Patricia M. Perry, Edinburgh Napier University, UK
Internationalising higher education remains firmly on the United Kingdom (UK) Higher Education agenda as a priority for universities and this is reflected in university strategy statements and policy documents. The drive to internationalise has led to books being written on related themes and Tools for Teaching in an Educationally Mobile World is a welcome addition to the literature. The book addresses the challenges for teachers who are working with undergraduate and postgraduate students from a range of countries and different cultural groups, and it does so in a practical way. It draws on the knowledge and experience of a renowned contemporary writer in the field, Jude Carroll. Jude Carroll teaches nationally and internationally, she is co-editor of Teaching International Students: improving learning for all (2005) with Dr Janette Ryan, and was Senior Project Consultant for the Higher Education Academy’s Teaching International Students (TIS) project which aimed to enhance the quality of learning experiences of international students by focusing on teaching.
The purpose of the book is to consider teaching “educationally mobile students” who have relocated to learn and are studying their subject to tertiary level for institutional awards. While often referred to as international students, the author rejects this in favour of considering the diversity of mobile students, referring to three aspects of diversity; educational experience, language competency and mobility. As the author notes, the challenge for student learning is not nationality but mobility. This is an approach I had not considered and its adoption may prevent a type of ‘otherness’ that can be imposed on students though use of the term ‘international students’. The overall aim of the book is to provide guidance for those teaching in Anglo-western universities in “culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms” where adjustment and adaptation of teaching approach can be supportive of all student learning.
The book is presented in three sections and each chapter provides an introduction to the main topic and then summarises the tools for teaching in a highlighted box, which helps in selecting content to access at a later date. The first section focuses on teaching across cultures highlighting the issues and context of practice in five chapters. Chapters one and two are introductory, setting the context of, and approach to, discussion and exploring the effects educational mobility can have on teaching and learning. Here the author considered how teachers may manage diverse students’ learning, highlighting the issues that may arise and give cause for concern. However, suggestions and guidance on the role of the teacher in helping students meet their learning needs are provided. The following three chapters discuss the issues and strategies that can be adopted by teachers and students to facilitate student transition into new educational systems, learning in English and the creation of an inclusive learning environment.
The second, brief section, relates how to develop students’ skills for intercultural and communicative competence and leads to an explanation of intercultural teaching, learning and assessment issues which are addressed in the final and most fully developed section of the book. It contains chapters on curriculum design, promotion of student participation through a range of teaching methods and issues relating to assessment practices. A number of suggestions are made to assist teachers to access good practice guidelines and the section on assessment standards raises the challenges around assessment reliability and validity.
This book would be a suitable guide for new teachers, or as a resource for those more experienced, as it provides a constructive response to the challenges and misbeliefs surrounding the education of mobile students and draws on a developing evidence base on diversity in intercultural pedagogy to support strategies for practice. The approach to the topics and the descriptions of teaching experiences, create the sense of a colleague sharing ideas and tested professional practice strategies, and the quotes from students provide powerful examples of the realities of their experiences.
Unusually, there is no final chapter summarising the author’s thoughts and conclusions. This effectively puts the onus on the reader to consider how the issues discussed can be addressed through innovative teaching practices, and the suggested strategies implemented to improve the student experience. This is entirely appropriate and the book will be a useful current resource, a prompt for future tool development and as an aid to reflection on practice regarding educational mobility. It is a well written, reader friendly book and I would highly recommend it.