Negotiating Epistemic Tensions in Internationalised Teacher Education: Perspectives of Migrant Teacher Educators and International Preservice Teachers in Australia

Harold Culala; Edmund Sosu; Yu Han

This paper investigates epistemic tensions in Australian initial teacher education involving migrant teacher educators educated overseas and international pre-service teachers enrolled in teacher education programs. It examines how differing epistemic aims of education are experienced and addressed within everyday teaching and learning interactions shaped by Australian policy and professional standards. The study is guided by two research questions: (1) What epistemic tensions are experienced by migrant teacher educators and international pre-service teachers in relation to the aims and purposes of education in Australian teacher education programs? (2) How do these educators and students negotiate such tensions in their teaching and learning practices? The study draws on Miranda Fricker’s (2007) epistemic justice theory and decolonial perspectives in education to examine questions of epistemic authority, credibility, and knowledge legitimacy in internationalised and policy-regulated contexts. A qualitative design is employed. Initial data gathering is underway through semi-structured interviews with migrant teacher educators working in private Australian higher education institutions and focus group discussions with international pre-service teachers enrolled in initial teacher education programs within these institutions. Data will be analysed thematically with attention to epistemic tensions and strategies of negotiation. Preliminary findings indicate relational epistemic solidarity between migrant teacher educators and international pre-service teachers, many of whom share Asian cultural backgrounds. Education is commonly understood as relational and transformative. However, institutional structures privileging compliance and standardisation create disjunctures between these aims and what is formally recognised and rewarded. International pre-service teachers often experience credibility deficits when alternative perspectives are framed as adjustment issues. Migrant teacher educators hold conditional credibility, particularly when challenging dominant norms. In response, participants engage in epistemic code-switching, cultural translation, and forms of quiet resistance that subtly expand pedagogical space while formally complying with institutional requirements. These practices reveal both agency and structural constraint, contributing to debates on migration, diversity, and justice in teacher education.