DIAH KURNIATI (UNIVERSITAS MURIA KUDUS)

THE PERSPECTIVE OF PRESERVICE TEACHERS ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AN OVERSEAS TEACHING INTERNSHIPS : TEACHER EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Teaching internships, which is also known as teaching practicums, are courses offered to students at the College of Teacher Education to give them real-world classroom experience and allow them to become familiar with the teaching process and problems. Teaching Internships also provide early preparation for student teachers to become more professional before entering the real workforce. In this globalized time, where there are no borders between countries, teaching internships are undertaken at both local and overseas schools such as schools in Thailand and Philippines. This qualitative research design seeks to investigate Indonesian pre-service teachers' perspectives on the implementation of an overseas teaching internship. The participants of this study were two third year female students of English Education Department, University of Universitas Muria Kudus, Indonesia. The chosen students had completed a teaching internship in the Philippines. The duration of this overseas internship was twenty five days. The data were gathered using an open-ended questionnaire. The study's findings demonstrate that the foreign teaching internship helped pre-service teachers improve their self-confidence, coping problems, and time management abilities as well as their personal competency. The program of also increased pre-service teachers' professional competencies, such as communication skills, pedagogical abilities, new educational worldviews, and career goals.

Diah Kurniati is a lecturer in the English Education Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Muria Kudus (UMK), Indonesia. Her research interest covers English Language Teaching including teaching English to special needs students.