Articles - Critical reflection is, " a desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness to consider, carefulness to dispose and set in order; and hatred for every kind of imposture." Francis Bacon (1605)

Internationalization through Research Collaboration.

Successful international research collaborations are those where positive relationship building, trust, a willingness to learn, and mutual respect are central. In contrast, unsuccessful collaborations are those where the needs of either partner are neglected. The problems with unsuccessful international research collaborations in higher education relate often to poor relationship building, lack of purpose, planning, leadership, and an unwillingness to learn to adapt and to accept new cultures

Haley, A., Kassaye, S., Zerihun, Z., & Uusimäki, L (2022)

ABSTRACT.

Universities engage in international collaboration for a number of reasons. In the global North, which is characterized by wealth and power, universities increasingly use international collaboration for competitiveness and marketization. In contrast, the global South engages in collaboration to strengthen research and build knowledge capacity. Prior studies argue that trust, mutual benefits, and achieving shared understandings and ways of working are important for sustainable collaboration. However, the studies generally examine what makes a “good” collaboration well after collaboration has been initiated. The contribution of this study is therefore to exemplify the relationship-building process between academics from an Ethiopian and Swedish university. The study is based on “cooperative inquiry” and uses data collected in April 2019 from questions composed by each set of academics, which were deliberated during their initial meeting. Their experiences of enablement and constraint in research collaboration and their motivations for pursuing a new collaboration are in focus

Reflections on Learning Experiences of International Students in Sweden

Interestingly while there have been numerous studies reporting on the experiences of international students attending Anglo-Saxon universities, few studies have explored the teaching and learning experiences of international students studying in Sweden, Carol Rodger's (2002) model of four functions of reflections provided a novel way to explore international students’ reflections about their learning experiences in Sweden, especially how these are shown in the following different cycles, of presence, description, analysis and experimentation

Liisa Uusimaki & Susanne Garvis (2021)

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to present a qualitative study exploring a small cohort of nine international students’ in-depth reflections about their teaching and learning experiences studying at a major Swedish University. Interestingly while there have been numerous studies reporting on the experiences of international students attending Anglo-Saxon universities, few studies have explored the teaching and learning experiences of international students studying in Sweden, Carol Rodger's (2002) model of four functions of reflections provided a novel way to explore international students’ reflections about their learning experiences in Sweden, especially how these are shown in the following different cycles, of presence, description, analysis and experimentation. Making sense of international students’ experiences allows us as university lecturers to enhance our of understanding how to better support students in their learning away from their home universities. A qualitative content analysis was employed to the data collected from 3 focus groups. Findings showed that the international students experienced several cultural and contextual differences from that of their home universities. The differences related to course structures, teaching, and learning, as well as the relationship with their Swedish university lecturer(s).

Swedish Final Year Early Childhood Preservice Teachers’Attitudes, Concerns ,and Intentions towards Inclusion

The findings of this study suggest that preservice teachers’ strong self-efficacy beliefs about inclusion lead to positive attitudes and intentions to use inclusive practices in their future teaching. Authentic and inclusive learning experiences during teacher education programs and taught by excellent teacher educators is one way to support preservice teacher confidence building to include all children in the learning journey.

Liisa Uusimaki, Susanne Garvis & Umesh Sharma (2019)

ABSTRACT:

This article explores ninety-seven (n¼97) Swedish Early Childhood (EC) preservice teachers’ attitudes, concerns, and intentions to include children with disabilities in regular classrooms. A six-part self-reporting questionnaire was used to examine participants’ attitudes, concerns, efficacy, and intentions toward inclusion. The results showed that although the Swedish EC preservice teachers in this study expressed ’some’ concern about working with children the results indicated a high degree of teacher efficacy. To determine predictors of participants’ intentions and use of inclusive practices a series of regression analyses were undertaken. Knowledge of local legislation emerged as a significant predictor of participants’ intention scores. Teaching efficacy scores were significant predictors for both intention and use of inclusive practices. The results are discussed in the context of the Swedish idea of ‘a school for all with a focus on the Swedish preschool teacher education program.

