Diversity in Teacher Education: A Double Helix

Abstract

Over the past twenty years, the literature in teacher education has built a discourse around diversity. Much of it is predicated on the vast multicultural education literature developing since the late 1970s, a literature that is very much activistand advocacy-oriented. It is also a literature largely ignored by “traditional” academics, ostensibly because education is a low-status academic interest, and also because arguing against the multicultural education discourse is a very unpopular thing to do. In this article, I delve into the largely ignored teacher education literature to find the meaning of diversity as it is conveyed there. In doing so, I develop the idea that diversity in teacher education acts as a double helix. As long as they maintain accreditation, many teacher education programs and schools of education in general have carte blanche to do what they want, and are doing so in relation to diversity. The goings-on operate largely under the academic radar. Thus it is no wonder why many are incredulous that a task group seeking to redesign teacher education at the University of Minnesota, for example, does so out of a concern for “diversity awareness.” Of the many concerns regarding student achievement, the task group operates out of a conviction that teachers’ lack of “cultural competence”—knowledge about students’ backgrounds and frames of reference—is a key contributing factor. Furthermore, the group suggests that underachievement is the result of Acad. Quest. (2010) 23:348–355 DOI 10.1007/s12129-010-9170-2