachers as experts?  179

or official curricula. This type of a nationalist approach suggests that there exists one culture within one country and one language. In reality, there are few countries where the people, for example, speak only one language. Nevertheless, in particular foreign-language education has traditionally included teaching about ‘cultural practices’ or characteristics of speakers of a certain language or citizens of a certain nation. Recently, scholars have also remarked that these kinds of generalisations increase the risk of stereotyping and give a distorted and one-sided picture of a culture and people in a particular country (e.g. Dervin, 2011). As an alternative, scholars have underlined the fact that cultures are not static but fluid and constantly evolving entities (e.g. Bradatan, Popan, & Melton, 2010). This understanding is also visible in the Finnish National Core Curriculum (FNBE, 2016) but how it is implemented in practice is not known. The second dimension titled the personal dimension refers to ‘the unique and individual character of plurilingual and intercultural competences, seen as a result of the life trajectories of individuals and their professional and linguistic ideologies’ (Bastos & Araújo e Sá, 2015, p. 133; see also Andrade & Pinho, 2003). The personal dimension thus highlights teachers’ personal experiences and recognises that teachers’ professional identity is not created in isolation from the personal identity (Andrade & Pinho, 2003; Zembylas & Papamichael, 2017). The ability to reflect on one’s own experiences, worldviews and other background features is seen essential for starting a dialogue with others as one must first be knowledgeable of oneself in order to encounter others (Abu-Nimer, 2001; Dimitrov & Haque, 2016). In this study, we apply the personal dimension to refer to the ways in which teachers are able to recognise the impact that their personal experiences and encounters with different cultural traditions have on their views and definitions of culture. The third dimension, titled the pedagogic dimension, refers to the ways professional knowledge is put into practice when planning teaching and learning activities (Andrade & Pinho, 2003; Bastos and Araújo e Sá, 2015, p. 133). In this study, we use the pedagogic dimension to refer both to teachers’ ability to make conscious choices regarding the ways they bring forward questions of culture and cultural diversity (e.g. Malazonia et al. 2017), as well as to the ways they use themselves as examples of cultural diversity to their pupils.

Participants, data and methods In order to investigate future subject teacher’s conceptualisations of cultural diversity and intercultural competences as part of their professional expertise, we collected data in reflective group discussions from student teachers who studied in an international teacher education programme in Finland. The students taking part in this English-medium teacher education programme originated from different countries in the world, and they had relocated to Finland either permanently or temporarily. The focus of this small case study (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2007) was set on the international programme because one of the

180  Kaisa Hahl and Pia Koirikivi

objectives of this study was to investigate if and if yes, how the heterogeneity of the students’ backgrounds and their various affiliations with the Finnish society would show in the participants’ views about cultural questions. The participants included nine student teachers who had backgrounds from North America, Europe (including Finland), Asia and Africa, and of whom many had lived in a number of different countries besides their birth country and now Finland. The subjects they represented were English, French, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. Both language and science students were included in this study as it was assumed that the approaches to interculturality would differ between the different students because of the different natures of the disciplines. The data were collected in three semi-structured focus group discussions based on the teaching subject, i.e. one group had three science students and two groups had three language students each. The focus group was incorporated as an option for a reflection meeting that belonged to a reflection course that the students took with one of the authors. During the teacher education year, the students had previously taken a two-ECTS-credit lecture course on multicultural education. The key themes that the participants were asked to discuss in the focus group related to their professional identity and teaching in the globalised world. The students were asked to allow each participant to share their views equally and compare their understanding and perspectives, but they were told they did not need to agree on the issues. In order to interfere with the discussion as little as possible, after giving the instructions the participants were left to discuss without a researcher present (Marková, Linell, Grossen, & Salazar, 2007). On the one hand, this allowed the participants to concentrate on the issues that they felt the most pressing or relevant. On the other hand, having no researcher facilitate the discussion resulted in somewhat different focus points although the participants followed the same discussion questions. Each focus group lasted about 1 hour 30 minutes. The data were analysed with the help of a two-phased content analysis (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2007). We conducted first an inductive reading of the transcribed data and then categorised the data into key themes that we derived from the focus group discussions as central for the student teachers’ professional expertise as science and language teachers. After the first round, we continued with a second round of theory-driven analysis. We categorised the key themes according to the (a) social and political, (b) personal and (c) pedagogic dimensions of intercultural awareness, as suggested by Andrade and Pinho (2003, as in Bastos & Araújo e Sá, 2015, p.  133), to investigate if and how the different types of experiences and competences the student teachers identified were related to different areas of teacher professionalism. During this second phase, we also re-grouped the themes we had identified in the first phase according to their types in order to identify similarities and controversies within and between each of the three key dimensions (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2007). An example of the two-phased analysis procedure is illustrated in Figure 11.1 below.

Cultural diversities as mixed with other forms of diversities

Cultural diversities as mixed with other forms of diversities

Participant 6: “can cultural diversity be separated from other types of diversities . I mean this word diversity was heard and heard and heard . and it kind of doesn’t have any sense any more . it’s a bit of . It’s empty.”

Participant 2: “It’s not really separate . like cultural diversity is difficult to separate also from the gender difference at that age”

Figure 11.1 An example of the two-phased analysis procedure.

Culture as a complex social construct

Culture as a complex social construct

2. Themes found through content analysis

Participant 1: “I think for me for a long time I’ve maintained that culture can be almost anything everywhere (and then some) depending on how you examine like”

Participant 2: “sort of an objectification of something else hmmm . er . so what things you consider to be cultural by nature I guess we should say nothing”

1. Data

Culture and cultural diversity as complex social constructs

3. Key theme

Social and political dimension

4. Dimension of intercultural awareness

International student teachers as experts?  181

182  Kaisa Hahl and Pia Koirikivi

The data were first categorised into themes identified inductively from the data (first and second column from the left) and then grouped into key themes (third column) that were grouped according to their dimension. In the example, the extracts highlight discussions on the definition of culture and cultural diversity. The key theme is specified as ‘Culture and cultural diversity as complex social constructs’ and it is identified to belong to the ‘Social and political dimension’ of intercultural awareness, as the ways culture is defined have implicit and explicit consequences to the ways ideas and attitudes about diversity are depicted and transmitted through education (Malazonia et al., 2017). The analysis resulted into several sub-themes and dimensions but, in this study, we will focus on the themes that were the most related with the social and political, personal and pedagogical dimensions of intercultural awareness in teachers’ professionalism. The findings are presented in the following section and we will provide extracts of data to illuminate the findings.

Findings: Student teachers’ reflections about cultural diversity The student teachers (from here referred to as students) were prompted to discuss issues related to culture and cultural diversity and their understanding of these concepts. We will first discuss the findings in relation to the social and political dimension and then move on to the personal and pedagogic dimensions. Social and political dimension

The social and political dimension includes two key themes that are the ‘culture and cultural diversity as complex social constructs’, and the ‘implicit and explicit depiction of cultural diversity in one’s own teaching’. The reflections the students had about culture and the ways in which they felt cultural issues were expressed in teaching showed that these questions were relevant for all of the participants regardless of their teaching subject. Culture and cultural diversity as complex social constructs

One of the key themes emerging from the focus group data was the students’ difficulty and hesitation in providing a clear definition of ‘culture’. Even though the students started to define the concept through closely related and ‘traditional’ attributes, such as ethnicity and language, they were cautious and critical in relation to their suitability. Extracts 1, 2 and 3 illuminate the students’ hesitations of the notion of culture:

International student teachers as experts?  183

Extract 1

Erik:2 I think for me for a long time I’ve maintained that culture can be almost anything everywhere (and then some) depending on how you examine … Ella: Yeah I mean I think that my first reaction to that culture theme was of course influenced by some of the readings that we had to do but uh. I don’t think culture corresponds to ethnicity or uh. or language or. I mean it does to some degree but that’s only part of the story (Focus group 1) Extract 2

Bill: I’m not sure if that’s something. but even I don’t understand that word cultural Leah: Exactly. I think. cultural by nature. what does it mean Jane: For me this term. I never had any relation to it until I travelled. and people answered some questions that this is our culture. I never knew what my culture was. and I never felt that I have a culture (Focus group 3) These discussions in Extract 1 and 2 reflect the critical understanding of multiculturalism where culture is seen to consist of multiple dimensions (e.g. Dervin, 2011; Sobre, 2017). According to the focus group participants, being aware of the different viewpoints makes it difficult to define what kinds of issues can be considered cultural by nature, or what kinds of aspects can be described with the concept of cultural diversity. Moreover, the students in all focus groups were critical about generalisations that are made based on cultural differences and about the visibility of cultural issues. In Extract 3, the students discuss the close connections culture has with other forms of identities, such as nationalities, gender and languages and, as Ella points out, these differences may also be age-related. Extract 3

Ella: It’s not really separate. like cultural diversity is difficult to separate also from the gender difference at that age Erik: I think it’s very difficult to think of these things separately. there’s fluidity in all things when you look at diversities like for example so yeah (Focus group 1) The students in all of the focus groups discussed the fluidity that exists within the different types of social identities, including cultural, that is highlighted in Extract 3 by Erik. These viewpoints in Extracts 1, 2, and 3 represent many

184  Kaisa Hahl and Pia Koirikivi

of the ideas that are also discussed in international studies about the complexity and multiplicity of social groups in which people have memberships (e.g. Bradatan, Popan, & Melton, 2010). The viewpoints also reflect the change that has happened in international literature regarding the concept of culture from a static entity to a constantly changing and evolving phenomenon (e.g. Dervin, 2011; Malazonia et al., 2017). Extract 4 from a conversation among Erik, Matt, and Ella reveals that the students recognise a change in the way culture has been referred to in the past and how it is used today. The students find the concept of culture problematic as, on the one hand, its meaning is vague and people understand it in different ways. On the other hand, people use it increasingly in multiple contexts. Extract 4

Erik: So I think it’s [culture] quite a problematic term actually I think most people wouldn’t even realize that it’s a problem because it’s sort of like exactly the category thing and everything kind of starts becoming a culture [—] at the same time it’s very multifaceted but also then when everything is culture how do we understand it really. Matt: And who decides what defines culture Ella: Yeah who decides. I think nowadays people tend to use it to describe something they don’t understand. it’s different from the way they do things (Focus group 1) In addition to the changes in concepts and definitions, the students also pondered critically on the meaningfulness of teaching and learning about cultural differences. In particular, the students pointed out the importance of teaching the children mindsets that allow them to live together with others in the global world. In Extract 5, Lily shows how she sees the teacher’s responsibilities to extend beyond the discussions of diversity of different groups and, instead, focus on the personalities of people within these different groups. Extract 5

Lily: I think one of the biggest responsibilities. we have is also to teach how to live together. live together in the classroom. and it’s not necessarily between nationalities or backgrounds or languages or stuff like that. but also personalities (Focus group 2) Although the students were unable to define culture in explicit terms, the extracts above exemplify that they were cognizant of the importance of being aware of cultural issues as part of teachers’ professionalism. However, as

International student teachers as experts?  185

evidenced in other extracts (e.g. Jack in Extract 9, and Bill in Extract 10), stereotypical images or generalisations were still present in the students’ discourse when discussing other aspects in the focus group. Implicit and explicit depiction of cultural diversity in one’s own teaching

The students defined culture and cultural differences in various ways and these had several implications to their considerations of how subject teachers should take into account cultural issues in their own teaching. Even though the students found it difficult to provide an all-encompassing view of culture, both language students (Erik, Matti and Ella; Jack, Lily and Maya) as well as the science students (Leah, Jane, and Bill) attached the idea of culture primarily to the teaching of language, and regarded linguistic skills as a means to gain access to different cultures. Extracts 6 and 7 below show that this link with the teaching subject was noted by both language and science students. Extract 6

Jack: So for example when [—] you’re teaching French that you teach them about these different countries that speak these different languages Lily: [—] Are there topics that are not only linguistically related or language related. you can learn stuff in French and that’s actually the purpose of the language because it’s communication and access to culture Jack: So actually learning something in the language itself is cultural activity (Focus group 2, languages) Extract 7

Leah: [—] When you teach a language. you have to bring the culture in the teaching. because [—] you don’t learn a language separated from the culture. so then this topics are much more present than when teaching science. that maybe for us are not so relevant (Focus group 3, science) As an example of the science group’s discussions, Extract 7 above reveals that the science students considered cultural issues as ‘not so relevant’ when teaching science. However, later on, in another part of the discussion (Extract 8), Leah (a science student) contradicts this idea by indicating that it is important that different representations of people are given voice and presence within science lessons. In Extract 8 below, Leah describes how she finds it important that pupils are given examples of scientists who are not ‘white old men’.

186  Kaisa Hahl and Pia Koirikivi

Extract 8

Leah: In science when I think about chemistry or biology. usually the image that you have about scientists are male. white. old men [—] so I think it’s important that while teaching chemistry [—] [to point] out that there are also other scientists or researchers. not only always old white men Jane: Also different nationalities Leah: [—] One example would be that the students do a research on scientists that are women [—] it can be colour. men of colour. women of colour (Focus group 3) To summarise the findings in this dimension, the students were inclined to avoid clear-cut definitions of culture and, instead, they elaborated on the complex nature of the topic. In addition to highlighting the connections between languages and certain countries, the students indicated that one language can be used in different countries and that the act of learning a language is ‘cultural activity’ in itself (Extract 6). The science students, who at first were inclined to view cultural diversity as absent from their teaching content, specified the importance of having representatives of different genders, nationalities, and age groups incorporated in their teaching (Extract 8). The viewpoints about the importance of having representations of different types of people in the lessons thus indicate that questions of cultural diversity are not easily separated from other types of diversity but they are still important topics to be considered in the teaching of both languages and sciences (see also Malazonia et al., 2017). Personal dimension

As suggested by Andrade and Pinho (2003), a teacher’s professional identity is not separate from the personal experiences and identity of the individual but these aspects shape the teacher’s intercultural competences. In this section, we discuss the findings in relation to the personal dimension and the students’ ‘personal experiences as a frame of reference for cultural diversity’. Personal experiences as a frame of reference for cultural diversity

Even though the students were conscious of the different meanings, interpretations, and power relations related to the notion of culture, in many parts of the discussions the participants themselves talked about cultural differences and stereotypes as self-evident or natural. For example, in Extract 9 Jack describes how he has changed during his stay in Finland and now finds

International student teachers as experts?  187

the shopping culture in English-speaking countries stressful. Through these comparisons, the stereotypical images of a talkative American and a silent Finn are strongly present in Jack’s speech. Jack might be unaware of using stereotypes, or he might think that the use of these stereotypes is acceptable as he states that he does not promote one over the other (‘I wasn’t saying that this is better this is worse’). Extract 9

Jack: I was asking them like who here has been to America English-speaking countries. (—) I was saying that was it weird for you. were they talking too much like compared to Finland. (—) I wasn’t saying that this is better this is worse. I was telling them the opposite that I’ve become very Finnish and when I go back to America I’m very stressed out when American customer service talk to me I’m like give me a break I just wanna be quiet. I told them I’ve changed as well (Focus group 2) The images of silent Finns were also reproduced in comments by Bill who pointed out that ‘the way you treat people is cultural. you know. like Finns do not like small talks. it’s their culture’. In Extract 10, Bill continued the comparison between traditions by explaining how in his home country the normal process of greeting another person can take several minutes. These extracts 9 and 10 thus show that the students sometimes viewed the idea of culture strongly through their own experiences. For example, in Extract 10, Bill describes the way of life in his tribe in Africa and considers the customs as cultural norms that must be and are adhered to. For another much-travelled student, Jane, those ‘rules’ seems like something to be challenged and not necessarily followed. Extract 10

Bill: For me I think [—] first of all people (are clear) that life can be very cultural. because I come from a tribe in Africa that respect is very very very important. from the way you talk. if I want to speak to. there’s different word that we use that is in my age group and somebody that is outside my age group Jane: Is that something that you have learned as something typical for your culture Bill: Yeah you learn that as a kid Jane: Is that how you learned that this way is how we do it. kind of Bill: It’s just norm [—] nobody tells you this is how you do. you know nobody teaches from the model [—] you just learn that okay if I’m talking to my mom or my dad

188  Kaisa Hahl and Pia Koirikivi

Jane: Aren’t there people who question it or who refuses to do it Bill: Nobody Jane: Because I question those (Focus group 3) These various ways of depicting cultural diversity show that there are many interpretations about the role and relationship ‘culture’ has in a person’s life. The students were also confronted with the question of whether there are some national, religious or other traditions that one finds hard to relate to as a teacher. Many of the students considered their experiences from different places and being international helpful when encountering diversity. Leah (Extract 11) felt particularly confident that her experiences of living in a country that differed notably from her home country have given her more knowledge about different traditions that she could use to also help children who have immigrated to Finland from other countries. In Extract 11, Leah explains how her experiences from multicultural environments help her in understanding ‘different religions and different cultures’, and how the context of Thailand, where she lived before, was notably different from Finland and from her home country in Southern Europe. Extract 11

Leah: [—] If this question is related to Finland then [—] I don’t find too hard to relate to as a teacher in Finland because for me. the Finnish culture is like my second culture. somehow. but if I compare to for example Thailand where I lived before then I would as a teacher I had to adjust a lot to the their traditions. with Buddhism or Thai traditions that they have every day. Jane: When you teach here and suddenly you have a new kid from Somalia and one from Thailand and one from Ecuador. do you think you would have some problems. possibly Bill: No no Leah: No Jane: Could there be any problems. how can you be so sure? Leah: For me my previous experience living in different countries and being in a multicultural environment. it really helps to. to approach all these things. and also the knowledge that you have about different religions and different cultures helps you to understand these things (Focus group 3) In the first section Social and political dimension, the findings show that the students mostly shared the theoretical idea of culture as a complex and fluid concept. However, the discussions the students had regarding their personal

International student teachers as experts?  189

experiences of cultural encounters and working in multicultural environments imply that, in relation to their personal lives, they discussed culture in more fixed but yet dissimilar ways. The way Erik, Jack, Bill, and Leah brought forward national and cultural stereotypes is very different from the way Jane questioned these types of cultural norms. Therefore, the question of how the teachers’ personal experiences of culture may influence their teaching is not as straightforward as one might assume based on the theoretical discussion about the concept. While Bill and Leah seem to be confident about their ability to understand the difficulty a child may have when immigrating to new cultural surroundings, Jane does not show this type of certainty (Extract 11). The way these experiences may emerge in practical teaching and learning situations are discussed next. Pedagogic dimension

We use the pedagogic dimension to both highlight the ways the students present themselves as embodiments of culture and discuss questions of culture and cultural diversity in their teaching. We have categorised the findings in this section to ‘teacher as an example of cultural diversity’ and ‘stereotypical depictions of cultures as difference’. Teacher as an example of cultural diversity

In many of the focus group discussions (e.g. Extract 13), the students mentioned their plans to include cultural aspects in their teaching. Some wanted, for example, to share experiences of their travels and stays in different countries around the world. During teaching practices, the students had noticed that pupils were often interested in hearing of the students’ backgrounds. Some students felt that this interest could be used as a conversation starter in the classroom, or as a bridge to activities that will allow the pupils to work on their conceptions of diversity. Although it was more common in the focus group discussions to emphasise how the international students were multicultural examples for pupils, in Extract 12, Maya reminds the others how a Finnish teacher would also be a cultural example – as an ‘embodiment of the different cultures in Finland’. Extract 12

Maya: [—] As a teacher we carry that cultural identity of the different places we come from even if you’re a Finnish teacher you’re still an embodiment of you know of the different cultures in Finland. and it plays out in how you communicate to the different students (Focus group 2)

190  Kaisa Hahl and Pia Koirikivi

In Extract 12, it is noteworthy that Maya talks of ‘the different cultures in Finland’ in the plural. She thus brings forth the understanding that Finland is and has been pluralistic and multicultural. Compared to many other countries, Finland was visibly more homogeneous until the arrival of immigrants in the 1990s. However, although Finland has not traditionally had such diversity of perceivable cultural differences of, for example, people of different skin colour or religious headdress, there are other dimensions of diversity that have existed in Finland for much longer and that are important to acknowledge (Holm & Zilliacus, 2009). Stereotypical depictions of cultures as difference

As analysed above, in some parts of the focus group discussions the students demonstrated a critical understanding of culture. However, there were other parts of the discussions that again revealed the complexity of the notion of culture and the students’ stereotypical depictions of cultures. Extract 13 below serves as one example of many of the students’ tendency to fall back on the traditional and more solid understanding of different cultures that they attach to different countries. In Extract 13, the students think of ways to incorporate international experiences in their teaching and explain how they will tell their pupils stories of their travels. However, as Leah and Bill talk about the immigrant pupils in the class and describe how they can ‘understand their cultures’ and ‘know how to relate to them’ because of their travels, the students make individuals from particular countries (or even continents) as representatives of a whole nation. Teachers need to exercise caution with such impressions in order not to neglect the individuality of the pupil (see Sobre, 2017). Extract 13

Bill: I think I’m gonna to tell them some stories of how I’ve traveled Jane: Yeah me too Bill: And try to bring that into the classroom. because most of those kids have travelled you know. in the international schools Leah: Yeah I think this is the same thing as we said before like having lived in many countries it makes me understand the cultures and then I can understand their cultures and their habits and then give examples … Bill: I think it also helps you to relate with the students. if they. if all of them are not from there and because you’re an international person and you’ve known a little bit of Asian culture or Indian culture or African, South American [—] and you have them in the classroom. and you can you know how to relate to them. or if there is a Chinese guy (Focus group 3)

International student teachers as experts?  191

Below in Extract 14, Ella brings up how cultural issues are inherently tied to foreign-language learning. Interestingly, she does not share how she would teach about cultural issues, but instead she sort of shifts the responsibility and explains how other people ‘using culture in the old-fashioned way’ would talk about the French ‘eating cheese and drinking wine’. Extract 14

Ella: [—] Also if you’re teaching in a distinct foreign language you would take cultural issues into account having to do with that culture of the place where people speak that language. like French is my subject so [—] if you were using culture in the old-fashioned way of you know people speak a particular language and live in a place and do things a certain way and eat cheese and drink wine and whatever people might think French people do (Focus group 1) Although a stereotype of a French eating cheese and drinking wine may correctly represent the habits of a French person, a question should be raised how or if this type of an image is useful or important when educating pupils to live in a global world. If the discussion of cultural diversities centres on stereotypical images and common customs, and habits of people of a particular country, it is difficult or impossible to see people as unique individuals who have many other characteristics and attributes that define them more than a nationality (Dervin, 2011).Therefore, it is necessary that teachers are equipped with critical skills to consider multiculturalism in such ways that enhance understanding and help alleviate the use of stereotypical images.

Discussion The ways in which cultures and identities are perceived and how representations of these are transmitted in education are central questions for all educators. The research question of this study was ‘How do international student teachers conceptualise cultural diversity and intercultural competences as part of their professional expertise.’ This study used reflection as a method because reflection is considered a particularly important and useful tool for developing teachers’ awareness about the ways they organise pedagogical practices (e.g. Andreotti, 2014; Husu, Toom, & Patrikainen, 2008). In order to answer to the research question, we analysed student teachers’ reflections about culture by applying a modified version of the three-dimensional model suggested by Andrade and Pinho (2003, see also Bastos & Araújo e Sá, 2015). The main findings show that the three dimensions of the (a) social and political, (b) personal and (c) pedagogic viewpoints are all closely linked and can be intertwined in the everyday thinking of the

192  Kaisa Hahl and Pia Koirikivi

student teachers, but they may also be reflected by the student teachers in contradictive and shallow ways. Regarding the social and political dimension (Andrade & Pinho, 2003; Bastos & Araújo e Sá, 2015) that, in this study, referred to the ways the students conceptualise the idea of culture, the findings indicate that the students were noticeably cautious in providing a definition for culture or cultural differences. The key themes of this dimension were ‘Culture and cultural diversity as complex social constructs’ and ‘Implicit and explicit depiction of cultural diversity in one’s own teaching’ that showed that students expressed strong endeavours to see the fluidity of cultures and identities, both theirs and those of their pupils, and they wanted to refrain from forming too closed or fixed images about cultural difference. Corresponding with international literature about interculturality in education (Sobre, 2017; Hernández-Bravo, Cardona-Moltób, & Hernández-Bravo, 2017), the research participants regarded as a key competence for teachers to refrain from categorising the pupils too strictly into cultural groups as well as to bring forward representations of all kinds of different people. These findings support the ideas represented vastly in international literature about culture as a constantly changing and evolving phenomenon and about the importance of teacher awareness of these complexities (e.g. Dervin & Hahl, 2015; Hahl & Löfström, 2016; Malazonia et al., 2017). Although the students highlighted the importance of approaching culture as a fluid entity, the findings related to the personal dimension of intercultural awareness (Andrade & Pinho, 2003; Bastos & Araújo e Sá, 2015) indicate that the student teachers struggled to maintain the same approach when talking about their personal experiences. The findings in this dimension’s one key theme called ‘Personal experiences as a frame of reference for cultural diversity’ support the suggestions made previously by Andrade and Pinho (2003) and Bastos and Araújo e Sá (2015) about the importance of taking into account the teachers’ personal experiences in developing intercultural competences. The student teachers simultaneously wanted to avoid making clear-cut definitions of culture but still relied on very strong stereotypes regarding French, Finnish, American or African people. Such contradictive findings call for the importance of educators to reflect on cultural questions in relation to their own background and experiences, so that they are able to distinguish their own preconceptions, prejudices, or set ideas (e.g. Andreotti, 2014; Dervin & Hahl, 2015). In relation to the pedagogic dimension of intercultural awareness (Andrade  & Pinho, 2003; Bastos & Araújo e Sá, 2015), the findings were divided into two themes that were ‘Teacher as an example of cultural diversity’ and ‘Stereotypical depictions of cultures as difference’. These key themes indicate how the personal dimension of students’ experiences was in many ways attached to how the students planned to express cultural diversity and to use their personal experiences as part of their teaching.

International student teachers as experts?  193

In connection to the personal dimension, many of the students considered themselves as embodiments of culture and they had decided to integrate their own experiences of living and travelling abroad as part of their teaching. The examples given by the student teachers about different national and cultural traditions in other parts of the interview implied, however, that despite of their shared understanding of culture in theory, they conceptualise their own experiences in different ways. It can thus be assumed that the student teachers will also carry out intercultural education in their teaching in various ways. Overall the findings of this study support the international need for subject teachers to be conscious about the ways they discuss and present culture (Sobre, 2017; Zembylas & Papamichael, 2017). One way to exemplify how culture can be manifested in teaching is through the three dimensions used in this study, each of which discusses different aspects of culture in teachers’ professionalism. The different types of conflicts with the educational aims and practices raised in this study show that it is vital for teacher educators and student teachers themselves to pay attention to student teachers’ understanding of the meaning of interculturality. It is important to learn of (student) teachers’ ability to identify and describe the aims and means related to education that strive to support pupils’ growth into open-minded, knowledgeable and respectful individuals in the global world. It is important to note that this was a small case study that was based on the student teachers’ personal reflections. Thus, caution must be exercised regarding the generalisation of the findings and future studies are needed in order to know how teachers actually act with their students. The findings of this study indicate, nonetheless, that it is important to challenge student teachers to think critically about their own backgrounds and views on multiculturalism, regardless of the extent of international experiences they have already gained. The role of cultural and other identities is connected to an individual’s conception of different values and worldviews, and in the increasingly diverse school environment such competences are all the more topical (e.g. Hernández-Bravo, Cardona-Moltób, & Hernández-Bravo, 2017; Malazonia et al., 2017). In agreement with international literature (e.g. Yang & Montgomery, 2013; Zembylas & Papamichael, 2017), the findings of this study highlight the importance of teachers’ abilities to recognise and verbalise their own viewpoints and prejudices regarding cultural issues in order to support the development of pupils’ intercultural competences.

Conclusion The core aims of the pedagogical approaches within the tradition of critical intercultural education are to take pupils’ diverse backgrounds into account in teaching in such a way that it supports the pupils’ engagement in the local

194  Kaisa Hahl and Pia Koirikivi

community and global world (e.g. Davis, Phyak, & Bui, 2012; Malazonia et al., 2017). However, internationally conducted studies show that teachers’ knowledge about intercultural aspects is often insufficient to enhance their abilities in considering diversity in teaching (Malazonia et al., 2017). The findings of this study support the need for educators to be able to critically reflect on their own viewpoints about culture and on the discrepancies that may exists between the theoretical, personal and practical ways of discussing and implementing culture as part of education. Although stereotypes are not necessarily negative and they may represent issues that can be applicable to the majority of people sharing the same group affiliations, it is important that teachers do not use their individual experiences as frameworks to teach about whole cultural systems, or lead pupils to think in narrow and hegemonistic ways of culture. Instead, teachers should focus on finding ways how all people can live together and learn from each other in a dialogical way (e.g. Abu-Nimer, 2001; Sobre, 2017).

