Broadening Teaching Perspectives:

Teacher Exchange Program

To become a global teacher, you need to broaden your teaching perspective.
Expanding your experiences beyond the confines of your classroom to wider
learning environment of the world is one of the many avenues in order to achieve a
level of global competitiveness. Opportunities for this endeavor can be achieved
through teacher exchange program.

1. Visiting International Faculty Program

• Is the United States largest cultural exchange program for teachers and schools.

• Is the United States largest cultural exchange program for teachers and schools.

• Offers highly qualified teachers from around the world serving as teachers and
cultural ambassador in the United States.

VIF’s Purposes and Beliefs

• It is the intention of the VIF to ensure that student, educators and communities
worldwide reap the benefits of international education.

The program believes in the following principles:

1. All school should have at least one international exchange teacher.

2. All students should be exposed to a variety of exchange teachers during their

academic careers.

3. All communities should have an equal opportunity to develop globally literate

citizens to help build a foundation for success in the global market place.

History of Visiting International Faculty Program

• The program started 19 years ago. It was founded in 1987 and began accepting
teachers from other countries of the world to teach kindergarten up to grade 12 in
1989.

• This project is in cooperation with the North Carolina Department of Public

Instruction. The first group of 12 international teachers worked on in 10 North
Carolina countries as foreign language teachers.
• The international teachers are coming from more than 50 countries of the world
such as Australia, Canada, Chile, and New Zealand, Ecuador, Mexico, Spain
including the Philippines. There are several Filipino Teachers who participated in
this program.

2. FULBRIGHT TEACHER EXCHANGE PROGRAM

• Since 1946, the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program has helped nearly 23,000
teachers and school administrators to promote mutual understanding between the
United States and countries around the world. For the U.S. teachers, this
opportunity involves a year or semester direct exchange with a counterpart in
another country teaching the same subject at the same level.

3. INTER-AFRICAN TEACHER EXCHANGES

• The objectives of this program are to provide opportunity for African teachers to
learn from teaching environment in other African countries and also aimed to
extend experiences and widen the horizon of African teachers by encouraging
exchange visits to countries outside Africa as well.

The teacher will travel to neighboring countries to work for over a period
of the two weeks after which in pairs they will engage in following
activities:

1. Be stationed at one school for one week and another school for another week

2. Observe teaching in the said teacher’s subject.

3. Guest ICTs at the schools that the teacher is visiting.

4. Engage in discussions with the teachers in another school.

5. Write a journal of their exchange visit.

4. CANADIAN EDUCATORS EXCHANGE
The Canadian Education Exchange Foundation is a non-profit foundation which
handles both student and educator exchanges.

• In Alberta, two kinds of exchanges are possible for a powerful professional

development experiences.

ONE YEAR EXCHANGES

These exchanges enable teachers in Alberta to swap their jobs (and homes) with
teachers in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and the
United States, Germany, and other for a period of one year. During this time, the
teacher continues to be paid by his/her school board in Alberta, when the year is
over again the teacher returns home to his original position in Alberta.

SHORT-TERM EXCHANGES

This exchange which occur during the spring and summer holidays, enable the
teachers and administrators to job shadow with the counterpart in another country.

5. GLOBAL TEACHERS MILLENIUM AWARDS

Although this program is limited only to participating countries, it is important to
learn that Global teacher Exchange program contribute to the quality of teachers
worldwide.

Aims of Global Teachers Millennium Awards

• Change the lives UK educators personally and professionally by encouraging them

to fulfill their aspiration and use their talents in innovative ways;

• Ensure benefits for staff and pupils of UK schools under local communities
through the dissemination of innovative development education.

• Support the aims and activities of Link’s educational program in South Africa,
Ghana, and Uganda and;

• Set a standard and develop model for other similar scheme.

It is the intent of the program to achieve learning outcomes among the
target partners of the United Kingdom in terms of:

A. Increase knowledge of people and life in developing countries

B. Better understanding of how UK is linked with other countries

C. More positive attitudes toward people and life in developing countries –

challenging stereotypes and beliefs in shared humanity.

D. More positive attitudes towards multicultural nature of UK society challenging of

stereotypes and embracing of diversity.

A Global Teacher in this program is described as someone who:

• Believes in education for sustainable development

• Has a professional and personal skills to share, and to learn;

• Brings the world into their classroom, school, and community;

• Encourages dialogue and partnership between the North and the South; and

• Can inspire others to act as Global Teachers.

These are the summarized statement of a teacher participants in Global Teacher

Exchange Program:

"As a result of participating in the scheme, I have developed my ability to mentor

students and staff and have developed a more consultative leadership style in my
school."

“The best thing I have ever done. I have come back a different person – more
tolerant, more understanding, and more sensitive to the needs of others. The
impact of this award will stay with me forever.”

We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our

own. By Ben Sweetland