Multicultural Teacher Education Research Articles

Re(Active) Praxis: Making a Place for Rurality: Toward a More Inclusive Multicultural Teacher Education

This piece recounts how a teacher educator’s experiences as a rural student and teacher at various educational levels have shaped her professional identity. Pairing these experiences with scholarship on rural cultural identity, she outlines how ELA teacher educators can honor rural identities, cultures, and ways of being in their classrooms. The pedagogical moves detailed in this piece offer opportunities for both teacher educators and preservice teachers to consider ways of inviting rural culture into their classroom—to make rural culture part of an inclusive and multicultural way of teaching.

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

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.

The Study of Multicultural Teacher Education in the Primary Teacher Education Curriculum in Singapore

본 연구는 싱가포르의 초등교사 양성기관에서 실시하는 다문화 교육과정 분석을 통해 한국의 다문화 교사교육과정에 주는 시사점을 모색하는 것을 목적으로 한다. 이를 위해 먼저, 다문화교육의 개념과 요소, 싱가포르 사회와 교육 특징, 싱가포르 교사 교육기관의 구성과 다문화교육에 대해 파악하였다. 또한 싱가포르 다문화 교사교육을 분석하기 위하여 싱가포르의 NIE가 제공하는 인문/자연계 학사 학위 프로그램에서 초등 일반과 모국어 과정에 제시된 교육과정을 분석하였다. 분석틀은 Banks(2009)의 다섯 가지 내용 체계(내용통합, 지식 구성 과정, 공평한 교수법, 편견 감소, 학생의 역량을 강화하는 학교 문화와 조직)을 기반으로 분석하였다. 분석 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 싱가포르의 예비 교사들은 초등 일반 전공과 모국어 전공에 상관없이 모두 1-3학년 동안 필수 과목인 ‘다문화연구’ (multicultural studies)를 포함하여 매년 다문화 내용 체계가 포함된 수업을 수강하였다. 두 번째, 싱가포르의 다문화 교사양성기관에서 실행하고 있는 다문화교육 관련 수업들은 Banks의 다섯 가지 내용 체계를 모두 포함하고 있었다. 세 번째, 싱가포르의 다문화교육은 문화 및 인종 간 이해 교육뿐만 아니라, 모국어 중심의 이중언어교육을 강조하였다. 분석 결과에 근거하여 한국 교사양성기관에 주는 시사점으로 초등교사 양성과정에서의 다문화교육의 필수 과목 선정과 타 교육학 과목에서도 다문화교육 내용 체계를 포함하는 범 교과성, 이중언어교육의 활성화, 교육현장에서의 다문화 교육과 주지교과와의 내용 통합 그리고 교사를 위한 실용적인 다문화 교육 연수 필요성을 제시하였다.

A Study on the In-service English Teachers’ Perceptions on Multicultural Education and Implications for Multicultural Teacher Education

With the increase and diversification of immigrants in Korea, multicultural policies have been expanded to meet diverse demands and needs. Accordingly, multicultural education has become an essential issue for Korean society. However, Korea s government-led change has been criticized for its ambiguous direction while failing to keep up with the pace of change in society. The study explores Korea s multicultural education by analyzing how Korean high school English teachers perceive multicultural education and what implication the perception has on the current system and operation of multicultural education. More specifically, the study explores the limitations and possibilities of multicultural education in the Korean educational scene by interviewing ten in-service English teachers working at high schools in Seoul metropolitan region. Ultimately, the study aims to provide direction to future multicultural teacher education for all teachers. The English teachers showed a poor understanding of multicultural education and even misunderstood the purpose and goal of the education, which consequently affected their implementation and delivery of the education. Second, the teachers limited the subject of multicultural education to multicultural members, mainly the students from multicultural families, showing assimilative tendencies. Although teachers did recognize the need for education on diversity and discrimination, they perceived it as a matter of the future. Thirdly, teachers recognized multicultural education and subject education course as separate education. Teachers saw multicultural education as apart from the subject education. They thought multicultural education does not fit the current education system, where grades and evaluations are taken very sensitively. Lastly, although teachers were not particularly against multicultural education, they were skeptical about implementing multicultural education. They argued that theory-based education does not appeal to teachers who usually prefer hands-on pedagogies. Also, the teachers regarded multicultural education as another task on top of the already heavy workload. Moreover, teachers once again confirmed their belief on the unnecessariness and unprofessionalism of multicultural education through a school s unilateral work distribution without providing proper education for the teacher in charge or verification of qualification of the teachers in charge. The findings imply that teachers vague understanding of multicultural education and absence of systematic and practical multicultural teacher education under biased education policies and guidelines led to confusion and indifference toward multicultural education, unconsciously reinforcing misunderstanding, stereotypes, and institutional discrimination at schools. Overall, teachers’ perception indicates that the current teacher education system and operation failed to fully convey the need and importance of multicultural education.

