InternAbroad: Early Childhood Education Internships in South Africa
This collaboration project between STADIO Faculty of Education (formerly: Embury Institute for Higher Education) and Queen Maud University of Early Childhood Education aims to develop and strengthen the ongoing student exchange for practical training and studies
About InternAbroad:
InternAbroad supports Norwegian higher education institutions that aim to develop and establish the structures, routines and networks necessary to provide their students internship opportunities abroad as an integrated part of their studies.
InternAbroad is financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, through funds from the UTFORSK and North America partnership programmes.
News article about the project: https://dmmh.no/hva-skjer/internabroad
Background
In this cross-continental project, reflection and facilitation is considered crucial in order to develop the deep learning of early childhood education teacher students. With this project, we want to broaden the internship experience in South Africa through a well-designed internship period and an online course focusing on building intercultural competence and community engagement in Early childhood education.
The main activities involve creating sustainable structures supporting the internships and collaboration on what is expected from the internships. The internship will be an integral part of a new online course offered by STADIO, including joint supervision with QMUC. Even if the course is online, it will be practical and local. Among all, various course assignments have to be carried out during the internship, as well as the planning and implementation of a sustainability peer project together with local students. Through the online platform, we will create a community of colleagues working together to improve the quality of the internship and deepen the learning as well as future job opportunities for the students involved. It is important to the partners that The development of the internship course and online module is research-based, and the students are involved in the development of all aspects of the project and learning design. The project results will be made available to the public through different media.
The cooperation between STADIO and QMUC was initiated in 2007 and the exchange of students started in 2009.
Project period
January 2020 - December 2023
Project Team
STADIO
Amanda Lee
Kerri-Lee Schneider
Priya Kistan
Brenda Pyper
QMUC
Gjertrud Stordal
Ingunn Elder
Rasmus Kolseth Rian