The intercultural development of education abroad professionals

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Authors
Kirkwood, Kelly J.
Advisor
Mulvihill, Thalia M., 1963-
Issue Date
2015-05-02
Keyword
Degree
Thesis (D. Ed.)
Department
Department of Educational Studies
Other Identifiers
Abstract

This quantitative study examined a population of education abroad professionals in an effort to better understand their intercultural development level, whether they overestimated or underestimated their intercultural competence, and whether the way individuals viewed the role of education abroad professionals, as either more logistical or more intercultural, had a statistically significant relationship with their own intercultural development scores. A sample of 226 education abroad professionals from three professional communities (SECUSS-L, NAFSA EA-KC, and ISEP) completed a customized version of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI)—a valid and reliable standardized assessment of intercultural development. Findings from the score reports indicated that this population minimized cultural difference and overestimated their level of intercultural development, suggesting that further intercultural training might benefit this population. There was no statistically significant relationship between the individual educators’ developmental orientation scores (DO) and their view of the education abroad professional’s role.