The Australian Educational Researcher

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-019-00343-1

An Australian international teaching practicum in China:

exploring multiple perspectives

Aijing Jin1 · Graham Parr2 · Dean Cooley1

Received: 24 January 2019 / Accepted: 16 July 2019

© The Australian Association for Research in Education, Inc. 2019

Abstract
In the context of increasing interest in international teaching practicums, this study
investigated the perceptions of Australian pre-service teachers, Chinese mentor
teachers and Chinese school students vis-à-vis an international teaching practi-
cum in Anshan, China. Utilising a case study design and thematic analysis meth-
ods, the authors critically investigate how the participants from Australia and China
perceived the benefits and challenges associated with that practicum. The analysis
draws on data from pre-service teachers’ reflective reports, mentor teachers’ inter-
views and local student questionnaires. The data show that this international teach-
ing practicum was a mutually beneficial and valuable experience for all participants.
However, the study revealed challenges and tensions with respect to the meeting of
Australian and Chinese educational systems because of their very different social
and cultural contexts. Recommendations are made for improving the experience of
all participants in international teaching practicums into the future.

Keywords  International teaching practicum · Cross-cultural teaching and learning ·

Australia · China

Introduction

Universities across the world are investing in a range of international mobility pro-
grammes for students and staff to internationalise their cultural, curriculum and ped-
agogical offerings. One example of this investment is in the area of international
teaching practicums, which are often presented as helping the next generation of
pre-service teachers (PSTs) to understand and respond to the benefits and challenges
of globalisation (Fitzgerald et al. 2017). Research suggests these practicums make a

* Aijing Jin
a.jin@federation.edu.au
1
School of Education, Federation University Australia, PO Box 663, Ballarat, VIC 3353,
Australia
2
Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia

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 A. Jin et al.

profound contribution to the knowledge, skills and growth of most PSTs who under-
take them (Cantalini-Williams et al. 2014; Chinnappan et al. 2013).
Teacher education policy drivers in Australia are also focused on the benefits and
challenges of globalisation. For example, the Australian Professional Standards for
(Graduate) Teachers (AITSL 2017) now expect teacher education providers to pro-
duce graduates who are “responsive to the learning strengths and needs of students
from diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds” (AITSL
2017). International teaching practicums are, of course, not the only response to
this policy imperative. But for several decades now, PSTs in Australia and across
the world have engaged with diversity and difference on a teaching practicum in
unfamiliar international settings (e.g. Stachowski 1992; Quezada 2010; Willard-Holt
2001; Zhu et al. 2019). It is important to note, in passing, that international practi-
cums themselves are highly complex to organise and fraught with challenges. And
they have never been a magic pill for educational enlightenment. In a small num-
ber of cases, an international practicum experience has even been found to reinforce
unhelpful cultural stereotypes in the minds of the visiting PSTs (Walters et al. 2009;
Uusimaki and Swirski 2016) and/or to perpetuate damaging colonialist attitudes to
difference on the part of either visitors or hosts (Parr 2012).
While most research in this field focusses on how an international teaching practi-
cum benefits and/or challenges PSTs’ understandings of education and their identi-
ties as globally oriented teachers, very few studies have critically interrogated how
an international teaching practicum programme interacts with and impacts upon the
communities and institutions that host the PSTs. In order to address this ‘gap’ in the
literature, this study combined a close examination of the experiences and learn-
ing of Australian PSTs on a practicum in China with an investigation of how the
host school’s mentor teachers and students responded to the presence and teaching
of these PSTs. Drawing on the three authors’ experience of leading practicums in
different international settings, the article analyses the reflective accounts of four
Australian PSTs from Federation University Australia, who completed a 3-week
international teaching practicum in China. It then proceeds to examine the responses
of the four local Chinese teachers who mentored the four Australian PSTs, and to
consider the views of the 186 local Chinese students who were in the classes taught
by the visiting Australians.

Literature review

We begin by presenting a brief overview of the literature from the last three decades
that identifies some of the benefits and challenges of international practicums across
the world. We then home in on some specific cultural and educational knowledge
that helps in interpreting the range of data generated in our study of a short-term
international practicum for Australian PSTs in the north east of China.

