NMU’s school of education and international studies department are teaming up to reach out to an educational group in hopes of being able to provide students more opportunities to student teach abroad. The group is called Global Student Teaching (GST) and is a program of EducatorsAbroad Ltd. Since its creation in 1989, GST has helped 1,906 students from 87 different colleges and universities in the U.S., England and Canada find student teaching positions in 57 countries.
Joe Lubig, an assistant professor in the school of education, said that working with GST will allow NMU to offer a greater variety of countries where NMU students can fulfill the student teaching requirement of their education majors. Lubig said that student teaching placements last from eight to 16 weeks, and that the expanded program will be run cooperatively between the international studies department and the school of education.
Lubig said that NMU already has student teaching abroad programs in countries like New Zealand and Ecuador. “We’ll look to GST to go to places we haven’t gone yet,” he said. The expansion could come about as soon as next semester, and Lubig said that professors as well as students will benefit from it. “It’s a huge advantage for our students, and professors will be able to learn from these students who go abroad,” said Lubig. “These are all stories we can carry into the classroom.”