Educating for Global Perspectives: A Study of Teacher Preparation Programs

Abstract

Multiple global education frameworks (AACTE, 1989; Klassen, 1975; Merryfield, 1997; Roberts, 2007) have suggested that two keys to globalizing teacher education curricula are the integration of global content courses and participation in co-curricular cross-cultural experiences. Therefore, this study sought to determine the extent to which global content courses and co-curricular cross-cultural experiences had been integrated into the teacher preparation of preservice teachers in multiple certification areas at a large public university in the southeastern United States, as well as the effects of that integration on the global perspectives of preservice teachers. Significant differences in the rate of participation were found in preservice teachers in one of seven types of global content courses examined, but in none of the 10 types of co-curricular cross-cultural experiences examined. The results of this investigation also confirmed that higher rates of participation in both global content courses and co-curricular cross-cultural experiences have a significant positive relationship with preservice teachers' global perspectives.