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Researching international teaching practicums in a range of settings

The literature reveals extraordinary diversity in international teaching practicums

managed by universities across the world, and hosted in different international
settings. And yet there is significant agreement about the benefits for PSTs under-
taking these practicums, no matter what the cultural context. Kabilan (2013),
researching an international practicum for Malaysian PSTs in the Maldives,
speaks for many when he finds that this experience was beneficial to the PSTs in
terms of enhanced teaching knowledge and skills, expanded world views and a
more developed cross-cultural awareness.
Other studies claim a range of benefits for individual PSTs including: improved
intercultural knowledge and understanding (Marx and Moss 2011; Santoro and
Major 2012; Walters et al. 2009); increased confidence and resilience (Cantalini-
Williams et al. 2014; Maynes et al. 2012; Tudball and Phillips 2017); enhanced
employability (Parr et al. 2017) and enriched identity as globally informed educa-
tors (Howe and Xu 2013; Parr and Chan 2015). There is also considerable agree-
ment about the value of these practicums for academic leaders who accompany
their PSTs on these practicums (e.g. Fitzgerald et al. 2017).
As mentioned previously, the impact of international practicums on the expe-
riences of host institutions and communities has not received the same level of
attention by researchers (Ateskan 2016; Uusimaki and Swirski 2016). In order to
help readers to interpret the data from the study of an international practicum that
is the focus of this article, we present now a snapshot of cultural and educational
issues that mediated the experience of visiting PSTs and their hosts in Chinese
schools.

Cultural issues in an Australian–Chinese international practicum

Since the 1980s, in the context of considerable economic development, Chinese

society has experienced dramatic social and educational change (Jin 2013). Edu-
cational reform, such as the introduction of new national curriculum standards
and moves toward more student-centred pedagogy, has sought to better accom-
modate the contemporary needs of modern (and post-modern) China (Jin 2013).
However, ancient philosophical and intellectual traditions continue to influence
modern schools and schooling (Ryan 2019). Two core values of traditional Con-
fucianism continue to underpin classroom practices in many parts of China.
These are “学而优则仕” (studying hard to become knowledgeable and influen-
tial people) and “克己复礼” (exercising high levels of self-control when fitting in
with expectations of the collective). Other ‘core values’ related to Confucianism
that mediated the experiences of Australian PSTs teaching in Chinese classrooms
included: (1) the respect accorded to Chinese teachers by their students; (2) the
assumption that a teacher’s primary responsibility is to be a role model (为人师
表) and to deliver content and (3) the reluctance of teachers to give praise unless
it is fully deserved. (See Fig. 1, for an explanation of these values.)

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1. Respect accorded to Chinese teachers by their students

For a thousand years, Chinese teachers have been viewed as knowledge-holders
and as behaviour-models for their students (Jin, 2007). The unquestioned
authority that Chinese teachers have over their students, means that students have
traditionally been discouraged from publicly (or in a classroom) questioning what
a teacher says (Leng, 2005). In contrast, Australian classrooms characterise a
good student as someone who asks questions and participates proactively in class
discussions. In China, a student who asks many questions and is outspoken is
likely to be seen as arrogant and brash.
2. Assumption that a Chinese teacher’s primary responsibility is being a role
model ( ) and to deliver content
In traditional Chinese schooling, a teacher’s primary responsibility, beyond being
a role model, is to be a reliable source of knowledge. Wang (2006) puts it this way:
it is the teacher’s responsibility to deliver content, and the learner’s responsibility
to absorb it. In many Chinese classrooms, teachers take great care to present
theories, concepts or key learning points of the lesson – also called ‘knowledge
points’ (䩴幕䍈) – first, and then proceed to provide specific examples to explain
these points. It is considered very important for teachers to be ‘correct’ and
‘detailed’ in their teaching of this content. Whether or not the teacher’s
presentation of the content is engaging and interesting is of secondary importance
(Wang, 2006).
3. Reluctance of Chinese teachers to give praise unless it is fully deserved
‘Well done’ is a phrase not often used by teachers in traditional Chinese
classrooms. It is a compliment reserved for the excellent student who has
produced outstanding work. For Chinese educators, western education seems too
ready to praise students when those students have made only a little progress on
what they could have done (Jin, 2007).

Fig. 1  Other Chinese ‘core values’ that influenced the Australian PSTs’ practicum experience

These are just three of the values that influenced teaching and learning prac-
tices in the schools where the Australian PSTs taught in Anshan, China. In some
instances, they were present as tensions between traditional and modern educa-
tion approaches in China. For the Australian PSTs who entered those classrooms
in Anshan, these values added to the significant challenge of understanding and
negotiating cultural practices in their teaching of English to Year 7 Chinese
students.

Research questions

The study is underpinned by the following three research questions:

1. How do Australian PSTs experience a short-term international teaching practicum

in China?
2. Does this experience impact their teaching practice and their personal and profes-
sional growth?

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An Australian international teaching practicum in China:…

3. How do Chinese mentor teachers and students experience working with and being
taught by Australian PSTs on an international teaching practicum?

The research was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of Federa-
tion University Australia prior to the Australian PSTs departing for China.