Notes 1 The Finnish-language version of the Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education 2014 was published in 2014, but the English-language version was not published until 2016. 2 These names are pseudonyms. The transcription is broad. Extracts have been cleaned for easier reading. A short pause of any length is noted with a period (.). Cut-out speech is noted by [—].

References Abu-Nimer, M. (2001). Conflict resolution, culture, and religion: Toward a training model of interreligious peacebuilding. Journal of Peace Research, (6)38, 685–704. Andrade, A., & Pinho, A. (2003). Former à l’intercompréhension: Qu’en pensent les futurs professeurs de langues? Lidil, 28, 173–184. URL: http://lidil.revues. org/1973 Andreotti, V. (2014). Critical literacy: Theories and practices in development education. Policy & Practice: A Development Education Review, 14, 12–32. Bastos, M., & Araújo e Sá, H. (2015). Pathways to teacher education for intercultural communicative competence: Teachers’ perceptions. The Language Learning Journal, 43(2), 131–147. doi:10.1080/09571736.2013.869940 Bradatan, C., Popan, A., & Melton, R. (2010). Transnationality as a fluid social identity. Social Identities, 16(2), 169–178. Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2007). Research Methods in Education. London: Taylor & Francis. Davis, K., Phyak, P., & Bui, T. N. (2012). Multicultural education as community engagement: Policies and planning in a transnational era. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 14(3), 1–25. Dervin, F. (2011). A plea for change in research on intercultural discourses: A ‘liquid’ approach to the study of the acculturation of Chinese students. Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 6(1), 37–52. doi:10.1080/17447143.2010.532218

International student teachers as experts?  195

Dervin, F. & Hahl, K. (2015). Developing a portfolio of intercultural competences in teacher education: The case of a Finnish international programme. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 59(1), 95–109. Dervin, F., Paatela-Nieminen, M., Kuoppala, K., & Riitaoja, A.-L. (2012). Multicultural education in Finland: Renewed intercultural competences to the rescue? International Journal of Multicultural Education, 14(3), 1–13. doi:10.18251/ijme. v14i3.564 Dimitrov, N., & Haque, A. (2016). Intercultural teaching competence: A multidisciplinary model for instructor reflection. Intercultural Education, 27(5), 437–456. Finnish National Board of Education (FNBE). (2004). National Core Curriculum for Basic Education 2004: National core curriculum for basic education intended for pupils in compulsory education. Retrieved from www.oph.fi/english/curricula_and_ qualifications/basic _education Finnish National Board of Education (FNBE). (2016). Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education 2014. Publications 2016: 5. Helsinki: FNBE. Günay, O. (2016). Teachers and the foundations of intercultural interaction. International Review of Education, (4)62, 407–421. Hahl, K., & Löfström, E. (2016): Conceptualizing interculturality in multicultural teacher education. Journal of Multicultural Discourses. doi:10.1080/17447143.2015.11 34544 Hernández-Bravo, J., Cardona-Moltó, C., & Hernández-Bravo, J. (2017) Developing elementary school students’ intercultural competence through teacher-led tutoring action plans on intercultural education. Intercultural Education, 28(1), 20–38. doi:10.1080/14675986.2017.1288985 Holm, G., & Londen, M. (2010). The discourse on multicultural education in Finland: Education for whom? Intercultural Education, 21(2), 107–120. doi:10.1080/ 14675981003696222 Holm, G., & Zilliacus, H. (2009). Multicultural education and intercultural education: Is there a difference? In M.-T. Talib, J. Loima, H. Paavola & S. Patrikainen (Eds.), Dialogs on Diversity and Global Education (pp. 11–28). Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. Husu, J., Toom, A., & Patrikainen, S. (2008). Guided reflection as a means to demonstrate and develop student teachers’ reflective competences. Reflective Practice: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives, 9(1), 37–51. doi:10.1080/14623940 701816642 Malazonia, D., Maglakelidze, S., Chiabrishvili, N., & Chiabrishvili, M. (2017). Education in multicultural environment – Teaching/learning support activities (on the example of Georgia). Intercultural Education. doi:10.1080/14675986.2017. 1297072 Marková, I., Linell, P., Grossen, M., & Salazar, O. (2007). Dialogue in Focus Groups: Exploring Socially Shared Knowledge. London: Equinox Publishing. Piller, I. (2011). Intercultural Communication: A Critical Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Risager, K. (2007). Language and Culture Pedagogy: From a National to a Transnational Paradigm. Languages for Intercultural Communication and Education. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Schön, D. A. (1987). Educating the Reflective Practitioner. Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.

196  Kaisa Hahl and Pia Koirikivi

Sobre, M. (2017). Developing the critical intercultural class space: Theoretical implications and pragmatic applications of critical intercultural communication pedagogy. Intercultural Education, 28(1), 39–59. doi:10.1080/14675986.2017.1288984 Yang, Y., & Montgomery, D. (2013). Gaps or bridges in multicultural teacher education: A Q study of attitudes toward student diversity. Teaching and Teacher Education, 30, 27–37. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2012.10.003 Zembylas, M., & Papamichael, E. (2017). Pedagogies of discomfort and empathy in multicultural teacher education. Intercultural Education, 28(1), 1–19, doi:10.1080/ 14675986.2017.1288448

Chapter 12

Understanding diversity through collaboration and dialogue Teacher education students learning from their peers David Saltmarsh Introduction When the British established a penal settlement in Australia they brought with them people born in a variety of countries but convicted in places under British control. The majority of these convicts were born in Britain, Wales, Ireland and Scotland, but there were also prisoners born in America, Canada, the Caribbean, India and Hong Kong (Mence, Gangell, & Tebb, 2015). The invaded land, claimed as part of the British Empire, was at the time populated by an estimated 314,500 Aboriginal inhabitants (ABS, 2008a) speaking more than 200 distinct languages. In the late eighteenth-century the country, that would become known as Australia, was already a culturally diverse place. Since the arrival of Europeans, Australia has attracted many others: free settlers, gold-prospectors, assisted migrants, people displaced by war, refugees and migrants on humanitarian grounds. The Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull, recently claimed that ‘Australia is the most successful multicultural society in the world. Diverse and harmonious – our people come from close to 200 countries’ (Turnbull, 2016). However, it should be noted that while cultural diversity is now being celebrated it has not always been officially welcomed. Indeed, the first Act of the Commonwealth Government in 1901 was to restrict the immigration of non-Europeans to Australia in legislation widely referred to as the White Australia Policy, and this arrangement remained in place until 1973. In this way, the settling of Australia can be understood as primarily an act of territorial expansion and as a consequence for more than a century after British colonisation, the assimilation and integration of newcomers was preferred to any recognition or celebration of cultural diversity. In 1945 a Commonwealth Department of Immigration was established and in 1948 the status of ‘Australian citizen’ was created. However, the watershed moment, with respect to multiculturalism in Australia, came with the election of the Whitlam government in December 1972. The term ‘multicultural’ was first used in a speech entitled ‘A multi-cultural society for the future’ by the then Minister for Immigration, Al Grassby in 1973. Significantly this

198  David Saltmarsh

speech indicated, for the first time, that the Commonwealth Government was embracing the idea of Australia as a culturally, ethnically and linguistically diverse community, rather than a British outpost and was developing policies accordingly. A May 1973 report entitled Schools for Australia (Karmel, 1973) explained the rationale for a range of policy initiatives for schools and emphasised the importance of inviting community contributions, and celebrating diversity. The Racial Discrimination Act, passed in 1975, was an even stronger statement of the intention to address racism and discrimination. This raises the question, what are the current implications of multiculturalism for education? The meanings and the applications of the term multicultural are contested. In the Australian context multiculturalism was introduced to counter the succession of policies that had required migrants to abandon their cultural backgrounds, integrate or assimilate to an ‘Australian culture’. Dervin et al. (2012) note that in Finland education policy has also interpreted the idea of multiculturalism narrowly as being primarily about nationality. This interpretation means other aspects of cultural diversity (ethnic, linguistic, religious, class and gender, for example) tend to be overlooked. Holliday’s (2010) thinking about identity extends this observation. While nationality or country of birth might position a person in a certain way, their cultural identity (including features such as religion, ancestry, skin colour, language, class, education, occupation, etc.) and cultural reality (acknowledging the ability to belong to more than one reality simultaneously) also have importance in social cohesion and developing community. Banks (2011) has argued that increases in migration have challenged assimilationist conceptions of citizenship, and this suggests an approach that is more inclusive and embraces diversity is needed. Others (see Stevenson, 2010) have asserted that the idea of cultural citizenship needs to be developed. In Australian education policy, the term intercultural has recently been adopted, in part, to overcome some of the problems with the notion of multiculturalism. ‘Intercultural understanding’ is one of the seven general capability areas outlined in the Australian National Curriculum for secondary schools, and as such all teachers are expected to promote it. Intercultural understanding is a capability that students are expected to develop ‘as they learn to value their own cultures, languages and beliefs, and those of others’ (ACARA, 2016). According to Jackson (2005) the idea of intercultural competence emerged to assess the value of students’ study abroad experiences, this idea has also been found to be of use to language teachers (Dervin, 2010). More recently Dervin (2015) has suggested that intercultural/multicultural education has become stagnant and we should now look to developing a form of post-intercultural education. Such a form of education would view identity as a process, rather than focusing on culture, and would consider power (in the Foucauldian sense) as normal and unstable. Importantly, following Dervin (2015), the identity markers of gender, religion and social class will

Understanding diversity through collaboration  199

be noted in the analysis of the narratives. Teachers would be encouraged to reflect on their roles in marginalising students and context should be considered as central. New South Wales (NSW) is the most populous State in Australia and the public education system is the largest in the country. NSW had enrolled over 790,000 students at the February census date in 2016 (NSW DEC, 2016). Of these students the Department claims almost 30% had come from families with Language Backgrounds Other Than English (LBOTE), and that more than 40% of preschool students were from LBOTE families (NSW DEC, 2012). These figures indicate the size of the task the Department has set for itself with the aim of: supporting the learning needs, promoting community harmony and social inclusion, and meeting the education and training needs of a culturally, linguistically and religiously diverse society (NSW DEC, 2012). An inquiry into teacher education (HRSCEVT, 2007) noted that while enrolments in initial teacher education programmes were becoming more diverse, they were not matching the more rapidly growing diversity of enrolments into schools. A more recent study (Watkins, Lean, & Noble, 2016) into multicultural and English as a Second Language (ESL) education in NSW noted that about 27% of the Australian population was born overseas, but this was true for only 12% of the teaching workforce. This study also found that of the overseas born respondents about half were born in English speaking countries. A smaller qualitative study (Moloney & Saltmarsh, 2016) discovered that many overseas born pre-service teachers were hesitant to admit to speaking a language other than English for fear that they would be stereotyped or that their career would be adversely affected in other ways. The challenge for teacher education programmes then, is to find ways of raising awareness of the issues facing students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and developing skills and strategies that enable teachers to work effectively with students from a wide range of backgrounds.

The collaborative learner biography task When pre-service teachers graduate it is highly likely that they will teach in schools populated by students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. In NSW, these schools often experience a greater turnover of staff, creating vacancies for early-career teachers. This research into the Collaborative Learner Biography (CLB) task raises the question, can pre-service teachers’ awareness of diversity be improved using peer-to-peer interaction? If awareness can be raised, would that also slow teacher turnover in these hard-to-staff schools? This research project was conducted with pre-service teacher education students at a university that was beginning to draw more students from culturally diverse backgrounds. The time the study was conducted also coincided with a growing concern, as shown by reports

200  David Saltmarsh

(see HRSCEVT, 2007), of a growing disparity between cultural diversity of teachers and students. The CLB task was devised to encourage students to discuss in small groups, and thoughtfully consider, their own experiences of learning compared to the learning of their peers. It had been assumed by the author that asking pre-service teachers to reflect on their own learning experiences would provide some greater insights about the learning experiences of their future students. Biggs had argued, ‘there is much evidence that student-student interaction, both formally constructed and spontaneous, can enrich learning outcomes’ (2003, p. 89). Students in their CLB groups were invited to discuss aspects their own learning experiences during tutorials, and these discussions happened over five consecutive weekly meetings. This also provided an opportunity to explore the material presented in lectures. Importantly, the membership of most groups remained relatively stable over the semester and group members developed a level of trust and an understanding of each other’s backgrounds. Kalantzis and Cope have noted the teachers should appreciate the ‘significance of difference’ (2008, p.  10) among learners, and the collaborative aspect of the CLB provided an opportunity to understand learning from other people’s perspectives. No particular structure was recommended as to the way this information should be developed or shared; some students created wikis or blogs to capture ideas and provide a forum for discussion, others talked and made notes. Similarly, no direction was given as to how the information should be reported and while most presented their work in traditional essay form, some students provided links to their websites or wikis and some appended movie interviews that they had recorded with each other. Such creativity was welcomed and it was assumed that if a similar task was used in a school classroom, these techniques might also be applied. Students formed groups with between three and five members. The individuals in these groups were asked to consider three questions: what facilitated their learning, what impeded their learning, and how their learning could have been enhanced. Then the students were expected to share these experiences with the other members of their group. All students were required to submit for assessment an account of their own learning and an account that recalled the learning experiences of the others in the group. This design of this research draws of the narrative theory work of Fludernik (2009) and Bal (1997), combined with strategies provided by Riessman (2008) and Clandinin and Connelly (2000). The focus of narrative method for Riessman (2008) is that an individual ‘story’, the narrative, be kept together rather than having the data contributed by a participant fragmented across a number of categories as in many other types of research. This method has been used to build the group stories. Clandinin and Connelly’s (2000) work has been particularly important in qualitative research in education. The CLB invited students to construct educational life histories

Understanding diversity through collaboration  201

(Clark & Rossiter, 2008, p. 68), a type of ‘concept-focused autobiographical writing’ along with ‘learning journals’ and ‘instructional case studies’. The importance of reflection in this task cannot be overstated. Some students involved in this activity recovered memories of things that they now realised were significant factors that shaped their daily activities, or caused them to make key decisions. Others remarked that they had shared information with their group that they had not told even close friends. Jackson (2005) noted that reflection was a key part of the intercultural learning of the study abroad students in her research. In the diaries the study abroad students kept Jackson commented that ‘their entries revealed that they were very candid and capable of deep reflection on both positive and negative elements of their experiences’ (2005, p. 179). However, there is a degree of ambiguity around reflection and Clarà (2015) suggests that there are widespread assumptions that cannot be taken for granted. It cannot be assumed that reflection is a decision-making process, or that reflection consists of linking theory and practice, or that reflection consists of a sequence of consecutive steps. The work submitted for assessment by three groups of students form the majority of the data to be analysed in this piece, with an example from a fourth group. Approval was sought and gained from the University’s Ethics Research Committee-Human Subjects, all data was collected in 2009 and the names used are pseudonyms. In all, 29 participants contributed material to be included in the research project and an analysis of three groups (comprising 9 participants) is presented here. The groups selected for analysis were groups where the contributions were provided from all members in a particular group and all had given approval their submission to be used. This chapter builds on and develops some earlier work by the author (Saltmarsh, 2012). For students, the CLB task was a component of coursework and assessment, there was no obligation to participate in the research. The original intention of the research was to explore the link between learning and collaboration, but as reflection inevitably raised questions of identity it seemed that this data might usefully be re-analysed from the perspective of diversity. The first group (Group 1) had four members (Todd, Candice, Sarah and Juliet) who collated their ideas on a wiki and a link used to submit their learner biographies. The second group (Group 7) comprised a pair of students (Alice and Sandra), initially the group had four members but one dropped out of the unit and the other joined another group. The third group (Group 17) had three members (Ravi, Lena and Amanda), a fourth member dropped out of the unit during the semester. The group numbers shown here are the numbers originally allocated during the teaching of the unit.

Group member narratives The CLB submissions analysed here address issues of individual learning but to give a context for that learning authors felt a need to explain their

202  David Saltmarsh

positioning and self-identity. The group numbers are primarily to identify the narratives being produced but also give some sense of amount of these narratives, too. The narratives below will be analysed considering the suggestions made by Dervin (2015) to develop a post-intercultural approach. Group 1

The CLB group of Sarah, Todd, Juliet and Candice, encompassed an array of differences in schooling style and location: rural, metropolitan and international; homeschooling, government and non-government schools; religious and secular schools; and, co-educational and single-sex institutions. However, despite these differences the insights of the group members about what assisted and inhibited their learning were quite similar. Sarah began primary school in 1974 and attended the same non-denominational, private girls’ school in Sydney from kindergarten until the end of HSC. This also included some periods of up to a year as a boarder. Sarah was largely indifferent to the religious activities of the school: the assemblies with hymn singing and reading passages from the bible by prefects, the church services, and the requirement that students dressed for church including the wearing of panty-hose and gloves, even in summer. Many of Sarah’s recollections of her schooling involved commenting on unpleasant and distressing incidents: being the last to get her ‘pen license’; the endless spelling drills and the humiliation of reciting maths tables in front of the class, something she often avoided by feigning illness; being frequently chastised and disciplined for talking in class; and being given no dispensation for messy hand-writing after having a broken her arm roller-skating. The things that inhibited and frustrated learning for Sarah were a lack of respect from teachers, enforced competition in classrooms, and teachers who were unable to communicate content, knowledge and/or understanding of student learning. For Sarah, this created an unsupportive learning environment. In year 3 Sarah was excited by the introduction of a book club, which began an intense passion for reading. This interest in books was further stimulated while boarding during year 9 and being expected to do two hours ‘preparation’ in the library each evening, allowing her to explore the school’s collection of books. School for Sarah really did not improve greatly until the final years of secondary school when she ‘started to get serious’, dropped mathematics and took up biology, modern and ancient history, subjects to be studied along with English, art and general studies. The school, she recalled, was also keen to have her maximise her HSC result. The facet of schooling that facilitated Sarah’s learning most positively concerned teachers who ‘who knew their subjects and inspired curiosity in their students’. Two of Sarah’s teachers were specifically commented on: her teacher of English and modern history, and her ancient history teacher. Both were passionate and knowledgeable about their subjects, but more importantly

Understanding diversity through collaboration  203

both acted as ‘learning facilitators’ encouraging students to question and interpret material in their own way. Sarah described a style of schooling that was only available to the wealthy, that expected conformity and obedience to authority. Rather than revealing differences to the schooling ‘norm’ this story reflects institutional expectations of compliance and an intolerance of diversity, even to a minor extent. Todd began school in 1994, 20 years after Sarah started, and attended three government primary schools in the Sydney metropolitan area. He then attended a co-educational government creative arts high school which had a distinctive programme combining students from year 7 to 10 in the creative classes. Primary school for Todd was largely unmemorable until in year 5 when he had a ‘teacher [who] had this amazing presence in the classroom. She was so loud and booming but not in a threatening way. She made us want to learn’. For Todd, his learning depended on dedicated, passionate teachers and this one also had the capacity to inspire. The creative stream that most captured Todd’s interest was music and this formed the dominant element of his secondary schooling. He specialised in music in every year except during a disruptive phase in year 8, when he elected to study art. Music was my ‘crowning glory. [I] played way too much music, way too loud and way too often’. In addition to this interest in music, Todd discovered English, in year 9, through a teacher who encouraged his self-directed learning; in year 10 a ‘really cool science teacher’ who showed respect for the students; and an ‘amazing’ music teacher in years 11 and 12, who put in many additional hours supporting his study activity. During year 11 Todd wanted to become a doctor, but had abandoned the idea by year’s end, and decided on a career as an English and history teacher. The things Todd claims most inhibited his learning were the boundaries promoted by the labels ‘teacher’ and ‘student’. For Todd, these labels signified a lack of respect by the teacher for students and caused him to become disengaged from these subjects. Todd also felt that teachers who lacked creativity stifled his learning. Juliet lived in rural NSW, began school in 1992 and attended only one government primary and one government co-educational secondary school. Both schools were considered the best in the area, although both were about half an hour’s drive from where she lived. The students enrolled and school staff members were predominantly from white, Anglo-Saxon backgrounds. Juliet’s primary school encouraged creativity and had a gifted and talented programme, which she attended, in years 5 and 6. However, unlike Todd’s interests in creative and performing arts, Juliet’s creativity was displayed in sciences and languages. Juliet noted that her teachers in kindergarten and year 1 were older females and she equated being knowledgeable with being old, like her grandmother who also helped her with her schoolwork. The delay in gaining of her ‘pen license’ was the cause of some anxiety because, like Sarah,

204  David Saltmarsh

Juliet was one of the last in her class to achieve this status. Like Sarah, Juliet also felt humiliated by her experience with mathematics, We were made to ‘preform’ our times tables mercilessly in front of the whole class in turns repeatedly. I was so mortified I couldn’t learn them. I’d completely avoid them every time and cry when forced to do them and to this day I still can’t do my times tables. On math days, I would try to stay home instead but mum would always send me anyway. This started my great hate [sic] of maths. In the gifted and talented class maths remained a problem for Juliet and she was often left to work from a textbook while the rest of the class studied more advanced maths. As a consequence, Juliet often left this textbook at home. High school for Juliet was quite a different experience. In primary school, she had been school captain, in a group selected for their ‘gifts and talents’ and had sampled learning through projects that demanded creativity. High school, by comparison, was a dreary affair. While she excelled in class she found the work boring. Throughout high school maths remained a contested matter but Juliet had planned to enter veterinary science at university and needed maths, along with sciences, and enrolled in biology, chemistry and physics. She loved the science content but hated that it was taught in a boring manner from a textbook. Work experience in a veterinary practice convinced her to reconsider this as a career option, so while she was still studying sciences they no longer supported her career intentions. Juliet felt that teachers who were committed, responsible and fair to their students facilitated her learning. They also needed to have teaching skills, be knowledgeable in their subject area, be passionate and enthusiastic. The inhibitors to her learning were the meaningless, repetitive drills; and teachers who predetermined what you were capable of doing and judged you accordingly. Candice started formal schooling in 1993, was homeschooled for the first half of her kindergarten year, then was enrolled in a rural school in NSW for the remainder of that year. Her family moved to Kenya for two years where she continued her education. In spite of being the only white child in the classes in Kenya, Candice found it difficult to return to school in Australia. Back in rural NSW Candice was enrolled in a small school for half of year three then an enormous school in a rural city for the rest of that year, but found she could not recall a single teacher from the larger school. Candice was enrolled in a government, one-teacher school with only 32 students for years 4, 5 and 6. Candice’s High School experience was all in non-government, single-sex schools: one in rural NSW and one in Sydney. Of the four students in the CLB group she certainly had the most varied experience of school settings, and unlike the others her school experiences were reported as being relatively carefree and enjoyable.

Understanding diversity through collaboration  205

Candice recalled that in the tiny school her teacher, while very good, ‘played favourites’ and had a preference and a passion for the indigenous students in the class … Also, those of us who were not adept at sport were left behind, as the teacher was obsessed with sport. This left me, being a non-sporty person, feeling like I was not good enough for the teacher, and resorting to ‘little girl’ tactics to get attention. Starting fights and competing in other areas, such as creative arts. However, Candice considered being one of only three year 6 students did have some benefits. The private girls’ school in the country provided for Candice positive memories of teachers who ‘were very gentle and enthusiastic about their subjects’, of making good friends, playing sport ‘even though I wasn’t brilliant at it’, and having an interest fostered in music. In this school ‘there was a great sense of community’. Moving to Sydney was one of Candice’s greatest upheavals and she refused to go to the new school for the first three or four weeks. It ‘was not as warm an environment as the previous school. The teachers were nice, but not as understanding of a dislocated country student as I would have like.’ By year 10 the adjustment to the city had been made this was one of Candice’s best, but mainly social, years at school. Teachers were variously described as: great (English), OK (maths), weird (geography) and strict and mean (science), but music and drama were really Candice’s preferred territory. Candice reported that ‘boring teachers and hot days’ did not help her learn. What assisted her were teachers who were enthusiastic and set interesting tasks; loving the subject; and friends. Interestingly, Candice added ‘I loved being spoon fed information, in a logical way. I know it sounds easy but it really did help my learning. I didn’t like having to think for myself until university.’ The members of CLB Group 1 were from reasonably wealthy, middle-class families. They were also people in the majority ethnic group in Australian society and were well educated. The Sydney: Social Atlas (ABS, 2008b) shows that 30.5% of the Sydney workforce had a university degree, and a university degree was the qualification already held by all group members. The data used by the ABS was drawn from the Australian 2006 population and housing census. The same census data was used to revise the Australian Socioeconomic Index 2006, or AUSEI06 (McMillan, Beavis, & Jones, 2009). The AUSEI06 produces a ranking of occupations based on income and education that shows the following rankings: 1. Medical professionals (doctors, surgeons, psychiatrists etc.) ranking (100) 2. Health therapy professionals (chiropractors, dentists, physiotherapists, pharmacists etc.), psychologists and veterinarians (93.6)

206  David Saltmarsh

3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

University lecturers (92.3) Legal professionals (barrister, judge, solicitor etc.) (90.7) Secondary and middle school teachers (87.6) Engineering professionals (86.1) Science professionals (85.6) Primary teachers (84.6)

The AUSEI06 is a comprehensive ranking of occupations for 8,622,587 workers recorded in the census, from medical practitioners (100) at the top to farm and livestock workers (4.9) at the bottom of the scale. The reason for mentioning the AUSEI06 scale here is that it indicates that not only do the members of this group come from families that enjoy a high socioeconomic status, but that as teachers they will benefit from a high income and occupational prestige. As with many Australian-born teacher education students there was little experience of the situation of those in a minority or disadvantaged social group. Although, when asked many pre-service teachers say that they are motivated to teach because of a desire to positively ‘make a difference’ to the lives of others among other things (Manuel & Hughes, 2006; McMaugh & Saltmarsh, 2008; Richardson & Watt, 2006; Sinclair, 2008). A sense of entitlement among the members of this group is evident. The members of the group did not appear to question their position of relative social advantage and while two of the four had attended Christian schools, religion was not noted as a defining influence. However, all had mentioned the emotional demands of their schooling. Zembylas (2008) suggests that in teaching in multicultural contexts it is vital that notions of fairness, and in particular the discomfort of being treated unfairly, be understood. Both Juliet and Candice raised this issue. The emotional component of learning in intercultural contexts has also been noted by Jokikokko who has argued that ‘emotions play a significant role in a teacher’s intercultural learning process’ (2016, p.  226). The collaborative process gave members the opportunity to hear the stories of others to confirm or challenge their views. Essentially the CLB task provided an opportunity to co-construct an understanding of diversity and the ways that this affected the learning of others in the group. For example, Juliet realised that she, and many others, had assumed that talent was innate and that this belief had inhibited her learning. Though the group was fairly small the time taken to understand others led to insights. Group 7

The CLB group of Alice and Sandra comprised two individuals with many things in common, though separated in age by about ten years. Both described themselves as mature aged students, both had young children and recognised that they had learning experiences outside formal schooling.

Understanding diversity through collaboration  207

Alice described her childhood and adolescent educational experiences as happening in the 1970s and early 1980s. Her mother read to her from an early age and she recalls watching very little television. Alice grew up in a coastal, fishing village in rural New Zealand and attended a government school that had an enrolment of working-class and middle-class background students. The school had a significant Maori population and 10% of the students were Exclusive Brethren, who ate by themselves and were discouraged from socialising with others. The classes at this school were large, between 36 to 39 students, according to Alice. The teaching methods at the primary school were didactic, blackboard- and teacher-centric, and corporal punishment was still employed. At high school Alice found that the socioeconomic status of the student enrolment had declined as the wealthier families had sent their children to board at private schools 50 kilometres away. However, the student body was still predominantly New Zealander-British. She also witnessed and experienced bullying and intimidation at high school and saw teachers unable to control their classes. In her first year of high school Alice witnessed a radical transformation in the school as a new music teacher was employed, the first for 20 years. This teacher ‘introduced singing at assembly, concerts, a school band, musicals and a purpose-built music suite’. Otherwise, high school for Alice was relatively conservative and uneventful: the curriculum was limited and subjects were taken along traditionally gendered lines: boys did wood and metal work, girls did home economics, except Alice who found that by doing French she was exempted from doing home economics. After completing secondary school Alice enrolled in a BA majoring in English, then followed that with courses in journalism and secretarial studies at Auckland Technical Institute, and gained a Certificate 4 in Workplace Assessment and Training at TAFE when she moved to Sydney. Alice also attended evening classes in French and Italian in Sydney and completed a postgraduate certificate in TESOL before enrolling in her BEd (Primary). These educational experiences as an adult significantly altered her appreciation of how people learn, and the consequences of being in an ethnic minority. Sandra started school in Sydney in 1970. She explains that her parents were in ‘their hippy phase’ and had moved to Sydney to escape the conservatism of Queensland and both parents eventually completed tertiary qualifications. Sandra understands that much of her upbringing was guided by her parents’ principles and that created a ‘fairly relaxed environment with limited rules’ – fond memories of spending long hours playing outside and creating a rich fantasy life. Being read to from an early age, and up until high school, was also a pleasurable memory for Sandra. There was little difficulty moving into formal schooling with the skills Sandra already had, but wanted to be extended and remembers being excited by the challenge from a teacher to find ‘a creative use for paint’.

