Infusing Global Perspectives Into Teacher Education

Abstract

For decades, researchers and educators have called for the internationalization of teacher education and the infusion of global perspectives into preparation programs in order to better serve all children, regardless of citizenship, location, or status. This self-study of the authors' own processes and outcomes describes the transformation of two teacher preparation courses to include global competencies and content. Two key concepts, global competence and global competent teaching, were used to frame the redesigned courses. They aimed at helping candidates develop their own global competence and understand why global competence is an essential skill for their future students to acquire, as well as foster thinking routines and pedagogical practices to become global minded teachers and guide their students to build global competence. Although the university contexts and courses were different, results show commonalities and implications for educators working to internationalize courses in higher education.