Investigation of the Impact of Polytechnic Teachers Living Abroad Experience on Their Self-assessed Cultural Intelligence and its Perceived Importance in Teacher’s Work

Authors

• Eija Laitinen HAMK - Hämeen ammattikorkeakoulu
• Petri Nokelainen Tampereen yliopisto
• Laura Pylväs Tampereen yliopisto

Keywords:

cultural intelligence, living abroad experience, university of applied science, teacher, survey

Abstract

Refereed article

The study examined the impact of three Finnish university of applied science teachers’ (N=228) self-assessed cultural intelligence on their living abroad experience and its perceived importance in teacher’s work. The research questions were as follows: 1) Does the Cultural Intelligence Scale (CQS) assess intercultural competence of university of applied science teachers? 2) How do university of applied science teachers self-assess their cultural intelligence and its importance in teacher’s work? 3) Is teachers’ living abroad experience connected to their self-assessed cultural intelligence and its perceived importance in teacher’s work? Based on the results, Finnish translation of CQS is a valid instrument to measure university of applied science teachers’ cultural intelligence on four dimensions (metacognitive strategies, knowledge, motivation and behavior). Teachers reported their cultural intelligence, especially motivation and strategy, to be on a quite high level. Aspects of knowledge and behavior were assessed to be the least important dimensions. The results show that living abroad and self-assessed cultural intelligence are connected to each other: the experience of living abroad develops cultural intelligence on all four CQS dimensions.