208  David Saltmarsh

In year 4 Sandra’s parents divorced and she moved to Queensland with her mother and older brother. While this development had a large impact on Sandra’s domestic situation, her schooling appeared to proceed without much change, nurtured by caring innovative teachers who set problem solving tasks to advance student learning. Sandra remembers imaginative approaches to learning history, and making a movie. In year 7 Sandra’s family moved back to Sydney and she was enrolled in an ethnically diverse, selective high school, although the curriculum was still dominated by a British colonialist perspective. She did note, though, in Sydney Greek kids encouraged to ‘play with their own kind’, and that other distinct social groups were also present. Sandra had a long-standing love of reading, and was horrified that reading had now ‘been turned into work’. As a consequence, she ‘refused to read any of the prescribed works, instead relying on crib notes’, though her reading and writing for pleasure continued. Maths and science also seem to have been poorly taught with students being required to complete ‘boring exercises in the textbook and encouragement being provided to only the most gifted students’. The situation of people in non-majority ethnic groups had not been a consideration for Sandra until she married a Pakistani. It was through socialising with Pakistanis that she came to a realisation about language and ‘how limiting it feels to not be able to understand the intricacies of what is being said, of not being able to express yourself, to be viewed through the lens of stereotypes and how this affects your very personality’. Reflecting on the experience of the CLB project Sandra observed that exercises that required students to be creative or to think critically were the most meaningful aspects of learning for both she and Alice. The other elements that contributed to their learning were ‘supportive, respectful teachers who related well to their students and tried to find links in their content areas that students could relate to’. The experiences of learning as adults also highlighted the value of ‘collaborative learning’ for both Alice and Sandra. Sandra added, ‘I think the strength of this exercise has been highlighted for me in that instead of just dashing something off, I have constantly been forced to stop and really ponder the meaning of learning and getting an education.’ Group 17

The members of this group were Ravi, Amanda and Lena. Ravi’s parents came from a village in India, received little education and relocated to Singapore where Ravi went to school. His parents saw education as ‘the key to a better life’ and consequently, his television watching was regulated, homework was checked, trips to the library were expected, and playtime was limited. Ravi considered corporal punishment contributed positively to his learning (much to the shock of the other group members), and felt that discipline was

Understanding diversity through collaboration  209

necessary for a teacher to control the learning environment. He also saw no problem in taking subjects he had no interest in to gain a better overall result and considered academic qualifications superior to a vocational one. Singaporean schools were quite culturally diverse and Ravi studied mostly with non-Indians because classes were arranged to ensure a mix of students. While Ravi considered this good because it exposed him to different languages, he also felt isolated because he only spoke English and other students ‘conversed in their native tongue’. Lena grew up in Canberra and described her family background as being low socioeconomic with parents who had strong work ethics and ‘prized good behaviour and discipline’, though held different attitudes to the importance of education. Her Australian-born mother thought that university educated people were snobs and that ‘good old common sense’ was needed to succeed in life. Lena’s Serbian-born father ‘constantly strived to improve his position in life through studying and sitting exams, which he repeatedly failed’. The exams referred to were to gain admission to work in the Australian Public Service, and his lack of proficiency in English was his weakness. Lena was encouraged to work hard but resulted in her ‘passing a lot of hours pretending to study and learning facts by rote’. On reflection Lena realised that while she was able to memorise information she was not actually learning, she did not really know how. There were no strategies for better engaging with schoolwork that Lena’s parents were able to provide to address this situation, and it is unlikely that it was seen as a problem. After all, Lena’s mother considered that talent was ‘in born’. This issue was compounded by the low expectations her school had for girls, and the encouragement for them to take ‘practical’ subjects like home economic and sewing, subjects with little academic rigour. A decline in self-esteem was the result of failing tests until one teacher explicitly modelled how to prepare for and exam. This intervention had a dramatic effect and led to academic improvements. Lena described another incident that had a demoralising effect on her schoolwork. In year 10 Lena, and other students, were expected to read aloud to the class, but she was self-conscious of her ‘unusually deep voice’. When the stress of reading to the class was removed other perceived literacy, weaknesses improved as well. Ultimately, she left school after year 11, fearing that she would fail. Of the three group members, Amanda’s was the most privileged. She described her background as being ‘upper middle class of mainly Scottish background’. Her father was an accountant and Chartered Secretary and her mother had completed leaving certificate (a year further than most girls were expected to complete). Amanda was educated at two non-government schools: one ‘free-spirited’ institution that catered for girls from years K-12, the other an exclusive, high-fee secondary school. She remembers her fellow students at the second school being the children of notable community figures (Lord Mayor, Governor of the State, etc.). Amanda was boarder at this

210  David Saltmarsh

school and recalled that two of the other boarders were the daughters of a murdered anti-drugs campaigner. There was much intrigue in the boarding house when one Sunday night federal police arrived to put them into a police protection programme. The boarding house also brought Amanda into close contact with international students from Hong Kong, Iran and the United States of America. These students served to expand her social and cultural knowledge significantly. As the children of entrepreneurs Amanda heard about companies being established overseas, or branches of international companies being set up in Sydney. Christian religious activities were another feature of the non-government school that Amanda recalled, mostly because of the routine it imposed on the school week (chapel four times a week) and the practices that were demanded (singing hymns and reading the King James Bible). Similar to Lena’s experience, Amanda was not pushed academically and remembers girls being given the choice of careers in secretarial work, nursing or teaching. Ironically, when Amanda returned to university she chose to qualify as a teacher. This CLB group was more diverse than the two considered above, given the family backgrounds, but even so all spoke English as their first language and had been educated with English as the language of instruction. Nonetheless there were predominant differences in the social class of the families, the type of school attended and the family attitudes to education. With regard to collaboration Lena stated, In my opinion the overall project [the CLB] has made it clear that teachers must get to know their students on many levels for real learning to occur, and that parental expectations play a large role in motivating students to learn. In addition, students learning will be facilitated by providing a curriculum that is ‘open’ and encourages critical thought over rote learning, a curriculum that encourages individualism, a curriculum that is not adversely controlled by religious or political ideologies.

Consideration of diversity and learning in the narratives Narrative method has the advantage of allowing the voices of participants be more clearly heard, and reveals that diversity comes in a number of forms. Even when the group members seem to be fairly homogeneous differences can be found in schooling experiences and family backgrounds. The members CLB Group 1, while socially advantaged, experienced differences in school settings with members attending rural, urban, International, government and non-government schools. If an individual experiences schooling in a rural and an urban setting those recollections can be compared, but the opportunity for the impact of these settings to be considered with a group of peers makes this a richer and more powerful experience. The emotional

Understanding diversity through collaboration  211

component of learning also should not be ignored, and sharing these accounts has the potential to discover that one individual’s reaction resonates with others. Becoming aware of the emotional effect certain actions of a teacher can have also has the potential to sensitise pre-service teachers and allow such future incidents to be avoided. The members of CLB Group 7 spoke of experiences that had caused recognition of cultural diversity and disadvantage, and this had happened long before entering into a teacher education program. These experiences were important motivations to become a teacher. What is significant here is that the experiences were shared and contributed to the thinking of the other member. The group members saw collaboration as promoting creative and critical thinking, and also to promoting deeper reflection. The members in this group both spoke of the key role that language plays in learning, and impact that not being able to speak a language fluently can have on learning and a sense of belonging. Discussions about different national systems of education caused revelations for the members of CLB Group 17, and this raised awareness of different rationales for teaching. The group members also became more acutely aware of the influence family attitudes to schooling can have on learning. For one member reflection made her realise how important strategies for learning can be. Schools and teachers have the potential to damage and build self-esteem, but this point may have been overlooked if the damage to one’s self-concept had been treated as a purely private matter. While it is generally considered that gender equality is improving, members of the group were able to share stories of low expectations being placed on girls at school, in both government and non-government settings, and this too underscores the importance of continuing to address this issue. Statistics have shown that the teaching workforce is cultural different to the Australian community as a whole (Watkins et al., 2016). Teachers are more likely to speak English as their first language, come from an Anglo-Celtic, middle-class background and be more highly educated. These characteristics also contribute to teaching being a generally well-regarded occupation. However, with a school population that is becoming more culturally and linguistically diverse there is a need to develop techniques and strategies for working with diversity in its many forms. The opportunity to collaborate and share with others, and the encouragement to reflect on experiences, can provide a valuable foundation for gaining awareness and creating responses.

Reflections on the task The students undertaking this unit all had degrees prior to enrolling in this programme, and were taking this class as part of a two-year Bachelor of Education qualification. It was an advantage, for this activity, to have graduate students with some life experience. All had successfully completed

212  David Saltmarsh

secondary and tertiary education, some had raised families, and many had been employed. This gave students a greater range of ideas to draw on, and in most cases, the confidence to do so. For a task that explored diversity it could be assumed that a seemingly homogeneous cohort would be a disadvantage. That is possibly so, but sharing experiences that have similarities to your own provides a resonance that is unlikely with a tale that is wildly different. What became clear in reading the accounts provided was that members, on occasion, revised their positions as a consequence of the group discussions. For example, Group 5 reported quite animated discussions around the topic of cultural difference. All three members contributions noted that had attended schools with students from diverse cultural backgrounds, and that Rosilia and Katja were born overseas. Katja recalled Rosilia suggesting that Asian students were ‘biologically smarter’, a point that Katja and Lara disagreed with – they thought it was the ‘cultural characteristic’ of hard work that led to strong academic performance of Asian students and had argued as much. However, Rosilia’s submission indicated that she had reviewed her position in the light of the group discussions, I have noticed that in Asian cultures they place a higher value on education and push their kids to do their best and not settle for mediocre results. These students are generally fast-workers; they work with diligence and are highly intelligent because of all the work they input. One important aspect of this task is that it allowed students to review and revise their positions in the light of new evidence or arguments that were provided. There seems to be an increasing tendency for people to only hear views similar to their own. The advent of forms of social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) that oblige you to choose your sources of information, for example. However, in a task such as this, working with people who only have the same qualification goals, require that the views of others be heard. In the case of many of the CLB groups, students from different backgrounds came together to discuss their biographies and share other personal information. The insights that this allowed may not have happened otherwise. Sometimes the significance of an experience is lost on the person who experienced it, sometimes it is because retelling an experience resonates for others in a particular way that could not have been imagined by the teller of the story. Reflection and sharing (collaboration) are the keys to raising awareness. It is valuable to learn that the thing you thought held you back, was what caused another to thrive (competition, for example). As Lena noted ‘what enhances learning in one student can impede it in another as was demonstrated by the effect of failing exams, the size of classes, and different methods of motivating students’. The ease of completing this task

Understanding diversity through collaboration  213

allowed many of the students to relax and communicate recollections in an unguarded way, and it was sometimes these ‘random’ thoughts that were ‘light bulb’ moments for others. Moving beyond the more simplistic notion of culture as encouraged by Dervin (2015), allows a more nuanced understanding of the ways in which people identify and, to an extent, how they interact. Much of the narratives built from the contributions of the members of Group 1 focused on notions of social class. For early-career teachers, it is vital that they understand that their students may not have had the same background experiences and to have some sense of how these differences can be negotiated. The can be said of religious backgrounds. To move to a post-intercultural approach to teaching will require this awareness to be established in pre-service teachers.

References ABS, Australian Bureau of Statistics (2008a). Australian historical population statistics, 1998. Retrieved from: www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/DetailsPage/3105.0.65. 0012006?OpenDocument ABS, Australian Bureau of Statistics (2008b). Sydney: Social atlas 2006 census of population and housing. Retrieved from: www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber. nsf/0/50A955D8CE698C15CA25740E007942FF/$File/20301_2006.pdf ACARA, Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (2016). Intercultural understanding Version 8.3. Retrieved from: www.australiancurriculum. edu.au/generalcapabilities/intercultural-understanding/introduction/introduction Bal, M. (1997). Narratology: An introduction to the theory of narrative (2nd ed.). Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Banks, J. A. (2011). Educating citizens in diverse societies. Intercultural Education, 22(4), 243–251. doi:10.1080/14675986.2011.617417 Biggs, J. (2003). Teaching for quality learning at university (2nd ed.). Maidenhead: Society for Research in Higher Education and Open University Press. Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (2000). Narrative inquiry: Experience and story in qualitative research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Clarà, M. (2015). What is reflection? Looking for clarity in an ambiguous notion. Journal of Teacher Education, 66(3), 261–271. doi:10.1177/0022487114552028 Clark, M. C., & Rossiter, M. (2008). Narrative learning in adulthood. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 119(Fall), 61–70. Dervin, F. (2010). Assessing intercultural competence in language learning and teaching: A critical review of current efforts. In F. Dervin & E. Suomela-Salmi (Eds.), New approaches to assessment in higher education. Bern: Peter Lang. Dervin, F. (2015). Towards post-intercultural teacher education: Analysing ‘extreme’ intercultural dialogue to reconstruct interculturality. European Journal of Teacher Education, 38(1), 71–86. doi:10.1080/02619768.2014.902441 Dervin, F., Paatela-Nieminen, M., Kuoppala, K., & Riitaoja, A.-L. (2012). Multicultural education in Finland: Renewed intercultural competencies to the rescue? International Journal of Multicultural Education, 14(3), 1–13. Fludernik, M. (2009). An introduction to narratology. London: Routledge.

214  David Saltmarsh

Holliday, A. (2010). Complexity in cultural identity. Language and Intercultural Communication, 10(2), 165–177. doi:10.1080/14708470903267384 HRSCEVT, House of Representatives Standing Commitee on Employment and Vocational Training (2007). Top of the Class: Report on the inquiry into teacher education. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. Jackson, J. (2005). Assessing intercultural learning through introspective accounts. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 11(August), 165–186. Jokikokko, K. (2016). Reframing teachers’ intercultural learning as an emotional process. Intercultural Education, 27(3), 217–230. doi:10.1080/14675986.2016. 1150648 Kalantzis, M., & Cope, B. (2008). New learning: Elements of a science of education. Port Melbourne, Victoria: Cambridge University Press. Karmel, P. (1973). Schools for Australia: Report of the Interim Committee for the Australian Schools Commission. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. Manuel, J., & Hughes, J. (2006). ‘It has always been my dream’: Exploring preservice teachers’ motivations for choosing to teach. Teacher Development, 10(1), 5–24. McMaugh, A., & Saltmarsh, D. (2008). Understanding teachers of the future: A longitudinal investigation of the background, experience, and career progression of teacher education students at Macquarie University. Paper presented at the Australian Teacher Education Association 2008 Conference Proceedings, Sunshine Coast, Queensland. McMillan, J., Beavis, A., & Jones, F. L. (2009). The AUSEI06: A new socioeconomic index for Australia. Journal of Sociology, 45(2), 123–149. doi:10.1177/1440783309103342 Mence, V., Gangell, S., & Tebb, R. (2015). A history of the Department of Immigration: Managing migration to Australia. Belconnen, ACT: Vommonwealth of Australia. Moloney, R., & Saltmarsh, D. (2016). ‘Knowing your students’ in the culturally and linguistically diverse in the classroom. Australian Teacher Education Journal, 41(4), 79–93. doi:10.14221/ajte.2016v41n4.5 NSW DEC, NSW Department of Education and Community (2012). Multicultural Plan 2012–2015: Multicultural policies and services program. Sydney: NSW DET. Retrieved from: https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/media/downloads/about-us/how-weoperate/strategies-and-plans/corporate/mpsp-multicultural-plan.pdf NSW DEC, NSW Department of Education and Community (2016). NSW Public schools February census enrolment data. Sydney: NSW DEC. Retrieved from: www. teach.nsw.edu.au/documents/2015 - DGS14–253-Website Enrolment Information.pdf. Richardson, P., W., & Watt, H., M. G. (2006). Who chooses teaching and why? Profiling characteristics and motivations across three Australian universities. AsiaPacific Journal of Teacher Education, 34(1), 27–56. Riessman, C. K. (2008). Narrative methods for the human sciences. Los Angeles: Sage. Saltmarsh, D. (2012). Collaborative learner biographies: Or, discovering you had created a project-based learning task without realizing it. Paper presented at the Australian Association of Researchers in Education 2012 Conference, University of Sydney. www.aare.edu.au/papers/2012/SaltmarshD.pdf-zoom=85 Sinclair, C. (2008). Initial and changing student teacher motivation and commitment to teaching. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 36(2), 79–104. Stevenson, N. (2010). Cultural citizenship, education and democracy: Redefining the good society. Citzenship Studies, 14(3), 275–291. doi:10.1080/13621021003731823

Understanding diversity through collaboration  215

Turnbull, M. (2016). Australian Citizenship Ceremony. Retrieved from: www. pm.gov.au/media/2016-01-26/australian-citizenship-ceremony Watkins, M., Lean, G., & Noble, G. (2016). Multicultural education: The state of play from an Australian perspective. Race Ethnicity and Education, 19(1), 46–66. do i:10.1080/13613324.2015.1013929 Zembylas, M. (2008). Engaging with issues of cultural diversity and discrimination through critical emotional reflexivity in online learning. Adult Education Quarterly, 59(1), 61–82. doi:10.1177/0741713608325171

Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group http://taylorandfrancis.com

Part IV

Indigeneity and Intercultural Competence in teacher education

Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group http://taylorandfrancis.com

Chapter 13

Ways of getting to know International mobility and Indigenous education John Buchanan and Meeri Hellstén

Introduction International mobility has led to increasing diversity in among school students the global north and a corresponding need for teachers with intercultural competence and capital (Santoro, 2017). Similar dynamics of global mobility have led to a proliferation of international experiences in higher education institutions in the past half-century (Kosmützky & Putty, 2016). Existing programmes have been criticised for a lack of critical reflection evaluating their effectiveness (Buchanan, Major, Harbon & Kearney, 2017). Various global economic circumstances have facilitated international experiences for those increasing numbers who can avail themselves thereof. These include reduced costs compared to incomes and increased ease and convenience of international travel, and of remaining connected with family and friends ‘back home’. Many universities have mobilised internal and other funding to encourage international exchange, impacting on the flow of inward and outward mobility. We attempt here to critically investigate some of these dynamics. The associated increased inward mobility has markedly affected university cultures (Hellstén & Reid, 2008), cities and campuses, rendering them more cosmopolitan; increasingly, students can avail themselves of intercultural experiences locally (Britez & Peters, 2010; Boni & Calabuig, 2017). Dual narratives cohabit internationalisation’s rationale: a neoliberal economic defence; and one that prioritises personal and educational capital as a principal outcome of internationalisation and resulting cosmopolitanism, or ‘emancipatory cosmopolitanism’ (Pieterse, 2006, p. 1247). This chapter explores the value of international mobility from two distinct, contested value positions, one of which sees internationalisation as a common good from which to harness intercultural understanding and harvest global peace, and the other which positions internationalisation as a potentially vulnerable space of conflict, domination and the misuse of power under the benevolence of cultural pluralism, one that serves to add a further degree of marginalisation to Indigenous students, conveniently reinforcing and reminding them of their global, as well as local, minority status. We further investigate notions of the challenges presented by universalism, (incorporating

220  John Buchanan and Meeri Hellstén

cosmopolitan ideals of internationalism) for particularity, as manifest in postcolonial, minority and Indigenous oeuvres, drawing on Australian Indigenous and Sámi peoples as illustrative examples. We interrogate here how and to what extent international mobility might dis/serve the needs of some Indigenous students and associated implications for the internationalisation of teacher education. We also ask about the extent to which people who identify as members of Indigenous or First Nations communities appear to be availing themselves of international opportunities in their education. How might postcolonial epistemes, acknowledging ‘complex cultural and political boundaries’ (Bhabha, 1994, p. 248) operate in international contacts within and across Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures internationally, and how might the Indigenous/non-Indigenous dichotomy, a global subaltern (Spivak, 1988), help or harm analysis of such circumstances and their effects? Hereafter we will use the term ‘Indigenous (peoples/students)’ to describe such groups, a term whose definition is problematic and elusive (Ali & Rehman, 2001; Axelsson & Skold, 2011). We also acknowledge here the counter-intuities of any terms, either for Indigenous or non-Indigenous contexts and peoples. For example, Australia is a ‘northern’ nation in southern latitudes (Connell, 2007), and a ‘western’ nation in the European-designated eastern hemisphere. The Sámi are among the northernmost inhabitants of the world. In this chapter, we raise critical questions about the opportunities and challenges of international mobility in the above two value stances. Which different articulated conceptualisations of international mobility operate, and how? What are the impacts of the mix of local, social, and cultural (including Indigenous) circumstances for example, in teacher education? At the same time, we seek to avoid predicating socially sanctioned alliance with master narratives in any particular cultural groups within the global international education community. We find this latter standpoint indispensable to critically interrogate the social power of globalisation and as ‘others’ with regard to the Indigenous communities in focus. As part of our study of internationalisation of higher education (IHE), we focus on what versions thereof might exist in the sector and focus on a small sector involving Indigenous students. We accept our outsider-stance vis-à-vis Indigenous epistemologies to a certain extent and the limitations which that may impose on our own understandings, in particular the risk of falling short of a ‘critical, socioconstructivist and anti-essentialist understanding of the “intercultural”’ (Dervin, 2015, p.  72). To our knowledge, the question of Indigenous participation in global mobility programmes has not been pursued to date (Hellstén & Buchanan, 2017), and we hope in this chapter to prompt discussion on the subject. We note increased commercial and competitive approaches to ‘the business of internationalisation’ (Kosmützky & Putty, 2016), and explore the possible consequences. In short, we seek to investigate how international education experiences affect students within Indigenous educational contexts and the implications thereof.

Ways of getting to know  221

Terms and definitions In recent times, international education has become normalised in public discourse. While the term no longer begs definition, a frequently cited description of the concept makes reference to it constituting an institutional response to globalisation (Altbach & Knight, 2007). Marginson and van der Wende (2009, p. 17) assert that internationalisation is a subset of and a response to, the forces and factors of globalisation, which they define, drawing on Held, McGrew, Goldblatt, & Perraton (1999) as, ‘the widening, deepening and speeding up of worldwide interconnectedness’. Zeleza (2012) distinguishes between globalisation, which disregards national borders, and internationalisation, which, by definition, acknowledges them. Even within a context of internationalised education various terms operate, including ‘cross-border, offshore and borderless higher education’, according to Kosmützky and Putty (2016, p. 8), who ascribe to it a ‘fuzziness … and unclear demarcations of concepts and themes’ (p. 20). The term ‘mobility’ has various meanings ranging from the socially defined ‘freedom to move’ to ‘moving for freedom’ (Navin, Hill & Doyle, 2012). Current mass-waves of refugees around the world (UNESCO) yield examples of both. Disconcertingly, in the context of history of Indigenous education, the term connotes removal/forced migration and transience (Moriarty & Bennett, 2016).

The impacts of mobility International mobility or the ‘global exchanges of capital, knowledge and cultural practices’ (Ninnes, 2005, p. 141) appear to effect numerous positive outcomes for those who undertake them. Social capital theory critiques IHE mobility as the deparochialising of knowledge and experiences (Ha, 2012; Lingard, Hardy & Heimans, 2012). Another term borrowed from social discourse asserts that IHE mobility effects an increase in ‘global-mindedness’ (Martin, 2015; Andreotti, Biesta, & Ahenakew, 2015), and providing ‘practice in being foreign’, through exposure to another, possibly unfamiliar, culture and language (Byram, 1997; Doherty & Singh, 2005). Dervin (2013) warns of the risk of personifying, and therefore ascribing an agentive capacity to culture, and correspondingly absolving people of their agency, or of associated responsibilities (2014) when encountering new cultures. As such, culture furnishes an alibi (2015). As Whitinui, de France, & McIvor (2018), point out, Indigenous agency, in the form of ownership and leadership, is central to the success of any such programmes. Within the postcolonial tradition, Kuh (2008) includes diversity and global interfaces among his ‘high-impact’ experiences in education, while Hickling-Hudson (2009) sees them as helping understand and respond to the ‘devastating problems of global society’ (p. 365). Pashby (2012) embeds this

222  John Buchanan and Meeri Hellstén

in global citizenship education, which seeks ‘to encourage global interconnectedness and global responsibility’ (p. 9). Jefferess (2012, p. 27) asserts that global citizenship ‘marks … an ethics of being’. Wright (2012, p. 47) posits a ‘divisive universalism’ and invites an accompanying critical pedagogy. A challenge for teacher educators is how to transfer from dominant policy influences to pedagogically meaningful decisions that impact the localised practices of the everyday. Doherty and McLaughlin (2015, p. 555) contend that the ‘mass school curriculum in building collective ballast for a national identity through a common morality and shared narratives … may conflict with efforts to protect and promote Indigenous and minority identities’, while Taylor (2012, p.  177) advocates a global citizenship education that challenges ‘affective geographies of privilege’ and associated condescension. International encounters are only of value if identity is seen as a process rather than a state, a becoming rather than a state of being. Dervin (2015) uses the term ‘identification’ in this regard. Similarly, Andreotti and de Souza (2012) view postcolonialism as aspirational, positing it as a suite of ‘not-yet’ or ‘yetto-come’ phenomena that seek, for example, to displace depoliticisation or hijacking of educational agendas with ‘deeper analysis of production and effects of unequal relations of power’ (p. 3). Countering this process, identity can also act as a carapace, which might contribute to its inertia. Calls to ‘preserve’ culture, applied differentially to Indigenous and other cultures, further compound this mix. International experiences also serve as a vehicle for liberal education, and teacher and learner autonomy (Vinther, 2015). In terms of pedagogical frameworks consistent with Mezirow’s (2000) transformative learning theory, international experiences have the capacity to ‘transform our taken-forgranted frames of reference’ (p. 35). As Driscoll, Rowe and Thomae (2014) assert, such circumstances afford opportunity to establish dialogue between assumptions and new frames of reference. Thomas (2015, p. 92) observes that international exchanges have the capacity to help participants ‘think critically about their place in the world, challenge stereotypes, and empathize with worldviews of people from other countries’. Thomas also refers to the internationalising of participants’ subsequent teaching. Schwarzer and Bridglall (2015) assert the link between global competence and social justice, while Baldassar and McKenzie (2016) applaud the transformative capacity of the experiential learning that derives from international mobility. Nevertheless, the benefits vis-à-vis the risks of intercultural experiences are at times exposed as under-interrogated, in what Lee (2013, p. 5) labels a ‘false halo of internationalisation’. As Petrón and Ates (2015) assert, international programmes routinely operate independent of theory, evaluation and research, and that at times the prime measure of such programmes is participant numbers. Indeed, the stated mandates for mobility, such as global education and intercultural enrichment, valuable though they are, potentially form part of a cover story for opportunities for academics and others

Ways of getting to know  223

to enjoy international travel. While international mobility has become more accessible and commonplace, not all tertiary students appear to have gained easy access thereto. Regarding education and opportunity in a US context, Darling-Hammond (2010, p. 37) speaks of the ‘constellation of inequalities’ facing marginalised students. Compounding this, a philanthropic attitude to international mobility appears in some instances to have been displaced by a pragmatic one (Zeleza, 2012). Indigenous students taking part in international exchange enter a robust international ‘ecology of dis/advantage’. For any student, international experiences are complex and multidimensional (Bodycott, Mak & Ramburuth, 2013), with a potential to confront and confuse. While it would seem inevitable that a sojourner (HechanovaAlampay, 2002; Ward & Chang, 1997 will learn something new of a particular destination, the encounters may not exclusively be positive, and can potentially reinforce, rather than overcome, stereotypes (Hellstén, 2008). Mobility competes for shelf space with other educational goals. Doherty and McLaughlin (2015, p.  555) discuss three competing agendas: ‘an appetite for globally branded curricula … to distinguish some in a stratified market; secondly, convergence in curriculum to improve national performance on international standardised tests; and thirdly, the infusion of cosmopolitan sensibilities, regional identities and intercultural competencies as a core curricular goal for all’. In an Australian context, for example, a high-profile feature of the original Colombo Plan, inaugurated in 1951 (Colombo Plan Secretariat, 2011), was the sponsorship of students from Asia to study in Australia (The Conversation, 2011). Candidates for the 2016 New Colombo Plan, by contrast, must be Australian citizens (Australian Government, 2015). As Ninnes (2005) indicates, this change would appear to shift further the balance of benefit from students from developing nations, to those of developed ones. Andreotti, Ahenakew and Cooper (2011) acknowledge the difficulties in introducing non-mainstream ways of thinking and doing into western-tradition higher education, while Santos (2007) warns of the dangers of a monolithic, homogeneous future. We use the term ‘homogenised’ here, to represent an imposed process, rather than a condition or state. Before proceeding to possible responses, we note in passing some of the complexities attendant to global education and indigeneity, and provide some brief contextual details about the two illustrative groups, Australian Indigenous peoples and Sámi. For teacher education (perceived) western/northern pedagogical norms such as the ill-defined ‘student-centred learning’ can operate to reinforce universalism, by marginalising or dismissing other approaches, including traditional Indigenous ones. As Buchanan and Widodo (2016) point out, all education has an attendant air of colonialism, and a corresponding presumptive arrogance. Just as there exist diverse ways of knowing, being and doing (Martin, 2003), so too, there operate different normed ways of learning, or of doing education. The New South Wales, (Australia) Department of Education (n.d.) outlines eight Indigenous ways of learning: story,

224  John Buchanan and Meeri Hellstén

maps, deconstructing/reconstructing, the non-linear, non-verbal, symbols and images, and country (comprising the land, water and skies). Many of these would align with what educators describe more broadly as ‘good education’. The extent to which this outline might have been infiltrated and perhaps ‘retro-fitted’ by colonial influences is, however, difficult to ascertain. By contrast with an Australian context, which is increasingly becoming standardised nationally, as the Sámi Indigenous people reside across the national borders of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, there is no unified education policy for schools or for teacher education programmes. As an example, the Swedish education reform of 2011 does not distinguish mainstream and Indigenous curriculum objectives, but states that the Sámi education shall mediate the Sámi society’s and Aboriginal people’s norms, values, traditions and cultural heritage to its pupils (Skolverket, n.d.). Although the syllabuses define learning as aligned to traditional Sámi culture, there exists no unified definition of Indigenous learning.

