Ten years ago, CEHD and the Seoul National University of Education (SNUE) in South Korea tried out a new program. SNUE was interested in sending teacher candidates to the United States for professional development. That initial trial run turned out to be a great success and spun off into a decade-long partnership between CEHD and SNUE with multiple programs.
“We thought it was a great opportunity,” says Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development Associate Professor Christopher Johnstone. Johnstone was CEHD’s director of international initiatives and relations at the time and was instrumental in getting the initial project, the Global Teacher Education Program (GTEP), off the ground. “The idea would be for SNUE students to come for about a month to get a couple of weeks of classroom-based higher education lessons and then spend time in Twin Cities’ area schools,” he says.
The program was unique in that it was not focused on English language development, which many U.S. programs for international students are, but rather on enhancing teaching skills and exposure to innovative teaching theories and methods. “This turned out to be a very successful model and we have hosted hundreds of SNUE students in the past 10 years,” says International Initiatives Program Director Marina Aleixo, who helped design the original curriculum and now facilitates the program.
