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Establishing and Implementing an International Health and Physical Education Focused School-University Partnership
Book chapter

Establishing and Implementing an International Health and Physical Education Focused School-University Partnership

Matthew Winslade, Lana McCarthy, Cathy Lembke and Awadhesh Shirotriya
Exploring International University Immersion Programs: Researching Impactful Experiences, pp.139-156
Springer Nature Switzerland, 1st
2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-17359-1_9
Appears in  Recent Faculty of Education Publications

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Abstract

In countries such as Australia there has been an increased focus for graduate teachers to not only have knowledge of but be able to demonstrate their understanding of the impact of culture and cultural identity on the educational outcomes of their students (AITSL, 2011). As such, cultural competence has become an integral component of exit requirements for all Pre-Service teachers (PSTs) as represented in the graduate professional standards.. It is therefore important for universities to consider ways to bring these elements together that not only increases student understanding but provides genuine opportunities to demonstrate that understanding and international immersion programs have been shown as one way to provide that opportunity (Maakrun, & Kearney, International Journal of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement 8:6, 2020). For any international partnership to be considered effective, there needs to be a level of awareness of the impact on all stakeholders, not just the Australian students signing on for the experience. In the case of this partnership, an identified lack of Fijian HPE trained primary school teachers confident to deliver structured HPE lessons, provided the opportunity to design an immersion program that would provide a level of value add for both participating Australian students in addition to host teachers and students. This chapter unpacks the need for authentic partnerships to be established that have the capacity to support both the development of cultural competency of Australian HPE pre-service teachers and provide benefit for stakeholders in the host country. To achieve this, the chapter explores one such immersion program framed under a school university-partnership between an Australian university and two schools located in Fiji. Utilising a qualitative approach, this chapter draws on the insights of 18 Australian preservice-teachers, 14 Fijian in-service supervising teachers and two academic liaisons to explore the perceived benefits and challenges that sit within such a partnership from both personal and professional perspectives.

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