Cross-cultural “distance”, “friction” and “flow”: exploring the experiences of pre-service teachers on international practicum

Liisa Uusimaki & Theresa Swirski (2014)

Abstract:

The focus of this paper is to illustrate Australian regional pre-service teachers’ perceptions of an international practicum: their cross-cultural understanding, notions of privilege and teacher/professional identity development. Findings indicate that there were three overlapping dimensions of cross-cultural understanding for pre-service teachers: distance, friction and flow. At times students acknowledged the value of their placement, yet indicated a lack of empathy and engagement with the culture visited. At other times there was clear frustration at the cultural differences, alongside a growth in awareness. The fullest dimension was where pre-service teachers and their students learnt from each other, signalling a sharing towards cross-cultural understanding. Implications of these findings aim to inform how international practicums are designed in the future, as well as signalling directions for further research relating to these border crossings

In favor of mature-aged graduates(MAGs) – tapping the potential for real educational change

This study reports on a small cohort of MAGs’ experiences in a one-year postgraduate teacher education program focusing on middle schooling. Findings from this study suggest MAGs benefit from being part of an innovative workshop program run in parallel with the Graduate Diploma program. Although the Graduate Diploma had provided them with significant challenges, the workshop impacted positively on participants’ emerging middle school teacher identity.

Liisa Uusimaki (2011)

ABSTRACT

Mature-aged graduates (MAGs) are characterized by significant life experience, including career change and an altruistic desire to benefit their prospective students. They are particularly well suited to the middle school environment with its focus on transition and its often complex student needs. Despite this, MAGs are currently underserviced by existing teacher education programs. Their potential to deliver high-quality teaching is often not fully realized. Postgraduate teacher education programs with a middle school focus must develop better ways to support these graduates and harness the unique combination of life/work experiences and the altruism they bring to the teaching profession. This study reports on a small cohort of MAGs’ experiences in a one-year postgraduate teacher education program focusing on middle schooling. Findings from this study suggest MAGs benefit from being part of an innovative workshop program run in parallel with the Graduate Diploma program. Although the Graduate Diploma had provided them with significant challenges, the workshop impacted positively on participants’ emerging middle school teacher identity. Inclusion in the workshop program encouraged fresh reflections about teacher identity and provided a supportive space that enabled their understanding of the importance of middle school teaching

Teaching Primary Years (Chapter)

It is important to remember that you can be the leader that you want to be. Leadership is important for all primary schools and opportunities should be made available to staff and students to take ownership and responsibility for learning within the school. This chapter has provided an overview of the leadership for learning program as one example of effective school leadership. As a future leader, it is important to have continual dialogues with staff, students, and the school community. It is also important to find a leadership style that you are comfortable with and that you feel you can make a strong contribution to the school community with.

Liisa Uusimaki & Susanne Garvis (2019)

When we think of a leader in a primary school, we often think about the principal. While the principal is responsible for the overall running of the school, many people and children contribute to the overall functioning of the school in their various leadership roles. This includes adults and children. Model 1 below highlights the possibilities for leadership in a primary school. Adults take on a variety of leadership roles whether it be as a teacher in the classroom, organizing the school tuckshop, leadership in the parent and citizen organizations within the school, school boards, and many other possibilities. Likewise, primary school students also take on leadership roles whether it be classroom leaders, school leaders, sports leaders, or other types of leadership for primary school students. This chapter will look at some of the roles more closely, starting with the principal.

The purposes of internationalisation – future teachers’ perspectives. - (Haley & Uusimaki, 2024)

ABSTRACT This research investigates the purposes of internationalisation from the perspective of a group of international prospective teachers studying at a Swedish university. The results show that the prospective teachers’ understanding of internationalisation corresponds to three ideologies of internationalisation – idealism, instrumentalism, and educationalism – but there is also evidence of a more complex and multifaceted understanding of internationalisation. We propose that a new internationalisation ideology may be emerging that corresponds to ideas about ‘responsible internationalisation’ and is connected to the COVID-19 pandemic and changing geopolitics. The importance of taking future teachers’ viewpoints into account, as well as a considering changes to global and local educational contexts, is emphasised when formulating internationalisation strategies in teacher education.