Critical reflection as a key component in promoting pre-service teachers’ awareness of cultural diversity

Abstract

This study examined the role of critical reflection in developing cultural awareness among pre-service teachers via coursework requiring students to act and reflect on issues of diversity on a personal level. The Cultural Diversity Awareness Inventory (CDAI) was used as a pretest and posttest measure of students’ multicultural attitudes, and learning journals, final reflections and focus group interviews were examined to investigate how reflection facilitated development of cultural awareness. The CDAI indicates that pre-service teachers’ multicultural attitudes were improving. Critically reflecting on the issues of culture, power and privileges, fostered pre-service teachers’ cultural awareness and created cognitive dissonance within them, which positively influenced their cultural awareness. Implications of the study for teacher education are discussed.