The Certificate in Preparing to Teach Abroad prepares undergraduate students interested in teaching beyond the U.S. to develop essential skills for engaging diverse learners in various educational settings. The program prepares students to teach a variety of subject matters including and beyond academics that revolve around student interests and job-site demands. It fosters skills for working with a wide age range spectrum from children to adults and builds confidence in entering new spaces, asking critical questions, and designing robust lessons that meet expected learning goals. Students will engage with multiple models of culturally responsive teaching while critically examining challenges to such models in different global contexts.
Through this certificate, students will explore the complexities of formal and informal education beyond U.S. pedagogical frameworks, identifying and analyzing both mainstream and contested narratives about education in non-U.S. settings and their implications for lesson planning. Coursework and field experiences will provide opportunities to:
- Prepare culturally responsive lessons and participate in cross-cultural field experiences, considering the role of power in constructions such as race, gender, disability, socioeconomic status (SES), and language.
- Examine educational thought in both informal and formal education settings, reflecting on how different traditions and systems shape teaching and learning.
- Engage in fieldwork in U.S. settings in person and in non-U.S. settings virtually to reflect on issues of teaching, curriculum, and learning across cultural contexts.
- Analyze power relations in education, paying close attention to colonial legacies, hierarchies, and assumptions about difference that emerge in cross-cultural teaching.
The certificate is open to all domestic and international undergraduate students seeking to develop skills in analyzing cultural contexts, planning instruction, designing curriculum, and teaching in professional communities beyond the U.S. While it does not lead to a K-12 public school teaching license, it enhances competitiveness for international teaching positions and strengthens applications for Fulbright ETA, Peace Corps, international internships, and study abroad programs.
The certificate is also a gateway to post-undergraduate study opportunities in education. Its content is not restricted by state-based teacher education requirements, making it valuable preparation for graduate programs and teaching assistantships in the field of education more broadly.
How to Get in
All current UW-Madison undergraduates are eligible to complete the Certificate in Preparing to Teach Abroad. To declare the certificate, students should meet with the Certificate advisor and then visit the School of Education's Certificate Programs page to complete the declaration form.
Requirements
The Certificate in Preparing to Teach Abroad requires the following course distribution for a minimum of 15 credits. At least 8 credits must be completed in residence. Completion of the certificate requires a minimum GPA of 2.0 in certificate coursework.
Required Courses
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| CURRIC 366 | Internationalizing Educational Knowledge | 3 |
| CURRIC 418 | Preparing to Teach Abroad | 3 |
| CURRIC 419 | Preparing to Teach Abroad Capstone | 3 |
Electives
The 6 credits of electives can be taken concurrently with required certificate classes. Students can choose to concentrate their electives on the following themes, but are not required to do so. In selecting courses we will encourage students to consider courses both relevant to the areas of interest, but also issues raised in the certificate’s required courses. Course selection can be guided in consultation with the certificate advisor.
Focus on School of Education-Oriented Topics
Courses in this section include special education, bilingual education, educational psychology and educational policy studies.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| RP & SE 300 | Individuals with Disabilities | 3 |
| RP & SE 330 | Behavior Analysis: Applications to Persons with Disabilities | 3 |
| CURRIC 292 | Globalizing Education | 3 |
| CURRIC 312 | Foundations of ESL Education | 3 |
| CURRIC 676 | Bilingualism and Biliteracy in Schools | 3 |
| ED PSYCH 301 | How People Learn | 3 |
| ED PSYCH 320 | Human Development in Infancy and Childhood | 2-3 |
| ED PSYCH 321 | Human Development in Adolescence | 2-3 |
| ED PSYCH 326 | Mind, Brain and Education | 3 |
