The Future of Education

While students of teacher education regularly seize the opportunity to spend a semester or an entire academic year at a university abroad, more and more students prefer to do a teaching placement at a school abroad instead. The combination of practical experience and exposure to another cultural environment is attractive to many future teachers. That is why the University of Cologne created a new and innovative program addressing the specific needs of future teachers. 
Internships@schoolsabroad is a student exchange program aimed specifically at students of teacher education. It is run by the Center for Teacher Education at the University of Cologne (UoC) in cooperation with the university's central International Office. Every year, we send students to our partner schools all over the world, e.g. the USA, Ghana, the UK or several countries in South America and Asia. At our partner schools, students complete either a voluntary teaching placement or an obligatory one, within the curriculum of their teacher education program. In the framework of a university seminar, students are being prepared in advance as well as accompanied during their stay. One main focus lies on the reflection of the experiences made abroad. Guided by different tasks – to be completed before, while and after the placement – the students create an extensive e-portfolio. Besides general reflection tasks focusing on the student’s role and development as a teacher, this portfolio also emphasizes thematic core areas, here the placement abroad and the experiences made meanwhile. Beyond that the portfolio initiates discussions between students as well as students and their lecturers.

Keywords: teaching placement, stay abroad, reflection, e-portfolio;