Methodology

Case study design

A case study design was best suited to address the research questions identified
above. Our inquiry into the experiences of the PSTs in China, their Chinese men-
tor teachers and the students they taught was driven by our interest in describing,
exploring and analysing data rather than working in more constrained ways to prove
or disprove a hypothesis. This focus on describing, exploring and analysing is what
case study offers. Our particular version of case study is aligned with Merriam’s
(2009) conception, which prioritises efforts to clearly identify and then analyse the
object of the study. For this study, the ‘object’ included the range of experiences
and practices contained within a particular “bounded system” (p. 40), which was the
international teaching practicum in Anshan, China.
Merriam (2009) nominates one of the main benefits of case study research as
its capacity to understand or make meaning of particular phenomena and thus to
generate particularistic knowledge. Such knowledge is never intended to be easily
generalised across different contexts and settings—indeed, there are acute dangers
associated with assuming that particularistic knowledge can be easily applied in
different contexts. However, as Merriam (2009) explains, by critically considering
such knowledge within a clearly described context and reflexively applying aspects
of it to one’s own experiences in another context, one can translate multifaceted
and extended insights to similar phenomena (p. 43). Lincoln and Guba (1985) were
making a similar argument in tentatively proposing the concept of ‘transferability’.
In this article, we take care to provide (in Fig. 1) some sociocultural detail about the
contexts in which the Australian PSTs interacted with the Chinese mentor teach-
ers and their students. We believe this helps readers to interpret individuals’ experi-
ences with respect to particular socio-political contexts. It has certainly helped us as
researchers to consider how some of this contextual detail mediated the experiences
and views of the study’s participants and our understandings of these experiences
and views (see Simons 2009).

Settings and participants

The study took place in Anshan, a regional city in the northeast of China. In 2013,
the first author’s university in Ballarat, Australia, established a ‘Diversity Teaching
Placement Centre’ (澳大利亚联邦大学中国鞍山教育实习基地) in Anshan, as part
of an ongoing collaborative project with a Chinese partner university. Each year

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since then, a small group of Australian PSTs (4–8 students) in their third or fourth
year of a Bachelor of Education course has undertaken a 3–4  week international
teaching practicum. In 2014, four fourth year PSTs, all of them with white middle-
class English-speaking backgrounds, undertook a 3-week practicum in Anshan, as
shown in Table 1 below.
In a competitive process, the PSTs from Federation University were selected to
participate in the practicum by staff from its School Professional Experience Office.
Selection was on the basis of their academic results and their interest in undertaking
an international practicum in China, as expressed in an application form. Although
the PSTs had all taught in multicultural classrooms as part of their previous practi-
cum experiences in Victoria, none of them had cross-cultural teaching experiences
in a classroom outside of the Australian context. None of them had any Mandarin
speaking skills.
Under the auspices of the partner university in China, the local Education Bureau
selected two public, Junior high schools (Year 7–9) to host two Australian PSTs
each. One school, Middle School No. X had approximately 2500 students and 44
classes; the other school, Yuanci Foreign Language School, had approximately 2000
students and 36 classes. The Australian PSTs were required to teach English to stu-
dents in Year 7. The Chinese mentors and Australian PSTs developed lesson plans
together, and the PSTs were the decision makers in terms of how to manage a class
effectively. They also participated in collaborative lesson planning with local teach-
ers who were teaching English in the same year levels.
Each of the schools appointed two experienced leading English teachers as the
local mentors to supervise the Australian PSTs. These mentors all had over 10 years
of experience in teaching English, and were currently teaching English to students
in Year 7. One teacher in each school had spent some time overseas in an English-
speaking country, but this was the first time that the four teachers had mentored an
English-speaking PST who had no Chinese language skills. The four mentor teach-
ers were invited and agreed to participate in the research prior to the Australian
PSTs’ arrival in China (Table 2).
With the approval of the local Education Bureau, 186 students in the classes
of the four mentor teachers participating in this study voluntarily responded to
a questionnaire. They were all Year 7 students in their first year of Chinese sec-
ondary school, and the survey was administered in their self-study time in the
class. The students were informed that they were not required to put their name

Table 1  Participating Australian PSTs

Name Sex Age Placement school (in China) Data source

Amanda F 23 Yuanci Foreign Language School Journal entries and reflective essay
Laura F 26 Yuanci Foreign Language School Journal entries and reflective essay
Daniel M 27 Middle School No. X Journal entries and reflective essay
Kevin M 28 Middle School No. X Journal entries and reflective essay

All participating pre-service students and mentor teachers mentioned in this article have been given
pseudonyms to protect their privacy. The names of the schools are also pseudonyms

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Table 2  Chinese teachers who mentored the Australia PSTs

Name Sex Age Placement school (in China) Data source

Shen F 36 Yuanci Foreign Language School Semi-structured interview

Liu F 35 Yuanci Foreign Language School Semi-structured interview
Zhang F 43 Middle School No. X Semi-structured interview
Liao F 38 Middle School No. X Semi-structured interview

on the questionnaire. And, it was emphasised that their answers were not con-
nected to any assessment outcome of their performance in school, in order to
encourage children to express themselves honestly and privately.

