Fostering Teachers' Multicultural Competence for Chinese Ethnic Minority Education: An Analysis of Teacher Education Programmes, Syllabuses and Teacher Educator Perceptions.

Wei Wang

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.810240

Abstract

The multicultural characteristics of students belonging to ethnic minorities in China pose challenges for teachers. Teacher competence in dealing with culturally diverse students has been extensively discussed in international scholarship and referenced by Chinese researchers, but there is limited empirical research on how teacher education programmes in China respond to this challenge and theoretical discussions. Based on content analysis on teacher education programmes and syllabuses, as well as expert interviews with four teacher educators at two teacher education institutions, this study investigates how the cultivation of multicultural competence is incorporated into teacher education programmes, and the external forces that shape it. Drawing on international scholarship on teachers’ multicultural competence and Cochran-Smith’s framework on external forces influencing multicultural teacher education practices, I argue that the cultivation of teachers’ multicultural competence for their future work in ethnic minority education is, to a great extent, missing from teacher education programmes. Furthermore, what pre-service teachers’ competence covers, and the external forces that influence how teacher education plays out in practice, are influenced and somewhat determined by the large social, economic and political context as well as the agenda for educational reform in China.

Highlights

When it comes to emotional expression, the students from the Dai [ethnic group] are gentle and, by contrast, the ones from Bulang and Hani are stubborn
I begin by discussing the content analysis of the teacher education programme syllabuses and continue with a discussion of the semi-structured expert interviews
Content analysis was conducted on the syllabuses of two teacher Tianxiang Teacher Education Institution (TTEI) education programmes to find out how these programmes provide training in pre-service teacher multicultural competence

Summary

Introduction

When it comes to emotional expression, the students from the Dai [ethnic group] are gentle and, by contrast, the ones from Bulang and Hani are stubborn. Fostering Teachers’ Multicultural Competence and change their teaching and management style to adapt to our ethnic minority students. For future academic research and policymaking in reforming teacher education programmes to be inclusive in serving ethnic minority education. These are the voices of two teachers working in a junior secondary school located in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in China’s Yunnan Province, where my earlier fieldwork took place. As these teachers’ narratives show, the distinct cultural characteristics of diverse ethnic minority students can pose challenges to teachers

Methods

Results

Conclusion