Chapter 4: Standing the Test of Time: Overseas Student Teaching’s Lasting Impact on Participants’ Perspectives and Practices

In a recent article titled “Cultivating Flourishing Lives: A Robust Social Justice Vision of Education,” Carl Grant (2012) addressed the purpose of education in the 21st century, calling attention to education’s “traditional” goals, including “personal autonomy, critical and analytical thinking, ethical judgment, learning how to function as a diverse society, learning to forge relationships across difference, and to respect one another’s perspectives, experiences, and world views” (p. 911). Grant questioned in fact whether these aims are being pursued. Certainly, any number of educational programs and experiences speak to the development of these skills and dispositions in learners of all ages. In teacher education, international field experiences have the potential to promote all of these goals with an impact extending well beyond the conclusion of the experience, influencing both professional and personal practice and perspectives. We explore Grant’s question within the framework of overseas student teaching, supporting the inclusion of such experiences in teacher education programs as an effective means of achieving these important goals.