Data collection

During the 3-week practicum, the Australian PSTs kept journals, which included
accounts of daily experiences at school and other details of cultural experi-
ences and excursions. The PSTs also reflected in the journals on what they had
observed at their school and how they felt about Chinese educational concepts,
student learning, teaching strategies and approaches and the lessons they had
taught. At the conclusion of the practicum, the PSTs completed final reflec-
tive papers based on all the above information, which were one of the key data
sources for this study.
After the PSTs completed their teaching practicum, the first author, a Chi-
nese-speaking university mentor who accompanied the PSTs on their practi-
cum, conducted extended individual semi-structured interviews (40–60  min)
in Mandarin with the local mentor teachers. Interview questions (in Mandarin)
included: How did you see the Australian PSTs’ professional knowledge and
skills? What are the positive professional experiences and challenges you have
experienced while mentoring the Australian PSTs? How did the PSTs contrib-
ute to the local students’ learning? Were there any issues that you experienced
in mentoring the Australian PSTs? All interviews were audio-recorded with the
consent of the teachers. As a fluent speaker of both Mandarin and English, the
first author undertook all of the transcriptions and subsequent translations. The
translations were checked by another native speaker of Mandarin in Australia.
There were 186 Chinese students who agreed to respond to the question-
naire about their experiences of learning with the Australian teachers. Question-
naire items included: What did you like/dislike about your Australian teacher?
What did you like/dislike about your Australian teacher’s teaching? What did
the Australian teacher bring to your school life? What were the most impressive
moments/things you remember? Do you have any suggestions for the teacher to
improve his/her teaching? Their responses become an important part of the con-
text for interpreting the rest of the data.

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Table 3  Phases of theme Phases of analysis Analytical actions

development for this study
(derived from Vaismoradi et al. Initial phase Reading transcripts carefully
2016)
Making notes
Highlighting and identifying partici-
pants’ accounts for key ideas
Classification Classifying
Comparing
Defining
Noting points of similarity and difference
Theme identification Coding
Labelling
Developing themes
Findings Developing understandings and interpre-
tations from analysis of the themes

Data analysis

A four-phase process (Vaismoradi et al. 2016) was used to determine the themes
we ultimately used in our presentation of findings below (see Table 3).
The activities of ‘highlighting and identifying participants’ accounts for key
ideas’, ‘noting points of similarity and difference’ and then ‘coding’ and ‘devel-
oping themes’ were recursive in order to generate findings that would do justice
to the richness and complexity of the data that had been collected.

Findings

The themes identified in the data were distilled into two broad categories—
‘Values and benefits’ and ‘Challenges and tensions’. These two categories were
used to frame the presentation of findings below (see Table 4).
These categories (with two themes embedded within each) are discussed in the
following pages. Where possible, we use the original language of the research partic-
ipants to capture what Merriam (2009) calls the ‘particularity’ of their experiences.

Table 4  Categories and themes emerging from analysis of data

Categories Themes

Values and benefits Valuable cultural experiences (all participants)

Positive reflections (Australia PSTs)
Challenges and tensions Struggles to reconcile contrasting educational concepts and expectations
(all participants)
Reflections on challenges and tensions (local mentor teachers and students)

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Values and benefits

Overall, the Australian PSTs, local mentor teachers and local students highly val-
ued this intercultural experience. The core values in traditional Chinese culture,
such as those mentioned above, were greatly appreciated by the Australian PSTs.
Other facets of the practicum that the PSTs commented favourably upon were the
warm welcome and friendly treatment by the host teachers and students. The Chi-
nese teachers and students also viewed the practicum experience as pleasant and
enjoyable. They particularly enjoyed the PSTs’ teaching approaches, which were
quite different from their usual experiences. They sometimes used the word “Edu-
tainment” (寓教于乐), meaning education through lively activities and enjoy-
ment, to explain how such teaching could be both educational and entertaining.

Valuable cultural experiences (for all participants)

