Development of globally acceptable teachers: A study conducted in an Australian teacher education program

With an increasing number of English as a Second Language (ESL) students entering teacher education, the support for ESL pre-service teachers is becoming an increasingly important issue facing Australian universities (Han, 2005; Miller, 2010). This chapter explores the perceptions of 11 ESL pre-service teachers of the Master of Teaching program at the University of Tasmania, and support strategies that are in place to support their future teaching and learning. These ESL pre-service teachers were from four language and cultural backgrounds. They were encouraged to reflect on their teaching practices in weekly focus group meetings, reflective journals and surveys responses. The finding of this study contribute valuable insights on these ESL preservice teachers', including my own, experiences, values, beliefs, attitudes as well as the cultural and educational needs in the professional development toward globally accepted teachers.