“I Think I’m the Bridge”: Exploring Mentored Undergraduate Research Experiences in Critical Multicultural Education

Although mentored undergraduate research has been shown to deepen student engagement across various disciplines, this type of extended learning opportunity is not a prominent feature of research and practice in teacher education. Our article addresses this gap by analyzing the experiences and growth of a group of five preservice teachers engaged in a mentored undergraduate research experience in several sections of an introductory critical multicultural education course. Specifically, we examined how pre-service teachers’ personal, academic, and professional engagement with critical multicultural education is impacted when they are positioned as researchers and receive additional training outside the traditional class format. Our findings indicate that their involvement as student co-researchers fostered a new awareness, sensitivity, and emotional investment in issues of social justice beyond what they gained in their introductory multicultural education course. Pre-service teachers described navigating personal relationships with new awareness and sensitivity and adjusting future plans in accordance with their deeper understanding and commitment to educational equity. We argue that mentored research opportunities are an innovative way to address professor/student power differentials in teacher education research and offer a unique model of critical multicultural teacher education that promotes deep engagement with issues beyond the classroom setting.

Developing teachers’ professional identity through conflict simulations

ABSTRACT In recent decades, live simulation has been introduced into teacher training in the USA, Europe and Asia in order to better prepare students for teaching in class. The current study sought to examine the effect of using live simulations of conflict management on the formation of professional identity among Israeli students in a multicultural teacher education college. The study included 145 B.Ed. and M.Ed. students attending an Israeli teacher education college. Data were collected using the teachers’ professional identity scale, teachers’ identity conflicts scale and an open-ended questionnaire about the advantages and challenges of teaching-learning through simulations. The content analysis of the open-ended questions supported the SEM findings and showed that the less central, cognitive and emotion-arousing the conflict, and the higher its level of resolution, the stronger the professional identity formation among the intervention group members. The research conclusion is that learning through conflict simulations contributes to the development of pre-service teachers’ professional identity.

Towards critical multicultural teacher education in the midst of ethno-nationalism: Korean pre-service teachers’ international learning experiences

This study explored how Korean pre-service teachers with international learning experiences in the United States negotiated their understanding of multiculturalism/multicultural education. The findings demonstrated that the participants’ position of a racial/linguistic minority in a foreign country and their teaching experiences in a culturally diverse setting helped them understand the importance of multicultural education. Nevertheless, participants continued to regard multiculturalism as a celebration of diversity, without considering their own racial privilege and the historical/socio-political underpinnings regarding racism in both countries. This study discusses implications for international teacher education and professional development that support critical and reflective learning for future teachers.

Approaches to Integrating Multicultural Concepts as Input to Multicultural Teacher Education Program

This study explored the approaches to integrating multicultural concepts as input to a multicultural teacher education program using qualitative research design through content analysis. This investigation used purposive sampling in selecting the participants for the individual interviews and focus group discussions (FGD), while complete enumeration identified the key participants including their ethnicity profile. Results revealed that the school failed to keep the ethnicity profile of the students, faculty and staff. The indigenous group is not well represented in the student organizations. Multicultural issues are not introduced early in the teacher education program. Infusion of multicultural concepts in the syllabus is limited only to meet the felt needs of the diverse students. Based on these findings, the study suggests a Multicultural Teacher Education Program that clearly integrates multiculturalism in the campus, and boosts its identity as a Multicultural Education Hub.

