Teacher Educators’ Engagement in the Internationalization of Teacher Education: A Function of Personal, Institutional, and External Factors

Abstract

This study identifies factors that impact teacher educators’ engagement in the international dimension of pre-service teacher education. Through a mixed-methods research design with a greater emphasis on the qualitative findings, this research illustrates that the teacher educators engage in internationalization as a function of intersections among personal, institutional, and external factors. The participants in this study are teacher educators in the School of Education at a comprehensive, master’s level institution in a large state system of higher education in the Northeastern U.S. One of the key findings is that the teacher educators derive their motivation to engage in international work, mostly through teaching, from their international experience. What limits their engagement is largely the presence of institutional and external barriers. While the findings from qualitative research through semi-structured interviews have limited generalizability, this study has implications for future research and practices in similar contexts (Guba & Lincoln, 1989; Yin, 2012). Conceptually, this study confirms Blackburn and Lawrence’s (1995) assertions that faculty role performance is shaped by both personal and institutional factors. The findings also bring Blackburn and Lawrence’s framework into the context of teacher educators given that external factors also shape their engagement in internationalization.