عنوان

Transnational teacher mobility: Patterns, qualities, institutional actors and policy implications

Number

T831

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Transnational teacher mobility: Patterns, qualities, institutional actors and policy implications

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

Subsequent Statement of Responsibility

;supervisor: LeTendre, Gerald

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

The Pennsylvania State University: United States -- Pennsylvania

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

: 2012

Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item

169 Pages

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Ph.D.

Text of Note

Over the past two decades, teaching has been subject to several global trends including the long-term erosion of teacher pay, the global standardization of core curriculum, and declines in entering teacher test scores in a wide range of nations. Increasingly we see that teacher shortages have led to increasing mobility of teachers across national borders in both South-to-North and South-to-South directions. At the same time, international exchange programs designed to support the professional status of teachers in the developed nations appear to have stagnated. While "teacher quality," is currently a topic of much concern, rarely do cross-national studies consider teachers as a workforce. I argue that prevailing theoretical paradigms used to analyze global trends in mass school (e.g. neo-institutionalism, world culture, core-periphery theories, etc.) ignore the growing body of research on the teaching workforce compiled by economists and scholars of the labor market. In this dissertation, I explore how labor-market theorists, conceptualize the issue of teachers as members of a workforce. I discuss how the works of transnational actors (UNESCO, OECD, Teach for All) have created situations where the teachers' job has been homogenized and de-contextualized from local surroundings. These theories suggest that nations and trans-national organizations engage in long-term efforts to raise the professional status of teaching, that teaching will continue on a trajectory to a lower-skill occupation that will be increasing see greater trans-national mobility, lower job stability and long-term erosion of the social status of teachers. Moreover, I track the trajectory of transnational teacher mobility overtime and find that this phenomenon did not begin recently. It has existed since the late nineteenth century, when some European Missionary teachers moved around in Africa. They were there not only for religious purposes, but were also acting as "agents" of colonial power. After World War II, a growing number of teachers started to teach abroad through the teacher exchange program established by mainly nation state or government-related institutions to broaden the understanding of other cultures, customs, and languages. These programs became prevalent among developed countries during the Cold War period. In the present era of increased globalization, it has become apparent that an increasing number of teachers flow across national boundaries because of organized international recruitment. By analyzing significant cases and using historical, cross-national, and other forms of data, I conclude that there are three models of global teacher mobility, which can be categorized by the historical period, program goals, as well as teachers' roles. These are the "Colonial model," the "Nation-exchange model," and the "Market-driven model." In addition, the roles and functions that significant institutional actors play also shift over time. In the Colonial model, colonial governments were the only actors to plan and ship teachers to the colonial territories since education was a major channel to "civilized " colonists and keep them in a state of obedience. In the nation-exchange model, nation states played a critical role and were heavily involved in the operation of transnational teacher mobility. Teacher-exchange programs under this model were primarily established and implemented by nation states, local authorities, or government-sponsored organizations. Governments or government-related institutions have become the most important agencies that facilitate and promote international teacher exchange. Institutional actors in different levels of government commonly cooperate and communicate in order to achieve their program goals. Under the market-driven model, the "privatization" of agencies, which were actively involved in international recruitment, is a crucial factor that accelerates transnational teacher mobility. Expanded private agencies have engaged in recruiting teachers from abroad. However, because the process of recruitment is highly "commercialized" and "business oriented," most talented and capable teachers have been targeted, and this may "cream off" effective teachers in developing countries, especially in small states in the Caribbean region. Finally, policy implications and recommendations for different models as well as for each possibility of teacher transfer will be addressed at the national and international level to show how transnational teacher exchange, contribution, and migration could shape the teacher workforce in the future.

Education Policy

Economics

Subject Term

Social sciences

Subject Term

Education

Subject Term

Teacher mobility

Subject Term

Teacher shortage

Subject Term

Transnational mobility

Wu, Yu-Wei

LeTendre, Gerald, supervisor

Date and Hour of Consultation and Access

TL831.pdf

Link text

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254359

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