Practical experience and first-hand insight into the school systems of other countries enables student teachers to cultivate global understanding. Teacher education programme in Sweden has four placements. Student teachers are encouraged to complete one of these abroad. The aim with this study is to examine student teachers' experiences of…

When centred on the professional exchange of skills and knowledge, overseas volunteering can be a beneficial form of professional development. In contrast to voluntourism where volunteers buy an overseas experience, professional-based overseas volunteering centres on professional collegiality and skill exchange which leads to greater professional…

Purpose: This paper presented the learning process of a group of primary mathematics teachers who participated in two iterations of lesson design, enactment and reflection in a Chinese Lesson Study. Design/methodology/approach: An expansive learning theory was employed to examine the teachers' learning process in lesson study (LS) on representing…

We demonstrate the power of Variation Theory as an analytical tool used to understand the underlying conceptual structure of mathematics lessons taught by English primary school teachers. We study excerpts of three lessons that are posted on a professional website. We show how lesson analysis using variation allows us to focus on what is made…

'Mastery' is central to current policy in mathematics education in England, influenced by East Asian success in transnational assessments. We scrutinise the prospects for mastery pedagogies to improve pupil attainment in English primary schools. The Mathematics Teacher Exchange (MTE)--an element of the mastery innovation--involves teachers…

This paper examines a cohort of Chinese preservice teachers' (PSTs') (n = 13) international teaching practicums (ITPs) experiences in Canada from the perspectives of complexity theory and boundary-crossing. Through semi-structured interviews and reflective journals, we positioned PSTs' ITPs within multiple layers, including biographies, the…

While the research literature is replete with studies on student perspectives and their development of cross-cultural sensitivity, research on the perspectives of educators who host international preservice teachers is woefully lacking. This study seeks to fill that gap by assessing the experiences of 15 educators at an elementary host school in…

Given that education quality has long lagged behind in China's rural schools, one-way "partner assistance" no longer conforms to the new situation of integrated urban-rural governance and the equalization of public services. Only two-way "exchange and rotation" with full participation can truly support schools and teachers in…

This article features the Boulder Journey School located in Boulder, Colorado. Throughout the first 25 years of the school's existence as a learning community, it has maintained its vision of a school as a place that invites children's learning through relationships and interactions with the environment and with others. However, its vision has…

In 2001, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) released the "Rainbow Plan" as the educational reform plan for the twenty-first century. As part of the plan, MEXT will make English education activities compulsory at Japanese public elementary schools beginning in 2011. The purpose of the Rainbow Plan…

An overview is presented of a three-year project aimed at helping Chinese language teachers in Taiwan refine ways that Chinese, an ideographic language that differs markedly from alphabetic English, is taught in primary schools. Guided by university staff in Taiwan, Hong Kong University and a Taiwanese non-government social enterprise, 20…