Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Program

The Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Program is a yearlong professional learning opportunity and short-term exchange for elementary, middle, and high school educators from the United States to develop skills to prepare students for a competitive global economy. The program equips educators to bring an international perspective to their schools through targeted training, experience abroad, and global collaboration.

Program Description

Participants in the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Program will: 

• Complete a rigorous, semester-long online course focused on best practices in global education.
• Gather for an in-person professional development workshop in Washington, D.C.
• Travel abroad for two to three weeks to immerse themselves in another country’s culture and education system. 
• Create a global education guide that serves as a resource in their local community to share the skills, experiences, and resources they have developed throughout the program.

Activities

Online Global Education Course

September - December

The online global education course combines simultaneous and self-paced coursework during the fall semester. Participants should be prepared for a thoughtful, content-rich, and rigorous experience with many opportunities built in for practical application and collaboration. The graduate-level course runs for 10 weeks, with multiple assignments due each week. Participants have the opportunity to earn continuing education units or graduate credits for the course. Participants can anticipate spending up to 10 hours per week on the online course, including synchronous webinars.

Global Education Symposium in Washington, D.C.

February

Participants gather in Washington, D.C., for an in-person professional learning workshop to build networks, collaborate, and develop strategies to enhance global learning. The Global Education Symposium typically requires participants to take one to two days during the school week to travel to Washington, D.C. Participants are encouraged to invite an administrator to this event.

International Field Experience

Spring - Summer; Dates vary

Participants' two- to three-week international field experience provides them with an opportunity to experience another country’s history, education system, and culture. Participants begin with group instruction on these topics, school visits, meetings with education leaders, and cultural excursions and workshops. They then travel in pairs or trios to communities around the country, where they have the opportunity to observe classrooms, interact with administrators, and teach or co-teach their own lessons with international educators who have spent a considerable amount of time on an exchange program in the United States, and thus are familiar with the U.S. education system. The travel experience concludes with a debriefing session during which educators reconvene and reflect on their experiences in country before returning to the United States.

Global Education Guide
During the program, participants create a global education guide that serves as a resource for their local community to build global awareness and mutual understanding. Submitted as a final capstone project, this guide serves as a tool for sharing the participants’ experiences with communities of educators, facilitating professional learning workshops, and engaging students and members of the community with the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Program experience.

Explore over 400 resource guides created by program alumni.

Global Education Guides Library.

Participants receive funding that covers participation in the online global education course, as well as airfare, lodging, meals, and incidentals for the Global Education Symposium in Washington, D.C., and travel abroad for the international field experience.

Teachers at the 2024 Global Education Symposium

Eligibility

To decide if the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Program is right for you, consider these questions:

• Do you want to enhance your expertise in adapting teaching methods, lesson planning, and technology tools to internationalize U.S. classrooms?
• Are you interested in further developing your leadership and professional skills to ensure that your students are knowledgeable about the world and prepared for careers in an increasingly competitive global economy?
• Are you willing and able to invest the time required of this program, including 
  • up to ten hours per week of coursework from September to December, 
  • two to three weeks of travel both in the United States and abroad, and 
  • time required to complete the global education guide capstone project after travel?
• Do you need support and networks to better prepare your students to work and collaborate in multiple cultural contexts and to be more aware of other countries around the world?
• Do you want to connect and collaborate with a global network of educators?

If you answered "yes" to these questions, the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Program might just be the right professional learning opportunity for you to pursue!

Eligibility

The Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Program is open to full-time elementary, middle, and high school educators who are employed at a public, private (secular or faith-based), or charter school in the United States, or within the Department of Defense Education Activity. Applicants are welcome from a wide range of disciplines. These include, but are not limited to, the humanities, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), English Language Arts, ESL/ESOL, library and media, the arts, and special education.

To be eligible for the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Program, the applicant must:

• be a citizen of the United States;
• reside in the U.S., a U.S. territory, or a school associated with the Department of Defense Education Activity;
• hold at least a bachelor's degree;
• have a minimum of three years of full-time instructional experience in a U.S. K-12 educational institution;
• be currently employed full-time in a U.S. K-12 educational institution or school district with a minimum of 50% of contracted hours in a student-facing role; and
• have NOT resided abroad for five or more consecutive years in the six-year period preceding the date of application; a candidate who has done so is ineligible for a grant. A candidate who has lived outside the United States for nine months or more during a calendar year is deemed to have resided abroad for that year.

group of U.S. and international teachers at a tree planting ceremony in India

Application

Application

The application to the Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Program can be found in IREX’s Online Application System. The application includes sections to enter personal and professional demographics, educational and certification information, language proficiency, and an opportunity to answer, in short essays, questions about the applicant’s need and goals for the program, their background and experience, and how they might leverage the experience for impact in their school community.

Supporting Documentation

The application also requires the submission of references and certain documentation:

• Resume or curriculum vitae
• Professional reference from someone the applicant has worked with in a professional capacity
• Professional reference from the applicant’s school or district lead administrator

Alumni of the Teachers for Global Classrooms (TGC) Program are ineligible to apply. Preference for applicants who have not participated in another Fulbright program and who have not had significant previous professional experience abroad (study, teaching, research, or employment).

Fulbright Teacher outdoors with a group of students

Selection Criteria

Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms Program participants are selected through an open, nationwide competition.

In an effort to reflect the diversity of the United States and global society, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs programs, funding, and other activities encourage the involvement of U.S. and international applicants from traditionally underrepresented groups, including women, racial and ethnic minorities, and people with disabilities. Opportunities are open to people regardless of their race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, geographic location, socioeconomic status, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity. The Bureau is committed to fairness, equity, and inclusion.

When applications are received by IREX through the Online Application System, each application is screened for technical eligibility. After confirming that applicants meet the eligibility criteria, an independent committee of experts reviews the applications.

The independent committee reads and reviews applications, and makes nomination recommendations. The Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board approves all final nominations.

Applications are evaluated on overall quality, the applicant’s qualifications, the benefit of the program for both the applicant and the applicant’s school, and clear demonstration of educational leadership.

Additional consideration will be given to applicants who:

• work in high-need schools or districts, defined as having a student population that:
  • is of high socioeconomic need, especially where 40% or more qualifies for Free and Reduced-Price Meals (FARMS);
  • includes a significant representation of racial and ethnic minorities;
  • includes a significant representation of students with disabilities;
  • includes a significant representation of at-risk students and/or other under-resourced groups;
• have at least five years of full-time teaching experience in the United States, a U.S. territory, or a school associated with the Department of Defense Education Activity;
• have a record of service in the U.S. armed forces;
• make clear that they commit to working the U.S. K–12 educational sector after completing the program;
• have NOT had significant previous professional experience abroad (Fulbright or other). Professional experience abroad includes study, teaching, research, or professional development. It does not include personal travel, undergraduate study abroad, leading student trips, religious or volunteer trips, service in the U.S. armed forces, or serving in the Peace Corps; and
• do NOT hold a Ph.D. in international education or a closely related field.

All applicants will receive notification of a selection decision by email, whether they have been selected or not.

group of five U.S. Fulbright Teachers on the coast of Peru