Internationalizing Teacher Prep & Innovations in Internationalization

Overview

The Longview Foundation seeks to build a more peaceful, just, and sustainable world by equipping youth with a global perspective and understanding of political, social, and environmental issues worldwide.

We accomplish this by supporting teacher preparation, state initiatives and coalitions, and innovative programs focused on internationalizing education in the United States.
Founded by William L. Breese, the Longview Foundation for World Affairs and International Understanding has been helping young people in the United States learn about world regions and global issues since 1966.

We are committed to:

• Pursuing systemic change
• Considering diverse perspectives
• Valuing our differences
• Seeking new insights and research
• Advancing equity
• Partnering humbly
• Acting as good stewards

Internationalizing Teacher Preparation

As economic, social, and technological transformations link us in unprecedented ways, the critical role of teachers in preparing young people for a new global reality has never been clearer; yet, few teachers begin their careers with the deep knowledge and robust skills necessary to bring the world into their classrooms.

In February 2008, the Longview Foundation brought together leaders in education, government, and other sectors to examine what is currently being done in schools, colleges, and departments of education to prepare future teachers for the new global reality and to generate momentum to do more. The result was the commissioning of a new report and funding stream for Longview.

Teacher Preparation for the Global Age: The Imperative for Change, highlights promising practices identified during this meeting and subsequent discussions and suggests a framework for internationalizing the education of all pre–service teachers and increasing the number of world language teachers, especially in less commonly taught languages.

Teacher preparation programs that have been comprehensively internationalized ensure that the following actions occur:

• General education coursework helps each prospective teacher to develop deep knowledge of at least one world region, culture, or global issue, and facility in one language in addition to English.
• Professional education courses teach the pedagogical skills to enable future teachers to teach the global dimensions of their subject matter.
• Field experiences for faculty and students support the development of pre–service teachers’ global perspectives and contribute the broader research base of the aligned strategic plan.
• More teachers are prepared to teach less commonly taught languages and language education pedagogy is updated based on current research and best practice.
• There are incentives, not barriers, to faculty at all levels engaging in this work.
• In addition since the publication of the report, the following elements have been identified as critical to comprehensive, sustainable internationalization for today’s teacher education programs:

Programs and courses are creating and utilizing formative and summative assessments to evaluate the effectiveness of new strategies in developing the global competence of prospective teachers.

Technology is integrated into the student experience to enhance instructional practice and to facilitate connections to the world.

• Prerequisites for language study are in place and opportunities to build further proficiency and language application exist during students’ course of study.
• Key partnerships locally, regionally, and nationally exist and larger reform initiatives tie back to campus and college’s strategic plans.
• All work aligns to the global aspects of the college and campus strategic vision.

Innovations in Internationalization

We seek to weave global competence into the fabric of school and teacher experiences to engage and inspire the people living in them to want to connect more meaningfully to the world.
We believe that there are many catalysts for public dialogue and that making global–local connections and encouraging shared cultural experiences contribute to a sense of place and communal identity.

Our innovations work specifically supports strategic, field–building activities that help address gaps in knowledge or capacity. Advancement of global education in new and creative mechanisms is particularly of interest. Previous grants in this field have ranged from connecting schools with communities around international children’s literature to building professional development resources for teachers that internationalize the U.S. History perspectives taught in middle and high school.

What the Longview Foundation does NOT fund:

•     Projects outside the United States or
•     Projects that reach small numbers of students and teachers
•     Work that does not advance or contribute to the field overall
•     Support for individual PK-12 schools or programs within individual schools
•     International travel
•     Project work linked to a specific country
•     Overhead/indirect costs above 10%

The foundation is interested in supporting activities that have other sources of funding and can demonstrate sustainability beyond the grant period.

Most grants will be between $15,000 and $25,000. 

Fundint inquiry required - 01/18/2024
Invitation to submit full proposal - 02/22/2024
Full Proposal submission - 03/26/2024