The most stimulating and exciting cultural experience for all PSTs was their warm
welcome into the schools. In his final reflective essay, Daniel’s words were typi-
cal: “Chinese students have been the friendliest and most respectful that I have
come across in my time as a pre-service teacher”. Laura, who was teaching at
the other school, also emphasised the sense of being respected and warmly wel-
comed at her school: “The Chinese students showed me a level of respect that I
have not yet experienced in classes in Australian schools”. Other PSTs expressed
similar sentiments, but in a way that indicated more of an appreciation of a dif-
ferent culture: “The students were beyond amazing; their manners, willingness
to learn, intelligence and hardworking [approach] added to my enjoyment during
my practicum” (Amanda) and “The [Chinese] students’ positive reactions to my
teaching were very rewarding professionally” (Kevin).
The data suggested that the experience was as positive for the local mentor
teachers as it was for the visiting PSTs. During her interview, Teacher Zhang
from Middle School X pointed out: “In my nineteen years of teaching experi-
ence, this is my first time supervising overseas pre-service teachers”. She went on
to speak warmly of the Australians’ dispositions, their pedagogy and some other
more intangible qualities:
They were pleasant, positive, humble and approachable. The children were
very fond of them. They have brought something that my students and I
have not experienced before. The outdoor class “talking about weather” they
designed has greatly promoted the enthusiasm for studying English amongst
my students.
Teacher Shen, from Yuanci School, also referred to some intangible qualities
(“pleasant surprises”) and raised some interesting cultural issues:
They have brought us a lot of pleasant surprises and opportunities for cultural
exchange. They came and introduced us to the culture and customs of Aus-
tralia, which is something our students were very interested in. Through the

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lessons on ‘Australian culture’ and ‘Australian animals’, the enthusiasm of the

students in learning English was fuelled.
Mentor Teacher Liu captured some warm emotions while also noting ways that her
own knowledge of her class had benefited:
On the day they left, [the PSTs] cried and so did the children – and so did I!
The scene was really moving and touching. … More importantly, the poten-
tial of my students was well discovered within the classes they designed. This
allowed me to see the learning potential of some of the students in my class
which I had not discovered before.
Teacher Liao observed that her students were now more able and confident to speak
English through their good relationships with the Australian PSTs.
Every child in my class now dares to open their mouth to speak English. This
is the greatest success from my point of view. The Australian PSTs did not
bring about marked improvement in the students’ test scores, but I can observe
the changes in the children. In the past, I have two children in my class who
almost refused to participate in any class activities but they voluntarily speak
in the PST’s class, which is a great improvement.
The local Chinese students’ views of the Australian PSTs’ teaching often aligned
with the views expressed by their teachers. In response to the survey question “What
did you like about the Australian teachers?” they referred to a number of factors,
represented by the following responses:

• “I liked them because they never criticised us, they respect us and treat us as
friends…”
• “They are nice, friendly, open minded, enthusiastic and kind…”
• “I feel zero distance between teacher and student, and also we are equal as
human beings.”
• “They are easy going and approachable, they always answer our questions
patiently.”
• “They let us know learning English could be so interesting, I changed my opin-
ion towards English learning because of them…”
• “They bring a breath of fresh air to my school life.”

In response to the question, “What did you like about the Australian teachers’
teaching?” the Chinese students frequently referred to intangible or affective quali-
ties, such as:

• “Vivid, lively, rich, colourful and interesting, [the Australian teachers] do not
follow one pattern and are not limited to teaching subject knowledge only.”
• “I enjoyed their sense of humour and the teaching strategies of edutainment.”
• “Her class made me feel relaxed without pressure.”
• “He was able to create an interactive classroom atmosphere, encourage us to par-
ticipate actively.”

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Commenting on “The most impressive moments” of the Australian teachers’

classes, most children shared fond memories about the physical education class,
the outdoor English classes and the idea that learning English can be a happy
experience:

• “He took us to the playground which was the first outdoor English class I had in
the past 7  years in school. I still remember the English words and expressions
learned that day and they are hard to forget…”
• “I started to see English learning in a different way and started to be interested in
English which was the subject I didn’t like before.”
• “The outdoor English class was unique and a really special memory for me with
a lot of fun, joy and laughing.”

All of the above quotes from the three groups of participants confirmed that this was
not only a positive experience for the PSTs; it was a mutually valuable and benefi-
cial learning experience that contributed to the cultural understandings of all par-
ticipants. Importantly, it provided a new perspective for the Chinese students to look
at their English learning and a rare opportunity for the Chinese teachers to examine
and reflect on their teaching practice beyond their daily routines that had previously
been taken for granted.

PSTs’ reflections on their personal and professional development

All PSTs expressed the view that being part of this international teaching practicum
was a life-changing experience for them as teachers and as global citizens in a com-
plex world. Specifically, they referred to benefits in terms of their: self-confidence,
cultural sensitivity, intercultural communication skills, ability to adapt teaching
approaches to cater for different students’ needs and their desire to continue to learn
and grow through this type of intercultural experience.
In his reflective journal, Daniel wrote about the broader cultural experience and
his desire in future to set higher expectations for his students and himself:
I value the cultural exposure that I gained in China, both at school and in my
extra-curricular activities…. I learnt that I should place higher expectations on
students after seeing the amount of time and effort that students in China put
into their education. Not only has my exposure to the work ethic of the Chi-
nese encouraged me to expect more of students, but also of myself, as a profes-
sional and as a citizen of modern society.
Laura reflected on her initial lack of understanding about Chinese culture and the
impact of this experience on her future professional growth:
I had quite limited exposure to Chinese culture throughout my own schooling
and personal life prior to this trip, so introducing Chinese culture in a cross-
curricular approach is something that I will be doing, especially now that
Australia’s engagement with Asia is a cross-curricular priority [in the Aus-
tralian Curriculum]…. I feel that my growth and further development of cul-