Mobility and Indigenous incumbents of higher education The advent of international mobility poses a noteworthy case in point for Indigenous cultures whose histories epitomise dislocation and relocation, and where progress inevitably has meant exchanges within and between diverse groups of peoples and border regions. Not all such exchanges have been advantageous for Indigenous groups. Thus, when positioned against the Indigenous history of displacement and loss of traditional lands, western ideologies of international mobility resonate a discourse authored by non-Indigenous imperatives, which essentially reduce the precise value in the cosmopolitan universalism defined by internationalism (see Said, 1978). This indicates a potentially perilous change of paradigm in and for Indigenous communities, if the only offered epistemes of international mobility are those imposed by oppression and displacement. Several versions of international mobility must therefore be given voice in the Indigenous context, including a version acknowledging pre-settlement or – invasion mobile histories and traditions. Indigenous communities may plausibly have other more pressing concerns than access to international mobility. Such issues might include survival and maintenance of Indigenous languages ( Jacob, 2015; Verdon & McLeod, 2015) and culture (Balto, 2015; Balto & Østmo, 2012; Hirvonen, 2004; Mako, 2012). And yet, objectives by outsiders to protect Indigenous or first peoples’ cultures might be colonial in nature, if not in intent. Exposure only or mainly to ‘local’ non-Indigenous cultures might disserve Indigenous learners. On the other hand, Indigenous students arguably need no practice or tutelage in being ‘outsiders’ (Andreotti, Biesta, & Ahenakew, 2015) in mainstream communities, when compared with majority or mainstream students. This involves interrogating our own assumptions, including those concerning the

Ways of getting to know  225

benefits of international mobility. The implications that international encounters provide against the moral and ethical consensus represented by the cosmopolitan ideal (Appiah, 2007) morph when applied in a global Indigenous context. We are reminded that such communities have shared customs and traditional livelihoods, the exchange of goods and services and knowledge in living alongside others across traditional, geographical and later, national state boundaries and across different language communities. Some Indigenous communities claim among the longest collective memories on earth (Hellstén, 1998; Taçon, Wilson, & Chippindale, 1996). Using Australia as an illustrative example, it is difficult to obtain statistics regarding the extent of international mobility take-up by Indigenous students in tertiary education contexts. However, Indigenous Australians are under-represented in higher education, with only 35.9% having reached matriculation level at school, compared with 67.3% of non-Indigenous people (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2014). While this gap narrows in terms of Indigenous and other Australians with a tertiary qualification, it stands to reason that some of the cultural and structural elements that serve to exclude and alienate Indigenous people at school level also operate at tertiary level. Similar statistics are yet more difficult to ascertain in Sámi contexts, as statistical data are not disaggregated according to ethnicity (Rodell-Olgaç & Hellstén, 2012). The Indigenous Sámi College of Applied Science in Norway, located in the Indigenous enrolment catchment area, is one small indicator on inclusive measures in the Scandinavian HE sector, however. Just as some students appear to be privileged regarding access to international experiences, certain ways of knowing and of doing also enjoy privilege on the global playing field, as part of a centre-periphery (Yang, 2014) or metropole-periphery (Connell, 2007). This forms part of the fluid mix into which international exchange students are thrown. Zeleza speaks of the ‘hegemonic stranglehold of the Eurocentric epistemological order’ (2012, p. 3). In an African context, Zeleza (2012, p. 16) asserts that, ‘internationalization that is not grounded and nourished by African epistemic roots is likely to reproduce indeed reinforce the production of mimic knowledges, pale copies of western knowledges of little value to Africa and no consequences to world scholarship’. From a Chinese perspective, Yang (2014) observes an uncritical mimicry in the way that non-western countries have tended to adopt western ways of knowing and thinking. And yet, Nakata, Nakata, Keech and Bolt (2012) argue that it is an oversimplification to displace or counter this traditional approach with an equally under-scrutinised process of ‘de-colonisation’, that is, blindly rejecting western hegemonies, and instinctively embracing and affirming Indigenous ways of knowing, describing this as a regression to a primitivism/modernity dichotomy. Nakata et al. (2012) also reject approaches that establish a dichotomy between western/theoretical/cognitive or deductive, and Indigenous/ practical/‘received’ epistemologies. They proceed to argue that an attempt to

226  John Buchanan and Meeri Hellstén

simply decolonise Indigenous epistemologies of western assumptions, often ‘assumes an epistemic blind-eye to its own practices’ (p. 130). Simonds and Christopher (2013) propose a partnership approach to research, as a means to critiquing, if not countering, western hegemony. Concerning school students’ experiences with Indigenous studies, Nakata et al. (2012, p. 136) assert that ‘how they are brought to the encounter has everything to do with whether they resist, oppose, defend, convert, patronize, tolerate or thoughtfully engage’ with what they encounter. This range of responses surely applies to much learning, particularly ‘high impact’ learning (Kuh, 2008), including international and intercultural experiences. As intimated above, there appear to be compelling reasons for applying affirmative action or exceptionalism to Indigenous or first peoples’ learning and other contexts. And yet, might these serve to limit Indigenous access to and interaction with the moving targets of globalisation and internationalisation, through opportunities borne of international mobility? Such an approach might be well-intentioned, or a comforting, convenient cover story. Similarly, it may be that a western empiricist quest to lose a sense of self in research, contributes to a failure to interrogate the self. Further, what, if any, are the limits of the quest of western empiricism to eliminate doubt against certainty? We ask what implications these processes have for Indigenous students and how teacher education can constructively contend with these. It poses a social engineering experiment as set against a (chosen or imposed) itinerant history of Indigenous peoples. How is international mobility conceivable within traditional livelihoods such as reindeer husbandry among the Sámi? The historicity itself predicates mobility across vast geographical boundaries for (cultural) survival, whose knowledge may be deeply embedded (or not) within Indigenous teachers and students. Internationalisation needs to reconcile the shifting of territories at the historical point at which the Nordic majority nations imposed new national boundaries across Indigenous lands ( Johansson, 1974) through the land-rights trauma that disaggregated Sáminess into four national subgroups (Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Russian) and which later imposed a new social order in the form of modernity’s internationalisation imperatives.

International mobility and Indigenous peoples – an uneasy fit? If international education constitutes an adaptation to the phenomena of globalisation, does it pose possibilities also for localised communities to adapt in ethical ways that might be value adding and culturally rejuvenating, as for any student of teacher education? In the Circumpolar North, an example of such ‘adaptation’ can be observed in university vision statements and aligned internationalisation strategies that target incoming mobility from within the

Ways of getting to know  227

cross-border Sámi region (Sámi Allaskuvla, 2014) and which target a revitalisation of traditional forms of knowledge through adaptation without acquiescence to complex global constraints. Similarly, Australia’s Batchelor Institute (2019) outlines a ‘both-ways’ education philosophy that ‘brings together Indigenous Australian traditions of knowledge and knowing, and Western academic disciplinary positions and cultural contexts, and embraces values of respect, tolerance and diversity’. Arguably, the well-meaning kindliness that operates across the developed/ developing divide (Taylor, 2012) also operates similarly and to similar ends with some Indigenous groups. Perhaps more broadly, where do Indigenous peoples ‘sit and fit’ along the hierarchy of international exchange destinations? Bense (2016) and Buchanan and Widodo (2016) note some of the inequalities between developed and developing nations, with regard to acceptance of qualifications and credentials, ease of entry and the like, while Manik (2014) reported racism encountered by South African teachers teaching in British schools. Is this part of global class aspiration if not warfare? How and how much do phenomena such as ‘white flight’, class warfare or superiority/ inferiority operate in the global village? Universities in developed nations might be drawn to universities in other developed nations for the purposes of exchange for student accreditation. As Brooks and Waters (2011, p. 136) observe, ‘a qualification from the “mother country” carried high levels of prestige in certain countries under conditions of colonialism’. By the same token, while we only have anecdotal evidence, developing nations tend to be chosen for international professional experiences (practice teaching) for students from developed nations. This is suggestive, we believe, of how the west/north sees itself and others. Reid and Stephens (2017) claim that an approach that seeks to protect Indigenous cultures accords them a fragility that is neither helpful nor accurate. Reid and Stephens describe knowledge generation and transformation at the edges of dynamic cultures, rather than dichotomous cultural stasis, with its potential for essentialism, paternalism and preoccupation with cultural threat and loss. Similarly, Han and Singh (2016) refer to co-production, in an eastern/western context. In exploring this, though, we might do well to ask what Indigenous pre-service teachers are being asked to ‘be a vessel for’ with regard to culture. Moreover, as Burgess (2016) points out, the contexts in which such knowledge is produced, are crucial.

Conclusions and reflections Brooks and Waters (2011, p.  159) contend that, ‘international HE [Higher Education], in its current guise, is clearly implicated in exacerbating educational and social inequalities’. They make this observation primarily with regard to nation states and regions. We contend that Indigenous students and teacher educators form a vulnerable, minority constituency of this global mix

228  John Buchanan and Meeri Hellstén

and that the opportunities and threats facing them need to be better explored as part of the charting of student mobility. Nevertheless, this presents only part of the dynamic, and Indigenous peoples need not be mired in a helpless, protectionist slough. We explore here some ways forward for dialogue. In this chapter we have attempted to delocate, relocate and refocus a discourse (Bernstein, 1996, p.  47) at least for ourselves, in the hope that the paper might serve a similar purpose for others. One possible issue raised in this chapter is the North/South divide and the North’s self-belief, and its propagation of that belief through the dynamics of socio-cultural and economic hegemonies, including the international experiences outlined here, and more broadly through education and its propagative power. This may serve to doubly dispossess Indigenous students as they undertake international experiences, as de facto ambassadors for their (supra) nation state, itself a largely western/northern construct. We posit here that Indigenous students may face what Dervin (2013, p. 356) refers to as ‘intercultural pygmalionism’, which he describes as ‘an attempt to construct an image of the “national self and other” and to copy certain national characteristics to become like the other’. Dervin (2016) uses the term ‘Janusian’ do describe the encounter with self and other. But a more apt metaphor for Indigenous students internationally might be the three-faced Goddess Shiva, given that Indigenous students may already be dealing with dual identities prior to international travel. For many Indigenous students, the ‘national self ’ may already constitute an ill- or uncomfortable fit. They may find themselves between two cultures, their host and their national ones, in neither of which they ‘see themselves’. It is here, though, where Indigenous sojourners may bring facets of their own cultural backgrounds to bear on their own and others’ understandings of such encounters. Suffice it to say that such intercultural encounters are multiface(te) d. We note, though, that western hegemonies are encountering increasing competition of ideas and ideals from traditions such as China and India and through religions such as Buddhism and Islam.1 Nevertheless, this exposure to globalisation may serve to further marginalise Indigenous cultures. Dervin (2013) discusses transformation to an imagined, ‘idealised cultural other’, referring to imitative international transvestism in this regard, a kind of mimicry that Kaplan (1989, p. 13), in an Aboriginal context, dubs ‘ventriloquism’. Such viewpoints may even have given rise to the well-meaning notion of the ‘noble savage’. Ryan (2015, p. 68) advocates ‘two- or multiple-way exchange of ideas’ in an international mobility context. We also observe, however, the west’s apparent propensity to operate international mobility for materialistic, monetary ends, as part of a ‘neoliberal social imaginary’ (Rizvi & Lingard, 2010, p.  36), and with its inherent tendency to standardise problems and solutions, a commercial dynamic that Sidhu (2006) neatly encapsulates with a slogan from the well-known (western) nursery rhyme ‘to market, to market’. We note of western rhetoric its ability to self-critique. This also arguably establishes a dual and contrary binary narrative: of the west accepting

Ways of getting to know  229

and critiquing its assumed dominance, but simultaneously arrogating a new stratum of superiority in doing so, particularly inasmuch as it asserts itself as to be the only culture capable of doing so. Similarly, while the west/north claims to be revolutionary and new-thinking in espousing teacher education as collaborative pedagogy, scaffolded by demonstration, story and the like, Indigenous cultures have been educating their children by similar means for millennia (Balto, 2015; Nakata, 2004; Department of Education, n.d.); such practices might be less removed from western traditions than initially thought (Slethaug, 2015; Coverdale-Jones, 2015). Do we as academics value and apply inconsistently the attribute of education in order to disrupt our known and assumed ways of doing, being and learning? And if so, how does that serve, whether with benign intent or otherwise, to dis/advantage certain groups over others, such as Indigenous peoples? In this chapter we have set out to critically and frankly interrogate the virtues and dangers of putting all cultures to the test by applying identical criteria, as opposed to allowing for the ‘grand narrative’ to be exposed in its critique of other ways of knowing. In taking this ontology a step further, we ask, how do we fare in critiquing the critique of mainstream cultures, particularly with regard to (teacher) education’s capacity to deconstruct or reinforce established grand narratives? In our critical discussion we have troubled the issues of unequal availability and access to global education upon the premises of universalism, and in so doing, have troubled ourselves. We contend that a globalisation of education operates under the benign guise of equal education for all. Globalisation is in our view, the aftermath affecting Indigenous cultures whose epistemes have been violated and subjugated by the process of colonisation, followed by global education and its manifestation in internationalisation. Fruitful internationalisation of education, including teacher education, may require an entirely different set of enablers for Indigenous communities. Whilst it is reasonable to argue that all ‘newcomers’ to any society benefit from assistance and information about their new cultural settings, it is unreasonable to expect that integration of the ‘new’ can be justly reified by the ‘old’ in contemporary international settings. In the west, we concentrate on a one-way dynamic of (a) being sensitive to visitors’ cultures, and (b) helping visitors adjust to our ways. If we do not expect locals in traditional host cultures to operate in the same ways towards their visitors do we ascribe an implicit inferiority to such cultures? As Kosmützky and Putty observe, international student mobility ‘represents a form of social reproduction and accumulation of social capital – determined by considerations of class status, parental choice, specific distributions of family networks, and acquisition of citizenship’ (2015, p. 23). This begs questions as to whose citizenship and class status, and which means and recognition of which types of membership. International mobility can serve to welcome all to a new stratum of citizenship, with its implicit and explicit demands for loyalty and normativity and the inherent risks for one’s ‘first culture’.

230  John Buchanan and Meeri Hellstén

Thus, it may risk further layering of dispossession, particularly to the alreadydispossessed, through its accordance or denial of cultural legitimacy. And what of Indigenous peoples in developing nations? Their voices may be doubly muted, by their marginalisation within a globally marginalised national culture. Regarding migrants, Bhatia and Ram (2009, p. 140) identify ‘a series of phases that must culminate with a successful incorporation into the host culture’. Indigenous students and teacher educators may have been practising resistance to, or resilience in the face of, their intra-national ‘host’ culture since infancy. This resilience might place them in a more advantageous position vis-à-vis their mainstream peers, in terms of critiquing their ‘home’ cultures, or it may weaken their resolve to do so. Such issues could premise future research. And yet, we accept Reid and Stephens’ (2017, p. 132), assertion with regard to colonialism, ‘that culture, or loss of culture, as an explanation, elides ongoing relationships and robs Aboriginal people of agency, failing to recognize sojourners across time and space’. Issuing from this discussion, we suggest mutuality in exchange and variability in global education, contextualised and sensitised to and resonant with the target cultures, in context of the liquidity of culture/s. A definitive system change may be required in such contextualised international mobility involving Indigenous cultures, one which identifies the epistemological return-value of the international exchange to the Indigenous community. The return-value is twofold, in that value needs to be identified prior to the exchange and needs to be mutually constructive and constitutive for, and non-coercive of, all parties investing in the exchange. This is illustrative of international education and mobility to be inclusive of Indigenous ontologies, for example, in the exchange of knowledges and skills that are directly tied to customary ways of being and doing.

Note 1 We note, though, that Christianity shares geographic origins with Islam, but is construed as ‘native’ to the north/west.

References ACARA (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority) (2013). Cross-curriculum priorities. Retrieved from www.acara.edu.au/curriculum/ cross_curriculum_priorities.html Ali, S. & Rehman, J. (2001). Indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities of Pakistan. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press. Altbach, P. & Knight, J. (2007). The internationalization of higher education: Motivations and realities. Journal of Studies in International Education, 11(3/4), 290–305. Andreotti, V. & de Souza, L. (2012). Introduction: (Towards) global citizenship education ‘otherwise’. In V. Andreotti and L. de Souza (Eds.), Postcolonial perspectives on global citizenship education. New York: Routledge, pp. 3–6.

Ways of getting to know  231

Andreotti, V., Ahenakew, C., & Cooper, G. (2011). Epistemological pluralism: Challenges for higher education. AlterNative Journal, 7(1), 40–50. Andreotti, V., Biesta, G., & Ahenakew, C. (2015). Between the nation and the globe: Education for global mindedness in Finland. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 13(2), 246–259. Appiah, K. A. (2007). Cosmopolitanism. Ethics in a world of strangers. New York: Norton. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2014). Exploring the gap in labour market outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Retrieved from www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/ [email protected]/Lookup/4102.0main+features72014 Australian Government (2015). New Colombo Plan Scholarship Guidelines. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/colombo-plan-an-initiative-that-brought-australiaand-asia-closer-3590 Axelsson, P. & Skold, P. (Eds.). (2011). Indigenous people and demography: The complex relation between identity and statistics. New York and Oxford: Berghahn. Baldassar, L. & McKenzie, L. (2016). Beyond ‘just being there’: Teaching internationalization at home in two qualitative methods units. Teaching Sociology, 44(2), 84–95. Balto, A. (2015). The process of vitalizing and revitalizing culture-based pedagogy in Sámi schools in Sweden. International Journal about Parents in Education, 9(1), 106–118. Balto, A. & Østmo, L. (2012). Multicultural studies from a Sámi perspective: Bridging traditions and challenges in an Indigenous setting. Issues in Educational Research, 22(1). Retrieved from http://iier.waier.org.au/iier22/balto.pdf Batchelor Institute (2019). Both-ways learning. Retrieved from https://www.batchelor.edu.au/about/both-ways-learning/ Bense, K. (2016). International teacher mobility and migration: A review and synthesis of the current empirical research and literature. Educational Research Review, 17, 37–49. Bernstein, B. (1996). Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity. Theory, research, critique. London and New York: Taylor & Francis. Bhabha, H. (1994). The location of culture. London: Routledge. Bhatia, S. & Ram, A. (2009). Theorizing identity in transnational and diaspora cultures: A critical approach to acculturation. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 33(2), 140–149. Bodycott, P., Mak, A., & Ramburuth, P. (2013). Utilising an internationalised curriculum to enhance students’ intercultural interaction, engagement and adaptation. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 23(3), 635–643. Boni, A., & Calabuig, C. (2017). Education for global citizenship at universities: Potentialities of formal and informal learning spaces to foster cosmopolitanism. Journal of Studies in International Education, 21(1), 22–38. Britez, R. & Peters, M. (2010). Internationalization and the cosmopolitical university. Policy Futures in Education, 8(2), 201–216. Brooks, R. & Waters, J. (2011). Student mobilities, migration and the internationalization of higher education. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Buchanan, J. & Widodo, A. (2016). Your place or mine? Global imbalances in internationalisation and mobilisation in educational professional experience. Asia Pacific Education Review, 17(2), 355–364. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/ article/10.1007/s12564-016-9432-y doi:10.1007/s12564–016–9432-y

232  John Buchanan and Meeri Hellstén

Buchanan, J., Major, J., Harbon, L., & Kearney, S. (2017). Preparing teachers through international experience: A collaborative critical analysis of four Australian programs. In C. Reid and J. Major (Eds.), Global teaching: Southern perspectives on working with diversity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 176–188. Burgess, C. (2016). Conceptualising a pedagogical cultural identity through the narrative construction of early career Aboriginal teachers’ professional identities. Teaching and Teacher Education, 58, 109–118. Byram, M. (1997). Teaching and assessing intercultural communicative competence. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Colombo Plan Secretariat (2011). The Colombo Plan. Retrieved from www.colomboplan.org/index.php/about-cps/overview/ Connell, R. (2007). Southern theory: The global dynamics of knowledge in social science. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin. Conversation, The (2011). Colombo Plan: An initiative that brought Australia and Asia closer. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/colombo-plan-an-initiativethat-brought-australia-and-asia-closer-3590 Coverdale-Jones, T. (2015). The experiences of international students in the classroom and the university. In G. Slethaug & J. Vinther (Eds.). International teaching and learning at universities. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 73–88. Darling-Hammond, L. (2010). The anatomy of inequality: How the opportunity gap is constructed. In L. Darling-Hammond, How America’s commitment to equity will determine our future. New York: Teachers College Press, pp. 27–65. Dervin, F. (2013). Rethinking the acculturation and assimilation of ‘others’ in a ‘monocultural’ country: Forms of intercultural pygmalionism in two Finnish novels. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 34(4), 356–370. Dervin, F. (2014). Developing a portfolio of intercultural competencies in teacher education: The case of a Finnish international programme. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 59(1), 95–109. Dervin, F. (2015). Towards post-intercultural teacher education: analysing ‘extreme’ intercultural dialogue to reconstruct interculturality. European Journal of Teacher Education, 38(1), 71–86. Dervin, F. (2016). Interculturality in education: A theoretical and methodological toolbox. London: Palgrave. Doherty, C. & McLaughlin, J. (2015). Internationalizing school curriculum in Australasia: As niche, by test, or at heart? In M. Hayden, J. Levy, & J. Thompson (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of research in international education (2nd ed.). Los Angeles, London, New Delhi: SAGE, pp. 555–568. Doherty, C. & Singh, P. (2005). How the West is done: Simulating western pedagogy in a curriculum for Asian International Students. In P. Ninnes & M. Hellstén (Eds.), Internationalizing Higher Education: Critical explorations of pedagogy and policy. CERC Studies in Comparative education 16. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 53–73. Driscoll, P., Rowe, J., & Thomae, M. (2014). The sustainable impact of short comparative teaching placement abroad on primary school language teachers’ professional, linguistic and cultural skills. The Language Learning Journal, 42(3), 307–320. Ha, P. (2012). Fighting for the role of the nation state in knowledge mobilization and educational research: An autoethnography of a mobile Vietnamese scholar. In T. Fenwick & L. Farrell (Eds.), Knowledge mobilization and educational research: Politics, languages and responsibilities. London: Routledge, pp. 100–112.

Ways of getting to know  233

Han, J., & Singh, M. (2016). Localising/internationalising teacher education with Anglo-Chinese theoretic-linguistic characteristics: Producing dǐngtiᾱn lìdì teacherresearchers. In D. R. Cole & C. Woodrow (Eds.), Super dimensions in globalisation and education (pp. 207–224). doi:doi:10.1007/978–981–10–10312–7_13 Hechanova-Alampay, R. (2002). Adjustment and strain among domestic and international student sojourners: A longitudinal study. School Psychology International, 23(4), 458–474. Held, D., McGrew, A., Goldblatt, D., & Perraton, J. (1999). Contents and introduction. In Global transformations, economics and culture. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1–31. Hellstén, M. (1998). The Sámi identity: A souvenir or something living? Language and Education, 12 (2), 119–136. Hellstén, M., & Buchanan, J. (2017). Internationalising indigenous communities: Mobility in the age of sustainability? Paper presented at the OCIES Conference ‘Education and sustainable development in Oceania and beyond’, Université Nouvelle Calédonie, 7–10 November 2017. Hellstén, M. & Reid, A. (2008). Researching international pedagogies: Sustainable practice for teaching and learning in higher education. Dordrecht: Springer. Hickling-Hudson, A. (2009). Southern theory and its dynamics for postcolonial education. In R. Coloma (Ed.), Postcolonial challenges in education. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, pp. 365–376. Hirvonen, V. (2004). Sámi culture and the school: Reflections by Sámi teachers and the realization of the Sámi school. Kautokeino: Saami University College. Jacob, W, (2015). Strategies for overcoming linguistic genocide: How to avoid macroaggressions and microaggressions that lead toward Indigenous language annihilation. In W. Jacob, S. Cheng, & M. Porter (Eds.), Indigenous education: Language, culture and identity. Dordrecht: Springer. Jefferess, D. (2012). Unsettling cosmopolitanism: Global citizenship and the cultural politics of benevolence. In V. Andreotti and L. de Souza (Eds.), Postcolonial perspectives on global citizenship education. New York: Routledge, pp. 27–46. Johansson, H. (1974). Samerna och Sameundervisningen i Sverige. Umeå: Umeå Universitet. Kaplan, E. (1989). Aborigines, film and Moffatt’s ‘Night Cries-a Rural Tragedy’: An outsider’s perspectives. The Olive Pink Society Bulletin, 2(1), 13–17. Kosmützky, A. & Putty, R. (2016). Transcending borders and traversing boundaries: A systematic review of the literature on transnational, offshore, cross-border, and borderless higher education. Journal of Studies in International Education, 20(1), 8–33. Kuh, G. (2008). High-impact educational practices: What they are, who has access to them, and why they matter. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities. Lee, J. (2013). The false halo of internationalisation. International Higher Education, 72, 5–7. Retrieved from http://ejournals.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/ihe/article/ viewFile/6101/5345 Lingard, B., Hardy, I., & Heimans, S. (2012). Deparochializing educational research. Three critical, illustrative narratives. In T. Fenwick & L. Farrell (Eds.), Knowledge mobilization and educational research: Politics, languages and responsibilities. London: Routledge, pp. 211–236.

234  John Buchanan and Meeri Hellstén

Mako, S. (2012). Cultural genocide and key international instruments: Framing the Indigenous experience. International Journal of Minority and Group Rights, 19(2), 175–194. Manik, S. (2014). South African migrant teachers’ decision-making: Levels of influence and ‘relative deprivation’. Journal of Southern African Studies, 40(1) 151–165. Retrieved from http://dx.doi:10.1080/03057070.2014.889360 Marginson, S. & van der Wende, M. (2009). The new global landscape of nations and institutions. In Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (Ed.), Higher education to 2030: Volume 2 Globalisation. Paris: OECD, pp. 17–62. Martin, K. (2003). Ways of knowing, ways of being and ways of doing: A theoretical framework and methods for Indigenous research and indigenist research. Journal of Australian Studies, 76, 203–214. Martin, L. (2015). International student teaching in non-western cultures: A journey of personal and professional transformation on the road to becoming a globally minded teacher. In D. Schwarzer & B. Bridglall (Eds.), Promoting global competence and social justice in teacher education: Successes and challenges within local and international contexts. London: Lexington Books, pp. 21–44. Mezirow, J. (2000). Learning as transformation: Critical perspectives on a theory in progress. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Moriarty, B. & Bennett, M. (2016). Practicing teachers’ reflections: Indigenous Australian student mobility and implications for teacher education. Social Inclusion (4)1, 32–41. Nakata, M. (2004). Indigenous knowledge and the cultural interface. In A. Hickling-Hudson, J. Matthews, & A. Woods, A. (Eds.), Disrupting preconceptions: Postcolonialism and education, Brisbane: Post Pressed, pp. 19–38. Nakata, N., Nakata, V., Keech, S., & Bolt, R. (2012). Decolonial goals and pedagogies for Indigenous studies. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 1(1), 120–140. Navin, F., Hill, A., & Doyle, T. (2012). The characteristics of, and motivations for, Indigenous student mobility: Examples from urban and rural Queensland, Australia. International Journal of Educational Research, 54. 21–30. doi:10.1016/j.ijer.2011.11.002 Ninnes, P. (2005). Higher education engaging with the ‘developing’ world: The case of the Virtual Colombo Plan. In P. Ninnes & M. Hellstén (Eds.), Internationalizing higher education. Critical explorations of pedagogy and policy. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 141–158. NSW Department of Education (n.d.). 8 Aboriginal ways of learning. Retrieved from https://8ways.wikispaces.com/ Ontario Ministry of Education (2007). Ontario First Nation, Métis, and Inuit Education Policy Framework. Ontario: Ministry of Education. Pashby, K. (2012). Questions for global citizenship education in the ‘new imperialism’. For whom, by whom? In V. Andreotti and L. de Souza (Eds.), Postcolonial perspectives on global citizenship education. New York: Routledge, pp. 9–26. Petrón, M. & Ates, B. (2015). Culture and class: Latina pre-service teachers in Costa Rica. In D. Schwarzer & B. Bridglall (Eds.), Promoting global competence and social justice in teacher education: Successes and challenges within local and international contexts. London: Lexington Books, pp. 71–90. Pieterse, J. (2006). Emancipatory cosmopolitanism: Towards an agenda. Development and Change, 37(6), 1247–1257.

