Preparing Staff to Work Offshore

VICTORIAN TAFE INTERNATIONAL

Victorian TAFE International (VTI) is an association of staff who work in TAFE Institutes and dual sector universities in international education in the State of Victoria, Australia. Participation is open to any international education staff members including those in management, recruitment, business development, admissions, and quality and compliance in member public vocational education institutions.

VTI exists to support and inform members, improve communication between members and other bodies, to increase awareness and understanding of international education generally and to provide quality advice to the Victorian TAFE Association (VTA), on international education issues which will then inform policy and strategic directions for the enhancement of the TAFE brand.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This report was written by Kate Dempsey, Executive Officer of VTI with assistance and input from members of the VTI Offshore Special Interest Group. Members are from Advance TAFE, Box Hill Institute, Bendigo TAFE, Chisholm Institute, Gordon Institute, Goulburn Ovens Institute, Holmesglen, Kangan, NMIT, RMIT, South West TAFE, Sunraysia TAFE, University of Ballarat, Victoria University, William Angliss and Wodonga TAFE Institute.

Special thanks must go to Alan Maguire, Manager International Projects at William Angliss Institute and to Barbara Smith, China Programs and Offshore English Coordinator at NMIT, for their considerable assistance in the development of this report.

December 2012

ISBN: 978-0-9872358-7-9

CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION pages 4-6 1.1 History of Transnational Education in Australia 1.2 Students Offshore study Diplomas in Management/Commerce 1.3 Students learn in the classroom 1.4 Courses are mainly conducted in English 1.5 Public TAFE Providers in Victoria lead the way in TNE

2. MODELS OF INTERCULTURAL TRAINING pages 7-13 2.1 Defining culture 2.2 Types of training offered 2.3 Is training useful?

3. INTERCULTURAL PREPARATION OFFERED BY VICTORIAN TAFE pages 14-18 3.1 Survey of All VTI members 3.2 Criteria to select staff to travel overseas 3.3 Is intercultural preparation formal and who receives it? 3.4 Time spent on the intercultural preparation 3.5 What is involved in the pre-departure preparation? 3.6 The essential elements of good intercultural preparation 3.7 Is the intercultural preparation effective? 3.8 Improvements to intercultural preparation

4. SUGGESTIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL CULTURAL AWARENESS TRAINING page 19-26 4.1 How is success defined in TNE? 4.2 The ideal candidate for working offshore 4.3 Elements of good practice in intercultural preparation 4.4 Proposed good practice selection process for offshore assignment 4.5 Proposed good practice cycle of offshore preparation

5. CONCLUSIONS page 27

REFERENCES page 28

APPENDICES page 31 - 54

SUMMARY

This report contains information about how 16 Australian public vocational education and training providers prepare their teaching staff and their managerial staff to work overseas. Its purpose is to provide a summary of what is done to prepare staff to travel, to reflect on the value and purpose of these activities and also to indicate how they might be improved.

The educational institutes are all members of Victorian TAFE International Inc. (VTI) and between them, they provide more than 70% of Australia’s offshore vocational education and training (VET).

The report firstly outlines in the Introduction, the level of activity of the VTI member educational institutes in offshore locations, mainly in China and notes the dominance of the VTI educational institutes in this field of transnational education (TNE). It then provides a definition of culture and looks at different models of intercultural training. In particular it provides a summary of the key literature on intercultural preparation, highlighting the work of Hofstede on cultural differences and indicating how these theoretical constructs may operate in real life instances.

The third section of the report, Intercultural Preparation offered by Victorian TAFE, analyses a survey that was undertaken by all VTI members currently operating offshore. This is a significant piece of intelligence, since all members operating offshore answered the survey and between them they account for 70% of Australia’s transnational VET effort.

The survey showed that . 86% offer informal training of around 2-3 hours for staff going offshore . The preparation is done by in-house staff in every instance . It mainly involves checklists of do’s and don’ts, discussion of critical incidents and examination of case studies . In 78% of cases the learning is not evaluated, assessed or formally credentialed . 64% felt their preparation is effective (based on the fact that nothing goes wrong and staff are happy to go overseas again) . 86% offer some form of debriefing of staff upon their return.

In terms of improvements 43% suggested a more formal course might be useful, while 21% required more resources to provide more in depth training.

Following discussion of the survey results, VTI members spent time in 2012 discussing ways to improve the intercultural preparation models that members adopted. Section 4 of the report, Suggestions for Successful Cultural Awareness Training has suggestions for what a successful candidate for overseas posting may require and how best to prepare that person to work in a new environment. It offers suggestions for best practice.

Finally the report concludes with lessons for others working in the field of intercultural preparation and has 10 appendices with templates and samples of good practice generously provided by members of Victorian TAFE International.

3 1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 History of Transnational Education in Australia

It is 25 years since full fee paying students were able to come to Australia for study in universities, schools and vocational education and training (VET) institutes. Between 1985 and the end of the century, experience and expertise grew in marketing and recruiting international students to come to Australia’s universities and vocational education providers. Providers then began exploring opportunities to engage with students offshore, that is, in their own countries. The offering of training in countries other than Australia is called Transnational Education (TNE).

By 2000, Box Hill Institute, Northern Melbourne Institute, Holmesglen and Victoria University had commenced offering courses and training offshore. Since vocational education institutes are more autonomous in Victoria than in other states of Australia, institutes acted independently and have built up significant activity, principally in China.

Records for offshore enrolments commenced in 2003 with the NCVER survey of providers offering TNE. Table 1 below shows that TNE (offshore) enrolments have outstripped onshore international student enrolments every year since records began in Australia.

Table 1: International enrolments in Australian public VET

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Onshore 12403 12379 13934 16318 20693 24997 33206 45356 Offshore 18291 23586 27842 30984 43953 55332 64819 63307 Source: Banks et al (2010) cited in Making a Difference (2011:322) and NCVER offshore data 2010

1.2 Students Offshore mostly study Diplomas and mainly in Management/Commerce

In 2010, 56% of offshore Australian TAFE students were undertaking management and commerce, with 47% studying at Diploma level. This is followed by 14.9% studying society and culture. There has been a small growth in studies in engineering and related technologies (up from 5% in 2007 and 2008 to 10.6% in 2010).

The most widely taught area of study (across most countries) is education; specifically, the Certificate IV in Training and Education. Training occurs in up to 45 countries, but the largest effort occurs in China.

1.3 Students learn in the Classroom

In terms of mode of training (in the classroom or online), the majority of training courses occur in the classroom at around 90% (and this covers 98% of students). Online and remote training accounts for just 0.5% of training. This has diminished from a high of 6.7% of courses studied this way in 2007. The other change has been the growth in employment- based activities, growing from 3% in 2006, to 8.3% of training courses offered in 2010.