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tural understanding and awareness can help me with my teaching in Australian

schools, particularly as Australia continues to become more and more cultur-
ally diverse.
Amanda focused on personal, social and professional benefits:
[This practicum] has changed me for the better for the rest of my life both
socially and professionally. The professional development I have experienced
improved my skills to teach English as a second language; this is something I
would not have been able to experience in an Australian school.
It is apparent that PSTs developed both professionally and personally from undertak-
ing this international practicum. They all felt that they had become more reflective
and culturally sensitive teachers. Beyond this, the experience had broadened their
horizons and their sense of themselves as teachers and individuals in a globalising
world.

Challenges and tensions

In addition to the values and benefits of the practicum for all of the participants,
the data also revealed considerable differences in educational concepts and teaching
strategies between the Australian and Chinese systems. All three groups of partici-
pants identified some challenges and tensions related to these differences.

Struggles to reconcile contrasting educational concepts and expectations

At the end of the practicum, when PSTs, mentor teachers and students were
prompted to reflect on the practicum, they noted substantial contrasts in educa-
tional concepts and expectations in terms of schooling in China and Australia. These
included: levels of competitiveness, emphasis on assessment, class sizes, interactiv-
ity between students and levels of creativity and flexibility.
Laura’s comments in her reflective journal on the competitiveness in classroom
represented other PSTs’ reflections on this topic:
I was surprised by how intense and competitive it was, even at the Year 7 level,
it places enormous amounts of pressure on students, particularly considering
their age…. The situation was so different to any that I have experienced in
Australia. I think the curriculum was a little bit daunting.
Most PSTs commented on the large class sizes in their Chinese school, and the con-
straints this put on possible teaching and learning approaches. For example, Kevin
explained:
Big class size dictates much of what happened in the Chinese classes that I
witnessed. There is not much room for teachers to be creative in regards to
arranging their class. The norm has been straight rows throughout the class-
room with one or two students to a desk. Occasionally students will interact
with the person next to them but the classroom set up discourages this.

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Amanda also noted the differences and explained them in terms of “the overall phi-
losophy of teaching and learning in China”. This philosophy was “extremely dif-
ferent” from what she had experienced in Australia. In practical terms, this was
realised in “big class sizes, frequent formal assessment and overall content of the
curriculum”. This combination of factors, she believed, made it inevitable that
teachers adopted “a rote-based approach to teaching”. And yet, according to Daniel,
despite this rote-based approach, most Chinese students seemed to take responsibil-
ity for their learning. They remained focused on the curriculum and they appeared to
be conscious of a career trajectory beyond school:
The students that we taught in China were very mature about their studies
which is probably the greatest difference that I found. The majority of students
knew what they wanted to do post-school but if you asked that question of year
sevens in Australia very few could give you a realistic response.
Kevin also noted the differences between Chinese and Australian students with
respect to expectations of performance in school. But he appeared more undecided
about the reasons for this:
Pressure for high performance from parents, the school and society was
reflected in students studying extremely hard. I think that to have a good
understanding of the way schools work in China, including teaching methods
and student behaviour, you have to have a good understanding of Chinese cul-
ture.

Local mentor teachers’ and students’ perceptions of challenges and tensions

between the two educational systems

Echoing the Australian PSTs struggle to negotiate between the two cultural land-
scapes, the local Chinese teachers and students also expressed feelings of tension.
The Chinese mentor teachers observed that the Australian PSTs struggled to negoti-
ate between Chinese and Australian education systems. They too made reference to
the differences in class size. For instance, Teacher Zhang commented on the chal-
lenge for the visiting PSTs’ ability to manage large size classes.
In Australia, they only have around 20 students in a class, which is easy to
manage. We generally have more than 50 students in a class. Obviously, it is
hard to use the same teaching strategies as they are used to in their country.
During her interview, teacher Liao characterised the two systems as “very different”
[完全不同]:
As I learnt from my overseas experience, the Australian approach is to teach
through a learning environment of classroom activities and topic assignments.
Ours is about completing a certain number of teaching objectives with a cer-
tain number of ‘knowledge points’ [知识点] within a class. In the first les-
son, the PST I supervised organised a good activity but it consumed a lot of

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 A. Jin et al.