Ways of getting to know  235

Reid, C. & Stephens, M. (2017). Cosmopolitan theory and Aboriginal teachers’ professional identities. In C. Reid and J. Major (Eds.), Global teaching: Southern perspectives on working with diversity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 129–143. Rizvi, F. & Lingard, B. (2010). Globalizing education policy. London: Routledge. Rodell-Olgaç, C. & Hellstén, M. (2012). Editorial 22(1): Special issue in intercultural and critical education. Issues in Educational Research, 22(1), iii–vii. www.iier. org.au/iier22/editorial22-1-special.html Ryan, J. (2015). Transcultural teaching and learning: Possibilities for the generation of new ideas and knowledge across Western and Chinese knowledge systems. In G. Slethaug & J. Vinther (Eds.), International teaching and learning at universities. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 53–71. Said, E. (1978). Orientalism. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Sámi Allaskuvla (2014). Our vision. Retrieved from http://samas.no/en/node/298 Santoro, N. (2017). Learning to be a culturally responsive teacher in the global north: A call for critical teacher education. In C. Reid & J. Major (Eds.), Global teaching: Southern perspectives on teachers working with diversity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 59–77. Santos, B. (2007). Beyond abyssal thinking. From global lines to ecologies of knowledges. Review Fernand Braudel Center, 30(1), 45–89. Schwarzer, D. & Bridglall, B. (Eds.). (2015). Promoting global competence and social justice in teacher education: Successes and challenges within local and international contexts. London: Lexington Books. Sidhu, R. (2006). Universities and globalization: To market, to market. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum Associates. Simonds, V. & Christopher, S. (2013). Adapting western research methods to Indigenous ways of knowing. American Journal of Public Health, 103(12), 2185–2192. Singh, P. & Doherty, C. (2008). Mobile students in liquid modernity: Negotiating the politics of transcultural identities. In N. Dolby & F. Rizvi (Eds.), Youth Moves. New York: Routledge, pp. 115–130. Skolverket (2011). Sameskolan. Läroplan för sameskolan, förskoleklassen och fritidshemmet. Retrieved from www.skolverket.se/om-skolverket/publikationer/ visa-enskild-publikation?_xurl_=http%3A%2F%2Fwww5.skolverket.se%2Fwtpub%2Fws%2Fskolbok%2Fwpubext%2Ftr ycksak%2FBlob%2Fpdf 2600. pdf%3Fk%3D2600 Slethaug, G. (2015). Conclusion: International teaching and learning at universities – achieving equilibrium with local culture and pedagogy. In G. Slethaug & J. Vinther (Eds.), International teaching and learning at universities. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 159–172. Spivak, G. (1988). Can the subaltern speak? In C. Nelson & L. Grossberg (Eds.), Marxism and the interpretation of culture. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, pp. 271–313. Taçon, P., Wilson, M., & Chippindale, C. (1996). Birth of the Rainbow Serpent in Arnhem Land rock art and oral history. Archaeology in Oceania, 31(3), 103–124. doi:10.1002/j.1834–4453.1996.tb00355.x Taylor, L. (2012). Beyond paternalism: Global education with preservice teachers as a practice of implication. In V. Andreotti and L. de Souza (Eds.), Postcolonial perspectives on global citizenship education. New York: Routledge, pp. 177–199.

236  John Buchanan and Meeri Hellstén

Thomas, S. (2015). International teaching: Bringing home global concepts. In D. Schwarzer & B. Bridglall (Eds.), Promoting global competence and social justice in teacher education: Successes and challenges within local and international contexts. London: Lexington Books, pp. 91–102. Verdon, S. & McLeod, S. (2015). Indigenous language learning and maintenance among young Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. International Journal of Early Childhood, 47(1), 153–170. Vinther, J. (2015). Examining liberal education, its place, and importance in transnational education: How to develop and maintain teacher and learner autonomy. In G. Slethaug & J. Vinther (Eds.), International teaching and learning at universities. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 11–29. Ward, C. & Chang, W. (1997). ‘Cultural fit’: A new perspective on personality and sojourner adjustment. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 21(4), 525–533. Whitinui, P., de France, C. R., & McIvor, O. (Eds.). (2018). Promising practices in Indigenous teacher education. Singapore: Springer. Wright, C. (2012). Postcolonial cosmopolitanisms: Towards a global citizenship education based on ‘divisive universalism’. In V. Andreotti and L. de Souza (Eds.), Postcolonial perspectives on global citizenship education. New York: Routledge, pp. 47–67. Yang, R. (2014). Indigenised while internationalised? Tensions and dilemmas in China’s transformation of social sciences in an age of globalization. In M. Kuhn and K. Okamoto (Eds.), Spatial social thought: Local knowledge in global science encounters. Stuttgart: Ibidem Press, pp. 43–62. Zeleza, P. (2012). Internationalization in higher education: Opportunities and challenges for the knowledge project in the Global South. Paper presented at the SARUA Vice Chancellors Leadership on Internationalisation in Higher Education: Implications for the Knowledge Project in the Global South, Maputo, Mozambique, 22–23 June 2012.

Chapter 14

Fostering Indigenous intercultural ability during and beyond initial teacher education Susan Page, Leanne Holt and Katrina Thorpe

Introduction Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders people have a unique place in Australian history, culture and indeed the psyche, of the nation. However, this uniqueness, as first Australians, is both contested and polarising. Although not universal, racism and stereotyping are not uncommon to interactions between minority Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and dominant fellow Australians (Bodkin-Andrews & Carlson, 2014; Paradies, Harris & Anderson, 2008). In the light of ongoing poor socio-economic and educational outcomes, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, there is a growing consensus in Australian universities that graduates can contribute to improving those outcomes through enhanced service provision to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (Behrendt, Larkin, Griew & Kelly, 2012). This is particularly so in the professions, where curriculum development to ensure graduates are prepared to work effectively with Indigenous Australians has been ongoing. Teacher education has been working for some years now to address deficiencies in both the teaching of Indigenous Australian children and the delivery of Indigenous curriculum to all children. As early as the 1980s the National Aboriginal Education Committee (NAEC) initiated the 1,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers by 1990 project (Hughes & Willmot, 1982) for example. More recently, the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership introduced Indigenous focus areas to the professional teaching standards (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, 2014). Developing intercultural competency is part of this worthy goal for pre-service teachers. In an increasingly globalised world, the incorporation of intercultural competence within university institutional goals has become ever more important in preparing ‘global ready’ graduates (Deardorff & Jones, 2012, p. 299). Intercultural competence of graduate teachers has been found to increase self-efficacy, develop global mindedness and improve educational outcomes (Cushner & Mahon, 2009). Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes are tasked with preparing graduates to deliver an Australian Curriculum designed

238  Susan Page, Leanne Holt and Katrina Thorpe

to ‘equip young Australians with the knowledge, understanding and skills that will enable them to engage effectively with and prosper in a globalised world’ (Australian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (ACARA), 2013, p. 15). The Kindergarten to Year 12 curriculum also has increasing emphasis on developing understandings of Indigenous Australia. Graduates need to develop skills and knowledge in Indigenous Studies to teach this curriculum. As well, graduates need to develop skills in the teaching of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners. This second curriculum focus is driven by comparatively poorer outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and by recognition that responsibility for improvement lies with education and government authorities (Commonwealth of Australia, 2017). Teacher quality is an integral part of enhancing learning outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. The More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers Initiative (MATSITI) identified that teachers’ personal and professional values, and ability to connect with Indigenous students is the single most potent factor for schools to overcome social disadvantage and close the gap in education outcomes (More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers Initiative. (MATSITI, 2014a, p. 6) An intertwined impetus is the need to increase the numbers of Indigenous teachers in schools to reach parity with their non-Indigenous counterparts, an apparently intransigent problem (MATSITI, 2014a). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers play an important role in schools as mentors to staff and students and they are likely to have a wealth of knowledge and experience of successful pedagogies for Indigenous learners (Santoro, Reid, Crawford & Simpson, 2011, p. 66). Intercultural competence is seen as critical to achieving the dual aims of increasing the Indigenous teacher workforce and developing all teachers’ ability to work with Indigenous Australians. Successive reports (Behrendt et al. 2012, MATSITI, 2014a) have advocated the curriculum and pedagogy as the best place for this capacity building to occur, with Aboriginal educators seen as a critical resource. Drawing on Nakata’s (2006) conceptualisation of the cultural interface – the contested space in which Indigenous and Western knowledges interact – this chapter will focus on the work of three Aboriginal Australian educators engaged in intercultural work in Australian universities. Author one is an award winning educator who recently led a team collaborating on a university wide project to ensure that all graduates develop intercultural competence to work effectively with Indigenous Australians. Author two leads Walanga Muru, the Indigenous engagement and strategy of her university and author three has extensive experience teaching in a school of education. All authors have worked extensively in Indigenous higher education in Australian universities, experiencing daily individual and structural intercultural exchanges. We are interested not just, in how students might

Fostering Indigenous intercultural ability  239

develop and utilise intercultural skills but also the need for universities to develop a ‘climate’ for intercultural success. Further, we suggest that models of intercultural competence must account for complex contexts in which they operate (Dervin, 2015) including ITE programmes, but also in the wider contextual settings in which graduates find themselves – schools. Drawing on Dervin’s (2016a) 10 Commandments of Interculturality in Education, we make some key criticisms of intercultural competence in the context of initial teacher education – and beyond. In particular, we are interested in the idea of justice in relation to structural inequity and the aligned issue of power differentials. We begin with a general discussion of intercultural competency in education, then we provide some initial context on Indigenous Australian’s in the setting of education, including the Australian Teacher education standards, particularly in relation to the relevant Indigenous standards. We then use Nakata’s theory of the cultural interface to map eight key areas, which schools of education might consider when designing effective curriculum for developing teachers who are culturally competent. While our context is nation specific, we expect the issues we raise here will have relevance for other Indigenous and minority peoples.

Intercultural competency in education While there is not a single definition of intercultural education, there is some consensus about what it denotes. At its simplest intercultural competence applies to ‘any who interact with those from different backgrounds, regardless of location’ (Deardorff, 2011, p. 66). Universities have followed the professions in seeking to ensure that graduates have capacity to work effectively in global contexts but also locally. Universities Australia in their National Framework for Cultural Competency referred to intercultural competence or cultural competency in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as being: Student and staff knowledge and understanding of Indigenous Australian cultures, histories and contemporary realities and awareness of Indigenous protocols, combined with the proficiency to engage and work effectively in Indigenous contexts congruent to the expectations of Indigenous Australian peoples. (Universities Australia, 2011, p. 3) Although the aims of intercultural education are admirable and even apparently logical, two key issues are evident. Firstly, there is less noted in relation to the unstated dominance of whiteness. Although the literature is observant of pitfalls such as essentialising and othering (Dervin, 2015), what is less overt is the presence of the cluster of privileges that whiteness bestows, such as power, voice and ownership rights (Ladson-Billings, 1998; Dixson & Rousseau, 2005). Indeed, Pon’s (2009) robust criticism asserts that whiteness becomes the default standard. Second, there is an absence of exploration of

240  Susan Page, Leanne Holt and Katrina Thorpe

the systemic mobilisation of power (Dervin, 2016b). As Sakamoto (2007) argues, cultural competency positions culture as neutral and devoid of power and fails to critique systems of oppression. Nakata’s (2004) conception of the cultural interface – a third space which overlaps Western and Indigenous spaces – is one way to consider the broad environment in which intercultural education and ITE occur, which we explore later in the chapter.

Indigenous education in Australia Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples make up approximately 3% of the Australian population (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2013). This population of Indigenous Australians is distributed across the country, with around a third living in cities, just over a third living in the regions and the remainder in areas remote or very remote from the metropolitan centres (Australian Bureau of Statistic, 2013). Despite the ravages of colonisation, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a proud traditional and contemporary history, which has become deeply and sometimes disquietingly entwined in the nation. One of the consequences of colonialism has been a legacy of poor outcomes in education for Indigenous children (Gray & Beresford, 2008). Historically, children have been denied access to education, widely segregated in institutions designed to prepare students for domestic service, and denied cultural expression through language in the pursuit of assimilation of Indigenous people into the broader majority culture (Beresford, 2012) Despite regional, state and gender variations, overall outcomes for Indigenous children are less than for their non-Indigenous counterparts, sometimes considerably so (Commonwealth of Australia, 2017). This includes on key indicators such as early childhood enrolment, school attendance, literacy and numeracy standardised testing, and high school completion. For this reason, some have suggested Indigenous education is in crisis (Buckskin et al., 2009; Rigney, 2011). In this context, teachers play a significant role in transforming the educational outcomes and life opportunities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Hattie’s (2003) meta-analysis of over 500,000 primary research studies on the effects of various influences on student achievement supports this claim. Hattie found the major influence on student achievement, was reflected in what could be identified as ‘quality teaching’, concluding that ‘it is what teachers know, do, and care about which is very powerful in this learning equation …’ (p.  2). Although teacher quality is undoubtedly critical, the literature points to a number of additional factors for Indigenous students including, the effects of racism (Kickett-Tucker, 2009) and unmet Indigenous aspiration (Malin and Maidment, 2003). There is also the issue of background structural and policy effects, some of which the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers attempt to rectify by the inclusion of Indigenous specific standards.

Fostering Indigenous intercultural ability  241

Australian professional standards for teachers The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, released in 2011, are designed to ‘… make explicit the elements of high quality teaching’ (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), 2014a). For schools of education, pre-service teachers and teachers, the standards are meant to clarify the ‘what to know, do and care about’ in the classroom. The standards, developed by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) feature three domains, Professional Knowledge, Professional Practice and Professional Engagement. Each of these domains includes four levels of achievement related to career progression; graduate, proficient, highly accomplished and lead (https://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-for-teachers/ standards/list). For Australian schools of education intercultural competence has particular relevance to two Indigenous key focus areas within the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. The two Indigenous focus areas occur within the Professional Knowledge domain (see Box 14.1). However, Indigenous key focus areas are absent from the Professional Practice and the Professional Engagement domains, where the graduate levels of achievement have greater emphasis on knowledge application rather than simply knowledge demonstration.

BOX 14.1 Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership Indigenous Key Focus Areas in the Professional Domain – graduate level of achievement

1.4 Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students Demonstrate broad knowledge and understanding of the impact of culture, cultural identity and linguistic background on the education of students from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds. 2.4 Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and nonIndigenous Australians Demonstrate broad knowledge of, understanding of and respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and languages. www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-for-teachers/ standards/list?c=graduate

242  Susan Page, Leanne Holt and Katrina Thorpe

While the Indigenous focus areas undoubtedly provide direction for initial teacher education (ITE) curriculum there is an emphasis on professional knowledge, at the graduate level, with little guidance for professional practice in the classroom or engagement with families and community – both areas covered in the two remaining domains. Although in focus area 1.4 there is at least a suggestion of the knowledge being applied to children’s education at the higher levels of achievement. In the vital Professional Practice and Professional Engagement domains there is little direction to suggest that the knowledge gained in relation to Indigenous learners, cultures and history would be applied in practice. While this in part is reflected in the generic nature of the focus areas it is not surprising that this lack of attention to practice is then reflected in ITE curriculum. As Dervin (2016b) notes, acquiring knowledge about another culture does little to expose underlying ‘hegemony, hierarchies, and power differentials’ (p.  78). A recent report into the preparation of Pre-Service Teacher for Teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students noted the mismatch between the policy rhetoric and the capability of ITE providers to prepare graduates for effective practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education (Moreton-Robinson, Singh, Kolopenuk & Robinson, 2012). A clear consequence of this is that new graduates are least comfortable or confident teaching in schools where there are significant number of Indigenous students or teaching Indigenous curriculum (Mayer, Allard, Bates, Dixon, et al, 2015; Harrison & Greenfield, 2011), although, according to the Professional Standards, these are two areas in which graduating teachers should have capability. Compounding the problem of poorly integrated curriculum is that the teaching of Indigenous Studies in ITE programmes is sometimes left to standalone subjects delivered by staff from the Indigenous Centres. While standalone subjects are important to access disciplinary expertise and provide deep engagement in Indigenous knowledges and perspectives, it is also advisable to embed perspectives across the curriculum. Learners need opportunities to apply knowledge and to develop skills over time. Further, these standalone subjects often service large multidisciplinary cohorts of students, some of whom are undertaking the subject as a mandatory requirement of their degree and others completing the subject as an elective option. The subjects are often taught by an Indigenous academic with Indigenous Studies expertise but not necessarily education disciplinary expertise. One study found that less than a quarter of course content included pedagogy and teaching practice (Moreton-Robinson et al, 2012) and another study concluded that ITE programmes over-emphasised history, with little contemporary focus (MATSITI, 2014a). It is likely that this problem arises, in part, from the Indigenous Centres aspirations to teach Indigenous Studies across all disciplines. However, the original conceptions of three priorities to be given special attention in the Australian Curriculum may also have inadvertently

Fostering Indigenous intercultural ability  243

contributed to the narrowness of the curriculum. The three priority areas are, sustainability, Asian engagement and: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, to ensure that all young Australians will be given the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, their significance for Australia and the impact these have had, and continue to have, on our world. (ACARA, 2013 p. 15) As Deardorff (2006) suggests intercultural competence does not occur by happenstance. Confidence and comfort in this complex cultural interface is likely to be an ongoing process, requiring opportunities to reflect over time (Huber & Reynolds, 2014), which is unlikely in a single offering over a semester. It is also likely, as Dervin’s (2016b) critique of approaches to cultural competency, which rely on knowledge acquisition, which students may develop unrealistic expectations that cultural competence can be achieved in a semester of study, rather than a lifetime of learning. For pre-service educators, with 98% of ITE graduates who are non-Indigenous (MATSITI, 2014a), learning about Indigenous history alone is unlikely to foster greater graduate capacity, particularly in relation to the critical areas of pedagogy and broader community engagement. Learning experiences across the ITE degree ‘must balance the theoretical knowledge needs of preservice teachers with their desire for practical information and skills that will assist them in the classroom’ (Thorpe & Burgess, 2012, p. 180). The contextualisation of Indigenous education, beyond othering, into the practice domain is critical for intercultural education in ITE programmes.

The cultural interface The Cultural Interface is a term coined by Torres Strait Islander academic, Martin Nakata. Nakata has spent two decades researching and writing about Indigenous Studies and Indigenous Knowledges in higher education. Early writings discussed the Cultural Interface as, the intersection of the Western and Indigenous domain … the place where we live and learn, the place that conditions our lives, the place that shapes our futures and more to the point the place where we are active agents in our own lives –where we make decisions – our lifeworlds. (Nakata, 2004, p. 27) This theoretical position postulates that all knowledge systems adapt, change, have diversity and are culturally embedded. This recognition that culture changes is in keeping with one of the criticisms of cultural competency that it assumes culture is a static collection of ‘absolute, stable, fixed objective traits

244  Susan Page, Leanne Holt and Katrina Thorpe

and values’ (Pon, 2009, p. 63). For many Indigenous people, traversing Western and Indigenous domains is a lived reality (Nakata, 2004). While the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, recognises as our distinct cultures and knowledges (United Nations, 2007), in some countries it remains unsafe, shameful or even dangerous to use the term Indigenous (Smith, 2012). This does not mean that Indigenous peoples are not culturally diverse or either homogeneous or static (Vass, 2014) but that there is value in collectivity. What it does do is contradict the first of Dervin’s Ten Commandments of Interculturality in Education, which is to put an end to differentialist biases (2016b). We acknowledge that these types of generalisations can be reductive and lead to essentialising and deficit discourses. Indeed it is just this emphasis on cultural difference which has led White teachers to make assumptions about the abilities of all Indigenous children based on enlightenment understandings of Indigenous intellectual capacity. There is, however, an unresolved tension between Indigenous people’s desire to maintain cultural integrity and a command to shift focus away from differences, particularly those based on culture. It is just that kind of idea, which underpinned the impetus to prevent Indigenous children from speaking their languages, failed to value their cultural practices and sought to subjugate their identities to that of the nation state. In more recent writing, Nakata questions the idea of the Interface as an ‘intersection’ of different knowledge systems, instead arguing it might be more productive to pursue ‘inter-subjective mapping of our many relationships, rather than interrogate sites of apparent intersection’ (2006, p.  267). In the educational Cultural Interface, there are eight intersecting and overlapping domains which we use, as Nakata suggests, to map and name explicitly both the individuals who might benefit from intercultural education and the environments which impinge upon their practice. These eight domains occur in two separate but overlapping areas, firstly, university schools of education and secondly schools. First, in schools of education there are Indigenous and nonIndigenous pre-service teachers and there are Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators. Second, in schools there are Indigenous and non-Indigenous teachers as well as Indigenous and non-Indigenous children (and their families). In each case, the Indigenous group is likely (though not always) to be a minority. To illustrate the context of intercultural education within this cultural interface more clearly, we will outline each of these domains below.

Intercultural education environments As important as it is to understand what intercultural education is, it is as important to understand how to invest in environments that privilege intercultural education from an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education perspective. This includes commitment and leadership from schools and universities to adopt strategies that link outcomes such as, increasing the Aboriginal teaching workforce, adopting cultural safety practices, and providing opportunities

Fostering Indigenous intercultural ability  245

for Aboriginal leadership. We want to both problematise and concur with Dervin’s fourth commandment, to examine ‘exceptions, instabilities and processes rather than mere structures’ (2016a, p. 104). Although much intercultural activity occurs between individuals, major injustices occur within structures which normalise power differentials, and inequity. As we outline below, the structures – schools of education, universities and the associated policies and procedures – must be examined, contested and resisted. This is not to say that exceptions are not also worthy of consideration. It is the exceptions which can illuminate fresh thinking and engender change. Later in the paper we outline one such exception in which Indigenous cultural standards were applied in a university. Schools and universities have a responsibility to create culturally inclusive environments that support the aims of intercultural education, whilst ensuring effective consultation and engagement with Aboriginal communities. What this requires is an exploration of the intertwined, ‘subaltern’ codes which lead to ‘discrimination, oppression, injustice and hierarchies’ (Dervin, 2016b). Schools of education

Preparing pre-service teachers to address the National Professional Standards for Teachers in their future classrooms is primarily the responsibility of the academic staff at universities along with the pre-service teacher mentors in schools. These educators are the people who put into place the end effects of policies, and research, and share their experiences of teaching in order to prepare pre-service teachers for their future. Despite almost 40 years of Indigenous activism in the area of education, schools of education have few Indigenous staff. The ambitious drive to have 1,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers was achieved but few of these graduates have found their way back to schools of education. Those Indigenous educators who do teach in pre-service programmes tend to withstand the worst of student racism as learners struggle for new understandings of themselves and Indigenous content (Phillips & Whatman, 2007). The current focus of intercultural education on interactions between individuals with its attendant emphasis on the culture and history of the other, is unlikely to result in change to this well-established order. Schools of education, in broadening the focus of intercultural education would be well served by examining their own practices in relation to Indigenous staff and student engagement. Such an examination could revolutionise rather than reproduce the current status quo.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander initial teacher education student and teachers Although the benefits of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers in schools has been widely recognised (Santoro, Reid, Crawford & Simpson, 2011) they remain under-represented in both ITE programmes and as teachers

246  Susan Page, Leanne Holt and Katrina Thorpe

in schools. An increased effort in the provision of mentoring, identified positions and professional development opportunities with scholarship incentives would go a long way in progressing participation in both these areas. Additionally, the provision of culturally safe environments, free of racism, would also encourage further interest by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to pursue careers as teachers in schools and ITE programmes. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers represent 1.3% of the total teaching workforce compared to 5% of the student population (National Teacher Workforce Dataset, 2014 and Schools, Australia, ABS, 2013, in MATSITI, 2017). One simple result of this is that Indigenous children ‘rarely see their own people teaching in their school, let alone their classroom’ (MATSITI, 2014a, p. 4). Although Indigenous teachers are often, well positioned for teaching Indigenous and non-Indigenous children, they are too often ‘regarded by some colleagues and parents as less able than their nonIndigenous peers …’ (Santoro, Reid, Crawford & Simpson, 2011). Coupled with the additional requirement to complement deficits in non-Indigenous teachers’ understanding of Indigenous education (Reid & Santoro, 2006) this kind of suspicion can clearly make the profession a challenge for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers. It is also probable that intercultural education rarely focuses on relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous colleagues, or indeed situations where the principal or leader is Indigenous. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ITE students

Approximately 2% of undergraduate education students nationally are Indigenous Australians (AITSL, 2016). The very first Aboriginal education report by the Aboriginal Consultative Group (1975) outlined four priorities for Aboriginal education programmes and policy. These were to increase Aboriginal teachers; embed Aboriginal cultural awareness into curriculum; foster community inclusion; and focus on improvements for all levels of education. This provided the foundations for the ambitious drive, as a result of a submission to the National Inquiry into Teacher Education (Auchmuty, 1980), to graduate 1,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers by 1990 (Hughes and Willmott, 1982). As far as Aboriginal children are concerned, the thousand teachers will have a profound effect on their self-image and on their aspirations towards finding a place in Australian society. (Hughes and Willmot 1982, p. 22) In 1986, it was already evident that 50% of the Aboriginal teacher education graduates were being employed outside the classroom (NAEC, 1986). By

Fostering Indigenous intercultural ability  247

1990 the target was achieved, however, as predicted many graduates did not end up in the classroom, instead they were recruited by government departments and other educational agencies. More recent figures suggest that 40% of ITE graduates don’t go on to direct teaching roles (MATSITI, 2014b, p. 29). While the reasons for this attrition from the classroom are unclear, it suggests that increasing Indigenous teachers in the classroom, to facilitate increased Indigenous student outcomes, is only part of the solution to a more complex problem. One creative response has been to expedite the acquisition of ITE qualifications, particularly in remote areas, for Indigenous education staff already working as teacher-aides (Maher, 2013). Cultural safety for ITE Indigenous students is a consistent theme in the literature (Patton, W, Lee Hong, A., Lampert, J., Burnett, B., & Anderson, J. 2012). A survey of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in an undergraduate programme at a regional university found that students wanted systemic change related to more concerted educational supports and active responses to classroom insensitivity or racism. Student responses indicated that improvements needed to be ‘both internally (towards key staff and structures) and externally (towards supporting collaborating efforts at schools), in a holistic approach’ (More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers Initiative, 2015, p. 9). The unconscious bias towards dominant whiteness inherent in much of our efforts at intercultural education in Indigenous contexts is particularly overt in ITE programmes. We are not aware of any specific efforts to ensure that Indigenous pre-service teachers can work effectively in non-Indigenous contexts. Schools

Once graduates begin to practise their teaching professions a range of structural and hierarchical factors can impact upon their practice. The intertwined effects of school leadership and consequent school culture can be regulating forces which impact on new graduates. Newly graduated teachers experience schools as normalising, they feel pressure to fit in and too often find staff rooms places of alienation (Mayer et al. 2015). As well, a schools’ culture can undermine graduates confidence to manage cultural diversity (MATSITI, 2014a) even where they have the interest and desire to do so. Further ‘everyday teacher talk’ which constructs Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and their families through deficit paradigms plays a ‘powerful socialising mechanism for beginning teachers because of their ability to convey socially constructed meaning, beliefs, and values, while communicating justifications for existing structures, practices, and outcomes’ (Pollack, 2013, p.  887). In this context, intercultural competency which equips graduates to have high expectations of their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students places them in potentially parlous predicaments.