4 1.4 Courses are mainly conducted in English

In 2010, 82% of courses were conducted in English, with 30% of courses offering an English language component to the course. Interestingly for 77% of courses in 2010 the language of tuition is not recorded on the transcript, nor was English language competency tested on completion in 92% of courses taught by Australian TAFE offshore.

Table 2 Number of Australian TAFE students by country 2006–10 (top 5 countries)

Country 2006 % 2007 % 2008 % 2009 % 2010 %

China 22012 71.3 35,475 80.7 42,999 77.7 48,971 75.6 45,882 73.6 Kuwait 910 2.9 277 2.9 1629 2.9 2231 3.4 2667 4.3 Fiji 1754 5.7 1964 4.5 1801 3.3 2209 3.4 2490 4.0 Vietnam 1147 3.7 1320 3.0 2929 5.3 2625 4.1 2203 3.5 Hong 798 2.6 477 1.1 505 0.9 1218 1.9 1320 2.1 Kong

Figure 1 VET students offshore by state or territory of provider 2006–10

Note: (a) Other includes South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.

Figure 1 shows a decline in effort from 2009 to 2010 except for Queensland, which experienced modest growth. The overall decrease in the number of students from 2009 to 2010 is largely due to a change in enrolment procedures in one course, where students are now enrolled in one calendar year instead of across two years. This also accounts for the decrease in students based in China and studying non-award courses.

5 1.5 Public TAFE Providers in Victoria lead the way in TNE

Two VTI member institutes lead the way in TNE vocational education and training. They are Box Hill Institute, which by 2010 had over 5000 students studying accredited programs in 20 campus-based partnerships across 10 different countries. The other key player is NMIT, which is now the largest offshore VET provider in Australia.

Public TAFE providers have led the way in this field of endeavour and while private vocational education and training providers have also begun to explore TNE opportunities, their contribution to the total effort is very small at this stage. The only data available for private sector providers is the 2009 NCVER survey. The survey was voluntary for private providers to participate and was not replicated in 2010 or 2011.

Figure 2 below shows the scale of effort in TNE by Victorian TAFE Institutes. VTI members between them account for 70% of all vocational education transnational education. Therefore this document will be of use to all providers offering TNE since it encapsulates the wealth of experience of the key providers in TNE in Australian vocational education and training.

Figure 2 Number of Students Studying VET Offshore by State and Provider in 2009

6 2. MODELS OF INTERCULTURAL TRAINING

2.1 Defining Culture

Culture is defined as shared norms, values and assumptions (Schein, 1996). Hofstede (1980) conducted one of the most comprehensive studies of how values in the workplace are influenced by culture. He built on Schein’s definition to show that different cultures varied along dimensions of power distance (the degree to which a society accepts unequal distribution of power); individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity (as traditionally defined) and uncertainty avoidance.

Later he added a further driver of cultural identity, that of long-term orientation. He does not suggest that each individual in a specific society will be the same, simply that the society as a whole will have certain characteristics that drive their cultural norms. These are learned by individual members of a given society early in life and are favoured by the majority.

While Australia1 tends to score low on power distance (in general it does not accept inequality readily) and highly on individuality, it scores highly also on masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and low on long term orientation. This is in sharp contrast to Chinese cultural identity that tolerates inequality more easily, values collective effort much more highly, deals better with uncertainty and scores significantly higher than Australia on favouring the long-term view of issues.

Figure 3 Hofstede’s Comparison of China and Australia

Both countries have similar scores in terms of masculinity of culture. This is described by Hofstede as meaning each society is driven by competition, achievement and success, with

1 http://geert-hofstede.com/australia.html The scores are not percentages, but scores on Hofstede’s own scale 7 success being defined by the “winner” or “best-in-the-field.” This value system starts in school and continues throughout one’s life – both in work and leisure pursuits. Most countries in Asia and especially China score quite differently to Australia on Hofstede’s matrix2. Of course these scores are averages only and Hofstede does not claim each individual person will be found with these exact characteristics.

Hofstede shows how these cultural characteristics will be translated into learning models and styles. For example, group learning and experiential learning will be of secondary consideration in countries such as China, and the emphasis there will be on the knowledge of the instructor and the respect due to the person in that role. This is true also of other regions in which VTI members operate. Below is the Hofstede chart for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, compared with Australia. Readers can see that tolerance of power distance is even higher in these countries; meaning teachers will be expected to provide leadership in the classroom.

The way this manifests in the classroom is that the Chinese (or Arab) teacher is responsible for the success of the students. Viewing teachers as facilitators of a student’s own learning is an uncommon approach and the teacher will seem to be abrogating his/her responsibility as the leader, if the teacher does not ensure all students pass.

Hofstede’s Individualism score is about the focus of attention within a group setting. The focus of more individualistic societies is on the individual and his/her rights and needs. So each makes his/her own decision within a group. In a more collectivist society, the individual will submit to the betterment of the group. In both views the group is important, but how people work together is different. During group work, Chinese students will tend to work together and allocate tasks and share knowledge within the group. The final work of the group is more important than which individual did which task. In Arab classrooms, this collective view is less prominent, but more similar to China than to Australia. Loyalty to the group is a key driver in both Asian and Arab cultures.

In Australian classrooms, this way of working together could be viewed as collusion or even as producing plagiarised work. Critical deconstruction of knowledge is For assignments I have selected team considered innovative in Australia, but in leaders (on the basis of good English the Asian tradition, the innovative skills and their acceptance/respect by application of accepted knowledge is other students). This works very well. good practice in learning. It is often said They find the team leader less that Chinese students are passive and not threatening and more approachable able to think critically, however the accepted view in China is that all than me. I need to give very clear knowledge is built up over time by many instructions to the team leaders and people working together. In this way of check and re-check with them. My only thinking it is not important to concern is at times team leaders are acknowledge a single source, but rather doing more work than some of their to look at new ways that accepted team members. However overall it works knowledge may be applied. Therefore a group approach is best for this method. very well. TAFE Teacher3

2 http://geert-hofstede.com/china.html 3Thanks to Ron Casey for the Australian Teacher quotes in this report 8 This model of knowledge transfer is not alien to Australian education. If we consider the traditional apprenticeship training model, it can be seen that it is more akin to the Chinese world view, whereby the student watches how the teacher does the task and then tries to copy the action.

Issues of plagiarism in a Chinese or Arab classroom will not change until an explanation of the two worldviews is given. The key is explaining why plagiarism is problematic in western education. All too often teachers travel to China and other countries with the view that ‘underneath we are all the same’ and this assumption leads teachers to expect that our way of doing things is understood and accepted in other countries, therefore limited explanations of the rules are given in the new context.

