Michał Pachocki, GSSR PhD candidate
November 9, 2021, 13:00, Staszic Palace, Nowy Świat 72, Warsaw, room 232
Abstract:
When the benefits of internationalization are discussed in education, they mainly refer to the higher education sector. Contrariwise, the growing number of primary and secondary schools seeking out opportunities to act internationally stands for the need to examine also the benefits of their internationalization efforts. Poland serves as an illustrative example of how individual professional training in another country can be perceived by teachers as an attractive form of improving professional skills. With a little opportunity to send their education staff abroad on behalf of their own capacities, the Polish schools are eager to send their teachers abroad with using the European financial instruments for a job shadowing, teaching assignment, study visits, exchanges at schools in other countries and other forms of training (Smoczyńska 2014, Kolanowska 2018). The question arises, however, to what extent can those individual experiences of teachers be transferred to the benefit of entire school? And, to what extent are the Polish schools willing to use teachers; individual international experience for their own internationalization attempts? The given study aims are to explore how individual international experience of Polish teachers contributes to their schools’ internationalization? And, to what extent such internationalization corresponds with the entire schools’ organizational development? A mixed method design featuring paper-based survey, in-depth interviews, focus groups and participant observation is going to be employed aiming to fulfill this research objectives. The data will be collected directly at schools, among teachers with transnational mobility experience, other members of teaching staff, school leaders, and other school community members (including learners, non-teaching staff, and school principals). The selection of given research methods aims at investigation on what teachers gained from abroad, and on how their foreign experience affected internationalization processes in their schools. Apart from data collected firsthand, my findings will be also supplemented with secondary data (mainly contextual information, and statistical data).
Event supported by NAWA Welcome to Poland.