Practicum without borders: a case study of intercultural and pedagogical action and reflection

Abstract

Teacher training schemes of the present 21st century ask for a new contextualization of good educational practice under frameworks of planetary scale which serve as tools aimed at interpreting culture-bound formation tracks designed for prospective teachers. The present case shows some of the opportunities and challenges of an International Practicum jointly organized by the University of Salamanca and several u.k. educational institutions. Besides their direct confrontation with culture as a living experience of diversity, the numerous agents involved in this programme were engaged in a dialogue between different pedagogical perspectives which cross-fertilized processes of teaching collaboration, mutual inquiry and a thorough rethink of areas of common linguistic, pedagogical and cultural interest. We hold that this fruitful conversation crosses borders while it offers, per se, an educational model of cohesiveness for it places the intercultural dimension at the heart of life-long education that can shape the profile of today’s European teachers.

Keywords

• practicum
• formación docente
• dimensión intercultural
• reflexión educativa