From the Teacher's Perspective: The Complex Nature of Facilitating Volunteer Abroad Programs in Ontario Secondary Schools

Abstract

The following study has been designed to address gaps in the volunteer abroad literature with respect to this growing phenomenon within Ontario’s secondary school system. Volunteer abroad programs at the secondary school level reflect a combination of attributes from study abroad, international service learning and volunteer tourism and are influenced by the rhetoric of global citizenship. As studies have shown that educators play an important role in shaping the volunteer abroad experience for their students, specifically in relation to how they choose sending and host organizations, integrate pre-departure training and facilitate reflection during and after the time abroad, this study includes an interpretive analysis of ten semi-structured interviews conducted with Ontario secondary school teachers who have facilitated volunteer abroad programs between the years 2006 and 2011. Interview responses have been critically analyzed through the lens of the global citizenship discourse, post-colonial studies and critical pedagogy theory in order to make sense of the nuances involved in how teachers conceptualize the volunteer abroad experience they provide for their students. Throughout this thesis I argue that teachers must engage in self-reflexive and collaborative practices in order to challenge their assumptions regarding the impacts of these programs on their students and host communities in the Global South.