Conference Agenda

Internationalisation in higher education was primarily defined as the process of integrating an international, intercultural or global dimension into the purpose, functions or ways of delivery of tertiary education (Knight, 2003). Hence, internationalisation can be assumed either as a response to globalisation or as an agent of globalisation itself. In this context, the internationalisation of teacher education, which is considered a sub-field in teacher education, seems to derive from international/global education in general and particularly from the internationalisation of higher education (Koh et al., 2022). It emerges together with the recognition of teaching as a cosmopolitan work and profession amidst critical and economic relations to flows, contexts and consequences linked to the globalisation of dimensions centred on economy and culture (Luke, 2004). Apparently, the internationalisation of teacher education has become imperative in the last decades, with important global players in education, such as UNESCO and the OECD, devoting themselves to developing and endorsing policies to enhance education and societies (Sieber & Mantel, 2012). Obviously, while internationalisation is comprehended as a means to develop society as a whole, in light of an international competence that reveals to be critical to the cultural, technological, economic and political health of nations, institutions and individuals (Yemini et al., 2017), different organisations influencing its processes certainly detain varied, if not opposing, purposes (Sieber & Mantel, 2012). Within this scenario, more recently, the internationalisation debate has also shed light on a different nuance – the idea of internationalisation at home, i.e., the purposeful integration of international and intercultural dimensions into the formal and informal curriculum for all students in the scope of domestic learning environments (Beelen & Jones, 2015). Internationalisation at home is realised as promoting the development of international/global understanding and intercultural skills (Wächter, 2016) while equipping students with transversal competencies essential to thrive in a globalised world (Beelen & Jones, 2015). The approached theoretical framework is the basis of the project DITE – Diverse Internationalisation of Teacher Education, which focuses on the element of internationalisation (at home) to increase the capabilities of future teachers by sensitising Teacher Education students to international perspectives. The project network comprises six partners, namely, two networks specialised in the theme of internationalisation, and four higher education institutions spread over three countries - Portugal, Spain and Poland. In the project's first phase, an empirical study was led to explore the current state of the internationalisation of teacher education in the participating higher education institutions. In this communication, we explore the results of this study, organising how different stakeholders (course directors, teacher educators, students, etc.) conceptualise internationalisation and associated values, challenges, enablers and barriers.

In this presentation, a developmental case based on a project named The Theory-Practice Balance in Teacher Education (TEPATE) will be introduced. The project is funded by Finland’s Higher Education Institutions Institutional Cooperation Instrument (HEI ICI) that supports cooperation projects between higher education institutions in Finland and the developing world. The project started in 2020 and will run for four years, ending in August 2024. The TEPPATE project is designed to tackle the problems related to alarmingly low learning outcomes in Mozambique by enhancing the theory-practice balance of teacher education at two Mozambican Higher Education Institutions: Universidade Pedagógica de Maputo (Pedagogical University of Maputo) and Instituto Superior de Educação e Tecnologia–One World (ISET One world). By doing this, the project contributes to the aim of the Government of Mozambique to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 4 of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. In other words, TEPATE project aims at improving the quality and relevance of initial teacher training at the Mozambican partner HEIs and by so doing, support the efforts of the Mozambican government to improve the overall quality of education in the country.

The teaching profession requires theory-based pedagogical thinking, which is embedded in the teacher's daily activities (cf. Zanting et al., 1998). Often, teacher training is considered too theoretical and does not provide graduating teachers with sufficient pedagogical skills to apply learner-centered pedagogy in practice (Allen & Wright, 2013; Hoy & Woolfolk, 1989). The TEPATE project focuses on improving the balance between theory and practice in teacher education in Mozambican partner universities, and the presentation focus on teaching practice. Internships are an essential part of teacher education, as they provide prospective teachers with an authentic environment in which to practice the pedagogical skills.

In Mozambique, school attendance has improved significantly over the last decade, but unfortunately school completion rates and learning outcomes have not improved at the same pace (Chimbutane, 2013). According to the most recent household budget survey, Inqurito sobre Orcamento Familiar (IOF) 2014/2015, two thirds (68%) of young people aged 13-17 do not complete primary education (UNICEF, 2020). Moreover, the Ministry of Education and Human Development (MINEDH) published similar statistics, showing that in 2017 only 29 percent of all students had completed primary school and 13 percent had completed secondary school (MINEDH, 2019). In addition, 94 percent of girls attend primary school, but more than half drop out of primary school before completing the 5th grade (MINEDH, 2020).

