Each semester, Lipscomb sends education majors across seas to student teach.
Teaching abroad is fairly new to Lipscomb’s campus. The first group of student teachers traveled in the Spring of 2014 and consisted of three students.
“At the time we knew very little about the requirements and that kind of thing that needed to happen,” said Dr. Junior High, Education Department Chair.
Throughout the years, numbers have stayed consistently around three to four students teaching overseas. This Fall, Lipscomb has one student, John Broadwell, placed in the Canary Islands. In the Spring, three female students will participate. These students have been placed in Thailand, Slovakia and South Africa.
Art education major Ansley Gwin said she is looking forward to the time she will spend in Bangkok.
“I studied abroad sophomore year, and I really loved it,” Gwin said. “And ever since then, and kind of before then, I had a heart for travel and different cultures, and so immediately when I heard teaching abroad was an option, I looked into how I could do that just because of my love of travel.”
To place students like Gwin, Lipscomb works closely with the Christian College Teacher Education Coordinating Council (CCTECC).
“This agency, the CCTECC, would make provisions for all of us, for our students as far as placements,” High said. “Because when you are trying to make international placements, you need to have knowledge of what’s available, and so this organization was recommended to us through Union University.”
CCTECC began in 1990 by Interaction, an organization founded by Dr. David Pollock. The program works with Christian colleges in the U.S. to place student teachers overseas. Al Gurley is the Coordinator for CCTECC, and he works closely with each teacher candidate during the placement process.
“The reason he started this program was to provide potential teachers for schools overseas, especially MK [missionary kids] schools that have difficulty in finding teachers often,” Gurley said.
“…Right now there are 25 of them [Christian colleges] that are members of CCTECC,” Gurley said. “They then have the opportunity to send applications to me for student teachers that they feel would do well in that kind of experience. And then I contact overseas schools and try to match them up with schools or areas of the world that they would like to go, and student teach.”
Placing students in their first choice is not always a possibility. Gwin experienced this first-hand.
“I had a few options between South Africa, New Zealand and in Thailand,” Gwin said. “The program just kind of like — I gave them the list, and they placed me in the one that was available and open and had an art teacher there that would work with me.”
When looking at schools, students have the opportunity to request between Christian and secular schools. Currently, Gurley estimates around 75 percent of students end up at Christian or “MK” schools, while the remaining 25 percent go to secular schools.
Once CCTECC places a student at an overseas school, they take a hands-off approach. After signing a confirmation form, students are in charge of finding their own housing, transportation and other expenses.
“CCTECC does not provide resources, but what we have found over the years, particularly at Christian schools, is that they provide housing,” Gurley said. “Which is probably the main cost along with the flight overseas, but unfortunately, they are responsible to take care of their expenses: to get there, and while they’re there. Fundamentally, CCTECC makes the placement and provides the training to prepare them to go overseas. That is the primary responsibility for what we do.”
Gwin has contacted her overseas school and set up housing, flights and visa information. However, she admitted the large time difference from Nashville to Bangkok has made the communication process challenging.
“It was actually more difficult than I thought it would be,” Gwin said. “The communication of course has to be via email, and you’re communicating not only with your school that is going to place you abroad but also the people who work with CCTECC, and then you are also working with Lipscomb. And so, tying those three different people together and communicating all that and getting what you need best is really difficult. It is a lot of work, so hopefully in the end it is all worth it.”
Another requirement of the program is that students attend a training seminar. This weekend-long retreat is hosted in Fort Wayne, Indiana, at Lake Placid. At the seminar, students receive information and a better understanding of the issues they may face while abroad. Plus, students are able to form “community” with other students that will be teaching abroad.
Students are also given the opportunity to explore a potential career path as part of the pre-existing student teaching requirements.
“I think it gives our student teachers a chance to compare and contrast the education system that they have been exposed to here and maybe find new and different ways to approach teaching,” High said.
“[Teaching abroad] gives them also an experience to think ‘Is this a career path I would like to do? Do I want to actually teach abroad?’ and find out that it is very doable, very possible for students to do that. And there is a great demand for that as well in our world. We get lots of requests. Lots of interest in our candidates for going abroad.”
Gurley has also seen the impact CCTECC has made on students and, because of his pastoral background, sees his job as a ministry opportunity.
“One of the things I do every day is pray for God to direct me in finding the schools for those that apply,” Gurley said. “I believe that because I seek Him and pray about it that He directs me. And students go to the places where He wants them.
“I used to not always see it like this. The more I have done it the more I see that it is a life changing experience for many kids.”