Intercultural Competence, A Necessity in 21st Century Classrooms: Are Teacher Educators in Tanzania Interculturally Competent?

Abstract

Recently, teacher educators have been required to possess strong academic credentials and intercultural competencies to teach successfully. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the extent to which teacher educators possess the skills of intercultural competence. Also, the study examines the factors that influence the intercultural competence of teacher educators. A sample of 300 teacher educators selected from two Tanzanian university colleges is used. The results indicate that teacher educators had higher mean scores in the dimensions of attitude, external outcomes, internal outcomes, and skills but significantly lower mean scores in the dimension of knowledge. Furthermore, factors such as living abroad, duration of staying abroad, level of education, academics’ teaching experience, and the faculty from where the academics come are significantly related to at least one dimension of intercultural competence. For instance, academics’ level of education is significantly related to the attitude, knowledge, and skills dimensions of intercultural competence. Therefore, the results have far-reaching implications for policy and future research.