What Should Teachers Look For During an Overseas School Visit?

Within minutes of walking into a school in another country, teachers notice differences.

The classroom looks different. Students behave differently. There may be far more technology — or almost none. Teachers may have very different relationships with students. The timetable, curriculum, class sizes, uniforms, resources and physical environment can all attract attention.

The problem is that the most obvious difference is not necessarily the most useful thing to observe.

One thing we have learned is that teachers get considerably more from these experiences when they move beyond asking:

“What is different here?”

and start asking:

If you are visiting a school overseas, these are the things worth looking for.

1. Look at what the students are doing

Teachers visiting another classroom naturally watch the teacher.

Try watching the students instead.

Who is doing most of the talking? Are students asking questions or mainly answering them? Are they working independently, collaboratively or as a whole class? What happens when a student doesn't understand? How comfortable are students asking for help? Who participates — and who doesn't? How much responsibility do students have for their own learning?

These observations often tell you more about classroom culture than the teaching strategy itself.

For example, you might initially notice that a teacher rarely moves around the room. That could appear very different from your own practice. But watching the students may reveal that they independently support one another, organise resources and seek assistance without requiring constant teacher direction.

Suddenly the professional question changes.

Instead of: “Why doesn't the teacher circulate more?”

you might ask: “How has this classroom developed that level of student independence?”

That is a much more interesting question to take home.

2. Look at the relationship between teacher and students

Relationships can be harder to see than teaching techniques.

Yet they are often one of the most revealing aspects of an overseas classroom.

Notice how students address their teacher. What happens when the teacher enters the room? How is humour used? How does the teacher correct a student? How comfortable are students disagreeing, asking questions or admitting they do not know something? What happens outside the formal lesson?

You may see relationships that feel considerably more formal than those common in Australian classrooms. Or considerably less formal. Neither observation, by itself, tells you whether the relationship is effective.

The useful question is:

A formal teacher-student relationship might support particular cultural expectations around respect. A highly relational approach might allow a teacher to manage a challenging class with remarkably few explicit behaviour interventions.

The professional learning comes from understanding the relationship in context rather than immediately comparing it with Australian norms.

3. Look at what happens when resources are limited

This can be one of the most professionally confronting parts of visiting schools in very different contexts.

Australian educators may enter classrooms without resources they consider routine. No interactive whiteboard. Few textbooks. Limited printing. Shared equipment. Unreliable internet. Perhaps no student devices at all.

It is easy to focus on what the classroom doesn't have.

Look instead at what teachers do with what they do have.

How are instructions communicated? How does the teacher check understanding? How are students grouped? How are examples demonstrated? How does the teacher maintain attention? What has the teacher become exceptionally good at because a technological shortcut isn't available?

This does not mean romanticising limited resources. Teachers working in under-resourced settings may quite reasonably want better facilities, technology and materials.

But professional exchange gives visiting educators an unusual opportunity to notice the expertise that can develop within those constraints.

Sometimes the most useful question for an Australian teacher is uncomfortable:

4. Look at the learning environment beyond the classroom

A school is much more than a lesson.

Walk through the grounds. Look at what is displayed on walls. Notice where students spend breaks. Look at staff spaces. Watch arrival and departure. Observe interactions between older and younger students.

Who maintains the school environment? Where do parents appear? What responsibilities do students have? What does the school publicly celebrate? What languages are visible? What evidence is there of religion, community, national identity or local culture?

These things can reveal what a school values before anyone explains its philosophy to you.

They can also help prevent a common mistake in international education: interpreting classroom practice without understanding the community surrounding it.

5. Look for what feels completely normal to everyone except you

This is one of our favourite things to notice.

Every education system has practices that its teachers barely think about because they are simply normal.

Australia does too.

The school assembly. How teachers dress. Where teachers sit. Whether students clean classrooms. How lunch works. When teachers arrive. Whether classroom doors stay open. How students move between lessons. How teachers communicate with parents. How much homework students receive. Who is responsible when a student struggles.

Sometimes the most professionally valuable observation is something nobody at the host school thought was worth explaining.

If something surprises you, write it down. Then ask a local educator about it. You may discover that your interpretation was completely wrong.

That moment — when something initially looked strange and then suddenly makes sense — is often where intercultural professional learning becomes particularly valuable.

6. Look at how teachers solve problems

Education systems differ enormously.

Teaching problems often sound surprisingly familiar.

Students lose concentration. Teachers struggle for time. Some students need additional support. Curriculum requirements compete with other priorities. Parents have expectations. Resources are finite. Teachers get tired.

