@phdthesis{Wernisch2016, author = {Diana Veronika Wernisch}, title = {Internationalization and Student Mobility in Teacher Education: Internationalization Models, Diffusion Barriers, and Recommendations for Policy and Higher Education Institutions}, url = {https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:frei129-opus4-6512}, year = {2016}, abstract = {For the field of teacher education, a particularly wide discrepancy exists between (1) higher education discourses and policies advocating a wide diffusion of international dimensions, specifically of study-related mobility (such as Erasmus stays abroad), within higher education degree programs; (2) the ideals and demands placed upon teacher education graduates to possess relevant international competences and experiences in view of their role as multipliers and professionals in increasingly multicultural and global societies; and (3) the ground-level practices, as evidenced by comparatively low mobility rates in teacher education degree programs in Europe. The study reverts to the question where this discrepancy is actually produced and how it could be addressed, thereby closing a gap in student mobility and higher education internationalization research on the diffusion barriers at work in the field of teacher education. The thesis is set in the field of international and comparative education, and pursues a multilevel and contextualized comparative approach, involving two strands of investigation: (1) a theory-based and process-oriented quantitative inquiry into relevant obstacles for eventual participation in study-related mobility among students in teacher education degree programs; (2) and a multilevel (policy, institutions/staff, students) inquiry into the trajectories of internationalization in teacher education, in view of current higher education internationalization models. By linking and contextualizing findings from different levels and investigation strands, the study draws conclusions and gives recommendations on ways to foster study-related mobility in teacher education degree programs. Through the study’s conceptualization of participation in study-related mobility as a process, and through its reflections on strategically managing internationalization, its findings are also relevant to the higher education sector in general.}, language = {en} }