EDUCATION
INTERNATIONAL
element of security for sending and receiving counties, as well as for participating teachers. For the education systems, government-to-government agreements ensure a level of quality by establishing mutually agreed standards for candidates. Government support legitimises programmes in the eyes of teachers and tends to ensure greater protection of teachers’ rights and more rewarding educational and cultural experiences in host countries. In some instances, government-to-government programmes grant certain rights of reentry into jobs for returning teachers and recognise teachers’ years of service abroad in salary advancement and pension calculations. Unfortunately, recent austerity measures have threatened many high quality exchange programmes.
Survey Highlights Teacher feedback gathered through interviews and surveys relates overwhelmingly positive feelings about professional exchange programmes. A theme commonly related by teachers is that working abroad is as personally fulfilling as it is professionally stimulating, and teachers who have participated in exchange programmes are likely to recommend them to friends and colleagues. Regardless of their motivations for teaching abroad, 86 per cent of survey respondents reported that they received professional development of some kind while abroad. Notably, in open-ended survey responses, a significant number of teachers mentioned the value of having a mentor teacher who supported and encouraged engagement with new curricular tools and pedagogical techniques. The opportunity to participate in an exchange can also serve to retain skilled teachers in the profession. Some teachers reported feeling as though they had reached a plateau in their careers and sought out opportunities abroad for the new professional challenge and to reinvigorate their passion for teaching. As one teacher noted in her survey response, “It was time for a change in my career. Either move up or move away” (Survey Respondent, from United Kingdom, taught in United States). Upon returning, teachers who have worked abroad reported that they blend the most effective teaching techniques from their home and host countries to hone their own instructional practice. “My experience as a teacher in other countries taught me to reflect and to continue learning, above all to view the world as a kaleidoscope in which the visions and actions of each society are not static, rather they go on evolving.” Survey Respondent, Spanish teacher who had taught in the United Kingdom, Egypt, and Jordan
42
Table 4.1 shows that respondents to this survey overwhelmingly felt that their experience teaching abroad had helped them to hone their instructional skills. Only 18 out of 1,231 respondents felt that their experience had provided them with no appreciable benefits.