The analysis confirms that the older the child becomes, the less likely he or she will stay on track, with the possibility of not catching up to their more successful peers diminishing every year. This may lead to the loss of motivation, one of the reasons for lack of attendance, age-appropriate skills and knowledge, which in turn leads to school dropout leads.

The teacher Education System in Mozambique is guided by the general principles of education, culture, training, balanced and inclusive human development where everyone has equal rights. It is responsible for promoting education, as an integral part of educational action in the terms defined by the Constitution of the Republic, aiming to provide fundamental skills, general knowledge about the world around them, and the means to progress in work and lifelong learning. This system is guided by the pedagogical principles of capacity development and personality in a harmonious, balanced, and constant way, as well as the Freedom to learn, teach, research, and disseminate culture, thought, art and knowledge. Currently the whole country has 15 Universities, six state universities and nine private universities.

Making appropriate use of the students’ home languages (HLs) has been one of the greatest challenges English as an additional language (EAL) teachers face in linguistically diverse classrooms (Flores & Aneja, 2017; Hall & Cook, 2012). Because of the lack of research on HL use in Nordic contexts, but also because the topic is rarely discussed in teacher training programs, teachers often assume that students prefer an environment that makes little to no use of their HL (Haukås et al., 2021; Shin et al., 2020). Research undertaken thus far in Norwegian settings illustrates that while HL use is quite prevalent as the medium of instruction, teachers feel guilty about its presence (Neokleous & Ofte, 2020). However, with classrooms becoming increasingly multilingual and multicultural, students along with their teachers do not seem to share a common language and are encouraged to adopt a multilingual approach to teaching with HLs being actively present (García & Wei, 2014; Lin & He, 2017). The updated Norwegian curriculum for the subject of English in primary education (Norwegian Directorate of Education & Training, 2020) states that the students’ HL should have a role in the classroom particularly in identifying linguistic similarities and differences between two languages. However, it does not state the classroom purposes and functions it should serve. As a result, Neokleous and Krulatz (2018) argued that this dearth of more specific guidelines can prompt teachers to adopt an approach that favours almost-exclusive usage of the TL (Neokleous & Krulatz, 2018). Trying to unearth Norwegian teacher attitudes towards HL usage in the classroom, Neokleous and Ofte’s (2020) study revealed that while the four teacher participants acknowledged the potential of HL usage, they also felt guilty about making recourse to Norwegian, particularly since their reported use did not always reflect their classroom behaviours.

The lack of empirical studies that would shed light on how teachers should foster multilingual approaches has left teachers confused as to whether they should use the majority language in the classroom or not and for what purposes (Singleton & Aronin, 2019). The purpose of this presentation is to broaden the research lens by focusing on the perception of EAL in-service teachers and students on HL use and the pivotal role teachers could serve in adopting multilingual pedagogies. Thus far, studies venturing to explore the topic in Norwegian settings primarily focused on the teacher perspective through surveys and questionnaires (Haukås et al., 2021; Krulatz, et al., 2016; Neokleous & Krulatz, 2018). Neokleous and Ofte’s (2020) study was the first study that brought classroom and interview data together to explore how in-service teachers perceived HL integration, compared this perception to their actual practice, and also how they interpreted the lack of clear teaching guidelines in the curriculum. This presentation delves deeper into the teacher perspectives on the topic but also explore the student voice. The study explores the attitudes of four teachers and their students in EAL classrooms situated in geographically different parts of Norway. Trying to elicit the views of in-service EAL teachers and young EAL learners in Norway, the purpose of this article is to address the following questions: a) What do students think of the general presence but also their teachers’ use of the HL in the classroom? b) What is the value of using the HL as a resource for learning English as seen by the participants? c) How do in-service EAL teachers in multilingual environments address the presence of different HLs in the classroom? Do they make recourse to the students’ HLs? If so, when?