Developing The Future Primary Teachers’ Multicultural Competence

Abstract

The issues of multicultural education and the development of future primary school teachers’ multicultural competence are being explored at the Department of Pedagogy and Methods of Pre-School and Primary Education of the Birsk Branch of Bashkir State University (Bashkortostan, Russia). In 2016-2018 we conducted a research aimed at the theoretical justification and experimental verification of the pedagogical conditions directed towards promoting the effective development of prospective primary school teachers’ multicultural competence. Structurally the multicultural competence of the future primary school teacher consisted of motivational, cognitive and operational components. The experimental findings demonstrated a substantial growth of the future teachers’ multicultural competence and a positive dynamic of the enhancement of their preparedness within the corresponding components. Developing the multicultural competence of prospective teachers requires a core of teacher educators who have themselves attained a required level of multicultural sensitivity and expertise and who have a good understanding of the world as being culturally and ethnically pluralistic. Detailed accounts of research need to be conducted to comparatively learn how the issues of the development of pre-service and in-service teachers’ multicultural competence are designed and implemented in different countries.