So rather than only asking local educators about what their education system does well, ask them about the problems they are trying to solve.

What is difficult about teaching here? What are teachers currently trying to improve? What frustrates you? What have you tried that didn't work? What has made the biggest difference?

Those conversations move beyond educational tourism.

They allow two professionals working in very different environments to recognise something important:

7. Look for something the host school does better than you do

This is worth making deliberate.

Ask yourself:

Maybe it is student responsibility. Perhaps it is relationships. Community connection. Teacher collaboration. Behaviour. Creativity with limited resources. Respect. Language learning. Student wellbeing. School identity.

It doesn't need to be something that could be copied directly into an Australian school.

The point is to deliberately enter another education environment expecting to find expertise. That expectation matters.

Professional exchange becomes much richer when visiting teachers stop unconsciously evaluating another school against their own system and instead look for something they can learn from it.

8. Look for something you appreciate about Australian education

International professional learning isn't only about discovering what other countries do differently or better.

Sometimes distance provides perspective on your own system.

An overseas school visit may make you appreciate access to learning support. Teacher planning time. Resources. Student wellbeing structures. Professional autonomy. Inclusive education. Technology. Facilities. Curriculum resources. Or something you had previously considered completely ordinary.

That reflection is valuable too.

Professional learning does not require returning to Australia believing everything should change. Sometimes the insight is:

9. Look beyond the showcase lesson

Teachers everywhere want visitors to see their school at its best. That is understandable.

A scheduled international visit may include an impressive lesson, a presentation, student performances or a tour led by school leaders. Enjoy them.

But also look at ordinary moments. What happens between classes? What are students doing while waiting for a teacher? How do colleagues interact? What happens when technology fails? What does the classroom look like before the lesson has been prepared for visitors?

If appropriate, ask teachers about a normal Tuesday rather than only the special day you are experiencing.

Professional understanding often lives in the ordinary details.

10. Don't observe something you could simply ask

Observation has limits.

You cannot reliably determine a teacher's workload by watching one lesson. You cannot understand an education system's assessment practices by looking at a classroom wall. You cannot know why a teacher made a pedagogical decision without asking them. And you certainly cannot understand someone's professional experience simply by comparing it with your own.

So talk. Ask:

Why did you choose that approach? Is that typical here? Would most teachers do this the same way? What do students think about it? Has this changed during your career? What would you change if you could?

AITSL's professional-learning resources similarly treat observation as something more purposeful than passive watching — its resources on peer observation emphasise a defined focus, professional conversation, feedback and reflection as part of learning from classroom practice.

An international school visit should work on the same principle.

The Global Teacher LOOK framework

A simple way to remember all of this during an overseas school visit is to LOOK.

Observation is only the first half of the learning

There is one final step.

After leaving the school, resist immediately deciding:

“That was better.” or “That would never work in Australia.”

Instead, try three questions:

Global Teacher programs include formal facilitated reflection for exactly this reason. A school visit generates experiences. Professional conversation adds context. Reflection turns those experiences back towards your own practice.

That process also fits comfortably with the broader Australian understanding of effective professional learning. AITSL's High Quality Professional Learning Cycle emphasises identifying a learning need, undertaking appropriate learning, applying that learning and evaluating its impact. Its professional-learning resources also identify observation, collaboration and feedback as legitimate professional-learning approaches.

A school visit isn't a search for the world's best education system

Perhaps this is the biggest mindset shift.

Teachers sometimes travel internationally with questions such as: Which country has the best schools? Are their teachers better trained? Why can't Australia do what they do?

Real schools are much more interesting than those questions.

Every education system exists within its own history, culture, economy, expectations and constraints. Every school has strengths. Every school has challenges. And every teacher has professional knowledge shaped by the context in which they work.

The purpose of an international school visit should not be to rank those contexts. It should be to use another context to see education — including your own — more clearly.

When that happens, the school visit has done something much more valuable than showing you how another country teaches. It has made you a more thoughtful observer of your own practice.

This reciprocal approach sits at the heart of Global Teacher's Professional Exchange Programs (PEPs), where visiting educators bring expertise and host educators bring expertise — both sides learn through exchange. PEPs involve deeper school-based engagement, with a progression from observation, through collaboration and co-teaching, to sharing or modelling practice, while the host teacher retains their normal curriculum and professional role. Professional Learning Programs (PLPs) use school visits, leadership and professional conversations, and education-system insights within a shorter professional study-tour model. Read more about what makes an overseas teacher program genuine professional development, or explore our broader guide to international professional development for teachers.

Common questions about overseas school visits