VTI member Plagiarism policy excerpt A strong sense of community promotes both stability and harmony in China, but subsumes the individual. The powerful force of community that envelops the individual begets the idea that all parts of the community can be used by the members of that community in any way that they see fit, including ideas. In this paradigm it would be absurd for an individual to lay claim to an idea and receive credit from other individuals for that idea, when the community is paramount to the individual. Enforcement of plagiarism policy & procedures cuts across the idea of community and the ownership of ideas because they create a competitive marketplace of individual ideas, which could ultimately undermine the stability and harmony of the community.

Interestingly newer authors writing on Chinese teaching and learning styles are suggesting that younger Chinese students, as they are exposed to western ideas and rapid social change, ‘show little difference from their Western counterparts by being active learners and preferring a more interactive relationship with their teachers’ (Shi 2006:abstract).

Considering Hofstede’s uncertainty avoidance principle for China, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Australia we can see that the scores reflect the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these. Australia scores 50 and China scores 40, showing that the Chinese are comfortable with ambiguity. This is certainly reflected in the Chinese language where often ambiguous meanings are hard for a westerner to understand.

Hofstede says that ‘countries exhibiting high uncertainty avoidance maintain rigid codes of belief and behaviour and are intolerant of unorthodox behaviour and ideas.’3 Both Arab countries exhibit very high figures for uncertainty avoidance. This means that in the classroom, students will want clear direction, explicit instructions, therefore expectations of students should be clear early in the course. Students may want to see past exam papers and try model test questions to prepare. While China scores lower than other countries on this score, it is probably true that all students commencing a new situation want this type of assurance.

Rote learning is a feature of learning the Chinese language. It is not necessarily a bad teaching method per se. A critical thinker will use all similar questions from the past and determine the best answer for the given situation. Memorisation is crucial for character based written languages and therefore the nature of the language influences the learning style of many Chinese learners.

3 http://geert-hofstede.com/saudi-arabia.html 9

With long-term orientation, the view is that in the long run, a student may take from the pool of knowledge and will give back when he or she is working and older and wiser. It tends to mean students feel if ‘I work long and hard enough I will get there’. Individual aptitude is less significant. The long-term orientation is changing due to technology, exposure to the west, and the immediacy of the internet. Scores for long-term orientation are not available for the Arab countries under consideration. Hofstede’s work is often applied to the construct of cultural distance, where the thinking is that two countries with similar cultures will be more likely to form work relationships than those which are quite distant on Hofstede’s measures. It is important to remember that Hofstede suggests these cultural traits are tendencies, rather than being strictly observed by all members of a particular society. The education manager or teacher working offshore will be successful if he or she takes into consideration the complexity of dealing with another culture and is open to the possibilities for learning that his/her experience provides. Caution must be considered when applying measures of cultural distance as Shenkar (2001) suggests that measures of cultural distance can serve to simplify a complex situation by suggesting that all individuals within a culture will behave similarly and that the relationships of distance will be seen the same way by both cultures and will not easily change over time.

The complexity in working in different cultural milieus for VTI member education institutions is in how to predict how staff members will react on a day-to-day basis in a new environment. Forming relationships with students, co-workers and authorities in different countries, where language barriers also exist, is the key issue and this report aims to show how this can be achieved.

Figure 4 Hostede’s Comparison of Australia and the Arab World

10 2.2 Types of Training offered

In general training for expatriates or any staff about to go overseas on assignment involves combinations of cognitive training and experiential training. Cognitive training is often described as conventional ‘chalk and talk’ teaching. This type of training tends to consist of information transmitted to the learner in a one-way direction from the expert to the novice. On the other hand some training, generally called experiential or experimental training involves placing the learner in a situation the learner is likely to encounter in the new culture and observing behaviour and then reflecting on what could be done better next time in a similar situation.

On another dimension, training may generally try to heighten awareness of differences in other cultures or it may be specifically directed at the cultural nuances of a specific country. In their study, Waxin & Panoccio (2005) found that experiential learning was more effective than cognitive learning in terms of managers more quickly adjusting to a new culture and that this effect was more marked for those with little previous experience of working overseas. Black & Gregersen (1991) found that a short and superficial pre-departure training session could in fact be unhelpful for overseas success. It is thought that this is because staff fly off thinking they know the culture well enough and when they discover they do not, it proves worse than if they had no training at all.

In terms of providing basic knowledge of what to expect in Asian (particularly Chinese) culture, experts agree that staff must be given an understanding of two concepts in Chinese culture. These are the inter-related concepts of Guanxi and Mianzi. Guanxi is defined as personal connection or relationship and Mianzi is the recognition by others of one’s dignity and social standing. It literally means ‘face’ and is often translated as ‘saving face’. When partnerships are being negotiated, both concepts work together. To build a trusting relationship, all parties must be aware of the need for all to save Mianzi (Buckley, Clegg & Tan 2006). Mianzi is how one saves reputation and builds credibility. It is a strategy that Chinese people use to respect and preserve relationships. Saving face is a top priority in the Chinese culture, meaning that the Chinese will often say ‘yes’ even if they mean ‘no.’

Bearing in mind the importance of Guanxi and Mianzi, Buckley, Clegg and Tan (2006) found that knowledge was more successfully transferred from westerners in training their Chinese counterparts when cultural awareness was high and trust was developed in the relationship. They further argued that having a shared mindset is helpful for success. In other words, both parties to the learning must see the outcome in similar ways. Also helpful were government support for the partnership and having a long-term vision of the value of the partnership. These findings resonate directly with Hofstede’s model and with VTI members’ experience.

In terms of teaching in China, studies have shown that Chinese teachers view outcomes very differently to western teachers. Where Chinese teachers view exam results as a good indicator of teacher success and good conduct in class as an exemplar of the right attitude to learning, western teachers are generally more concerned with students speaking up to demonstrate their interest in and mastery of learning (Gao & Watson 2002).

There has been very little scholarly work done on the issue of cross-cultural training needs of VET teaching staff in recent times, beyond the 16 year old work of Schofield & Kearns (1997). They suggest five key areas of intercultural competence that are required for successful training partnerships offshore from Australia.

11 They are 1. Global orientation 2. Country-specific knowledge 3. Cross-cultural competence 4. Personal mastery and 5. Management Competence

The Schofield & Kearns competency matrix is located at Appendix 1.

In his Masters degree research VTI member Alan Maguire (1999) adds two further competencies: negotiating in an international context and coping with culture shock. Unfortunately there was been no significant work (relating directly to VET) since these times. Of course, VET institutions and universities do conduct cross-cultural training for their offshore staff, and no doubt since the 1990s, they have become more sophisticated and successful in their endeavours. In Section 3 we will learn more about their current work. But firstly, what does research tell us about the success of cross-cultural training in general?

