Short Internship Abroad: Strategy for the Development of Intercultural Competence in Teacher Training

Abstract

The phenomenon of immigration has had a significant impact on Chilean classrooms. Given this, it is observed that teachers have not been prepared in their initial teacher training (ITT) to work with culturally heterogeneous students. This article presents a case study whose objective was to determine if the experience of a short internship abroad provides benefits in the development of intercultural competence during the ITT of three students of pedagogy from a university located in the north of Chile. From a qualitative approach, the information was collected through semi-structured interviews. The results allow sustaining that the experience of the internship was advantageous for the participants and therefore it is proposed as an ITT strategy for the development of such competence.