248  Susan Page, Leanne Holt and Katrina Thorpe

As noted above, precious little of the ITE course content is directed towards practice relevant to Indigenous related intercultural teaching. However, intercultural education that is only narrowly focused on individual classroom interactions will mean that new teachers continue to be challenged by an opaque web of influence that is not readily identifiable and is largely impenetrable. Indeed, the accepted practice of an ‘overwhelmingly monocultural and monolingual teaching profession privilege the dominant White majority in ways that are simply taken for granted’ (Reid & Santoro, 2006, p. 147). The racism and intolerance that affects the nation at large (Ziersch, Gallaher, Baum, & Bentley, 2011) also occurs in classrooms and staffrooms (Buckskin, 2013). This can be even more confounding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers who find themselves inexorably drawn into all things Indigenous (Reid & Santoro, 2006) with little regard for individual Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teacher aspirations. The literature points to a range of issues in relation to Indigenous education and to the intercultural education for ITE graduates in this context. The current curriculum is sparse and disconnected from practice and would benefit from being more comprehensive and more deliberately sequenced over the course of a degree, with greater focus on practice and engagement. There continues to be a need to attract more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students into ITE programmes and an urgent need to grow the cohort of Indigenous academics in schools of education. Broadening our understandings of intercultural education to incorporate Indigenous centred practice (Harrison, Page & Finneran, 2013) may be one way to reorient thinking and improve outcomes for both practitioners and Indigenous Australians.

Indigenous cultural standards in higher education We argued earlier that exposing structural inequity is critical to aims of intercultural education. Here we share an example of what Dervin calls an exception (2016a). For us it is more aligned to Dervin’s sixth commandment to centre justice in interculturality. What is perhaps missing from this idea of justice is discussion of sovereignty and the possessive avarice of the imperial project globally (Moreton-Robinson, 2015). Without some engagement with the concept and implications of sovereignty, it is unlikely that Indigenous intercultural education will be successful. A project like the one described below, purposely seeks to reassert our sovereignty as Indigenous peoples. Internationally, Indigenous peoples define providing a culturally affirming higher education learning environment to be critical to the success of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, staff and a foundation for the provision of Indigenous scholarship for all of the university community. The World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium (WINHEC) accreditation is centred on the development of a Cultural Standards framework

Fostering Indigenous intercultural ability  249

that reflects the values, principles and knowledges of the Indigenous nation where the education institution resides. The Cultural Standards framework poses an alternative model to the traditional cultural competency models which focus on training non-Aboriginal people within the foundations of a Western educational environment. The WINHEC accreditation looks beyond intercultural competence to focus instead on cultural integrity and embedding practices, guided by cultural values, perspectives and Indigenous knowledges. The accreditation criteria that guide an international assessment team centre upon: the diverse Indigenous language, cultural beliefs, traditions, and protocols, laws and practices that provide the epistemological and pedagogical basis for the institutions/schools/programs under review, and will be applied in a manner that is consistent with the principles outlined in the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the 1994 Mataatua Declaration on Cultural and Intellectual Property Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the 1999 Coolangatta Statement on Indigenous Rights in Education. (WINHEC, 2016, p. 7) This reverses the privilege of whiteness, which requires the embedding of intercultural competence within the dominant educational knowledge system. Instead, the Cultural Standards framework provides a platform for intercultural education grounded in an Indigenous knowledges framework. Central to the accreditation assessment is the development of a ‘cultural standards framework’ defined as: a locally defined set of guidelines, principles and/or values that reflect the cultural essence to which the goals of the particular institution are directed and under which it operates. (WINHEC, 2010, p. 18) The framework empowers Aboriginal people in general and generates respect for specific knowledges from local custodians. The Cultural Standards framework at the University of Newcastle was only relevant to the Wollotuka Institute. It would be a considerable challenge to do in a whole university but it could be a revitalising option for a school of education brave enough to respond.

Discussion and conclusion Intercultural competence focused on an individual practitioner, without consideration of the broader contextual factors, is limited (Dervin, 2016a). Schools are complex environments with diverse inter-relationships of children and families, colleagues, school leaders as well as external authorities. In the Australian context, there is a significant, complex but not insurmountable,

250  Susan Page, Leanne Holt and Katrina Thorpe

problem that intercultural competence with its focus on individual interactions cannot hope to fix. Despite decades of writing and accumulation of evidence through MATSITI and AITSL, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students remain under-represented in initial teacher education programmes. Consequently the Indigenous workforce, in both schools and schools of education, also remains diminished. As well, Indigenous student outcomes continue to lag, compounded by low expectations of teachers who feel they lack the requisite knowledge to teach these children. Indigenous curriculum in schools is too often poorly delivered because mostly non-Indigenous graduates of ITE degrees feel under-prepared and under-confident teaching Indigenous curriculum. This trio of problems is underpinned by fragmented ITE Indigenous education curriculum, often delivered by non-discipline specialists, or educators themselves who are under-confident in this area (Respect, Relationships, Reconciliation, 2013; Burgess & Cavanagh, 2016). Moreover, the school environments graduates enter do little to develop new teachers’ capabilities in this area. As such, it is hard to see where graduates are to develop the skills required to reach the proficient level of achievement according to the current teaching standards. Even if students were able to acquire the requisite combination of knowledge, skills and experiential experience to develop intercultural competence (Hamilton, 2009) without a further set of skills that allows the graduate to negotiate the school context change may be difficult to achieve. Intercultural education that fails to address structural issues such as racism, low expectations and the normalising environments that prevail in schools, will continue to frustrate individuals – both Indigenous and non-Indigenous – who want to improve outcomes for Indigenous peoples and all Australians. Little of what pre-service teachers have encountered in their schools of education or the universities in which those schools are located, is likely to have prepared them for the ‘normalising’ environments (Mayer et al., 2015) of schools. Consideration of intercultural competence for pre-service teachers could be improved by theoretical models that take into account the broader contexts of schools of education, universities and Schools. The kind of extensive cultural immersion suggested in the WINHEC cultural standards could be developed in schools of education. Engagement with local Indigenous communities takes time and effort but could help to build the confidence of both ITE students and educators, foster cultural safety for Indigenous students, and benefit the community.

References Aboriginal Consultative Group. (1975). Education for Aborigines: Report to the Schools Commission. Canberra: Schools Commission. Auchmuty, J. (1980). Report of the National Inquiry into Teacher Education. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.

Fostering Indigenous intercultural ability  251

Australian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2013). Curriculum Design Paper Version 3.1. Retrieved from https://acaraweb.blob.core.windows.net/resources/07_ 04_Curriculum_Design_Paper_version_3_1_ June_2012.pdf Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). (2013). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population Nearing 700,000. Retrieved from www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/ Latestproducts/3238.0.55.001Media%20Release1June%202011?opendocument& tabname=Summary&prodno=3238.0.55.001&issue=June%202011&num=&view= Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL). (2014). Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. Retrieved from www.aitsl.edu.au/ australian-professional-standards-for-teachers Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2016). Initial Teacher Education: Data Report 2016, AITSL, Melbourne. https://www.aitsl.edu.au/ initial-teacher-education/data-report-2016 Behrendt, L., Larkin, S., Griew, R., & Kelly, P. (2012). Review of Higher Education Access and Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People – Final Report. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra. Beresford, Q. (2012). Separate and Equal: An Outline of Aboriginal Education. In Q. Beresford, G. Partington, & G. Gower (Eds), Reform and Resistance in Aboriginal Education, revised edition, (85–119). Western Australia: UWA Publishing. Bodkin-Andrews, G., & Carlson, B. (2014). The legacy of racism and Indigenous Australian identity within education. Race Ethnicity and Education, 19, 1–24. Buckskin, P. (2013). The elephant in the Australian staffroom: Introducing race and racism into debates over Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educational outcomes. Paper presented at the Centre for Education for Racial Equality in Scotland, University of Edinburgh, 27 June. Buckskin, P., Hughes, P., Price, K., Rigney, L., Sarra, C., Adams, I … & Rankine, K. (2009). Review of Australian Directions in Indigenous Education 2005–2008 for the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs. Adelaide: David Unaipon College of Indigenous Education and Research University of South Australia. Burgess, C., & Cavanaugh, P. (2016). Cultural immersion: Developing a community of practice of teachers and Aboriginal community members. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 45(1), 48–55. doi:10.1017/jie.2015.33 Commonwealth of Australia. (2017). Closing the Gap. Prime Minister’s Report 2017. Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Canberra. http://closingthegap.pmc. gov.au/sites/default/files/ctg-report-2017.pdf Cushner, K., & Mahon, J. (2009). Intercultural Competence in Teacher Education: Developing the Intercultural Competence of Educators and Their Students. In D. K. Deardorff (Ed.), The SAGE Handbook of Intercultural Competence (304–320). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Deardorff, D. K. (2006). Identification and assessment of intercultural competence as a student outcome of internationalization. Journal of Studies in International Education, 10(3), 241–266. Deardorff, D. K. (2011). Assessing intercultural competence. New Directions for Institutional Research, 149, 65–79. Deardorff, D. K., & Jones, E. (2012). Intercultural Competence: An Emerging Focus in International Higher Education. In D. K. Deardorff & E. Jones (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of International Higher Education. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

252  Susan Page, Leanne Holt and Katrina Thorpe

Dervin, F. (2015). Towards post-intercultural teacher education: Analysing ‘extreme’ intercultural dialogue to reconstruct interculturality. European Journal of Teacher Education, 38(1), 71–86. doi:10.1080/02619768.2014.902441 Dervin, F. (2016a). Conclusion. In Interculturality in Education (101–107). London: Palgrave Pivot. Dervin, F. (2016b). Tools for Change – Dynamic and Realistic Intercultural Competence. In Interculturality in Education (71–99). London: Palgrave Pivot. Dixson, A. D., & Rousseau, C. K. (2005). And we are still not saved: Critical race theory in education ten years later. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 7–27. doi:10.1080/ 1361332052000340971 Gray, J. & Beresford, Q. (2008). A ‘formidable challenge’: Australia’s quest for equity in Indigenous education. Australian Journal of Education, 52(2), 197–223. Hamilton, J. (2009) Intercultural competence in medical education: Essential to acquire, difficult to assess. Medical Teacher, 31(9), 862–865. doi:10.1080/01421590802530906 Harrison, N., & Greenfield, M. (2011). Relationship to place: Positioning Aboriginal knowledge and perspectives in classroom pedagogies. Critical Studies in Education, 52(1), 65–76. Harrison, N., Page, S., & Finneran, M. (2013). Generative methodology: An inquiry into how a university can acknowledge a commitment to its Aboriginal community. The Australian Educational Researcher, 40(3), 339–351. Hattie, J. A. C. (2003, October). Teachers make a difference: What is the research evidence? Paper presented at the Building Teacher Quality: What does the research tell us? ACER Research Conference, Melbourne, Australia. Huber, J., & Reynolds, C. (2014). Developing Intercultural Competence through Education. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing. Hughes, P., & Willmot, E. (1982). A Thousand Aboriginal Teachers by 1990. In J. Sherwood (Ed.), Aboriginal Education. Issues and Innovations (45–49). Perth, WA: Creative Research. Kickett-Tucker, C. S. (2009). Moorn (Black)? Djardak (White)? How come I don’t fit in Mum? Exploring the racial identity of Australian Aboriginal children and youth. Health Sociology Review, 18(1), 119–136. doi:10.5172/hesr.18.1.119 Ladson-Billings, G. (1998). Just what is critical race theory and what’s it doing in a nice field like education?. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 11(1), 7–24. Maher, M. (2013). Making inclusive education happen: The impact of initial teacher education in remote Aboriginal communities. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 17(8), 839–853. Malin, M., & Maidment, D. (2003). Education, Indigenous survival and well-being: Emerging ideas and programs. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 32, 85–100. Mayer, D., Allard, A., Bates, R., Dixon, M., Doecke, B., Kline, J., Kostogriz, A., Moss, J., Leonie Rowan, L., Walker-Gibbs, B., White, S., & Hodder, P. (2015). Studying the Effectiveness of Teacher Education Final Report, November. https:// researchmgt.monash.edu/ws/portalfiles/portal/245739278/245739211_oa.pdf More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers Initiative (MATSITI). (2014a). MATSITI Submission to the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group. http://matsiti.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/MATSITI-TEMAG-submission-2014. pdf

Fostering Indigenous intercultural ability  253

More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers Initiative (MATSITI). (2014b). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teacher Workforce Analysis. http://matsiti.edu.au/ wp-content/uploads/2014/09/MATSITI-Data-Analysis-Report-2014.pdf More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers Initiative (MATSITI). (2015). Quantitative & Qualitative Exit Survey, University of New England. http://matsiti.edu. au/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Quantitative-and-Qualitative-Exit- SurveyUNE-web-ready.pdf More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers Initiative (MATSITI). (2017). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teacher 2015 Workforce Snapshot. Retrieved from http://matsiti.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/MATSITI-2015-WorkforceSnapshot.pdf Moreton-Robinson, A. (2015). The White Possessive: Property, Power, and Indigenous Sovereignty. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Moreton-Robinson, A., Singh, D., Kolopenuk, J., & Robinson, A. (2012). Learning the Lessons?: Pre-Service Teacher Preparation for Teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students. Melbourne: Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. Nakata, M. (2004). Ongoing conversations about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research agendas and directions. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 33, 1–6. Nakata, M. (2006). Australian Indigenous studies: A question of discipline. The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 17(3), 265–275. National Aboriginal Education Committee. (1986). Policy Statement on Teacher Education for Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. Paradies, Y., Harris, R., & Anderson, I. (2008). The Impact of Racism on Indigenous Health in Australia and Aotearoa: Towards a Research Agenda, Discussion Paper No. 4. Casuarina, NT: Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health. Patton, W., Lee Hong, A., Lampert, J., Burnett, B., & Anderson, J. 2012. Report in the Retention and Graduation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students Enrolled in Initial Teacher Education. More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers Initiative, University of South Australia. www.matsiti.edu.au/acde-2012report Phillips, J., & Whatman, S. (2007). Decolonising Preservice Teacher Education: Reform at Many Cultural Interfaces. In Proceedings the World of Educational Quality: 2007 AERA Annual Meeting, pp. 194–194, Chicago, United States of America. Pollack, T. M. (2013). Unpacking everyday ‘teacher talk’ about students and families of color. Urban Education, 48(6), 863–894. Pon, G. (2009). Cultural competency as new racism: An ontology of forgetting. Journal of Progressive Human Services, 20‘1’, 59–71. doi:10.1080/10428230902871173 Reid, J., & Santoro, N. (2006). Cinders in snow? Indigenous teacher identities in formation. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 34(2), 143–160. Respect, Relationships, Reconciliation (2013). RRR Focus Group Findings. Retrieved from http://rrr.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/3Rs-Focus-GroupResearch-ITE-students-teachers-2013.pdf Rigney, L.-I. (2011). Indigenous education: Creating classrooms of tomorrow today. Paper presented at the Research Conference 2011, Indigenous Education: Pathways to success, 7–9 August 2011, Darwin Convention Centre, Darwin.

254  Susan Page, Leanne Holt and Katrina Thorpe

Sakamoto, I. (2007). An anti-oppressive approach to cultural competence. Canadian Social Work Review/Revue Canadienne de Service Social, 24(1), 105–114. Santoro, N., Reid, J. A., Crawford, L., & Simpson, L. (2011). Teaching Indigenous children: Listening to and learning from Indigenous teachers. Australian Journal of Teacher Education (Online), 36(10), 65. Smith, L. T. (2012). Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. New York: Zed Books. Thorpe, K., & Burgess, C. (2012). Pedagogical approaches in a mandatory Indigenous education subject. International Journal of Learning, 18(11), pp. 177–190. United Nations. (2007). United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, United Nations. www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_ en.pdf Accessed 20 2017 December Universities Australia. (2011). Guiding Principles for Developing Indigenous Cultural Competency in Australian Universities. Canberra: Universities Australia. Vass, G. (2014). The racialised educational landscape in Australia: Listening to the whispering elephant. Race Ethnicity and Education, 17(2), 176–201. WINHEC. (2010). WINHEC Accreditation Handbook, Higher Education, 3rd edition. WINHEC Accreditation Authority. www.win-hec.org. WINHEC. (2016). WINHEC Accreditation Handbook, P-12, 1st edition. WINHEC Accreditation Authority. www.win-hec.org. Ziersch, A. M., Gallaher, G., Baum, F., & Bentley, M. (2011). Responding to racism: Insights on how racism can damage health from an urban study of Australian Aboriginal people. Social Science & Medicine, 73(7), 1045–1053.

Chapter 15

Exploring the limits of transformative potential Teacher intercultural competences in an Indigenous language education project Mercurius Goldstein Introduction This chapter examines a language teacher’s professional experience of developing intercultural competences through attempts to initiate a local Aboriginal language revival programme in the rural Australian setting of Ngarrabul1 country of New England [sic], New South Wales [sic]. The teacher is working at the culturally complex interface between his own classroom, students, school and community, and the neo-colonial educational framework in which these activities are embedded. The chapter includes a critical reflection upon a recent autoethnograpic account (Goldstein, 2017) of the author’s (an in-service teacher) self-education in the domain of critical intercultural competences. This was conducted in situ through his daily classroom practice, and his negotiation of Indigenous language programme development, implementation and recession. The chapter asks what, if anything, individual language teachers in the field might hope to achieve when developing locally situated multicultural programmes, within an institutional framework whose underpinnings may be indifferent at best, hostile at worst, to the objectives of critical multicultural education. If critical multicultural education is to achieve its transformative potential, it is incumbent upon educators to develop an ability to perceive the limitations of their work, and to distinguish between individual limitations and institutional ones. Undertaking reflection upon a practiceinformed autoethnography is offered as a means to develop such an ability. The chapter reviews the growing awareness in critical multicultural research, of the complicity of teachers, as (post-)colonial agents in their notionally ‘multicultural’ classrooms. By reflecting upon the outcomes of the author’s initial local programme through the lens of international literature on multicultural education, this chapter outlines an approach towards fostering successful multicultural education. Recent literature does not shy away from criticising hegemonic education systems that impose themselves upon First Peoples and do not absolve the agents of such systems, i.e. classroom teachers, of their moral and ethical complicity in enduring neo-colonial constructions within current education systems.

256  Mercurius Goldstein

As such, this chapter is offered as an exercise in embracing ‘the importance of failure’ as a learning process that can itself prove fruitful (Abramovic, 2014; Dervin, 2016).

Literature review The early twenty-first century has seen a reflective turn in the literature on multicultural education. The century opened with sociologists of note such as Ulrich Beck advocating hopefully for a form of ‘entangled modernity’ (2002, p. 22) that would encompass Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples alike in a post-postcolonial discourse. This is conceived as an analytical framework in which formerly colonised peoples would re-emerge as central agents of the field, not periphery subjects, and which would displace colonisers and the colonising impulse from the central frame of multicultural education. But both theoretical and empirical strands of research into what actually occurs in the classroom reveal persistently hegemonic and neo-colonial foundations cloistered beneath the gleaming edifice of multicultural education, itself first conceived in hope as a liberating and empowering project in postcolonial societies.

The long colonial shadow Some key practical difficulties that a critical multicultural education must overcome were identified by May (1994) working in a New Zealand setting with Maori language. Chief among these difficulties is the fact that projects guided by the principles of ‘benevolent multiculturalism’ are too often ‘tacked on’ to a monocultural curriculum, in which they inexorably languish. ‘The results in education have tended to be a well-intentioned and ineffective ad-hocism’ (p. 4), said May, who went on to identify how the structural features of colonial education systems can defeat multicultural intentions. As Gorski later put it, ‘[t]he implementation of small changes within a traditional classroom or school system does not constitute multicultural education’ (2006, p. 167). Among the general hopes and expectations of multicultural educational projects are three beliefs: that students learning about their culture will lead to self-esteem growth, that affirmative ethnic recognition underpins equality of educational opportunity, and that students’ learning about other cultures (albeit as a reified ‘other’) leads to greater respect and understanding between them. It is recognised that adding multicultural content to the curriculum does not change underlying power relations, cultural and classroom power dynamics. At worst, it ‘simply masks the unchanged nature of power relations’ (May, 1994, pp. 38). This is the structural explanation for why ‘[t]he field of multicultural education — as it is popularly conceived and practiced — is, like its predecessors,

Exploring transformative potential  257

riven with theoretical inconsistencies and seemingly terminal inability to translate its emancipatory intentions into actual practice’ (ibid., pp. 35). Thus, May concludes, ‘[w]hile we have a curriculum organised around the knowledge code of the dominant group, there will always be educational inequalities attributed to social and ethnic origin within a mixed society’ (1994, p. 41). Yet over a decade later, too many teachers were still approaching multicultural education ‘as if it were divorced from the policies and practices of schools and from society’ (Gorski, 2006, p. 168). Every element of classroom practice is vulnerable to a critique that it could perpetuate neo-colonial, hegemonic, conservative, racist or otherwise unsound and immoral educational practices. There is a real risk that teachers unintentionally teach ‘hegemonic practices’ in the guise of a multicultural syllabus, by settling for mere presentation of ‘the other’ as a reified cultural monolithic object which students and teachers from the dominant cultures learn ‘about’ or ‘from’. They can be caught in denial of the dynamism of two-way ethical engagement between extant living cultures on an equal footing, and in avoidance of serious scrutiny of ongoing systemic and structural injustices (Dervin, 2016, pp. 89–96; Gorski, 2008, p. 17; Herman, 2002). Sium, Desai & Ritskes (2012, p. iii) conclude that ‘There is no escaping complicity within a settler colonial state, especially for those of us who have settled here, though complicity looks different for each of us.’ The author has no wish to add to that complicity, and makes no pretence to ventriloquise, speak about, or over, the Indigenous experience. Along with a fellow (albeit greatly more accomplished) classroom practitioner in Aboriginal languages in New South Wales (Giacon, 2014), the author is situated as a white male educator grappling with issues of complicity and transformation in a postcolonial state. My institutional position is akin to that of a prison guard, albeit one whose aim is to smuggle keys to the inmates and, perhaps in so doing, to free also myself.

The (re)growth of Aboriginal language teaching practice in Australia The parameters for the contemporary field of Aboriginal languages education in Australia were set down in a widely cited survey (Walsh, 1993) that encompassed all of continental, Tasmanian and Torres Strait linguistic identities then known, thereby establishing the extent of the ‘linguistic genocide’ (Nicholls, 2005) that had resulted from colonisation, displacement and successive official policies first of ‘Protection’ and then assimilation. The twentieth century closed on a situation in which only some 20 Aboriginal languages were rated as having short-term survival prospects, let alone longterm, from a stock of some 250 or more languages extant in 1788, making for an estimated extinction rate of approximately one language per year since colonisation began.

258  Mercurius Goldstein

From such a parlous state, it is perhaps remarkable to note that there has been a sustained effort at linguistic renewal and revival in many centres, and not only among the 20 languages thought then to have ‘short-term’ survival prospects. Since that time, Aboriginal languages have garnered official support in the form of Department of Education-endorsed syllabuses from K-12 (NSW Board of Studies, 2003; BOSTES, 2015), Indigenous language teacher education programmes (e.g. University of Sydney’s postgraduate degree, Master of Indigenous Languages Education), and government support for projects such as ‘language nests’ in New South Wales (NSW). The NSW state government has foreshadowed moves to legislate for official status of a range of Aboriginal languages in various NSW communities (ABC, 17 November 2016). There is also evidence of some progress at the level of theory. The curriculum documents and teacher accreditation requirements for NSW teachers include mandatory elements to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and ethnically diverse students (AITSL, 2011). In practice however, the author’s own school-based experience of classroom methods, student discipline and well-being procedures, is that these all still conform in general to white middle-class cultural norms and expectations. By engaging a critical multicultural approach in the design of one’s own language learning programme, an individual teacher might then hope for one’s programme to contribute to genuine equity for students from diverse backgrounds, instead of constituting a mere ‘stroll down ethnicity lane’ (Díaz-Rico, 1998, p. 71). But to what extent are such aims achievable, when the structural settings remain relatively uncritical, and substantively monocultural? Such is the thorny theoretical and practical thicket that confronts any languages educator seeking to grow in intercultural competences and to institute critical multicultural practice in their own professional setting. But at least this clear sight of the thicket, knowing of its existence, density and many barbs, offers the prospect of proceeding with the right equipment and preparation.

Enter the learner-teacher: the value of autoethnographic reflection Autoethnographic writing is emerging as a tool in teacher education for its potential to contribute to the new critical reflection intercultural skills required in the current Australian school curriculum. A key skill for twentyfirst-century teachers is intercultural capital, ‘requiring opportunities to develop and practice their own and their students’ intercultural capital’ (Mayer, Luke & Luke, 2008, p. 94). Understanding fully how one’s good intentions can yet perpetuate injustices and inequities presents an opportunity to re-seat multicultural education on genuinely ethical and just foundations. Many educators can yet hope to fulfil, in humility, a fostering role as genuine allies alongside Aboriginal educators, students, and communities, and in so doing avoid acting as unwitting

Exploring transformative potential  259

enforcers and perpetuators of neo-colonial power relations. To achieve such a lofty aim requires educators to devote themselves to the rigorous career-long work of developing their intercultural competences both inside and outside the classroom. With these questions in mind, we can now turn with a reflective gaze towards the ‘data’ of this chapter, the autoethnographic account previously constructed by the author (Goldstein, 2017).

Analysis of data Local context of the autoethnography

From 2012–2015, the author’s school supported and implemented through local initiative a pilot programme in revival of local Ngarrabul language as an adjunct languages programme, with content taught by a local Elder for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students together. The programme was run under permission from the Aboriginal Education Consulting Group, and with both departmental programming and in-class support from the author, working as the school’s substantive languages teacher: After two years, there is now a structured learning program where before there was nothing. There is a grammar, a lexicon, some songs, some stories, some games (Australian Sports Commission, 2000; GILALC, 1998; Sonter & White, 2012; University of Southern Queenland, 2013). Some determined digging by an archivist at the University of Southern Queensland unearths additional linguistic records that date from the late colonial period (Curr, 1886, pp.  296–7). More importantly, there is a renewed appreciation and identification with Ngarrabul culture among the younger students, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal. The Ngarrabul content, activities, songs, games, stories and lessons weave together a perspective on what it means to say and practice a language whose current status is moribund, and yet was and is the first human language spoken in this district. Maintaining it in some form, however rudimentary, affirms the continuity of human existence in this place. (Goldstein, 2017, p. 44) Despite this promising start, the autoethnography concluded on a sanguine note that, even with sufficient departmental, curricular, community and professional architecture being in place, the highly contingent nature of funding and timetabling eroded opportunities to sustain the programme beyond the first two years of classroom practice in its original instantiation: Yet, still, without official recognition of the work in the form of mandated curriculum hours, it is difficult if not impossible to maintain

260  Mercurius Goldstein

the program. The key is in the hands of the time-tablers, and as they have no programmatic basis to allocate the extra hours’ work, so the program lapses in the third year. (Goldstein, 2017, p. 48) Such timetabling ‘road-blocks’ were not themselves innocent, and could fairly be described as a proximate cause to the suspension of the programme, with the underlying structural reasons being the neo-colonial nature of prevailing educational systems and settings. Rather than ‘write off’ the programme and disregard its potential benefits, the author was invited to document those experiences in an autoethnographic form, in an effort to illustrate the phenomenology (lived professional experience) of educational risk, substantive failure and partial success: Is this just yet another well-intentioned mistake among so many in our Reconciliation efforts? What good will come of it? The only honest answer to these questions is that we have to wait and see. But I do believe an honorable failure to be more worthwhile than a refusal to attempt. We all stand on sacred ground. Sacred to someone, whether past or present. Sacred, maybe, to us. I am a language teacher living and working on Ngarrabul land, kindaitchin, in a place of many stones. What excuse do I have, really, to say nothing about that?. (Goldstein, 2017, p. 49) As I re-examine the narrative account of the project as a hermeneutic phenomenological record of classroom practice, many of the flaws and limitations of the pilot programme are revealed to be structural in origin, located within the framework of NSW education. The literature offers support for many of the specific practices and outcomes of the programme, such as being led by an Indigenous Elder, and setting learning goals on their own terms. These progressive elements, however, did not in and of themselves overwhelm or neutralise the social and institutional features of a structurally hostile environment. For example, there was firstly the indifference of some non-Aboriginal parents to the importance of Aboriginal education excursion to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the ‘Freedom Rides’ through the town of Moree, NSW: Half of the year group elected not to participate in this excursion despite it contributing to a cross-curriculum priority and essential ‘site study’ component of the mandatory NSW Board of Studies syllabus for History (Board of Studies NSW, 2012, pp. 9, 27.): Many of those students’ parents have expressed to the school their view that the day’s commemorative events are “irrelevant” to their children’s needs. One asserted that steer-riding was a more important way for their child to spend the day. (Goldstein, 2017, p. 43)

Exploring transformative potential  261

There is also to be found in news media an ever-present racist framing of Aboriginal cultures and lives as being a ‘museum piece’, forever primitivised, lives which would be rendered ‘inauthentic’ if they admit any form of modern ‘progress’: [Ngarrabul Elder] Aunty Felicia is a person who the contemporary media conservative polemicist Andrew Bolt might disparagingly refer to as a ‘White Aborigine’, despite such comments being ruled in breach of the Racial Discrimination Act (Bromberg, 2011) and despite the fact that Aunty Felicia grew up on Aboriginal land, learned Ngarrabul language and stories from her parents, knows the sacred sites and understands the traditional range and skills of Ngarrabul life. (Goldstein, 2017, p. 47) Individual design strengths

The programme’s design incorporated many elements that find recommendation from successful practitioners in the field of multicultural education. Working with a Ngarrabul Elder, the programme encompassed ‘appointment of ethnic minority teachers’, ‘collaborative teaching and learning arrangements’, ‘promoting (minority) parental involvement’, and the ‘fostering [of ] bilingualism and multilingualism’ (May, 1994, pp. 43–44). The teaching and learning was not targeted solely to the ‘minority’ students but also included students from the dominant group because they were arguably in greater ‘need’ of multicultural education: The biggest objection comes from a Year 8 girl who wants to debate with me why there should be, as she calls it, ‘special treatment’ for Aboriginal students in some of the forms of financial support offered to them. It is clear to me from her phraseology and argumentation around the issue that she is relaying a set of opinions received directly from her parents at home. Using simple illustrations on the classroom smartboard, I show her how past injustices, past theft, past dispossession makes its way into present disadvantage, and so needs remediation. She somewhat concedes the point, but I see also simmering away the resentment of a child from a hard-scrabble background herself, who erroneously yet sincerely believes that others are ‘getting more’ than her, purely because ‘they’re black’. (Goldstein, 2017, pp. 46–47) The design of three activities particularly appeared to support intercultural enquiry in students. The first was the classroom examination of Aboriginal toponyms, or place names, whereby non-Aboriginal students came to

262  Mercurius Goldstein

recognise the detailed knowledge that local Ngarrabul people hold about their surrounding land and its geographical features: The Ngarrabul names translate often as descriptive features of the land. For example the Ngarrabul name of our town, kindaitchin [ɡɪn/dɑɪ̯ / d ͡ ʒ ɪn]- is ‘a place of many stones’, a geological feature for which the modern town is today well-known, and for which this chapter is entitled. Other Ngarrabul names correspond to English descriptions such as a ‘plain with few trees’, ‘oaks near the plain’ or ‘swampy land’, for example. Many of the lads successfully match the descriptions with Englishlabeled locales based on their own close knowledge of the landscape. They agree that the labels and translations are apposite descriptions for the local places with which they are familiar. They leave the lesson with a stronger affirmation of Ngarrabul people’s own identification with the land, which they find reflected in their own sure knowledge. (Goldstein, 2017, p. 46) The importance of toponyms in identity reclamation and intercultural civic education is a long-established feature in multicultural educational literature. There are accounts of it done well, through construction of authentic locally-inspired toponyms (Amery & Williams, 2002), as well as instances where it was done poorly through the misapplication of exotic names from languages and people who were not historically Indigenous to an area (Amery, 2002). As Kerr has reported in the Canadian context, I found myself developing an appreciation of the importance of land and place to knowing (Kerr, 2014, p. 86). A second successful episode from the classroom account is the students’ interactions with the totemic story of the Ngarrabul people, the boorabee (koala), recounted to them by the Elder, and engaged with through classroom drama practice: The Year 7 students joyously act out the Ngarrabul people’s most totemic tale about the Boorabee (Koala). Aunty Felicia’s permission to tell and teach the story, hard-won from her own parents, means she is now a custodian of that lore and law. (Goldstein, 2017, p. 45) This sort of arts-informed inquiry (Ewing & Hughes, 2008) had the students participating fully in re-living and reviving an ancient moral tale, with the permission and under the tutelage of the cultural custodian of such lore. Thirdly, the linguistic content of the programme also included functional utterances such as greetings, leave-taking, and instructions, as well as an openness to neologisms where suggested by the Elder. Such approaches are also advocated in Amery’s more recent work on language revival and renewal (2009, pp. 142–143, 146).

