The 2023-2024 Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program – Media Literacy Cohort

The Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement (Fulbright TEA) Program will bring international secondary-level teachers to the United States for a six-week professional development program to take academic seminars at a U.S. host university, observe and share their expertise with U.S. teachers and students, and develop action plans to promote media literacy and critical thinking skills in their home schools, classrooms, and communities.

The program’s Media Literacy Cohort will include content-specific coursework with a focus on media literacy and critical thinking classroom skills. Seminar topics may include recognizing bias, propaganda, stereotypes, and misinformation; strategies for improving students’ critical thinking; how media literacy promotes civic engagement; the role of media in society; fostering cyber safety and digital citizenship in the classroom; and technology training.

The Fulbright TEA Media Literacy Cohort is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), with funding provided by the U.S. Government and administered by IREX in collaboration with the Fulbright Commission.

Program Activities

• General academic seminars focusing on new teaching methodologies, lesson planning, and instructional technology training for teachers;
• Specialized seminars with a focus on classroom media literacy and critical thinking skills;
• A practicum of at least 40 hours with a U.S. partner teacher in local secondary schools;
• A variety of relevant professional development and cultural activities.

Eligibility Requirements

Applicants must:

• Be current secondary-level, full-time teachers of English, math, science, or social studies (civics, history, global studies, media studies, communications, journalism, law) at high schools or middle schools serving primarily a local population;*
• Be a current citizen and resident of Romania at the time of application and of program participation;
• Have earned a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent;
• Have completed at least three years of full-time teaching by the start of the program;
• Have Romanian citizenship, reside and work in Romania at the time of application and of program participation;
• Demonstrate oral and written English language proficiency;
• Have experience or demonstrated interest in the field of media literacy and critical thinking;
• Demonstrate a commitment to continue teaching after completion of the program;
• Have submitted a complete application.

* Notes:

• Secondary-level teachers include both middle and high school teachers serving students between approximately 12 and 18 years of age.
• Teachers responsible for teaching additional grade levels must teach middle or high school students (grade levels V-XII) more than 50% of their work time in order to be eligible.
• Educational administrators (such as representatives or officials of the Ministry of Education) and school administrators who do not teach at least fifty percent of their time, full-time teacher trainers, university faculty, private English Language tutors, and teachers from schools primarily serving expatriates are not eligible.
• Teachers working in institutions dedicated exclusively to extracurricular classes and optional activities (e.g. Palatul Copiilor) are not eligible. Only applications received from teachers working in middle or high schools will be taken into consideration. In addition, substitute teachers or guest teachers are not eligible for this program.
• Former participants of the Teaching Excellence and Achievement (TEA) Program, the International Leaders in Education Program (ILEP), the Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship Program, the Partners in Education (PiE) program, or Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Program for International Teachers Program are not eligible to apply.

Each applicant is required to submit:

• An online application form: https://fulbright.irex.org/ (including the Institutional Support and Reference Form completed by your supervisor; and the Leave Approval Form completed by your school director**);
• A scanned copy of your passport photo page sent to office@fulbright.ro

**The Institutional Support and the Leave Approval forms can be downloaded directly from the online application; the documents should be hand signed, scanned and then uploaded to the relevant section of the online application.

Note:

• Please make sure to include your complete teaching schedule in the appropriate section of the online application. This schedule should include all classes you are currently teaching each day of the week, including planning and preparation time, as well as additional responsibilities outside of teaching (if applicable). If you teach in more than one school, please indicate the school name. The purpose of you providing your schedule is to demonstrate that you are a full-time teacher in your community.

English Proficiency

All candidates nominated for the program are required to submit a TOEFL test score. Participation in the Fulbright TEA program is primarily open to teachers who are able to demonstrate English language proficiency by scoring the equivalent of a 61 or above on the internet-based TOEFL.

TOEFL test scores are not compulsory in the first stage of the competition. Score reports will be required prior to May 15, 2023. Test vouchers for exam registration will be provided to the Romanian candidates nominated for the program.

Selection Criteria:

• Demonstrated commitment to secondary education;
• Demonstrated commitment or interest in promoting media literacy and critical thinking in the classroom;
• Demonstrated leadership potential;
• Professional and educational experience and achievements;
• Potential for developing long-term linkages between U.S. and home country educational institutions and schools;
• Preparedness (including maturity, flexibility, and ability to function independently) for an intensive U.S.-based training program;
• Willingness and capacity to work and live collaboratively with international peers to foster a positive learning community for professional development;
• Articulated ideas for applying program experience to improving secondary education and media literacy in the home country;
• Ability to express ideas clearly and effectively;
• Oral and written English language skills sufficient to manage coursework, participate in specialized seminars, and deliver presentations in U.S. schools;
• Applicants who have had few or no opportunities to travel to the U.S. will be given priority;
• Preference will be given to applicants who are members of or who work with students from under-served communities or traditionally underrepresented groups including but not limited to women, racial, ethnic and religious minorities, people with disabilities, the LGBTI community, and people from diverse geographic areas of the country.
• Preference will also be given to applicants who have not previously received a Fulbright grant.