Internationally educated teachers in Canada: transition, integration, stress and coping strategies

1. Internationally educated teachers in Canada: transition, integration, stress and coping strategies Kangxian Zhao OISE/University of Toronto

2. Overview • Internationally Educated Teachers in Transition • Research Questions • Conceptual Framework • Research Methods • Research Participants • Research Findings • Discussion

3. Definition Internationally Educated Teachers • Immigrant teachers • Foreign trained teachers • Internationally trained teachers • Visible minority teachers • Bilingual teachers • Internationally educated teachers

4. Personal connection to the research topic • Multiple identities Chinese, Canadian, Immigrant, IET, non-native speaker of English Not a person with blond hair or white skin Successful L2 user? Nova Scotian? • Research experiences • IET research projects • CAMH research on Chinese immigrants’ mental health

5. IETs in Research Literature • IETs in the teacher education programs (e.g., Gamhir, 2004; Mylse, Cheng, & Wang, 2006) • IETs in service (e.g., Bascia, 1996; Deters, 2009; Wang, 2002) • Research Gap: IETs in Transition IETs’ Stress & Coping

6. Stress Coping IETs in Transition Workplace Teacher Education EmploymentSeeking

7. Research Questions • What motivates IETs to take up or return to teaching in Canada? • To what degree do IETs perceive their studies in the initial teacher education programs in Canada as useful and/or practical? • What is the nature of IETs' employment seeking experiences with Canadian teaching qualifications obtained in a faculty of education in Canada? • What are the stressors that IETs experience during the transition from the initial teacher education programs to the workplace in Canada? • What are IETs' coping strategies during this transition period? • How do the learning experiences in the initial teacher education programs, employment seeking, and early teaching experience of IETs in Canada affect their decision to remain or leave the teaching profession?

8. Conceptual framework • Community of Practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998) • Identity (Jenkin, 1996; Norton, 2000, 2006; Wenger, 1998)

9. Research Methods • Narrative approach (Clandinin & Connelly, 1990; Polkinghorne, 1995) • Multiple case study (Stake, 2005) • Semi-structured interviews • Short questionnaires • Email conversations • Online chat • Participants’ writing • Field notes

10. Research Participants • 14 women • 6 men • From12 countries and areas • Highly educated • From 26 to 52 years old • In Canada for 2 to 25 years • Previous teaching experience • “Canadian teaching experience”

11. Research Participants

12. Research Participants

13. Research Participants

14. Lara’s Metaphor for teaching:Rainbow pearl The oceans reflect a deep blue green, Sparkling light glistens, reflecting off the pristine white, Diamond sand within the cove, down far below, The oysters wink at the sky.  Encrusted with deep brown barnacles upon their polished surface, They await the nets, the divers, For it is harvesting time.  Each oyster has been infused with a crystal of sand Which rubs against its inner pink flesh. A glean of rainbow covers the grain of sand.  A gem not to be tossed into the wide Sargasso sea before it grows, but to be loved, prized, beyond the grain of sand, Beauty to behold and to be beholden forever.

15. Lara’s metaphor for teaching • The Sargasso Sea is a sea that is filled with a lot of debris. This sea was meant to represent the wider world. The grain of sand is the grain of knowledge which we as teachers hope to cultivate. Students then become the cultivated pearls which are desired. One also hopes that the students' knowledge would enrich those around them when they (the students) are ready to enter the world or other fields of academia

16. Jenny’s Workplace in Manitoba

17. Jenny was ice fishing in a first nation reserve in northern Manitoba. Jenny grew up in Taipei, the biggest city in Taiwan

18. Jasmine's poem A Xylophone A xylophone is waiting for someone who can play the sound of music. This Picture was taken by Jasmine’ daughter Jasmine , a non-native speaker of English, loves to write poems