| ED PSYCH 331 | Human Development From Childhood Through Adolescence | 3 |
| ED PSYCH 509 | Embodied Cognition & Education | 3 |
| ED POL/HISTORY 107 | The History of the University in the West | 3 |
| ED POL/INTL ST 220 | Human Rights and Education | 3 |
| ED POL 240 | Comparative Education | 3 |
| ED POL 260 | Introduction to International Education Development | 3 |
| ED POL 274 | Study Abroad in Education Studies/Global Education | 1-3 |
| ED POL/INTL ST 335 | Globalization and Education | 3 |
| ED POL 337 | Wealth, Poverty and Education | 3 |
| ED POL 675 | Introduction to Comparative and International Education | 3 |
Focus on Historical, Cultural and Social Contexts
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| AFRICAN/AFROAMER/ANTHRO/GEOG/HISTORY/POLI SCI/SOC 277 | Africa: An Introductory Survey | 4 |
| AFROAMER 271 | Selected Topics in African American Culture | 3 |
| ASIAN/HISTORY/POLI SCI 255 | Introduction to East Asian Civilizations | 3-4 |
| ENGL 415 | Introduction to TESOL Methods | 3 |
| GEOG 307 | International Migration, Health, and Human Rights | 3 |
| GEOG 318 | Introduction to Geopolitics | 3 |
| GEOG/ENVIR ST 339 | Conservation and Climate Change - Local to International Strategies | 4 |
| GEOG 340 | World Regions in Global Context | 3 |
| GEOG 355 | Africa, South of the Sahara | 3 |
| GEOG 358 | Human Geography of Southeast Asia | 3 |
| GEOG 359 | Australia: Environment and Society | 3 |
| HISTORY 120 | Europe and the Modern World 1815 to the Present | 4 |
| HISTORY 139 | Introduction to the Modern Middle East | 3-4 |
| HISTORY 142 | History of South Asia to the Present | 3-4 |
| HISTORY/ASIAN/GEOG/POLI SCI/SOC 244 | Introduction to Southeast Asia: Vietnam to the Philippines | 4 |
| HISTORY/AFROAMER/ANTHRO/C&E SOC/GEOG/LACIS/POLI SCI/SOC/SPANISH 260 | Latin America: An Introduction | 3-4 |
| HISTORY/ASIAN 341 | History of Modern China, 1800-1949 | 3-4 |
| HISTORY/ASIAN 342 | History of the Peoples Republic of China, 1949 to the Present | 3-4 |
| HISTORY 348 | France from Napoleon to the Great War, 1799-1914 | 3-4 |
| HISTORY 349 | Contemporary France, 1914 to the Present | 3-4 |
| HISTORY 359 | History of Europe Since 1945 | 3-4 |
| HISTORY 410 | History of Germany, 1871 to the Present | 3-4 |
| HISTORY 424 | The Soviet Union and the World, 1917-1991 | 3-4 |
| HISTORY/SCAND ST 432 | History of Scandinavia Since 1815 | 3 |
| HISTORY/ASIAN 458 | History of Southeast Asia Since 1800 | 3-4 |
| INTL ST 266 | Introduction to the Middle East | 3 |
| INTL ST/GEOG 311 | The Global Game: Soccer, Politics, and Identity | 3 |
| INTL ST/A A E 373 | Globalization, Poverty and Development | 3 |
| INTL ST/A A E 374 | The Growth and Development of Nations in the Global Economy | 3 |
| INTL ST 401 | Topics in Global Security | 3-4 |
| INTL ST 402 | Topics in Politics and Policy in the Global Economy | 3-4 |
| INTL ST 403 | Topics in Culture in the Age of Globalization | 3-4 |
| INTL ST 501 | Study Abroad Topics in Global Security | 1-6 |
| INTL ST 502 | Study Abroad Topics in Politics and Policy in the Global Economy | 1-6 |
| INTL ST 503 | Study Abroad Topics in Culture in the Age of Globalization | 1-6 |
| INTL ST 601 | Topics in Global Security | 1-4 |
| INTL ST 602 | Topics in Politics and Policy in the Global Economy | 1-4 |
| INTL ST 603 | Topics in Culture in the Age of Globalization | 1-4 |
| LACIS/CHICLA/HISTORY/POLI SCI 268 | The U.S. & Latin America from the Colonial Era to the Present: A Critical Survey | 3 |
| LACIS 440 | Topics in Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies | 1-4 |
| SLAVIC/GEOG/HISTORY/POLI SCI 253 | Russia: An Interdisciplinary Survey | 4 |
| SLAVIC/GEOG/HISTORY/POLI SCI 254 | Eastern Europe: An Interdisciplinary Survey | 4 |
Certificate Completion Requirement
This undergraduate certificate must be completed concurrently with the student’s undergraduate degree. Students cannot delay degree completion to complete the certificate.
Learning Outcomes
- Analyze issues of coloniality, power, and difference as they relate to teaching, learning, and curriculum in non-US settings.
- Examine key cultural, social, and historical relationships to educational knowledges before entering a pedagogical space abroad.
- Identify curriculum and teaching practices that produce difference and exclusions, focusing on the intersection of transnational and local contexts.
- Develop culturally responsive practices and pedagogies focused on teaching abroad.
- Use experiential knowledge of practicum teaching to reflect on pedagogical practices and contextual differences in non-US contexts.