International Education Research Forum

Kia ora koutou, and welcome to the International Education Research Forum!

This interdisciplinary forum serves as a platform for the active exchange of ideas on international education in Aotearoa NZ. Whether you are an experienced academic, a postgraduate student, or a practitioner, this is an opportunity to connect with peers and broaden your perspectives.
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Our next session is on Thursday, 5 November, from 12 pm to 1 pm.
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Title: Fostering Intercultural Competence in Schools in Aotearoa New Zealand – Insights from a Global Citizenship Education Initiative

Presenters: Dr. Constanza Tolosa and Dr. Ben Egerton
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Abstract:

In this presentation, we will share findings from a study on a Global Citizenship Education initiative funded by the Latin American Centre of Asia-Pacific Excellence in Aotearoa New Zealand. The Cultures and Languages in the Classroom project examined how school-aged children developed intercultural competence through learning Spanish taught by volunteer advanced university students.

We will first present a brief overview of Global Citizenship Education and Intercultural Competence as the conceptual underpinnings of the study and will situate it within the current vacuum in foreign language education in our schools. We will then introduce the study where ten advanced university students volunteered as Language and Culture Assistants to support 12 teachers across six schools that taught learners in years 7–10, aged 10 to 15. Content analysis of group discussions with the pupils reveals emerging attitudes of openness, curiosity and respect, core components of Intercultural Competence. Our study concluded that there are a few educational endeavours which can promote the type of holistic, enduring, identity-forming work that Intercultural Competence demands, like the process of explicitly learning languages and cultures. We argue that Aotearoa New Zealand is in a privileged position to prepare young people for an increasingly interdependent and culturally diverse world.
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Bios:
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Dr. Constanza Tolosa is a Senior Lecturer in Languages Education in the School of Education and Social Practice at the Faculty of Arts and Education at the University of Auckland. Constanza is an applied linguist and a teacher educator in Languages Education with research and teaching expertise in the learning and teaching of languages in linguistically and culturally diverse contexts.

Dr. Ben Egerton is Director of Initial Teacher Education at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. His research interests centre on learning design, particularly how it can enable and deepen school students’ creative and cultural thinking. Ben is also a poet. His MA and creative PhD focused on religious poetry, and he is the author of three poetry collections, most recently a is to b as c is to d (Kelsay Books, 2026).

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Please contact forum conveners if you have any questions: Pii-Tuulia Nikula & Chris Beard