Locating Gold Mountain: Cultural Capital and the Internationalization of Teacher Education

Abstract

As we scan the surface of the global “eduscape”, we recognise diverse educational markers, signposts, prevailing movements and eruptions, and our attention is caught by the formation and development of phenomena called International Education. In this paper, we are attempting to locate ourselves in this educational landscape, while simultaneously understanding and assessing the practices and praxis of International Education.

We are four educators working in the post-secondary system: we have been colleagues and friends through graduate study, and beyond. Even as our friendships have been forged through compatible interests and worldviews, more recently we have come together as a team (coordinator, instructors, mentors and sounding boards) for a Master of Education program that falls under the umbrella of International Education in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University (SFU). This paper presents our reflections as we navigate the complex practices of this program and, through a description of some of the dilemmas we have faced, enables links between theory and practice as we seek a way to align internationalization to ethical practice.