time. According to our evaluation criteria, … the teaching objectives were not
achieved in that class.
The tension between employing engaging teaching approaches and achiev-
ing teaching objectives recurred often in the interviews with the Chinese mentors.
For instance, Teacher Shen admitted that although the Australian PSTs were “very
strong in stimulating the learning interests” of her students, at the end of the practi-
cum she had to go back and teach some knowledge points that the PSTs should have
taught so that her students were adequately prepared for the upcoming examination.
In her view, “Letting the children participate and be involved in practical activities is
no doubt a good idea, but it inevitably missed some knowledge points or, to put it in
another way, examination points”. Teacher Liu was more blunt:
The class atmosphere they created was indeed more active, … [but] some
knowledge points that should really be studied were ignored sometimes…
After the class, it seemed that students had not learned what they should since
playing was the focus of classroom activities rather than knowledge delivery.
Although the Chinese students had expressed great enthusiasm for learning from
the Australian teachers, most of them shared the same concerns about their visiting
Australians as expressed by their own teachers. A typical comment was from one
student who worried, “I am concerned that their way [of teaching] was not able to
improve my test scores, which is very important for every one of us”.

Discussion

The findings revealed significant benefits for all participants (Australian and Chi-
nese) in this international teaching practicum, but they also raised some issues to
contemplate in understanding teaching and learning cross-culturally. For the Aus-
tralian PSTs, they all valued and enjoyed the experience of teaching in China in
terms of their professional and personal growth as emerging professionals. In this
respect, the findings reinforce existing literature that claims well-supported inter-
national, cross-cultural teaching practicums in China have the potential to be trans-
formative for visiting PSTs (Zhu and Zhu 2018). As with previous studies in a range
of international settings, this study showed that the PSTs felt the cross-cultural con-
text helped them appreciate how teaching is embedded within the ideologies and
philosophies of the respective educational contexts (Kabilan 2013).
The practicum experience provided an opportunity for the PSTs to see themselves
and others through new eyes, as they compared and contrasted different educa-
tion systems (Ateskan 2016). This study also showed that an international teaching
practicum can prompt PSTs to reflect on their home country’s school experience and
to ponder what they may bring back to their teaching practice to enrich students’
learning back home (Parr 2012). As the PSTs began to make reasonable judgements
about the differences between the two educational systems, they learnt in a practical
way how culture and ideology may shape learners’ approaches to their work in the
classroom. They learned to appreciate some of the core values that drove Chinese

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An Australian international teaching practicum in China:…

students to ‘study hard in order to become knowledgeable and influential people’

and to ‘exercise high levels of self-control to the benefit of the collective’, while still
perhaps being conscious of the importance of a teacher engaging his/her students
and not just delivering content. For these PSTs, an international teaching practicum
in China had provided a rich, multifaceted experience that was not replicable in
Australia.
Both Chinese mentor teachers and local students themselves believed that the
practicum had a pronounced positive influence on the confidence of the local stu-
dents. It was particularly interesting to see them remarking that the Australian
PSTs did not “criticise” them when they made mistakes. These remarks may have
stemmed from the Chinese students’ discomfort that the Australian PSTs appeared
not to share a Confucian core value wherein ‘teachers do not readily praise students’
or they may have come from the Australian PSTs’ wish to find other ways to engage
and motivate their students than by direct criticism in a classroom context. Or it may
have been a combination of both. Nevertheless, the Chinese students discovered that
it was possible to enjoy their participation in learning activities, and this was such
a contrast to their usual experience that at least one local student felt it brought “a
breath of fresh air to my school life”. Both Chinese students and teachers articu-
lated how the Australian PSTs’ teaching raised the level of enthusiasm in the local
students’ desire to learn English. For some, the experience appeared to change their
whole attitude towards English learning.
All mentor teachers believed that the PSTs’ teaching had a positive impact on
their students. Their realisation that students had grown in confidence in just
3  weeks seemed to prompt serious reflection on their parts. They acknowledged
that the experience of working with the Australian PSTs had enabled them to bet-
ter understand their own students, which they greatly appreciated. The potential for
an international practicum to allow hosting teachers to see their students’ learning
potential in a new light is a significant finding in terms of how such experiences
enriched the experiences of both the local Chinese teachers and their students. This
aspect would be extremely worthwhile to develop in other diverse schools and cul-
tural settings. It is interesting to note that this reciprocal effect has rarely if ever been
reported in the literature.
And yet, the findings also revealed a number of challenges and sources of ten-
sion for all participants. The prime source of tension for all participants was the
conceptual and cultural differences between the two educational systems. The most
pronounced criticism came from the Chinese mentor teachers and their students who
believed that the PSTs had not spent sufficient time teaching important ‘knowledge
points’, that are seen as vital in the Chinese curriculum. Although globalisation
and modernisation were seen to be ushering in many changes to Chinese education
practices, the traditional Chinese culture, strongly influenced by Confucianism, still
appears to have a profound influence on teaching and learning philosophy and prac-
tice (Ryan 2019; Yang et  al. 2006), at least in the schools that were sites for this
study.
Some educational concepts that are deep-rooted in Chinese culture, such as
‘students respecting teachers’, ‘self-discipline in students’ and ‘teachers’ responsi-
bility for delivering content’, could explain to some degree the Chinese students’

13
 A. Jin et al.

behaviours that contributed to the Australian PSTs’ enjoyment of their practicum.

