Coming Back from International Educational Exchanges – Difficulties, Changes, Challenges
- Institution: University of Warsaw
- Institution: University of Silesia in Katowice
- Year of publication: 2017
- Source: Show
- Pages: 182-194
- DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/kie.2017.04.13
- PDF: kie/118/kie11813.pdf
International collaboration in education has resulted in an increasing number of participants in educational exchanges at various stages of education. Taking part in a foreign intercultural exchange is an important experience, associated with a half a year or a year-long immersion in another culture and with the return home. Changing the residence country for a certain period, learners consciously undertake the tasks aimed at familiarization with the new culture, language, customs or behaviours. Few of them think about the difficulties associated with the comeback. The presented research results show that, during the exchange, learners were able to build their strategy of functioning in the host family and country. As a result, this helped them to handle the difficulties of the reverse culture shock, which is manifested by the optimistic-active strategy applied by most of the learners after returning home.