International teaching practicum in vulnerable contexts: a qualitative study through the lens of pre-service teachers

This study explores how an international teaching practicum in a vulnerable context informs the initial preparation of pre-service primary teachers. Using a qualitative design, we analysed reflective journals written by 14 pre-service teachers during a practicum in Kenya. The journals show that working under resource constraints brought lesson planning and classroom organisation into sharp focus as professional necessities, while pupils’ motivation to learn was repeatedly framed as a source of pedagogical meaning. Participants also described an ambivalent emotional trajectory, combining fulfilment and gratitude with sadness, frustration and powerlessness. These emotionally and ethically charged experiences were closely tied to how participants made sense of responsibility, professional judgement, and emerging teacher identity in settings shaped by structural inequities. The study also demonstrates the value of reflective journals for tracing how autonomy, emotion, and situated decision-making interact in real time. Overall, the findings show that international practicums in vulnerable contexts can support teacher learning when embedded in programme structures that foster critical reflection, ethical engagement, and coherent planning. Implications include robust pre-departure preparation, supervision linking university mentoring with host-school collaboration, and post-practicum consolidation to support the translation of learning into practice.