19. Jack’s teaching philosophy My goal as an educator is to prepare students to take a mature and productive place in society as free and responsible citizens. I have had excellent opportunities to teach Business and Computer Studies in several higher education institutions in the Philippines. Among the most satisfying experience for me as a teacher has been integrating my professional industry experiences into my lessons. Each term I design course formats, select the most relevant textbooks and materials, research on pedagogical methodologies, give lectures, facilitate discussions, design and implement assessment and evaluation tools, and make sure I am readily available for student consultations. I am convinced that for every class I teach my major responsibility is to instil in students an enthusiasm for learning, competency in the subject matter, and confidence in their ability to use their new found knowledge in future practical applications. Both as a learner and a teacher, I was influenced by the philosophy of the La Sallian educators: “teaching minds, touching hearts, and transforming lives”. For us, teaching is a ministry. We promote not only intellectual, emotional and social successes but also achieving a certain level of sanctity through our studies. With this belief, I recognize the value and uniqueness of each student as a person with intellectual, imaginative, emotional, social, and physical potential. I endeavour to lead my students to seek the fullest development of their talents. • ………

20. Stress Coping IETs in Transition Workplace underemployment Teacher Education Employment Seeking Unemployment

21. Stress Coping Through the Lenses of COP and Identity Workplace underemployment Teacher Education Employment Seeking Unemployment

22. Research Findings • IETs were intrinsically and extrinsically motivated to become teachers in Canada • IETs have gone through different stages • IETs have gone through a number of communities • Some IETs’ membership and participation in the communities was temporary • Supply teachers’ participation and engagement was marginalized • Some IETs formed new communities with peers after graduation

23. Research Findings • IETs’ stress was associated with their multiple identities related to their language, culture, education, work, immigration • IETs’ shifting identities during the transition • IETs’ teacher professional identity construction in Canadian elementary and secondary schools

24. Research Findings • IETs’ stress was related to their identity as immigrant, IETs, wife, husband, parent, ethnic identity, non-native speaker, English native speaker with a non-Canadian accent • IETs’ stress was associated with their identity in different contexts inside and outside of schools • IETs used different strategies to cope with their difficulties and stress • Stress caused by workplace racism and discrimination

25. Surprises in the Research Findings • Employment • Language, accent, second language speaker identity • Conflicts and tensions with ATs • Seyyid’s transition—No stress at all • Racism and discrimination in the workplace

26. Employment • It was so frustrating. It's like you are dealing with a demon and the demon is invisible. It seems you are doing something but nothing is coming. You know when you do something all, and you expect a reward. Sometimes I feel like I am fighting with someone I can't even see. Everyone says that just keep on doing what you're doing, one day you will see the rewards. (Donieta) Donieta is an IET from Albania. She graduated in 2008 and found a teaching position in a private institute.

27. Employment School boards do not have the budget to hire more teachers. It's so bad that they don't hire teachers. I spent thousands of dollars to study a BEd. Now I can't find a job. It is a waste of money and time. If I knew the employment situation for new teachers a year ago, I would not waste my money and time for this BEd. (Rose) Rose is from China. She graduated in 2010. At the end of the study, she was unemployed and looking for a non-teaching position

28. Employment • I like teaching. I don't mind working as a volunteer. I still need to pay our bills. I want to support my family financially. ..I applied for a cashier job, but I was told that I didn't have Canadian experience. I have a Master's degree in Commerce and Accounting. I worked as an accountant assistant in a multinational company for two years. But that was not Canadian experience. (Nalita) Nalita graduated in 2008 and was still unemployment. She taught in an elementary school in India for 5 years and volunteered in a school in Toronto for 5 years.

29. Language & Accent • I speak English with an accent. In a Grade 7 class, a student used a cell phone to record what I said, then played it to the whole class to make everyone laugh ...I didn't know how to handle such thing. I didn't know what to do. (Jasmine)

30. Language & Accent • Students liked to challenge me. They challenged my English. Maybe some of my pronunciations were not standard. They would imitate my accent on purpose. Or when I said some sentences they were not very familiar with, they would also imitate what I said. (Jenny)

31. Conflicts with associate teachers during practicum • My AT is also an immigrant teacher herself... She liked to pick at my language, though English is not her first language either. She asked me to prepare a quiz for her Grade 12. I knew she would pick at my language, so I used the questions in the workbook that she gave me. I just changed the numbers. She looked at the quiz and started to pick at the language. So I had to tell her that I got all the questions in her workbook. (Rose) Rose is a Chinese. Her AT is an IET from Eastern Europe.

