In the last twenty-five years in the United States, Canada, Australia, Britain, Europe and many other parts of the world, the ethnic and cultural make-up of school communities has undergone rapid and radical change (Leavy, 2005; Leeman, 2006; Liddicoat & Diaz, 2008; Osler et al. 2006). Unprecedented movements of refugees and immigrants across national borders in many regions of the world, as well as the development of global labour and education markets has resulted in communities, some of which have traditionally been culturally homogenous, becoming increasingly diverse (Matthews & Sidhu, 2005). Although the professional requisite to effectively teach diverse student cohorts is embodied in standards for teaching, it is inconsistently and often ineffectively addressed in teacher education. In general, teachers are not well prepared to teach in culturally diverse schools (e.g. Achinstein & Athanases, 2005; Allard& Santoro, 2008; Harsuyker, 2007). They often lack knowledge of their students’ cultural background and how their students’ ethnicities, cultural practices and beliefs shape them as learners. Just as important however, is for teachers to understand that they too are encultured and that the pedagogical decisions they make and the relationships they develop with students are also shaped by their ethnic positioning and the cultural knowledge they bring with them to their work.

Some research (Kushner & Brennan, 2007; Walters, Garii, & Walters, 2009) suggests that direct experience and interaction with culturally diverse ‘others’ is one way to extend students’ understanding of what constitutes cultural diversity, to “challenge teacher education students to use inert knowledge to read and interpret their experiences with diversity and understanding of self, and the interconnectedness with their own students' lives and school opportunities” (Dantas, 2007, p 76) and to confront deficit notions of difference.  Therefore, in Australia, Europe and North America, opportunities for cultural exchange, or study tours are increasingly being made available to preservice teachers as a way to achieve this (Rapoport 2008; Dooly & Villanueve, 2006; Hill & Thomas, 2005; Danatas, 2007).

In this paper we report on a qualitative study that investigated the experiences of 14 Australian preservice teachers who attended a short term cultural program in Korea or India. These programs provided opportunities to experience living in cultures significantly different from their own and to participate in, and observe the teaching and education practices of these contexts and to reflect on their own ethnicity and the challenge of being an ethnic ‘outsider’.

Key research questions were:

How did the cultural program develop students’ personal intercultural competence?

How did the cultural program assist students’ development as a cross-culturally competent teacher?

How did the expectations and reflections of the students compare with the purported aims of the programs and how might the programs be improved?

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