Multiculturalism & Diversity (235 items)To section archive

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This research reports on studies conducted in two early childhood education (ECE) teacher preparation programs focused on increasing preservice teachers’ intercultural competence through intercultural teaching and learning and diverse US and international field experiences. Study 1 took place at a large U.S. Midwestern university with the first cohort (n = 43) of preservice teachers to have completed the revised internationally focused program. Study 2 took place at a midsized rural university in the U.S. Rocky Mountain region with preservice teachers (n = 9) who completed an eight-month university-led program with Nepal field experience. The researchers used the same instrument to measure preservice teachers’ intercultural sensitivity – the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) – before and after completion of the respective programs. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was used for the analysis of the IDI scores of participants; paired samples t-test yielded individual and composite results. IDI pre and post results showed statistically significant increases in the composite scores for preservice teachers’ levels of intercultural competence for most participants. Attributes of movement away from trivializing other cultures and toward recognizing cultural similarities, appreciation of and curiosity about cultural differences, and the ability to interpret phenomena taking place in a cultural context became evident.
Published: 2022
Updated: Jul. 12, 2022
A critical mass of literacy scholars have re-defined what it means to prepare reading teachers toward approaches that foreground culture, critical inquiry, and multilingualism. An upsurge in research on critical approaches to prepare caring and conscious reading teachers has resulted, though fewer studies have examined the ways novice teachers worked through moments of crisis that often accompany anti-racist learning experiences. This study reports findings from a qualitative investigation of seven prospective teachers’ coursework during their participation in an elementary reading methods course framed around culturally relevant literacy teaching for teacher learning. Findings begin to document specific activities PSTs engaged in to productively struggle through crisis and suggest that preservice teachers can and should wrestle with the complexities of effective literacy teaching for African American and Hispanic readers in ways that lay the foundation for culturally relevant teaching. Implications for literacy teacher education and research are included.
Published: 2021
Updated: May. 15, 2022
As culture is the core concept in multicultural education, this paper focuses on teachers' understanding of culture, which is a factor in implementing multicultural education successfully. The present study investigates 231 generalist and bilingual pre-service teachers’ definitions of culture and whether or not there is a difference in the number of descriptors used by the groups. To analyze the data collected through a survey, the author conducted a qualitative content analysis and then ran a 2 × 2 factorial ANOVA. Although there is no statistical difference between the groups, bilingual pre-service teachers showed a deeper understanding of culture.
Published: 2022
Updated: May. 08, 2022
The aim of this study was to explore the role of social justice in multicultural education taught in teacher education. The study investigated discourses on multicultural education among Finnish teacher educators, and the subject positions constructed in them. Discourse theory analysis revealed six discourses on multicultural education, ranging from conservative to liberal and critical, with liberal discourses having the most articulations. Although Finnish teacher education has taken steps towards social justice, the results also highlight racialisation and the subject position of the immigrant Other as themes that need to be challenged to prevent the reproduction of inequalities in teacher education.
Published: 2021
Updated: Mar. 13, 2022