2.3 Is training useful?

There is a considerable body of research regarding cross-cultural training and its importance. However, the type of training, the timing of training, the duration of training and the scope and purpose differ greatly in published research. While there are many studies recommending cross-cultural training, evidence of its usefulness is not conclusive (Selmer 2005:71) and very few studies have attempted to evaluate what type of training is best (Waxin & Panaccio 2005). Implementation of pre-departure cultural training is also often ad hoc; in 2003, Hutchings noted that Australian business people were being sent to China with ‘negligible preparation’ (2003:375).

Orton & Mansell advise that for successful learning experiences to be gained in overseas school study tours (in their case), that ‘greater preparation of students for learning from the visit in addition to the relatively brief preparation now provided, which is largely directed at practical matters’ is required (Orton & Mansell 2011:21).

Cultural adjustment is generally held to consist of three facets (Waxin & Panaccio 2005); these are adjustment to the work situation (role, supervision and job performance), secondly relational adjustment (which means adjusting to interacting with members of the host country) and finally general adjustment (which encompasses adjusting to community life in the host country). Holopainen & Bjorkman (2005) suggest that being a good communicator is helpful to settle in successfully to an expatriate assignment. Selmer’s research (2005) suggests that training appears to assist in more complex work environments than in straightforward assignments.

Carol Bailey from the UK University of Wolverhampton advises travellers to avoid stereotypes. She notes that she held a view that Chinese students were shy and withdrawn and unlikely to ask questions of their teacher. But her experience was that although Chinese teachers prefer questions to be asked after a lecture, (to avoid disrupting the flow) students were enthusiastically discussing the content of classes as they helped the teacher carry books

12 back to the staffroom at the end of the class4. This example demonstrates the power of direct experience to overcome labelling and misperception.

One of the factors that makes judgement of the success of cross-cultural training complex is that people go overseas to work in many different types of jobs and for different reasons with very different levels of support. It has been suggested that success in an overseas posting depends on the ability of individuals to maintain a positive frame of mind and to enthusiastically embrace the difference of the culture they are entering, as well as the employer providing basic knowledge of what to expect. If maintaining a ‘positive frame of mind’ is a key indicator of success, it begs the question: does cultural training help at all? It is difficult to imagine how to train teaching staff to be open to change.

Bennett (1998) suggests that people can learn to move from ethnocentrism to a position of ethnorelativism with the development of cultural competencies. He likens this learning to ‘overcoming’ the Golden Rule of ‘do unto others as you would have them do to you’ and learning that others may wish to be treated differently from the way we believe is ‘correct’ in our own view of the world. Ethnocentrism Bennett argues has three stages, denial, defence and minimisation. These terms mean people of one culture do not acknowledge (denial) any differences between cultures, or defensively admit difference, but see value only in their own ways, or seek to minimise the differences by suggesting that we are all the same under the skin.

Every morning here in To move to a position of ethnorelativism individuals must accept that there are genuine differences, China I take a tablet for (acceptance) and adapt to these differences if success is patience and one tablet for to be guaranteed (adaptation) and finally understand persistence. I hope I have (integration) that all behaviours have meaning within enough tablets. TAFE their cultural context. These complex learnings suggest teacher that immersion in a culture is the best way to learn ethnorelativism and that basic practical advice on what to expect is the best form of instruction, along with choosing people (somehow) to work overseas, who are open to the possibilities.

This is the view taken by VTI members, i.e. that basic preparation is helpful, but the key determinant to success offshore is in choosing people who are most likely to be able to adapt to the situations in which they find themselves. Choosing correctly means face-to-face interviews are very important. The next section of this report looks at the cross-cultural training that has been offered to staff members who are embarking on an overseas teaching assignment among VTI member institutes. This will be followed by a discussion of what members have found to be successful in preparing staff for the experience of teaching in Asia.

4 http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/internationalisation/Case_story_working_with_students_China 13 3. INTERCULTURAL PREPARATION OFFERED BY VICTORIAN TAFE

3.1 Survey of All VTI members

In May 2012, VTI conducted an online survey of its membership to ascertain what pre- departure training or preparation is offered to staff members who are travelling overseas to teach, research, manage or establish contractual arrangements with partner institutions offshore.

Fourteen members responded to the survey and this represents 100% of all VTI members who are currently offering programs offshore. The survey therefore is significant as it captures the views of all TAFE Institutes in Victoria that offer training offshore and as we have seen in Section 1 of this report, Victorian TAFE is the leader in transnational vocational education and training in Australia.

Interestingly the survey showed that for the majority (57%), the selection of staff to travel overseas is not controlled by the international team at the institute, but rather by other departments. Below is a summary of survey results showing what Victorian TAFE Institutes do in relation to intercultural training/preparation for staff members who are about to work offshore.

Table 3 VTI Survey Questions

1. Does your international department control the selection of teaching staff for overseas assignments? 2. List the criteria used to select staff (e.g., subject experience, years of teaching, previous overseas assignment) 3. Does your institute offer intercultural preparation for staff going offshore? Which staff? 4. How much time is generally spent on the intercultural preparation that you provide? 5. Do you use in-house trainers or do you use an external company? 6. If you undertake intercultural preparation of more than a basic one hour, what do you cover? 7. What are the essential elements of good intercultural preparation in your view? 8. Do you believe your intercultural preparation is effective? How do you assess its success? 9. Do you offer post-experience debriefing? 10. What could be improved in your intercultural preparation?

3.2 Criteria to select staff to travel overseas

The survey asked for the key criteria that are used to determine which members of staff should go overseas. The responses are in Table 4 below. There are two things to note about these criteria for selecting staff: one is that departments other than international choose in the majority of cases. Will they be in the best position to determine success? Secondly, how exactly are traits such as ‘tolerance of ambiguity’ or ‘openness’ measured? These issues will be taken up further in Section 4 of this report.

14 Table 4 VTI Criteria used to select staff to travel overseas Criteria that are used to select Ranked in order of importance staff to travel overseas Subject matter expertise Subject matter expertise mentioned by all respondents Previous offshore experience Noted by 9/14 (64%) Flexibility 5/14 (36%) suggesting flexibility is needed Communications skills, adaptive, One or more of these terms was used by all culturally aware, openness and respondents tolerance of ambiguity

3.3 Is intercultural preparation formal and who receives it?

Interestingly in 43% of cases, systematic, formal training or preparation does not occur before staff members go overseas for Victorian TAFE Institutes. For those who responded in the survey that they did not provide intercultural preparation, the reason given was that they do not offer formal training, but rather informal preparation, briefings, workshops and mentoring, as the following quote suggests:

No formal preparation around cultural differences is provided, however there is a lot of informal discussion and briefings given to new staff involved.

Table 5 - Is training offered to all staff going offshore?