Traditional Chinese culture enshrines the teacher as a person of wisdom and honour,
to be respected and trusted, and students are expected to be obedient and tractable
(Hickey and Jin 2010). Both cultural and professional factors impacted on teaching
and learning practice in China in a variety of ways that has few parallels in Australia.
For example, although Australian schooling is becoming increasingly dominated by
standardised testing, Chinese schooling has a much longer tradition of exam-focused
teaching. Chinese teachers in the schools featured in this study were used to focus-
ing on academically promising students’ learning in order to support those students
to achieve better and higher scores in different level examinations, especially the
national examination for higher education entrance (Dello-Iacovo 2009). This par-
ticular attention given to academically promising students was in acute tension with
modern developments wherein China is interested in developing more student-cen-
tred, democratic approaches to teaching. In these schools, when presented with a
version of student-centred teaching, the teachers and students expressed a desire for
more of the rote-learning and attention to ‘knowledge points’ that they were used to.
Complementing this, the Chinese students were accustomed to significant amounts
of homework and examination pressure, which is very different from the Austral-
ian circumstances. These cultural traditions, coupled with the phenomenon of highly
successful “dragon children” (Hickey and Jin 2010), have fuelled the existing ambi-
tion of Chinese parents for their children’s excellence at all levels at school. Those
cultural factors strongly influence Chinese educational practices in school, and
together with large class sizes help to explain the tensions within contemporary Chi-
nese pedagogy.

Conclusion

This study supports the wealth of existing studies claiming that international teach-
ing practicums can be transformational, especially for the visiting PSTs. It has also
highlighted many benefits for local mentor teachers and school students. In this way,
the study has added an additional dimension to knowledge about international teach-
ing practicums through exploring the host community’s perceptions. The study has
also identified a number of tensions (relating to eastern and western educational tra-
ditions) in the values and practices of PSTs, mentor teachers and local students in
this practicum in China. In the process, it has drawn attention to the ways that vari-
ous benefits and tensions are mediating the current Chinese government’s reform
agendas in shifting from ‘examination oriented education’ into ‘quality oriented
education’ for its basic educational system reforms (Dello-Iacovo 2009).
Through exploring the values and benefits, challenges and tensions of a particu-
lar international teaching practicum in China, this study contributes to knowledge
about the complexities of participation in cross-cultural teaching practicums. These
complexities are explored with respect to not just the PSTs’ experiences, as has been
done in existing literature, but also local mentor teachers’ and students’ experiences
and perceived learning. While challenges and tensions were identified in the data, it
is evident that an international teaching practicum can be a mutually beneficial and

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An Australian international teaching practicum in China:…

valuable learning experience for participants from the two countries. The biggest chal-
lenges are the tensions between the two educational systems, most obviously in regard
to teaching strategies, learning content, classroom management and the emphasis on
testing, but also in relation to a range of historical and cultural values and traditions
that mediate practices. The study agrees with the recommendations of several recent
studies about the importance of preparation programmes, perhaps for both PSTs and
mentor teachers who will be hosting the PSTs. Such programmes could introduce par-
ticipants to a range of knowledge and issues associated with cross-cultural teaching
and learning in the two participating countries (Fitzgerald et al. 2017).
Lastly, the authors recommend that future research explore more extensively the
local responses of hosting mentor teachers and school students to international PSTs
in Chinese (and other international) schools and classrooms. This study has begun
the focus on this area, but the literature requires a larger body of research in different
schools and regions of the world to provide some balance to the plethora of studies
that focus on the advantages and challenges of international practicums for the visit-
ing PSTs and their universities.

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Publisher’s Note  Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps
and institutional affiliations.

Dr. Aijing Jin  is a lecturer in the School of Education, Federation University Australian. She was an asso-
ciate professor in Liaoning Normal University in China prior to her PhD studies in Australia. Her main
areas of research and teaching are in HPE curriculum studies, the attributes of effective learning and
cross-cultural teacher education.

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An Australian international teaching practicum in China:…

Graham Parr  is Associate Dean (International) and an associate professor in the Faculty of Education,
Monash University. His research interests include teacher education, professional learning, creativity
in English education, and educational work in globalising spaces. His most recent book in the area of
international practicums is an edited collection, titled Narratives of learning in international professional
experience.

Dr. Dean Cooley  is Deputy Dean of School of Educaiton, Federation University Australia. His research
areas are in health and wellbeing and education research associated with work integrated learning and
practicums.

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