Exploring transformative potential  263

Through these episodes involving toponyms, totemic stories, functional utterances and neologisms, the classroom became an instantiation of the intercultural ‘Third Space’ evoked by Kramsch & Uryu (2012). It became, albeit briefly, one of the ‘zones of collaboration and learning … to accommodate different learning styles and to transform conflict and disharmony into fruitful dialogue’ (p. 213). Oversights in the syllabus

The syllabus too itself fitted well into a mould of ‘liberal multiculturalism’ identified by Gorski (2008, p.  9), being ‘courses in which difference [are] celebrated, in which students focused on learning about cultural values and self-awareness’. However that self-same syllabus did fall short of considering ‘power, privilege, and systemic inequities in education’. In its overall presentation, much of the course delivery was depoliticised from the local historical context. In this local context, nothing short of ‘language slaying’ (St. Denis, 2007, p. 1973) and ‘linguistic genocide’ had been perpetrated against the original speakers of Ngarrabul language, in fact in the very locality where the classroom itself and the school community now operated. The very fact that the programme was couched as a ‘revival’ implies that some agent (identity-obscured), had earlier carried out a grave assault on the language and its speakers. The identity of the assailants, in most cases nineteenth- and twentieth-century forebears of the current non-Aboriginal students of the school, was not explicitly addressed in the programme itself. The closest the programme came to directly addressing the issue of language slaying was when Ngarrabul Elder Aunty Felicia recounted to the students that as one of the first Aboriginal students at the high school in her own youth decades earlier, students such as herself were forbidden from speaking in language. They had been actively discouraged from speaking language even at home, by parents who though they were doing their children a ‘favour’ under the then-government’s assimilationist policies and rhetoric: Just as Aunty Felicia herself, one of the first Aboriginal students to attend the high school, is now afforded assistant teaching duties, up the front of a classroom where she once as a girl may have cowered down the back, fearing the unkind attention of the teacher. (Goldstein, 2017, p. 47) This situation is mirrored in the account of St. Denis (2007) regarding Aboriginal languages in the settler society of Canada. St. Denis writes that today, [i]n a climate of cultural revitalization, parents and grandparents, who under very difficult colonial and racist conditions did their best to make good decisions for their children [i.e. discouraging them from learning

264  Mercurius Goldstein

their ancestral Language], are now told they made the wrong decisions, and that they must now try to reverse language and cultural change. (2007, p. 1078) Similarly, in twenty-first-century Australian (and Canadian) schools, educators must still contend with the traumatic multi-generational effects of colonial practices which advocated assimilation and deliberate linguistic amnesia. Aboriginal parents who at the time suppressed language, are now held suspect, by the circular logic of hegemonic colonial culture, and their children and grandchildren are deemed insufficiently ‘authentic’ Aboriginal people while it was the colonial assimilationist policies themselves that were the origin of that problem. This is why as St. Denis explains ‘[w]e must not hold Aboriginal people individually responsible for these colonial practices’ of assimilation, language slaying, obliteration of culture and identity (2007, p. 1080). In language classrooms, ‘Aboriginal language instruction has not been made as readily available as French language instruction’ … yet this status quo is rarely if ever questioned (St. Denis, 2007, p. 1077). The fact that currently fewer numbers of Aboriginal students speak an Aboriginal language natively, or only sporadically engage in their traditional and heritage cultural practices, is used to de-legitimise their identity as insufficiently ‘authentic’, in an elaborate form of hegemonic victim-blaming. Reach exceeds grasp

It is apparent that the programme straddled uncomfortably a littoral zone between liberal multicultural beliefs and a neo-colonial educational framework. This was a shoreline from which the highlands of critical multiculturalism were within sight, but generally out of reach, to daily classroom practice. The classroom depicted in Goldstein (2017) arguably came to embody a positive ‘human relations’ story, but did little or nothing to address structural issues. As Gorski explains, truly transformative practice requires ‘the practice of democratic schooling, the nurturance of critical consciousness through the examination of systemic inequities in relation to students’ own lives, and the development of social action skills in both teachers and students’ (Gorski, 2008, p. 5). Within the language programme as implemented, these elements were not present in sufficient number or strength to result in school-wide, let alone system-wide, transformation in this case. The practice and awareness of other teachers in the same school, or other students in other years, were not appreciably affected by the language programme in its original form. The school still maintains, however, an ongoing Aboriginal Education team of educators who continue to support Aboriginal students in their mainstream studies. This team also fosters wider intercultural recognition among the non-Aboriginal students through a regular year-round calendar of events

Exploring transformative potential  265

at the school which feature and foster Ngarrabul cultural recognition, participatory activities and ceremonies among and between the students and community members: The funds and budget are there to continue with an experiential excursion-based program in Ngarrabul. We will next year be able to organise day and overnight trips to local sacred sites and campsites managed by the Aboriginal Land Corporation for the students to experience stories and activities. Another funding bequest from a partner school in a wellto-do area of Sydney enables us to construct a ‘Yarning Circle’ (Photograph 2) on site in the school grounds. The learning will take place outside the classroom where, perhaps, it always has. (Goldstein, 2017, pp. 48–49)

Discussion We are barely one generation beyond the end of Australian government policies of assimilation and integration from the 1960s. The self-determination of the 1970s and 1980s has been replaced by the hybrid notion of Reconciliation, that seeks to both integrate and merge identities under a nationalist device – the ‘imagined community’ (Anderson, 1983, 1991, 2006) of the Australian identity. I note in passing that reconciliation is itself a problematic concept vulnerable to neo-colonial ideology, in which Aboriginal people are ‘allowed’ into the modern Australian identity but all still on the terms of the colonisers, having first been displaced and subjected to genocidal frontier wars. Educators approaching the work of reconciliation in their classroom through linguistic revival ought to remain mindful of both the potential and limitations of their work, and aware of the moral and ethical complexities such work evokes. Firstly, teachers need to be aware that revival of language will of necessity bring about change in that language, otherwise it is to become a museum-piece, confined only to Vatican-like ritualistic use. To confine Aboriginal language development in such a fashion would only serve to fulfil the assumption that an Indigenous culture does not inherently possess an ability to modernise and adapt (Amery, 2009, p. 141).The technical aspects of linguistic rebuilding remain properly the preserve of expert linguistic input, since the aim remains to produce a rebuilt language that remains true to its original phonemic, morphological and syntactic features, in preference to an Anglicised creole or pidgin (Giacon, 2014). Further, to develop as intercultural educators, teachers need to be aware of the essentialist trap of reinforcing the false dichotomy that there is a ‘Western-theoretical’ orientation and an ‘Indigenous-practical’ orientation towards knowledges (Blair, 2015; Nakata et al. 2012) This denies the ability of Indigenous people to be equipped with theoretic sensibility, perpetuating primitivist falsehoods.

266  Mercurius Goldstein

St. Denis (2007, pp. 1069–1070) also invokes the potential trap of ‘cultural fundamentalism’ that can invoke a ‘daunting cultural hierarchy’ in which some Aboriginal people are deemed ‘authentic’ in a way that others are not. This is based on fundamentally racist assumptions held by colonisers about what comprises ‘authentic’ Aboriginal culture. Such fundamentalism itself subscribes to essentialism and the racist thinking that follows hard upon such assumptions. Successful linguistic and cultural revival also depends on a willingness of teachers to become de-centred and de-authorised in the classroom and even within the academy. This new role, involving intercultural competences, would require educators to subscribe to a professional setting in which ‘non-Indigenous peoples in educational spaces can learn to listen to and be taught by Indigenous scholars and knowledge holders’ and ‘engage a broader conversation on decolonial and decolonizing practices in real places and in real ways’ (Kerr, 2014, p. 102). This the author was, and remains, willing to do. But on whose shoulders then, does the responsibility fall, to re-establish justice in those educational power relations? It is an absurdly heroic assumption to ascribe such an awesome mandate to any one individual teacher, working in isolation, yet such is the role for which many an educator is tempted to audition. The teacher-as-hero Western cultural trope alongside the missionary logic of ‘white saviourism’ beckons to many and pre-ordains failure, with concomitant anguish and professional dismay. Such is the trap of ‘the biographical internalization of systemic risks’ (Beck & Grande, 2010, p. 42), in which systemic impulse is re-interpreted and internalised as individual complicity in colonisation and its aftermath. This means we need to recognise and understand that teachers face ‘emotional and practical difficulties’ including resistance from students and parents’ and ‘hostile reactions in society at large’. There is also the difficulty that employing ‘reconciliation discourses’ can be emotionally challenging, as it requires educators to address rather than ignore trauma and conflict, to build upon children’s own experiences in encountering the ‘other’ culture (Charalambous & Rampton, 2012, p. 205). This, then, reflecting on Kumaravadivelu’s words which opened the chapter, is the ‘cultural complexity’ that any educator will find once they peer beyond the threshold of their classroom, let alone their national borders ( Kumaravadivelu, 2007, p. 5). Our work is further assisted if we remember, on occasion, to pause for breath. Hopeful participation and practice in revival programmes for both educators and students alike ‘requires an acceptance that not everything can be resolved immediately’ (Nakata, Nakata, Veech & Bolt, 2012, p. 135). Neither ought teachers or students be required individually to account for ‘their historically-produced position in the present’ (ibid., p.  134) but rather develop their ability to engage in decolonial thought and practice in complex, nuanced, subtle but no less transformative ways.

Exploring transformative potential  267

Since we cannot expect in a few semesters nor in a single programme to disrupt or transform such globally entrenched sociopolitical injustices, surely the first ethical duty of any multicultural language educator at the very least is to avoid reproducing and reinforcing those self-same colonial structures and practices. Yet even setting one’s sights on such a modest goal, the intention still comes so much more readily than does its successful execution. Any speech act by a colonial agent, even those of a self-conscious subversive, runs the risk of expanding colonial hegemony. Dervin (2016) has noted that language use is central to interculturality. Minding one’s language ought to be second nature to any languages educator, yet all too often the words we employ to justify our practice may just end up as so much ‘whitesplaining’, issued from a beneficiary of hegemony. A pathway out of such reflexive and potentially paralysing self-consciousness is to re-envisage one’s work instead as part of a cosmopolitan collective, to become an agent of effective transformative action both in educational and in other circles. As Beck & Grande conclude, ‘[c]onfronted with a new quality of global dependencies and interdependencies, no single player can expect to win on his/her own: they are all dependent on coalitions, alliances and networks’ (2010, p. 435, emphasis added). As a classroom practitioner, the author also sees much to recommend in the practice of traditional games, songs, art, food preparation and other enjoyable performative acts of culture and language. It is acknowledged that much of the international literature cites these activities with scepticism, and largely dismisses as superficial the widespread preference for visible culture, cultural fairs and food, if conducted without reflection. The brain and gut are physiologically entwined, and many people learn by doing, no less by eating, leading through experiential learning embodied in ‘exotic’ food, games and songs. We should also acknowledge that educational policies are not simply ‘ implemented’, they are enacted, interpreted and re-created by different individuals in educational practice. It takes critical analysis of that practice, perhaps through (auto)ethnography, and not just the analysis of policy texts, to understand this’. For this reason, the author echoes calls for more ‘studies of language learning and teaching processes in contexts of conflict’ (Charalambous & Rampton, 2012, p. 205).

Conclusion Autoethnographic accounts derive their strength from the frankness and clarity attained by an admission that one never entirely escapes one’s own subjectivity. This recognition and acceptance of subjectivity, individually and mutually, forms an essential foundation from which to develop the intercultural competences we are seeking to develop as educators—meaningful and ethical interactions between multiple subjectivities of differing cultural origins.

268  Mercurius Goldstein

For this reason, the author owes a debt of gratitude to the editors of this volume. The invitation to submit a critical account of one’s own practice, its successes and limitations, served as a powerful impetus to become better acquainted with recent literature on critical multicultural educational practice. As teacher education, the learning involved may enable the author in future to employ these lessons with a greater sense of intention, and lesser reliance on hopeful or naive intuition. Language educators do indeed persist in our work based on a powerful intuition from which our entire profession springs – that language matters. It is after all how we express much of our intention, humanitas, and will in the world. As a final example, there exists in Australia a ‘backlash’ conservative critique of the now common practice of formally acknowledging ownership of country, at the opening of an event or meeting. The critique is that such acts are token and therefore unlikely or unable to make a positive, practical, difference. Yet this conceals the true anxiety of conservatives that such practices indeed can provide a framework for meaningful change. Language is at once both performative and descriptive, and that language is consequential in both practical and political terms. Given that ‘not everything can be resolved immediately’ (Nakata et al., 2012, p. 135), perhaps a sound first step, for now, is for non-Aboriginal educators to undertake a ‘fostering’ role, as an ‘amateur interculturalist’ (Dervin, 2016). Although the classroom cannot undo nor adequately compensate for the trauma of displacement, disenfranchisement and language slaying, educators can yet seek to provide a level of stability and nurturance that leads to a re-establishment of identity and empowerment through reclamation of language, lore, law and living heritage. Participation in the fostering process would involve the chance for both pre-service and in-service teachers to work at a critical distance from their own daily practice, and ideally to undergo a metamorphosis from a neo-colonial agent, to a true educational ally. The development of intercultural competences through mindful attention to the ethical and moral dimensions of one’s own daily practice, is one available pathway into such a fostering role.

Note 1 Pron: /ŋʌ(ɹ)ʌ'bəl/.

References Abramovic, M. (2014). 512 Hours. Video presentation. London: Serpentine Gallery. Retrieved from http://www.serpentinegalleries.org/exhibitions-events/marinaabramovic-512-hours Amery, R. (2002). ‘Weeding out spurious etymologies: Toponyms on the Adelaide Plains’. In Luise Hercus, Flavia Hodges & Jane Simpson (Eds), The land is a map: Placenames of Indigenous origin in Australia. Canberra: ANU Press.

Exploring transformative potential  269

Amery, R. & Williams, G.-Y. (2002). ‘Reclaiming through renaming: The reinstatement of Kaurna toponyms in Adelaide and the Adelaide Plains’. In Luise Hercus, Flavia Hodges & Jane Simpson (Eds), The land is a map: Placenames of Indigenous origin in Australia. Canberra: ANU Press. Amery, R. (2009). Phoenix or relic? Documentation of languages with revitalization in mind. Language Documentation & Conservation 3(2), 138–148. Anderson, B. (2006). Imagined communities (New ed.). New York, London: Verso. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. (2016). Aboriginal languages in NSW to be protected by legislation. [News article]. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/ news/2016-11-16/aboriginal-languages-to-be-protected-in-nsw Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2011). Australian professional standards for teachers. Canberra: Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs (MCEECDYA). Australian Sports Commission. (2000). Indigenous traditional games. Canberra. Blair, N. (2015). ‘Aboriginal education: More than adding different perspectives’. In N. Wetherby-Fell (Ed.), Learning to teach in the secondary school (pp. 189–208). Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Board of Studies NSW. (2003). Aboriginal languages mandatory and elective courses: K-10 Syllabus. Sydney: BOSTES. Board of Studies Teaching & Educational Standards NSW. (2015). Aboriginal languages: Stage 6 content endorsed course syllabus. Sydney: BOSTES. Charalambous, C. & Rampton, B. (2012). ‘Other language learning, identity and intercultural communication in contexts of conflict.’ In Jane Jackson (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of language and intercultural communication (pp. 195–210). Abingdon, New York: Routledge. Curr, E. M. (1886, 1887). The Australian race: Its origins, languages, customs, place of landing in Australia, and the routes by which it spread itself over that continent. [Vol. III]. Melbourne: Govt. printer. Dervin, F. (2015). ‘Critical turns in language and intercultural communication pedagogy: The simple-complex continuum (Simplexity) as a new Perspective’. In A. Diaz et al. (Eds), The critical turn in language and intercultural communication pedagogy: Theory, research and practice (pp. 58–72). New York: Routledge. Dervin, F. (2016). Interculturality in education: A theoretical and methodological toolbox. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Díaz-Rico, L. T. (1998). ‘Toward a just society: Recalibrating multicultural teachers’. In R. C. Chávez & J. O’Donnell (Eds), The social context of education. Speaking the unpleasant: The politics of (non)engagement in the multicultural education terrain (pp. 69–86). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Ewing, R. & Hughes, J. (2008). Arts-informed inquiry in teacher education: Contesting the myths. European Educational Research Journal, 7(4), 512–522. Giacon, J. (2014). Linguists and language rebuilding: recent experience in two New South Wales languages. Language Documentation & Conservation 8, 430–451. Glen Innes Local Aboriginal Land Council (GILALC). (1998). The Ngarrabul language: Project report. Glen Innes NSW: GILALC. Goldstein, M. (2017). ‘A place of many stones’. In L. Harbon & R.Moloney (Eds), Language teachers’ stories from their professional knowledge landscapes (pp. 43–52). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Gorski, P. (2006). Complicity with conservatism: The de-politicizing of multicultural education. Intercultural Education 17(2), 163–177.

270  Mercurius Goldstein

Gorski, P. (2008). What we’re teaching teachers: An analysis of multicultural teacher education courses. Retrieved from www.EdChange.org. Hermans, P. (2002). Intercultural education in two teacher-training courses in the north of the Netherlands. Intercultural Education 13(2), 183–99. Holliday, A. (2007). ‘Culture, communication, context and power.’ In Joseph Shaules (Ed.), The hidden challenges of global living. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Kerr, J. (2014). Western epistemic dominance and colonial structures: Considerations for thought and practice in programs of teacher education. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 3(2), 83–104. Kramsch, C. & Uryu, M. (2012). ‘Intercultural contact, hypbridity and third space’. In Jane Jackson (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of language and intercultural communication (pp. 211–226). Abingdon, New York: Routledge. Kumaravadivelu, B. (2007). Cultural globalization and language education. Yale, CT: Yale University Press. May, S. (1994). Making multicultural education work. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Mayer, D., Luke, C. & Luke, A. (2008). ‘Teachers, national regulation and cosmopolitanism’. In Anne Phelan and Jennifer Sumsion (Eds), Critical readings in teacher education: Provoking absences (pp. 79–98). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Nakata, N. M., Nakata, V., Keech, S. & Bolt, R. (2012). Decolonial goals and pedagogies for Indigenous studies. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1(1), 120–140. Nicholls, C. (2005). Death by a thousand Cuts: Indigenous language bilingual education programmes in the Northern Territory of Australia, 1972–1998. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 8(2–3), 160–177. Sium, A., Desai, C. & Ritskes, E. (2012). Towards the ‘tangible unknown’: Decolonization and the Indigenous future. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1(1), i–xiii. Sonter, T. & White, H. (2012). Sticks and stones. Inverell NSW: Border RiversGwydir Catchment Management Authority. Tochon, F. V. & Karaman, A. C. (2009). Critical reasoning for social justice: Moral encounters with the paradoxes of intercultural education. Intercultural Education 20(2), 135–149. University of Southern Queensland. (2013). Multi-dialect English – Yugambal language lexicon & grammar [Compilation, author unknown, partial attribution to amateur anthropologist RH Mathews circa. 1905]. Toowoomba, QLD. Walsh, M. (1993). ‘Languages and their status in Aboriginal Australia’. In M. Walsh & C. Yallop (Eds), Language and culture in Aboriginal Australia. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.

Chapter 16

Afterword Urging the post-intercultural disruption forward Lesley Harbon

I was attending a professional development workshop for language teachers in 1994, in my (then) new role of teaching Indonesian language and culture to Kindergarten classes, and heard of Claire Kramsch (1993) and the notion of a ‘third place’ in language and culture learning (Kramsch, 1993, p. 236). If her work discussed a ‘third’ place, I wondered about the ‘first’ and ‘second’ place too. I came to understand that these 5-year-old Australian students would not be learning Indonesian in the ‘first place’ as Indonesian was not their mother tongue. Nor could I teach these children in the ‘second place’ where I could produce native-like second language speakers. Instead I was to consider this Indonesian language teaching and learning in the ‘third place’ – somewhere between first and second place – ‘in the interstices between the cultures the learner grew up with, and the new cultures he or she is being introduced to’ (Kramsch, 1993, p. 236). The ‘third place’ is where the learner would make sense of a newly developing personal and linguistic identity as they learned to manoeuvre their thinking in new ways using a new (Indonesian) code. I prepared for my first lesson with Kindergarten: in a schooling context way prior to the existence of ‘connected classrooms’ (Barker & Whiting, 2008). There was no multi-media, no ‘connected’ screens allowing the sounds and colours of Indonesian lives to appear. Instead I had a brand new set of colourful authentic images of Indonesia and Indonesians on poster chartcards to share with my class. I considered that as their teacher with first-hand experience of Indonesia, I would be delivering an Indonesian experience to the children of this rural Australian wheat and sheep farming community. I metaphorically ‘set sail’, I left the jetty behind and was regaling the class about the differences between Australia and Indonesia when suddenly a boy raised his hand as if to ask a question about the matter I was discussing. He told me that the previous evening he had lost his front tooth! All the children gasped. The boy opened his mouth wide to show off the gap in his smile. The wind was metaphorically taken out of my sails – we had been steering so well until this electrical storm blew my ship off course. I had to bring the class back to my stories. I heard myself responding that Indonesian children lose their teeth too. Luckily – amazingly on queue – the

272  Lesley Harbon

next card I turned over revealed the toothless grin of an Indonesian 5-yearold boy. Better timing was there never! This primary school language teacher had sailed back into calmer waters with the turn of a page. I recall reflecting after this critical incident that I had focused the children back on the theme of my lesson. I had extended out from difference and brought them back with ‘similarity’. I consider this one of my ‘knowingwhat-to-do-when-you-don’t-know-what-to-do’ teaching moments (Van Manen, 2015), and believe it significantly impacted what I then continued to do and know in my work in teacher education. It became obvious to me that for these Kindergarten children, ‘same’ made sense. Dervin, Moloney and Simpson’s volume almost 25 years later traces still, how, among other things, educators are best to teach similarity alongside difference within an intercultural orientation underpinned by the development of learners’ intercultural competences. Yet in many senses, teaching languages and cultures – teaching in generally really – with an intercultural orientation is way more than simply presenting ‘similarity versus difference’. The chapters in this volume offer comment on critiques of an intercultural orientation, on the importance of reflexivity in intercultural activities, the first (to my knowledge) discussion of indigeneity and intercultural approaches, democracy and culture, as well as critical intercultural explorations. A number of notions can be held up as sobering bases upon which to think broadly and deeply about scoping an intercultural orientation to teaching and learning, and to underpin teacher education for the work the next generations can undertake. First, teaching students to be interculturally competent needs to be free of essentialism. It is true that as humans we essentialise and stereotype, because not to do so would mean that possibilities and variations are endless. We seek to reduce data simply to be able to comprehend it. Suggestions in this volume are for reflexivity to be in place, especially in teacher preparation: strategies for learners to acknowledge this essentialism. Second, there is the notion of the importance of always remembering the instability of negotiating the ‘third place’. People will be people, and none of us are exactly the same – thus multiple identities are negotiated in interactions with others. Saltmarsh (this volume) emphasises how it is ‘more instructive and valuable to explore shared or common experiences as a means of understanding one another’. Third is almost a call to action – in a disruptive sort of way. That is, to remember to go beyond assumptions to achieve intercultural learning. For teacher education, an investigative pedagogy can effect this. This links with the fourth set of considerations: that although it is human nature to steer towards similarity and difference as vantage points for communicating and understanding, it is the examination of the continuum between similarity and difference where deep learning can occur.

Afterword 273

A fifth notion is that the ‘discourse’ aspect of language should never be forgotten. That humans use language for many purposes, and discourses within languages occur due to culture and context, is a basic tenet guiding the writing of, for example, Moloney, Lobotsyna and Moate’s chapter (this volume). Yet there is still an urgency imposing a shadow on what teachers can achieve. The urgency threaded through this volume concerns the preparation of interculturally competent teachers. More than ten years ago Harbon and Browett (2006) had asked who is keeping teacher educators engaged with notions of interculturality. Happily this volume provides hope, I believe, and we can therefore presume much scholarly effort has been made in those ten years since 2006. In response to the claim that teacher educators are limited in acknowledging their own intercultural competence development, the chapters in this volume provide models of how collaboration can occur to ensure intercultural competence development. For at least one group of authors, the writing of the chapter had afforded collaboration. Other chapters talk explicitly about a methodology to undertake an interculturally informed introspection of their work (Buchanan and Hellstén). The authors have risen to the challenge of ‘collectivising and sharing responsibility for developing intercultural competencies’ (Posti-Ahokas, Janhonen-Abruquauah and Adu-Yeboah, last page), leaving behind and steering away from ‘shallow’ models adhering to ethical principles (Itkonen). For the authors who discuss how best teacher education, and school education address and cater for ‘cultural plurality’ (Major, Munday and Winslade; Paatela-Niemenen critical intertextual competence chapter), there are potential solutions. In the work of Chen and Helot (2018) who deconstruct plurilingual and pluricultural competence or (PPC) we gain further understandings of the pedagogical outcomes of the notion of PPC: assisting teachers to understand ‘the cognitive benefits of acknowledging their students’ previous language competence in all its diversity and to recognise the value of adopting a more ecological approach to language teaching’ (Chen & Helot, 2018, p. 169). Simpson’s tracking of a methodology which allowed a discussion of how democracy should not be understood as intercultural competence, indicates there is still work to do.