Does your institute offer intercultural

preparation for staff going offshore? Yes, for all staff 35.7% 5 Yes, but just for teaching staff 21.4% 3 Yes, but just for managers/senior staff 0.0% 0 No 42.9% 6

3.4 Time spent on the intercultural preparation

The majority (86%) of VTI member TAFEs offer informal training consisting of around 2-3 hours of workshops and informal briefings. Only one respondent offered a full day of formal training to staff. All respondents used their own in-house expertise to run the training. Most providers offered general cultural awareness training to new staff as part of their induction (regardless of whether they may go overseas later or not).

All teaching staff must undertake cultural awareness training as part of their induction to the institute. Additional training is provided prior to departure.

3.5 What is involved in the pre-departure preparation?

For the majority of VTI members, the preparation consists of discussion of critical incidents and case studies and also checklists of do’s and don’ts. In all cases the preparation is carried out by internal staff and VTI members generally do not use guest speakers, videos, simulations or role-play situations in the preparation. Since the preparation is informal, it is

15 not linked to a formal credential (in 79% of cases) and is not evaluated (77%) and neither is the learning assessed (78%).

Table 6 What is covered in intercultural preparation?

Preparation consists of… Most common response Case studies 57% always or occasionally use Critical incidents 57% always or occasionally use Simulations/role play 64% never use Theory relating to cultural understandings (e.g. 57% never or seldom use Hofstede, Hall) Checklists of do's and don'ts 78% always or occasionally use Guest speakers 64% seldom or never use Coaching 50% never, 50% occasionally Videos 86% never or seldom use Mainly text based training 64% never or seldom use Assessment of learning is carried out 78% seldom or never Is the training linked to a formal qualification? 79% not linked Do you evaluate your training? 77% do not evaluate

3.6 The essential elements of good intercultural preparation

The essential elements of good intercultural preparation are thought by VTI members to include basic business etiquette matters; appropriate behaviour and communication; cultural differences and the challenge they provide; misperceptions and risks associated with travel in the country and basic understandings of booking travel, dealing with money, hotels, taxis and the like.

We arrive in Shanghai with only 1.5 hours between flights. All people with connecting China Eastern flights are herded into a corridor and a Chinese Eastern sticker placed on them; then led to the inspection area. I position myself up the front of the queue; but when I get to the inspection area the Chinese at the back just come around the outside and I am suddenly at the back of the queue. When I arrive at the gate; the boarding sign is flashing so I rush on to the plane. Once on the plane we then spend the next 45 minutes on the tarmac. TAFE teacher

Several respondents also noted the importance of cultural sensitivity, flexibility and patience to deal with a different culture. The two comments below reflect this concern:

Ensuring that the participant is made aware of the cultural differences and the challenges they can present. Provide the participant with as much understanding of the cultural requirements and behaviours that may affect their role and performance.

Ensuring people going over know the basic do’s and don’ts related to interpersonal communication and hygiene. A general understanding of how the communities and people in the cities, town or country being visited operate and some of the major differences with Australia.

16 3.7 Is the intercultural preparation effective?

Nine of the 14 respondents (64%) felt their preparation is effective and they cited evidence to that effect including their years of experience of working offshore; very few negative incidents reported offshore; positive feedback from staff who travel overseas and from their partners offshore; willingness of staff to travel again and the debriefing which occurs upon staff return. The remainder of respondents were not confident to answer that their preparation is effective, essentially because it is not formally evaluated. Since the programs are not formal in nature, there is generally no evaluation or assessment of the learning itself. However, respondents take a pragmatic approach to evaluating success of their preparation for working overseas as is illustrated by the two comments below:

definitely [effective] - willingness of staff to undertake future inputs offshore -few incidents - feedback from offshore partners - reports from debrief sessions of returning staff

Judged on the number of teachers who wish to return to offshore teaching, we feel the preparation must be effective.

There is considerable contact with staff whilst they are overseas, and there is significant informal debriefing and feedback upon their return. Eight-six percent of respondents offer substantial debriefing opportunities upon return. This is demonstrated by the following quotes:

within about two weeks of returning, teachers must submit their reports and teaching documents. A discussion with them usually elicits information that is then used to update or refine the induction sessions.

After each visit we review the teaching and travel components at a debrief. This informs both the educational changes needed as well as other things such as travel, medical, or accommodation issues.

3.8 Improvements to intercultural preparation

In terms of improvement, 43% respondents believed that more structure and formality to the training would be beneficial. A further 21% commented on the need for resources to see that this occurred (resourcing issues were noted in 3 out of 14 cases). This formality was thought to be useful to improve consistency of approach, limit ad hoc responses to issues and allow more time to be spent on intercultural preparation. The remainder felt the programs were effective as they are. Two respondents felt their programs were adequate for returning and experienced staff, but perhaps not for staff new to the experience:

[our preparation is] adequate for experienced international trainers - totally inadequate for novices.

Several respondents felt that intercultural training was a useful professional development activity for all staff, regardless of whether they travel overseas or not.

Well designed and targets range of workshops and activities to support international activity - not just for teachers/managers but right across the institute

If there were a budget, would be good to have some more meetings set up between departing teachers and returning teachers to facilitate transmission of valuable experiential knowledge.

[There is a] lot of goodwill on behalf of the teachers themselves who after being put in touch with previous teachers will set up out of hours meetings to discuss the teaching they have done and to assist the next teacher in understanding the particular location/ delivery they are going to.

18 4. SUGGESTIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL CULTURAL AWARENESS PREPARATION

4.1 How is success defined in TNE?

The key suggestion of VTI member TAFE Institutes and dual sector universities towards improving cultural awareness training and preparation is to make the preparation more formalised. If the preparation is formalised assessment and evaluation are built into the process. But earlier questions need to be considered: Can we define what we mean by success offshore? Does any form of training improve success?

Success of transnational vocational education and training for the Australian institute is principally about maintaining the relationship for ongoing business to continue. Making money for the institutes is also part of the measure of success and cannot be ignored. But for each participant there are complex goals and hopes, which may be different from that of the institute. Teachers are there for both a professional and positive personal experience. The incountry students often have pressure from their parents to undertake a course, to engage them with western education. The Chinese teachers may or may not have a choice in being involved in the program. This means they may resist collaboration and while we may advocate collaboration with local teachers as best practice, so that teachers learn from each other, we must also be mindful of the possibility of this initial resistance.

As suggested in Section Two On arriving at headquarters I am ushered to my of this report, success of apartment. It looks old, but is only 15 years old training for intercultural according to Cynthia. It has 2 bedrooms, one small experience is difficult to combination toilet shower similar to the set up in ascertain, since there are so Xian. In my apartment are two bags of goods: 10 many factors involved in the success or otherwise of the toilet rolls, Shampoo & conditioner, 4 boxes of venture. The research tissues, Toothpaste & 2 toothbrushes, Dishwashing highlighted in Section Two liquid, Omo & Comfort, 2 pairs of sandals, New would suggest that the key towel & pillow slip, Bath washing lotion, Soap, 1 full determinant to success of an water fountain. This is very generous, what a overseas placement is not the contrast to Xian where I had no water, no toilet pre-departure training, but rather the skills, experience paper, no cups, nothing! TAFE Teacher and ability of the person to be open to new experiences, to see these experiences as positive and put themselves in the position of ‘the other’. Is this something that can be taught?

