Ontological Disobedience in the Face of (Im)Mobility: Possible Transitions for World Language Teacher Continuing Education

In-country experiences have long been valued in the context of languages teacher education. This is particularly true in the Australian context. The COVID-19 crisis and its disruptive impact not only put many of these schemes on hold, but it also highlighted their inequitable and unsustainable nature. This chapter turns to everyday languaging practices of secondary school teachers of Spanish on social media to highlight how these practices can be reimagined as reflexive (personal/professional) learning opportunities in the context of international (im)mobility. Three illustrative examples critically examined through a decolonial lens reveal the potential of these languaging practices to resist and challenge persistent binaries that drive colonial, Western onto-epistemological values in (languages) education (e.g., mobility/immobility, personal/professional, informal/formal learning, individuality/relationality). These otherwise marginalised practices steeped in relationality, music and politics emerge as clear attempts of ontological disobedience, through which languages teachers can redefine the contours of being/becoming in the world, and, in so doing, expose the complex and contradictory nature of international mobility as a traditionally essential component of continuing education. This chapter concludes by exploring potential reconfiguration of the goals and modes of continuing education for languages teachers in the Australian context.