A New Country, New University, New School – How Do I Cope? : International Student Experiences

Many students embark on an international experience (study tour and/or practicum/placement) during their teacher education program. There are benefits and challenges for those participating in such programs. Reflection is a useful tool in enabling the students to reflect on their experiences; capitalise on the benefits and assist in meeting the challenges that may arise. This paper reports on how reflection was used in a three-week program for international students conducted in a school in The Netherlands. Reflection is an important part of the program as the students are required to socialise into a new country and culture; a new university setting; and then a new school site – multi socialisation (Barton & Hartwig, 2017). The aim of this specific program was the development of participants both as global citizens and as global teachers (Stokhof & Fransen, 2017).