Member TAFE Institutes are not convinced that days or weeks of training can ensure a successful experience. While they do see the value of formalising the preparation they provide, for the purpose of consistency of approach, they take a more pragmatic approach to preparation: . they choose a staff member who has been overseas before (for any reason) . speaks another language (any language, as this shows both a facility with language and a positive attitude to other languages and cultures) and

19 . who demonstrates a positive frame of mind to coping with problems (in the form of response to case studies). . Following this determination, which members agree is largely a subjective assessment; the preparation is then generally practical in nature. It will cover do’s and don’ts, packing, travel, taxis, hotels, public transport, food, working with partner staff, hygiene, emergencies, and the like.

4.2 The ideal candidate for working offshore

When considering staff selection for overseas projects international project managers tend to look to teachers who have been before and who have performed successfully. These teachers may have shown a high degree of flexibility in their attitude and their ability to cope in unusual and changing circumstances. They have good technical ability, experience and a knack of getting on well with international partners and not causing any issues for the Institute.

When confronted with financially important projects and those that may have a significant effect on the institution’s reputation it is natural for managers to look to a ‘safe pair of hands’. However, this approach ignores the fact that good people can move on over time (resign, retire, take on other challenges) and so there is a continuing need to select and train others to take their place, especially if the institute is in a growth phase and new opportunities are being created. Therefore a longer-term approach needs to be adopted by institutes towards the preparation, training, selection and induction of international teaching and management staff.

There is, however, a stronger reason for institutes to plan ahead when selecting staff for international projects and that is: good international project staff are not born overnight but result from a combination of personal character and experience, graded exposure to industry and/or international work (where the ability to adapt to ambiguous and changing circumstances can be gradually honed), development of cross-cultural understanding and international relations, communication skills and country/region-specific knowledge, interest and empathy (language ability also being a plus).

Staff selection therefore should not be seen as part of a last minute rush to find people with the right technical skills and ability to do the required job, even when established short country-specific briefing programs are made available for project staff. Appropriate staff should instead be identified in accordance with specific criteria (e.g. personal mastery attributes including flexibility and openness to change) early in their employment with the institute and be offered targeted training in other areas such as technical skills and country/region specific knowledge over time.

Perhaps a sense of humour in trying conditions is a must as described in a postcard home by one teacher: I have an air-conditioner in my apartment, which Underpinning this argument is is good as it is 34C when I arrive. The plug is a belief that some individuals, hanging down from the air-conditioner: where is because of certain personal attributes, are more suited than the plug-hole? Is it behind the curtains? – No. Is it others to working in an under the desk? No. Is it outside the apartment? international context, even No. Is it the air-conditioner you have when you before they have received are not having an air-conditioner? TAFE Teacher 20 any further cross-cultural or country-specific training – and this should be a pre-requisite for selection. These attributes, such as openness, flexibility, tolerance of ambiguity and empathy are generally not taught attributes but form an essential foundation on which other taught skills can be built. Carless (2006:350) notes that successful teaching in another culture may rest, ‘to a significant extent, on the interpersonal sensitivities of participants’. Early & Mosakowski (2004:140) liken ‘cultural intelligence’ to emotional intelligence and note that while ‘some aspects of cultural intelligence are innate, anyone reasonably alert, motivated, and poised can attain an acceptable level of cultural intelligence’. The chart below shows the skills and attributes of the ideal candidate for offshore projects.

Chart 1 The ideal candidate for offshore assignment

Technical Skills

Country Subject speciic knowledge knowledge

FOUNDATION STONE lexibility creativity emotional resilience adaptability tolerance of ambiguity Negotiation/ Family autonomy Management circumstances skills perceptual acuity

Cultural/ Availability customs knowledge

4.3 Elements of good practice in intercultural preparation

Good practice in intercultural training and preparation starts with cultural issues as a part of institute wide induction for all new staff. Australian education providers pride themselves on being global in their orientation, using promotional branding such as:

We provide a unique global learning experience – Monash University Worldly – Deakin Global Educators – Box Hill Institute Global University of Technology and Design – RMIT

21 Therefore good practice requires that all staff have an understanding of the global context for education now and into the future and that staff are open and accepting of both offering offshore opportunities for local students and staff and in welcoming overseas students into the institution. Australian training, teaching resources and curriculum should also embrace and reflect this trend towards global education. Foundation intercultural training should cover intercultural competence (cultural stereotypes and generalisations, English as a global language), internationalising your institute, getting better collaboration between faculties and other management areas, dealing with different cultures in the classroom or workplace (e.g. usefulness of group work if it is not part of the educational experience of the students, dealing with different learning styles) and acceptable behaviours.

Secondly, staff persons with the interest and the attributes as cited in Chart 1 should be identified early in their tenure and be given opportunities for some formal training 12 months before an offshore assignment is taken up. It is important at this stage to involve faculties/departments and the international office. It can occur that faculties are reluctant to release good staff for offshore teaching assignments due to the disruption to local programs and fail to factor in the rich experience that is brought back to the faculty upon the return of the staff member on overseas assignment. Thirdly, good training for At the end of the sightseeing day I make my way staff in the weeks before they back to Gulong station and catch the subway go offshore should show an understanding of the train back to Donzimen station. I get off the train Confucian influence of and there is a choice of exits A or B. I am starting teaching in Asia, where to compliment myself on how clever I am and how altruism is valued above easy it is to get around Beijing. I exit from A and I personal achievement and am near a large roundabout. I am looking for Bus where acting correctly in the 416, but I can’t find it. I cross to the other side of group is an important the road – no Bus 416. I now cross diagonally still consideration. But it should also work to demystify no Bus 416. I then cross to the other side of the stereotypes of the Asian road – no Bus 416. Have they changed the bus line learner, as change comes to between the morning and afternoon? I am a China and surrounding broken man and catch a taxi. When I tell Alex countries. The potential to [local teacher] about losing the 416, he says it hear from students in a happens to him all the time. TAFE Teacher relaxed way helps, for example if the teacher plays a game of soccer with students.

Any training needs to consider that going offshore to teach is just one part of the experience, staff members have to be prepared to live in the culture too. Issues of distance are also important to consider in relation to informal relationships with students.