Wanted: much more disruption – and even discomfort This volume has allowed authors to experiment with new and adapted methodologies. The editors quite rightly point out that the field has been polysemic to this point in time, and western-centric too. It is heartening to read in this volume about the cross-national writing (Moloney and Turunen) resulting from rich collaboration and (no doubt) passionate dialogue between these scholars. These scholars have ‘met’ in a ‘third place’ (Kramsch, 1993)

274  Lesley Harbon

themselves, using English. There are riches in this phenomenon alone. Terms now appear to describe the ‘affect’ resulting from intercultural disruption. Both ‘dilemmas’ (Itkonen) and ‘challenges’ (Paatela-Niemenan) are evident is a given in an intercultural orientation. There is empathy but also vulnerability, there is racism and frustration (Page et al.). Such strong terms show the impassioned way that notions of interculturality have entered intercultural work. This book metaphorically peels away the layers involved in preparing teachers with an intercultural orientation. The outer layer signifies education in general. Inside the outer layer is a second layer signifying teacher education. Inside that again is yet another layer: a layer developing intercultural competence in teachers. Peeling away and exposing the layers will indicate, through a discourse of ‘fragility’ (Dervin, 2016, p. 65), that considered and careful care must be taken as all the key players engage with real people who will make a difference to the next generations. The authors of the chapters in this volume sometimes do this singlehanded (Goldstein). Sometimes a number of authors explore intercultural concepts ‘side-by-side’ (Moloney, Lobytsyna and Moate), building understandings together. Working side by side can lead to shared understanding. If nothing more, these chapters are models of indicating how the exploration of the intercultural should not be an isolated struggle. Recently Kramsch (2018) has forged ahead in her thinking about culture in education and notes how a changed world has created new contexts for learning. She notes that culture has become ‘something that individuals carry in their heads as they leave home, migrate to another country, settle down in a third and raise children who will spend much of their days online and on the internet’ (Kramsch, 2018, p. 16). The authors in this volume have trialled strategies to address these ‘new times’ (Kalantzis & Cope, 2005). These new times will continue to challenge and disrupt. Over time, intercultural education will need more time to disrupt, and scholars need more time to track and research the disruption. These stories cannot be quantified – these tenuous concepts are ethereal in the way they are concrete yet not quantifiable. Words – not numbers – embody the notions. Words here are strong, but are not hard and fast, or emotive. The editors claim in their introductory chapter that the concept of intercultural competence has been polysemic, and that idea is realised nowhere better than in this volume. Disruption has been their intention, and disrupt they have. Scholars quite happy in their current understanding of ‘the intercultural’ could be excused for emerging from reading this volume and leaving the last page more confused than when they began – needing ‘lesser reliance on hopeful or naïve intuition’ (Goldstein, last page). Children like my Kindergartners mentioned earlier, are the first to impatiently ask are we there yet. They bemoaning the length of their journeys, literally and metaphorically. On the educational journey at present, especially

Afterword 275

for developments in teacher education, the question may well be about a post-intercultural orientation. I believe the authors in this volume, if asked ‘are we there yet?’, would say no. Which leaves one final note regarding what Hahl and Koirikivi stated about ‘pedagogies of discomfort’. The possibility here is that this whole volume pushes the disruption forward, and furthers Dervin’s (2016, p. 83) discomfort into an even deeper discourse of discomfort. Those of us gazing into crystal balls will attest to this being a fertile context for the next developments in accomplished teacher education.

References Barker, B.O. & Whiting, D.J. (2008). Teaching and Learning in World Wide WebConnected Classrooms. Computers in the Schools, 16 (3–4), 187–196. doi:10.1300/ J025v16n03_07 Chen, C. & Helot, C. (2018). The notion of plurilingual and pluricultural competence in the Teaching of Foreign Languages in France. Language Education and Multilingualism – The Langscape Journal, 1, 168–187. Retrieved 28 April 2018 from: https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/bitstream/handle/18452/19771/LEM-2018_Chen_ Helot.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Dervin, F. (2016). Interculturality in education: A theoretical and methodological toolbox. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Harbon, L. & Browett, J. (2006). Intercultural languages education: challenges for Australian language teacher educators in the professional development of language teachers. Babel, 41 (1), 28–33, 37. Kalantzis, M. & Cope, B. (2005). Learning by design. Altona, Vic: Common Ground Publishing. Kramsch, C. (1993). Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kramsch, C. (2018). Is there still a place for culture in a multilingual FL education? Language Education and Multilingualism – The Langscape Journal, 1, 16–33. Retrieved 28 April 2018 from: https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/handle/18452/19780 Van Manen, M. (2015). Pedagogical tact: Knowing what to do when you don’t know what to do. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.

Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group http://taylorandfrancis.com

Index

Note: Page locators in bold refer to tables and in italic refer to figures. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders 237–254; cultural competency in relation to 239; Cultural Interface 243–244; Cultural Standards framework 248–249; delivery of indigenous curriculum in schools 237, 242; demographics 240; educational outcomes for children 238, 240; environments for intercultural education 244–248; increasing indigenous teacher and ITE student numbers 238; intercultural competency in education 239–240; ITE students and teachers 245–248, 250; overview of indigenous education 240; professional standards for teachers 241–243; report on preparing preservice teachers for teaching 242; school environment for indigenous teachers 247–248; Teachers Initiative 238; teaching of Indigenous Studies 238, 242–243; working to deliver improved curriculum 237–238 Aboriginal language education project 253–270; authenticity 264, 266; autoethnographic writing 258–259, 259–261, 267; boorabee (koala) story 262; data analysis 259–265; design strengths 261–263; ethical duty of language educator 267; examination of Aboriginal toponyms 261–262; ‘fostering’ role 255, 258–259, 268; functional utterances 262; to include students from dominant group 261; language rebuilding teaching practice 265; language slaying and assimilation

policies 263–264; limited impact and success 264–265; literature review 256; neo-colonial and hegemonic practices 257; neologisms 262; power relations 256–257; rebuilding of language teaching practice 257–258; recommendations for teachers 265, 266–267, 268; reconciliation, notions of 265; structurally hostile environment 260–261; syllabus oversights 263–264; tacked onto a monocultural curriculum 256–257 academic intercultural competencies (AIC) model 160, 161, 163, 169, 171, 172 ACARA (Australian Curriculum and Assessment Reporting Authority) 198, 238, 243 agonism 43–44, 53 Analects of Confucius 63, 66, 68 Andrade, A. 178, 179, 180, 186, 191, 192 Araújo e Sá, H. 178, 179, 191, 192 Arendt, Hannah 58, 59, 61, 69–70 Aristotle 121n1 art exchange student teachers in Finland 91–107; 18 Minutes 100; Beach Beasts (2012–13) 101; cultural relations 95, 102–103; Emerging Thoughts (2015) 99, 103; Erasmus students 96; genotext 94, 95, 105; Greeks Entering Troy (1770s) 99; Grind (2011) 97–98; Guernica (1937) 101; hypertext 94, 95, 105; hypotext 94; intercultural dialogue 91–92, 99, 104–105; intercultural dialogue on beauty 102–103; intertextual methods 92, 93–96,

278 Index

95–96, 95, 102, 103, 104, 105–106; methodology 93, 96; Nimetön, Nameless (2016) 98; palimpsestical continuum 94, 95, 98–101, 104; paratext 93, 95, 97; Persistence of Memory (1931) 101; phenotext 94, 95, 105; The Poor Poet (1839) 100; The Potato Eaters (1885) 101; results 104–105; Roskavideo, Rubbish Video (2014) 97; students’ artistic end products related to beauty 103; a text’s relations 97–98; Things Come Apart – Wind Up Clock (2011–13) 100; Unreasonable – Everyday Life of People with Intellectual Disabilities 100; Usko, Faith (2006–15) 98; War (1946–48) 99 Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki 99 AUSE106 205–206 Australia: Australian Professional Standards for Teachers 241–243; bringing together indigenous traditions of knowledge and knowing 227; Colombo Plan 223; cultural diversity 197–198, 199; cultural identity of teaching workforce 211; education in New South Wales 199, 223–224; indigenous students in higher education 225; indigenous ways of learning 223–224; ‘intercultural understanding’ in education policy 198; multiculturalism 18, 198–199; National Curriculum 18–19, 198, 237–238, 242–243; occupation ranking 205–206; teacher education in 142, 199 Australia, foreign language teacher education in: curriculum 18–19; pre-service teachers 24–26, 37; in-service teachers 26–28; teacher educators 21, 23–24, 37–38; teaching and practices associated with intercultural competences 37–38; teaching and values associated with intercultural competences 36–37; teaching issues 35–36 Australian Professional Standards for Teachers 241–243 autoethnographic writing 258–259, 259–261, 267 Bai, H. 113, 114, 116, 118, 120 Bastos, M. 178, 179, 180, 191, 193 Beach Beasts (2012–13) 101 Beck, Ulrich 256

Bergson, Henri 7, 60, 129 Bhabha, H. 220 Boileau, Nicolas 70 Buchanan, John 157, 164, 219, 220, 223, 227 Buddhism 113 Chang, D. 113, 114, 116, 118, 120 collaboration in higher education, international see North–South–South collaboration collaborative learner biography (CLB) task 197–215; consideration of diversity and learning 210–211; member narratives 201–211, 213; overview 199–201; participants 201; research design 200–201; reviewing and revising of positions 211–213 collective wellbeing, collaborative project of 114, 120 Colombo Plan 223 communication skills 131–132 communities of practice 79 Confucian Model 63–68; benefits of Confucianism 65–66; comparing Postmodern Model and 64–65, 67; complementarity with Postmodern Model for teacher education 68–69, 69; Confucian ethics 66–67; ritual training 67 Confucianism 65–66; Analects of Confucius 63, 66; Dao (the Way) 67, 68; ethics 66–67; junzi 68 Council of Europe 43, 54, 91; Cultural participation and inclusive societies: A thematic report based on the Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy 42–43, 44–45, 46; Democratic Security 45; education directives 43; intercultural dialogue definition 91–92; launch of Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy speech excerpts 46–50, 48–50; State of Democracy, human rights and the rule of law 45–46 CRE network see Culturally Responsive Education (CRE) network Creel, H.G. 67 critical and reflexive interculturalism 59–63, 110–115, 121 critical reflection: autoethnographic writing 258–259, 259–261, 267; collaborative 163, 164, 170, 171; of international experience leaders

Index 279

157, 158, 160, 161–162, 165, 172; promoting in teacher education 24, 26, 28, 37; in service-learning 126, 127, 131–132, 133, 134 Crozet, C. 11 cultural citizenship 198 cultural diversity: in Australia 197–198, 199; constructing critical intercultural diversity competence 93–96; FNCC and positive understanding of 91; increases in classroom 125, 133–134, 219; see also diversity; diversity, understanding cultural diversity, international student teachers’ concepts of intercultural competences and 175–196; complex social constructs 182–185; data collection and analysis 180–182; depictions in students’ own teaching of languages and sciences 185–186; developing awareness through reflection 177–179; intercultural education theme in Finnish basic education 176–177; model of three dimensions of intercultural awareness 178–179; participants 179–180; pedagogic dimension 179, 189–191, 192–193; personal dimension 179, 186–189, 192; reflections about cultural diversity 182–191, 191–192; social and political dimension 178–179, 182–185, 192; stereotypical depictions of culture as difference 190–191; teacher as an example of cultural diversity 189–190; two-phased analysis procedure 180, 181 ‘cultural fundamentalism’ 266 Cultural Interface 240, 243–244 Cultural participation and inclusive societies: A thematic report based on the Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy. 42–43, 44–45, 46 cultural responsiveness 76, 79 Cultural Standards framework 248–249 Culturally Responsive Education (CRE) network 75–88; approaches to intercultural competences within 79–80; dissemination of outcomes 86–87; as a learning space 80–82, 81; linking individual and institutional processes 83–86; reviewing, reflecting and revising activities 82–83

‘Culturally Responsive Observation’ course 87 culture: analysis of Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy discourses 46–50; competencies for democratic 45–46; Council of Europe definition 44; and cultural diversity as complex social constructs 182–185; democracy and 42–43; as difference, stereotypical depictions of 190–191; InglehartWelzel Cultural Map 50–51, 50; misnomers about 44, 46, 47 Dahlman, Helge 99 Dali, Salvador 101 Deleuze, G. 4, 93, 94 democracy: analysis of Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy discourses 46–50; competencies for culture of 45–46; Council of Europe definition 45; and culture 42–43; as an intercultural competence 51–54; liberal 42, 44, 45; multiple forms of 43–44 democratic othering 44, 51; prevention of 52–54 Democratic Security 45 Dervin, Fred 6, 8, 17, 19, 20, 34, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 60, 62, 63, 64, 66, 70, 75, 76, 77, 79, 87, 108, 110, 111, 112, 118, 126, 129, 132, 141, 147, 148, 150, 151, 152, 161, 162, 167, 171, 172, 175, 177, 178, 179, 183, 184, 191, 192, 198, 202, 213, 220, 221, 222, 228, 239, 240, 242, 243, 244, 245, 248, 249, 256, 257, 267, 268, 274, 275 Desai, Z. 77, 78 dialogue 9, 141; critical 96, 104; crosscase 19, 35–38, 152–153; intercultural 35–38, 91–92, 93, 99, 102–103, 104–105, 178, 179; intertextual 103, 104–105; power of 9; see also collaborative learner biography (CLB) task difference versus similarity 20, 51, 61, 111, 148, 272 discomfort 7, 8–9, 133, 141, 161, 164, 275 diversity: concept of 112; ethical matter concerning interculturality and 116–118; see also cultural diversity diversity, understanding 197–215; collaborative learner biography (CLB) task 199–201; consideration of diversity and learning 210–211;

280 Index

group member narratives 201–211, 213; multiculturalism 197–198; overview 199–201; participants 201; post-intercultural education 198–199; research design 200–201; reviewing and revising of positions 211–213 Douzinas, Costas 42 edu-tourism 164, 165 Eighteen Minutes 100 Einstein, Albert 3–4 Emerging Thoughts (2015) 99, 103 Estarriola, Anna 99, 103 ethics see intercultural ethics in vocational education and training (VET) eudaimonia 113, 121n1 European Cultural Foundation, launch of Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy 46–48 exchange programmes: language teacher education 21, 27, 33–34; North– South–South network 75–76, 78, 80, 81, 84; see also art exchange student teachers in Finland; Indigenous education and international mobility; international teaching experiences, teacher educators leading Fingarette, H. 65 Finland, foreign language teacher education in: Cultural Studies 21; curriculum 18, 21; pre-service teachers 30–32, 37; in-service teachers 32–35; teacher educators 21, 29, 37–38; teaching and practices associated with intercultural competences 37–38; teaching and values associated with intercultural competences 36–37; teaching issues 35–36 Finland: intercultural education in core curriculum 176–177; multiculturalism 198; positive understanding of cultural diversity 91; Sámi people 224, 225, 226–227; teacher education in 142; use of ‘N-word’ 3 Finnish National Core Curriculum (FNCC) 18, 91, 92, 175, 176, 179; differences between 2016 and 2004 176–177 Foucault, Michel 112 Franklin, Benjamin 3 Genette, G. 93, 94, 97, 99 genotext 94, 95, 105

global citizenship 18, 145, 222 good life, ethical intention of aiming at 113, 118–120 Greeks Entering Troy (1770s) 99 Grind (2011) 97–98 Guattari, F. 93, 94 Guernica (1937) 101 Guodian Chu Slips 57 Hahl, Kaisa 62, 63, 70, 161, 178, 192 Haka, Kaarina 98 Hannah, Adad 100 Harbon, Lesley 11, 17, 19, 20, 141, 157, 219, 273 health and social care teaching 116–118 health issues on international teaching programmes 168, 169 Hellstén, Meeri 219, 220, 223, 225 hermeneutics of self 113 Hiltunen, Jenni 97 Holliday, A. 42, 43, 49, 52, 60, 108, 110, 111, 118, 141, 198 hypertext 94, 95, 105 hypotext 94 Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy 42–43, 44–45; analysis of speech excerpts on launch of 46–50; data used 50–51 Indigenous education and international mobility 219–236; access to programmes 223, 225, 226; adaptation of programmes 226–227; Australian indigenous people 223–224, 225, 227; to be inclusive of indigenous ontolgies 230; challenge of universalism 219–220, 222, 223, 224, 229; Colombo Plan 223; countering western hegemony 225–226; hierarchy of international destinations 227; an imitative international transvestism 228; impacts and implications for indigenous people 220, 224–226, 229–230; ‘intercultural pygmalionism’ 228; a neoliberal social imaginary 228; North/South divide 223, 225, 227, 228–229; positive impacts of mobility 221–222; privileged ways of knowing and doing 223, 225, 227, 229; risks and negative impacts of mobility 222–223; Sámi indigenous people 224, 225, 226–227; social inequalities 223, 227–228; take-up of international experiences 220, 225; terms and definitions 221

Index 281

Inglehart-Welzel Cultural Map 50–51, 50 instability 20, 126, 129, 133, 141, 161, 245 intercultural awareness, model of three dimensions of 178–179, 191–192; pedagogic dimension 179, 189–191, 192–193; personal dimension 179, 186–189, 192; social and political dimension 178–179, 182–185, 192 intercultural capital 258 intercultural communication 31, 50, 52, 64, 131–132 Intercultural Competence (IC) 4–6, 140–142; assumptions and controversies 6; dialogic approach 9, 141; intellectual and emotional catharsis 7–8; peace with discomfort and disturbing peace 7, 8–9; state of research and practice 5–6; steps to observing and rethinking 7–9, 10 intercultural, concept of 110–111 intercultural ethics in vocational education and training (VET) 108–124; Buddhism 113; collective wellbeing, collaborative project of 114, 120; concept of ‘intercultural’ 110–111; context 109–110; design 115; diversity and interculturality concerns 116–118; diversity, concept of 112; ethical caring 109, 118–119, 121; ethical intention of aiming at good life 113, 118–120; from ethics to intercultural ethics 112–115; eudaimonia 113, 121n1; exhaustion of teachers 116; findings 115–120; health and social care field 116–118; intersectionality 111, 112; language skills of students 117; peer mentoring 119–120; problem with cultural ‘competence’ 111; solicitude 114, 118–120; special needs VET teacher 118–120; theory 110–115 ‘intercultural pygmalionism’ 228 interculturality 6, 46, 58–59, 61, 69, 110; assumptions of 60; diversity and 112; ethical matter concerning diversity and 116–118; ethical shift in perception of 115, 120–121; linked to social class 63; success and failure of 70, 141, 162 international service-learning to build intercultural competence see service-learning to build intercultural competence within an ITE course, international

international teaching experiences, teacher educators leading 157–174; academic intercultural competencies (AIC) model 160, 161, 163, 169, 171, 172; collaborative critical reflection 163, 164, 170, 171; critical reflection 157, 158, 160, 161–162, 165, 172; findings 163–169; gaining knowledge of programmes 170–171; international experiences as inherently contradictory 163–165; intra-cultural competence 165–167; journals 162; literature review 158–160; mentoring programmes 172; methodology 162–163; personal challenges 167–169; planning and preparing 159, 166, 170–171, 172; stability in programme leadership 172; tapping into personal resources 170 internationalisation of higher education 77, 125, 158, 229; concerns over 164–165, 222–223; conflicting perspectives on 219–220; defining 221; ‘false halo’ of 222 intertextual model 92, 93–96, 95–96, 95, 102, 103, 104, 105–106 intra-cultural competence 165–167 Itkonen, Tiija 92, 94, 111, 112, 113, 115, 117 Jansen, Theo 101 journals 127–128, 129, 162 junzi 67–68 Kearney, Sean 134, 157, 219 Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki 97, 99, 105 Kidman, G. 158, 159, 160, 161, 161, 170, 171 Kramsch, Claire 19, 263, 271, 273, 274 Kristeva, Julia 92, 93, 94, 99, 102 language education project, Aboriginal see Aboriginal language education project language teacher education in Australia and Finland 17–41; changes in pedagogy 21–22; creative activities 30; curriculum contexts 18–19; developing a cross-case dialogue 35–38; difference between Finnish and Australian learning climates 28; difficulties in developing pedagogical approaches 38; exploring potential

282 Index

of multicultural classes 27; findings, Australian case 23–28; findings, Finnish case 29–35; intercultural competences 19–20; issues associated with 35–36; literature review 19–22; mandatory stays in target language country 30–31; methodology 22–23; overseas exchange programmes 21, 27, 33–34; personal experiences of teachers and learners 28, 30, 31, 32, 35, 36–37; potential to address social justice 32, 35; and practices associated with intercultural competences 37–38; pre-service teacher interviews 24–26, 30–32, 37; resources 26, 28, 31, 32–33; in-service teacher interviews 26–28, 32–35; student research portfolios 35; teacher education and teaching 20–21; teacher educator interviews 23–24, 29; teaching of pragmatics 26–27, 33; up-to-date cultural knowledge 30–31; values associated with intercultural competences 36–37 Las Meninas 112 Layne, H. 34, 63 Levinas, E. 109, 114, 119 McLellan, Todd 100 Mencius 65 mentoring programmes 172 migrants, refugees and asylum seekers: adapting to arrival of 29, 34, 45–46; in multicultural Australia 198; as other 34, 46, 49; a problem for democracy 46, 49–50, 52, 54; stereotypical depictions of culture as difference 190; support in Finnish curriculum for 177; vocational education and training (VET) 109–110 Moate, Josephine 32 model of three dimensions of intercultural awareness 178–179, 191–192; pedagogic dimension 179, 189–191, 192–193; personal dimension 179, 186–189, 192; social and political dimension 178–179, 182–185, 192 models of intercultural competence for teacher education/training 57–71; comparing two models 64–65; complementarity of two models 68–69; complementarity of two models for teacher education 69; Confucian Model 63–68; current 58; interculturality, notions of 58–59; Postmodern Model 59–63

Moloney, Robyn 11, 17, 19, 20, 21, 139, 141, 199 morality, ethics and 113 More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers Initiative (MATSITI) 238, 242, 243, 246, 247, 250 Mouffe, Chantal 42, 43, 43–44, 45, 52, 53 multicultural education 27–28, 188–189; see also Aboriginal language education project multiculturalism 18, 177, 183, 197–198, 263 Muslim-majority countries 51 ‘N-word’ 3 Nabb, Janne 97 Nagy, Zolt 5 Nakata, Martin 225, 226, 229, 238, 240, 243, 244, 265, 266, 268 narrative inquiry methods 142–143, 143–144, 200, 210; collaborative 163 neo-colonialism 164, 165, 255, 257, 259, 265 New Zealand 256 Niemelä, Jakko 98 Nimetön, Nameless (2016) 98 North–South–South collaboration 75–90; approaches to intercultural competences within CRE 79–80; benefits approach to intercultural learning 77; between Chinese and British universities 80; CRE network as a learning space 80–82, 81; ‘Culturally Responsive Observation’ course 87; dissemination of network outcomes 86–87; funding 80, 83, 84–85, 88; intercultural learning 77–79; learning-oriented approach 77; linking individual and institutional processes 83–86, 86; mobility implementation challenges 82; motivations for participation 83–84; Norwegian Programme for Development, Research and Education (NUFU) 78; online learning 76, 77, 82, 84; power relations 77–78; practical challenges 82–83; reviewing, reflecting and revising network activities 82–83; Skype meetings 82; strengths of network 87–88; student and staff exchanges 75–76, 78, 80, 81, 84; sustaining network activities beyond funding period 88; tensions over benefit to individuals 85

Index 283

Norwegian Programme for Development, Research and Education (NUFU) 78 Oberück, Hermine 100 occupation ranking 205–206 oneself-as-another 113, 114 online learning 76, 77, 82, 84 other: intercultural competence as about 29, 34; migrants, refugees and asylum seekers as 34, 46, 49; self- 47–48, 53; self-and- 113; self-with- 114, 118, 120; -than-self 113 othering, democratic 44, 51; prevention of 52–54 otherness, discourse of 42–56; agonism 43–44, 53; analysis of launch of Indicator Framework on Culture and Democracy speech excerpts 46–50; analysis of World Values Survey 50–51; data analysis 43; democracy and culture 42–43; democratic othering 44, 51, 52; literature review 44–46; self-other 47–48, 53; understanding democracy as an intercultural competence 51–54 others-within-the-self 44, 47–48 Paatela-Nieminen, Martina 92, 93, 94, 97, 99, 111, 175 palimpsestical continuum 94, 95, 98–101, 104 paratext 93, 95, 97 pedagogy, intercultural competences in teacher education 139–156; bringing learning into pedagogical practice 141, 148–149, 151–152, 153, 154; cross-mapping two narratives 152–153; defining intercultural competences 140–142; dialogic approach 141; discomfort 141; instability 141; literature review of teacher educators’ professional development 140; methodology 142–143; research design 143–144; Robyn’s narrative of professional development 149–152; teacher education in Australia and Finland 142; Tuija’s narrative of professional development 144–149 peer mentoring 119–120 peer-to-peer learning see collaborative learner biography (CLB) task Persistence of Memory (1931) 101

personal challenges for leaders of international teaching experiences 167–169 phenotext 94, 95, 105 Picasso, Pablo 101 Pinho, A. 178, 179, 180, 186, 191, 192 plurilingual and pluricultural competence (PPC) 273 political emotions 53 political literacy 53 The Poor Poet (1839) 100 post-intercultural education 198–199 postcolonialism 220, 221–222 Postmodern Model 59–63; assumptions 60; comparing Confucian Model and 64–65, 67; complementarity with Confucian Model for teacher education 68–69, 69; core principles 60–61; Eurocentric bias 63; examples of application in teacher education 62–63 The Potato Eaters (1885) 101 power: interculturality and unbalanced relations of 59, 60, 61; international collaboration and unequal 75, 77–78, 164–165; misuse of 219, 222, 228; multicultural curriculum content and changes to relations of 256–257; neo-colonial 164, 259; of privileged cultures 239–240; transforming relations of 53 Protestant Europe 51 racism: encountered by teachers 247, 248; Inglehart-Welzel Cultural Map and potential 51; Postmodern Model and dealing with 60, 61, 62–63; towards Aboriginal cultures 261, 263–264, 266 reconciliation, notions of 265, 266 reflection 143, 163, 201, 212; developing intercultural awareness through 177–179, 191–192 reflexivity 118, 162, 177–178 Ricoeur, Paul 109, 113, 114, 119 Ristikari, T. 110 Roskavideo, Rubbish Video (2014) 97 Ruitenberg, Claudia 53 Ruohotie-Lyhty, M. 18, 20, 32 Saltmarsh, David 199, 201, 206 Sámi indigenous people 224, 225, 226–227 Santoro, N. 164, 219, 238, 245, 246, 248 Scarino, A. 21, 26, 143

284 Index

science teaching 185–186 secular-rational values 50, 51 self: -expression values 50, 51; hermeneutics of 113; -and-other 113; -with-other 114, 118, 120; -other 47–48, 53; and others, acceptance of 129–130 sense of belonging 27, 47, 119 Serres, Michel 7 service-learning to build intercultural competence within an ITE course, international 125–136; addressing own ethnocentric perspectives 126, 132, 134; communication skills 131–132; critical reflection 126, 127, 131–132, 133, 134; data collection and analysis 128; findings 129–132; increasing diversity in classrooms 125, 129, 133–134; interaction 131–132, 133; internal ‘frame of reference shifts’ 126–127, 131–132; journals 127–128, 129; location of schools 128; methodology 127–129; need for more culturally responsive teachers 125–126, 129, 133–134; positive effects for TES of 132–133, 134; self and others, acceptance of 129–130 sickness on international teaching experiences 168, 169 similarity versus difference 20, 51, 61, 111, 148, 272 Simpson, Ashley 6, 8, 11, 43, 44, 45, 49, 51, 52, 147 Sinebrychoff Art Museum 99 Sisyphus 64, 65 social theory of learning 79 solicitude 114, 118–120 Spitzweg, Carl 100 St. Denis 263–264, 266

State of Democracy, human rights and the rule of law 45–46 Strandbeest (2012–13) 101 survival values 50, 51 Sweden 224 Teeri, Maria 97 Things Come Apart – Wind Up Clock (2011–13) 100 ‘third place’ in language teaching and learning 271 Tiepolo, Giovanni Domenico 99 toponyms, Aboriginal 261–262 traditional values 50, 51 universalism, challenge of 219–220, 222, 223, 224, 229 Universities Australia 239 Unreasonable – Everyday Life of People with Intellectual Disabilities 100 Usko, Faith (2006–15) 98 van Gogh,Vincent 101 Velázquez, Diego 112 vocational education and training (VET) 109–110; see also ethics in vocational education and training (VET), intercultural ‘walls that have been built by ghosts’ 4, 6; taking down 7–9 War (1946–48) 99 Widodo, A. 164, 223, 227 World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium (WINHEC) 248–249 World Values Survey 43; analysis of 50–51 Wu Gang 64, 65