Repositioning teacher identities: beyond binaries of Self and Other

This paper reports on a study that investigated Australian pre-service teachers’ (PSTs) experiences in mobility programs undertaken in Santiago, Chile. Through the methodological lens of sense-making, our analysis aims to further current understandings of international teaching practicums and to examine how discursively (re)produced binary categories of cultural Self and Other continue to shape intercultural encounters. Our research suggests that there is a need to support PSTs in finding new ways to engage more deeply with the complexity of their experiences overseas, and their expanding sense of identity. This complexity might be explored further through a more critical interrogation of neo-colonial discourses that continue to frame the objectives of global mobility programs. The paper concludes by arguing that a conscious disruption of such inherent discourses is key in ensuring that international teaching practicums actually provide the transformative shifts in personal and professional experiences they are intended to generate.