4.4 Proposed good practice selection process for offshore assignment

The flow chart below suggests that Faculties/Departments should consult with the International Department when recruiting staff to work overseas. The survey of VTI members showed currently this is not the practice in the majority of Victorian TAFE Institutes (in 57% of cases the International Manager does not control how staff members are selected in Victorian institutions). Good practice suggests that the experience of the staff in International is invaluable in this regard and it should be mandatory to involve them.

22 International staff would then interview the candidate and apply the checklist developed here and highlighted in Appendix No 2.

VTI members suggest it is also wise to check the personnel record of the candidate to ensure there is no negative previous experience or event, which caused repercussions for the institute. Finally having the applicant sign a contract and the code of conduct gives an additional level of confidence in the decision. After these steps, the candidate can be given his/her preparation and also introduced to a mentor or another member of staff who has been offshore. Many TAFE Institute members of VTI put new staff in touch with a mentor who has been offshore before and can tell candidates what to expect. Several institutes have regular get togethers between experienced staff and new staff. They find this is a more relaxed way to ask about getting about, shopping and living arrangements.

Chart 2 Good practice in selection

Faculties to consult with International before choosing staff person to go offshore

International do informal Intercultural interview, check Preparation undertaken and referrees and mentor assigned apply checklist to potential candidate

Teacher signs a code of HR check personnel conduct, whereby they record of the accept and agree to the applicant. It may show terms of their a poor experience on a appointment previous visit

4.5 Proposed good practice cycle of offshore preparation

Step One – Training for all staff

As good practice, training is provided to all new staff as part of the institute induction program and offered every two years for all other staff. This training is compulsory for new staff and forms part of a professional development plan for existing staff.

As a Foundation course it will cover – . Cultural competence (e.g. cultural stereotypes and generalisations, English as a global language) . Internationalising your institute 23 . Collaboration between faculties . Dealing with different cultures in the classroom or workplace . Acceptable behaviours.

Chart 3 Good practice in Offshore preparation

All staff undertake 2 hours formal induction in intercultural staff Formal de-brief awareness & seminar interviewed involving and selected to work offshore partner, offshore (see faculty & low chart International above)

Departing staff member Arrival brieing & regular meets mentor & on-line communication language & learning whilst offshore with both support staff for advice faculty and International on plain English in 2 hours of education materials informal preparation (topics covered are listed below)

Step Two – Staff Interview

At a first informal interview, the interest and commitment of the applicant to working offshore will be ascertained. The applicant will be asked to undertake a cultural awareness checklist (see Appendices 3 and 4). Discussion of the answers given in the checklist help the interviewer and the applicant both decide if the opportunity is right for them. It is at this time that some of the more qualitative matters are discussed. Applicants are given scenarios and asked how they would deal with the given situation to tease out their flexibility, creativity, emotional resilience and adaptability. The interviewing staff also check the personnel record of the applicant, his/her referees, qualifications and previous work history to ensure the posting will be a successful one.

The applicant is given information about what s/he is likely to face in terms of class sizes and levels of English, the accommodation and facilities and any medical preparation that may be needed. Following discussion of all these matters, the applicant fills in an expression of interest form.

Step Three – Meet mentor, work with Language and Learning Support staff on materials

Having access to specialist staff from other areas such as language and learning support staff and international staff helps to build a broad understanding of what will work best overseas. Having institute wide professional development on cultural matters improves the capacity of the institute to respond to global issues. Speaking directly with someone who has had the

24 experience is both good practice and (in our experience) well regarded by first time applicants.

Step Four – Two hours of informal preparation

Language and learning support staff offer a resource to staff such as being wary of idioms and colloquialisms. They discuss learning styles and student expectations in the offshore location, provide handouts, models and examples, context for local students, cultural do’s and don’ts, including how to prepare powerpoints for students who are not native English speakers.

Staff are provided with a booklet outlining services such as counselling and how to seek medical information while offshore, contact details in case of emergency and what to expect in the way of welcome, what state the accommodation is in, where the resources are held and so forth.

Often staff members are casual/sessional and not employed by the institute (therefore limiting the time of preparation beforehand). This fact may add to the overall risk to the institute and needs to be carefully considered. Good practice suggests that casual staff should be paid to attend the pre-departure briefing.

Step Five – Arrival Briefing and regular communication

Support staff are nominated to provide regular phone contact. If the staff person is experiencing any difficulty, this contact may be daily. Teachers are required to remain in touch with the program coordinator via email/Skype while they are away.

Step Six – De-brief upon return and seminar in faculty

There is often a tension between faculties/departments that do not want to release staff to go offshore because of the disruption to local programs. However, it is rarely acknowledged that the experience gained by the staff who go offshore can be value adding to the institute. (see foundation course below). Part of the whole process is the vital step that a staff member must have approval from their department to go offshore. To ensure this occurs with more enthusiasm next time, it is important that the returning teacher should debrief on the experience and provide a seminar for faculty/department members on the learning that occurred whilst teaching overseas. This should occur within 4 weeks of returning.

25 • Prospective teacher is sent brief outline of the offshore program. It outlines... • -Qualiications required, large class sizes, lower language levels of students, details of accommodation offered (2-3 star), medical preparation, compulsory attendance at Enquiry pre-departure training

• If initial information is acceptable to prospective teacher then an expression of interest is illed in.... Expression • Information received on previous teaching experience offshore of interest • Time they are willing to be away from Australia

• Questions are asked about: • Level of awareness of different learning styles, expectations of host country, what they know about the Meet with program, working in an isolated environment without colleagues & resources, asked to recount an program co- incident when they struggled with the culture/miscommunication and how they overcame the situation ordinator

• Qualiications are sighted Referree • Referee report from a current supervisor and HR report

• Offshore coordinator writes a statement of suitability of the teacher based on the information Statement gathered of suitability

• HR dept and CEO make inal decision on the offering of a contract. Sign Off

• Contract details: see Appendix 8 for Code of Conduct • Previous teachers to speak to, local staff, facilities, accommodation, resources locally, on arrival Contract information

Pre- • Training to involve case studies, cultural do's and don'ts, hypothetical dilemmas departure Training

• Debrief meeting (with faculty and international) within four weeks of return: submit teaching documents and report. Any information deemed useful for future inductions is gathered at this De-brief on time. return

26 5. CONCLUSIONS

This report has aimed to contribute to our knowledge and understanding of both what works in intercultural training in an educational setting and also what is actually occurring in that field in the key institutes which dominate Australia’s transnational vocational education and training.

The report has shown that there has been very little scholarly work done on the issue of the cross-cultural training needs of VET teaching staff in recent times, beyond the 16 year old work of Schofield & Kearns (1997). This report suggests that it is time again to look at the issue of intercultural preparation from a scholarly viewpoint and to include the practical expertise of providers such as VTI members in any deliberations.

