Global Commodities or Culturally Relevant Educators?: The Recruitment of Foreign Teachers for U.S. Urban Schools Pubblico
Dunn, Alyssa Hadley (2011)
Published
Abstract
Though foreign teachers have been present in U.S. schools for
decades, the recruitment of
foreign teachers for multicultural, urban schools as a response to
the supposed teacher
shortage is a relatively new phenomenon with little research to
support it. Teachers
recruited in this era of globalization and neoliberalism may be
viewed as commodities in
global markets. This study examined foreign teachers' recruitment,
preparation, and
pedagogy in U.S. schools, and was guided by the theoretical lenses
of culturally relevant
pedagogy and political spectacle.
Informed by in-depth interviews with four Indian teachers, school
district administrators,
recruitment agency personnel, and union representatives, as well as
multiple classroom
observations, this collective case study was guided by four
research questions:
1. What are the similarities and differences between multicultural
classrooms in the
United States and foreign teachers' reports of their classrooms in
their home
country, and how do these influence foreign teachers' teaching
practice and
relationships with their students?
2. How are foreign teachers prepared to work in U.S. classrooms and
utilize culturally
relevant pedagogy with their multicultural students?
3. How well do foreign teachers achieve the stated goals of foreign
teacher
recruitment programs?
4. What other purposes are served by this recruitment, and how do
these purposes
either advance or undermine a progressive vision of U.S. urban
education?
Findings revealed stark differences between U.S. and Indian
classroom environments,
which led to teachers' difficulties. The teachers exhibited
behaviors of culturally relevant
pedagogy that were consistent with effective teaching research;
however, they were less
likely to implement characteristics of culturally relevant pedagogy
that required
background knowledge of the cultures in which they were working.
Further, the four
teachers only partially fulfilled the goals of acting as cultural
ambassadors and alleviating
the teacher shortage because of programmatic constraints and school
policies. Because
foreign teachers were hired by an outside agency and not the
district, they were not
afforded the same rights as American teachers in the same schools.
It was clear that other
purposes that undermined progressive educational reform, such as
saving districts money,
were also being served.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: THE CONTEXT OF FOREIGN TEACHER RECRUITMENT
1
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
5
PURPOSE
7
DEFINITION OF TERMS
8
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS
9
FOREIGN TEACHERS IN A LOCAL CONTEXT
13
PARTICIPANTS
16
ORGANIZATION OF THE DISSERTATION
21
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
23
EMPIRICAL RESEARCH
25
INTERNATIONAL TEACHERS IN THE MEDIA
28
THE BALTIMORE CASE
31
VISITING INTERNATIONAL FACULTY
33
LITERATURE SUMMARY
38
CHAPTER 3: APPLES TO ORANGES: CLASSROOMS IN THE UNITED
40
STATES AND ABROAD
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OF AMERICAN SCHOOLS
45
SIMILARITIES BETWEEN HOME AND ABROAD
52
Same Age Students
53
Economic Disparities between Schools and Students
54
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HOME AND ABROAD
56
Student Behavior
62
Resources
65
Pedagogical Strategies
67
Curriculum
71
Students' Lack of Cultural Awareness
74
Policies of School and State
76
Relations with Parents and Families
81
EFFECTS ON PRACTICE AND RELATIONSHIPS
81
American Allies
81
Foreign Teacher Community
83
Lingering Views of Academic Apathy
85
Shifts in Pedagogy and Management
85
Struggle between Hopelessness and Resilience
87
CHAPTER 4: CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY IN A COUNTRY
90
WHERE "RACE MATTERS"
MULTICULTURALISM IN INDIA
91
National Policies
92
Teacher Education in India
94
Teachers' Prior Multicultural Teaching Experiences
98
FOREIGN TEACHERS' CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY
101
Teachers showed passion for content
103
Teachers taught necessary skills
105
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