ISJ April 2013: Book reviews – Internationalizing Teacher Education in the United States

Edited by Beverly Shaklee & Supriya Baily Reviewed by James Cambridge

Abstract:

The editors of this work, as well as many of its contributing authors, are associated with the Center for International Education at George Mason University, Virginia, USA. An underlying theme of the book is that, although migration as a consequence of economic globalisation has contributed to changing attitudes to cultural diversity in the USA, American schools ‘are based on a nineteenth-century model developed with a monocultural focus’ (page 5).

The view of America as a cultural ‘melting pot’ creating a normative national culture by assimilation has been superseded by explicit multiculturalism. The challenge for education policy-makers and teachers is how to address increasing cultural and linguistic diversity in the school classroom. A further challenge is how to change US teacher education for engagement with the world beyond US national boundaries.