The Knight Review of 2011 recommended that government assistance be given to high quality VET providers in exploring offshore market opportunities and that assistance be provided to them in expanding offshore training services. We believe that this report may provide a basis for funding further work on the preparation that staff are given before they go offshore to ensure the quality of Australian VET provision is maintained.

Member TAFEs are engaged in a variety of innovative and cutting edge preparation and support of their staff operating overseas (see the appendices for a travel wiki and other ideas) and are highly cognisant that a negative experience can hurt the staff member involved but also endanger the ongoing partnership that may have taken years to be successful. But interestingly our survey showed that for the majority (57%), the selection of staff to travel overseas is not controlled by the international team at the institute, but rather by other departments. We also note that staff offer in house intercultural preparation and are not aware of any relevant credential for staff to undertake.

The best practice model described in this report suggests that if institutes are to be truly global then the experience of staff operating offshore must be valued and that experience must be built into the fabric of each faculty’s orientation to learning and teaching. Further that while faculties need to co-operate in releasing staff for this vital experience a mentoring program to assist staff both during the offshore experience and after return to the institute is necessary. To this end, VTI will look into the possibility of co-ordinating a team of skilled and experienced mentors that may assist our member institutes by working across institute boundaries.

REFERENCES

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Bennett M (1998) ‘Intercultural communication: a current perspective’ M Bennett (ed) Basic Concepts of Intercultural Communication 1-34 Yarmouth, Maine: Intercultural Press, Inc.

Buckley PJ Clegg J & Tan H (2006) ‘Cultural awareness in knowledge transfer to China—The role of guanxi and mianzi’ Journal of World Business 41 275–288

Carless DR (2006) ‘Good practices in team teaching in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong’ Systems 34 341-351

Davis D & MacIntosh B (eds) (2011) Making a Difference: Australian International Education New South Wales: UNSW Press

Early PC & Mosakowski E (2004) ‘Cultural Intelligence’ Harvard Business Review October

Gao L & Watkins DA (2002) ‘Conceptions of teaching held by school science teachers in P.R. China: Identification and cross-cultural comparison’ International Journal of Science Education 24 (1) 61-79

Hofstede G (1980) Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values Beverly Hills CA: Sage Publications

Holopainen J & Björkman I (2005) ‘The personal characteristics of the successful expatriate: A critical review of the literature and an empirical investigation’ Personnel Review 34 (1) 37 - 50

Hutchings K (2003) ‘Cross-Cultural Preparation of Australian Expatriates in Organisations in China: The Need for Greater Attention to Training’ Asia Pacific Journal of Management 20 (3) 375-396

Maguire A (1999) ‘The Relationships between Pre-departure Training and Successful International Project Management in TAFE’ LaTrobe University unpublished masters degree thesis.

Orton J & Mansell D(2011) ‘Learning from Short Term Sojourns in China’ Graduate School of Education. University of Melbourne

Schein EH (1996) ‘Culture: The missing concept in organization studies Administrative Science Quarterly 41(2) 229–240

Schofield K & Kearns P (1997) Learning across frontiers: report on the internationalisation of staff development in vocational education and training Melbourne: Australian National Training Authority

Selmer J (2005)’Cross-cultural training and expatriate adjustment in China: Western joint venture managers’ Personnel Review 34 (1) 68 – 84

Shenkar O (2001) ‘Cultural Distance Revisited: Towards a More Rigorous Conceptualization and Measurement of Cultural Differences’ Journal of International Business Studies 32 (3) 519-535

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Waxin M & Panaccio A (2005) ‘Cross-cultural training to facilitate expatriate adjustment: it works!’ Personnel Review 34 (1) 51 - 67

29 APPENDICES

1. Components of International Competence (Schofield & Kearns)

2. Interview questions for TNE Candidate

3. Cultural Awareness Checklist (for discussion at interview)

4. China Induction - Hypothetical Situations

5. Sample Induction to Working Offshore Program

6. Excerpt from Offshore Delivery Protocol Booklet

7. OHS CHECKLIST – Overseas Travel

8. Code of Conduct for Offshore Assignments

9. Travel Wiki

10. Sample Wiki Page

11. In-country Campus Questionnaire

30 Appendix #1

from Schofield & Kearns (1997:36)

32 Appendix #2 POSITION: Teacher – International Staffing Pool CENTRE: DATE OF INTERVIEW: LOCATION: Candidate’s Name:

Welcome/Introduction Briefly describe process

Key Selection Criteria 1: Qualifications and industry knowledge

Question: What qualifications do you currently have and do you have any intention to expand on these in the future? Please discuss both vocational and teaching qualifications

Comments:

Score Excellent Very Good Good Unsuitable Very Unsuitable

Key Selection Criteria 2: Well developed skills in transferring knowledge including the ability to research, select, and use a wide range of learning resources and assessment tools

Question: How have you incorporated different teaching and learning strategies, resources and tools into your teaching, especially when delivering to students from a non-English speaking background?

33 Comments

Score Excellent Very Good Good Unsuitable Very Unsuitable

Key Selection Criteria 3: Skills in planning and researching for the preparation of programs and learning materials and in the identification of setting standards.

Question: When you get a new unit to teach, what documents and people do you consult and how do you plan out the unit of study?

Comments

Score Excellent Very Good Good Unsuitable Very Unsuitable

Key Selection Criteria 4: Effective communication, interpersonal and coordination skills relevant to a learning environment.

Question: What strategies do you use in communicating with students and/or clients from a non- English speaking background?

Comments

Score Excellent Very Good Good Unsuitable Very Unsuitable

Key Selection Criteria 5: Demonstrated ability or the capacity to provide support and advice to students of diverse cultures, backgrounds and abilities.

Question: What have been your communication strategies and interpersonal skills used in dealing with large numbers of international students. What sorts of things do you consider when dealing with international students? Can you give some examples? Comments

Key Selection Criteria 6: Administration

Excellent Very Good Good Unsuitable Very Unsuitable

Question: What administrative tasks face teachers in the delivery of programs within International Extended Campuses?

35 Comments

Score Excellent Very Good Good Unsuitable Very Unsuitable

Key Selection Criteria 7 : Information Technology

Question: Describe your proficiency in working with the Microsoft Office suite.

Comments

Score Excellent Very Good Good Unsuitable Very Unsuitable

Key Selection Criteria 8: Qualifications/Skills/Knowledge/Relevant Experience

Question: What skills can you bring to this position including relevant vocational/industry experience? Have you had any experience in teaching overseas? If so, what were the key challenges for you?

36 Comments

CLOSURE OF INTERVIEW

Excellent Very Good Good Unsuitable Very Unsuitable

 Applicant provided with opportunity to ask questions, expand on earlier responses, raise a point not covered at interview etc.  Explain process after interview is completed

37 Appendix #3 Cultural Awareness Checklist (for discussion at interview)

I relate well to people who are different from me