Digital Commons @ SPU

A Tale of Two Cities: A Chinese/American Teacher-Training Partnership

How can a small, liberal arts university in Seattle help train teachers in rural China? This question was the genesis for a new partnership between the College of Education at Northwest University (NU) in Kirkland and the 271 Educational Group in China, a rapidly growing private educational organization committed to enacting the philosophies of John Dewey and other progressives in a Chinese context. What began as a chance, one-time summer visit has grown into a bi-lateral exchange in which hundreds of Chinese teachers have traveled to the Northwest campus for extended training in American pedagogical techniques. This initial partnership has proven to be mutually beneficial in unanticipated ways. For example, the NU College of Education has created a specialized M.Ed. program for international teachers who wish to study American educational techniques, and NU’s undergraduate pre-service teachers now travel regularly to China to study Chinese pedagogy in 271 schools. The oldest of these programs began only three years ago, and the emerging data suggest that teachers and students from both countries are adopting more inclusive educational practices as a result.