32. Conflicts with Associate teachers • Though your supervisor has been here, I will fail you anyway. (Rose) • I was basically told that they had the power to...not pass me, not give me my teacher's license…I was basically told that they had the power to take away my teacher's license. (Soop)

33. Conflicts with associate teachers • She evaluated me every day. She did this badly. She gave me a list of pros and cons in the first week. The things I did wrong had nothing to do with my teaching. She didn't mention I teach this or that. It was all about I had very bad classroom management. I lost people and paper stuff like that. It had nothing to do with my teaching. Only the administrative stuff, which is very very important for her. (Lara)

34. Seyyid: No stress at all • Originally came from Turkmenistan • Educated in Russia, taught I Math and Physics in Turkmenistan for years • Obtained a honour degree from a Canadian university • TESL diploma • Teacher education in 2008/2009 • Found a teaching position in an Islamic school before graduation • Located a permanent teaching position in an Islamic school in Calgary, Alberta in 2010.

35. Racism Any theory which involves the claim that racial or ethnic groups are inherently superior or inferior, thus implying that some would be entitled to dominate or eliminate others, presumed to be inferior, or which bases value judgements on racial differentiation... Racism includes racist ideologies, prejudiced attitudes, discriminatory behaviour, structural arrangements and institutionalized practices resulting in racial inequality as well as the fallacious notion that discriminatory relations between groups are morally and scientifically justifiable... Racial prejudice, historically linked with inequalities in power, reinforced by economic and social differences between individuals and groups. (Unesco, 1979, pp. 61-62)

36. Visible Minority’s Perception of Workplace Discrimination (Banerjee, 2012) • An expectation for equity and fair treatment was the most important factor on visible minority's perception of workplace discrimination • Visible minorities’ perception of workplace discrimination was positively related to their ethnic group identification • Black (Often perceived discrimination) • South Asian • Other minorities • Chinese (Lest likely perceived discrimination)

37. IETs’ Perception of Workplace Racism and Discrimination • I had problems with the AT. She was pretty bad. She was a racist. (Lara) • She's racism. She didn't like black people. She silenced the black children. They were not allowed to participate in the class. (Lara)

38. IETs’ Perception of Workplace Racism and Discrimination One British teacher, she was not happy with immigrant...She was racist. (Shyla) You can feel it, but you can't say it. Every immigrant feels that. It doesn't matter how good you are. It doesn't matter how good your teaching is. You feel it, right? But you can't say it in words. (Shyla)

39. IETs’ Perception of Workplace Racism and Discrimination • It’s hard to say. It’s really hard to say. (Kent) • It’s all about my language. If my language were better… (Rose) • It’s not what happened. Something you need to feel it, you know…the kind of feeling is…Its more body language. I don’t know if you have such experience. (Soop)

40. IETs’ Perception of Workplace Racism and Discrimination • Lara (Caribbean) • Shyla (Indian) • Kent, Rose, Soop (Chinese) • Possible relation between perception of racism and discrimination and cultural background? (for future research)

41. Discussion • The power relationship between old-timer and newcomer in the community of practice • The practice of mentorship in teacher education • Teacher stress is not only associated with teaching related activities but also with their multiple identities in the socioculturally constructed world • How to support IETs’ transition from teacher education to the workplace

42. Future Research • Compare IETs’ experiences to those of Canadian born teachers • Compare visible minority IETs to invisible minority IETs • IETs who could not locate teaching positions • Supply teachers • IETs’ perceptions of racism and discrimination

43. Thank you! Questions? Feel free to contact me: Kangxian.zhao@mail.utoronto.ca kangxian@gmail.com