Supporting Critical Multicultural Teacher Educators: Transformative teaching, social justice education, and perceptions of institutional support

ABSTRACTIn most teacher education programmes in Canada and the United States, educators’ opportunities to develop equity-related skills are concentrated into single ‘multicultural’ courses. These courses tend to have a conservative or liberal orientation, focused on appreciating diversity or cultural competence, rather than a critical orientation, focused on preparing teachers to address inequity. In this study, based on a survey of instructors of multicultural and intercultural teacher education courses in Canada and the US (N = 186), we examined the relationship between the criticality of their multicultural teacher education courses and their perceptions of institutional support for the values they teach. We found a negative relationship between the two – the more critical the instructors’ approaches, the less institutional support they perceived.

Multicultural teacher education: a cross-case exploration of pre-service language teachers’ approach to ethnic diversity

Socio-political and demographic developments in Western Europe make diversity and multiculturalism a relevant line of research and emerging topic in education sciences. This paper discusses a case study that investigates Belgian pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards ethnic diversity in their classrooms, how their teaching caters to student heterogeneity and how they develop as diversity-conscious professionals. This qualitative study draws on multiple data sources (questionnaires, interview transcripts, logs, peer feedback after lesson observations and lesson plans) from three parallel cases that involve foreign and second language teaching set in significantly different contexts, resulting in three distinct intercultural cases: adult education and immigrant education in Belgium and secondary education in Morocco. Although the participants demonstrated high diversity awareness, their shared multicultural knowledge and attitudes did not prevent them from adopting strikingly divergent approaches to address cultural diversity, ranging from deliberate avoidance during lesson planning to breaching official policy in order to address identity and interculturality. The paper concludes that ideally diversity awareness in professionals is generated in proper teaching practice, which is shown to be characterized by the challenge of transferring theoretical principles to varying classroom settings through sound lesson planning.

The Handmaid’s Tale: Using Literature and Online Journaling to Facilitate a Self-Study of Feminist Identity in an International Research Collective

ABSTRACTThis article explores how five international colleagues from the USA, Canada, China, and Japan use self-study methodologies and online journaling to systematically examine the tensions surrounding the lived experiences of feminist academics in diverse global contexts. It draws from the theoretical foundations of critical qualitative inquiry, self-study, feminist epistemologies, and fiction as research. The main research questions guiding the study are: what is the role of self-study and journaling in an international research collective?, how can contemporary literature inform a self-study about the intersection of gender and career?, and in what ways does journaling with international partners support personal and professional development of multicultural teacher educators?. For 6 months, the authors explored these questions with one another in an interactive online journal. Collaborative analysis of the journal entries produced three major themes: fiction as self-study, scholarship as hope, and scholarship as freedom. The article concludes with the authors’ personal views on the importance of online journaling and self-study among educational researchers who are interested in finding tools and structures for navigating the contemporary women’s movement within academia.

Knowledge Production and Power in an Online Critical Multicultural Teacher Education Course

This reflexive inquiry explores a teacher educator’s efforts to design opportunities for students to use their knowledge of social media and the Internet to contribute content to their online critical multicultural education course. Findings identify steps critical multicultural education pedagogues can take to design such opportunities: (a) identify contradictions in their practice, (b) take pedagogical risks, and (c) work with chronic tensions. Designing formal opportunities for students to identify and use content from social media and the Internet as learning resources and curricular content for critical multicultural education shifted the power relations in the course. These results demonstrate the potential of critical pedagogy online to create new practices of shared knowledge construction, expertise, and authority, and to address the call for research into the potential of online environments to foster critical pedagogy.

Teacher as a Foreigner in Critical Multicultural Teacher Education

Abstract In this article, I discuss my own experience as a critical multicultural educator who is an Asian American. Using the psychoanalytic ideas of Holding Environment and Countertransference, I use the two questions of where you am from and where are you really from in this article as a way to think through and learn about my own emotional world and its influence on multicultural education teacher education courses that I teach. I conclude that such exploration into my emotional world is helpful and necessary in giving new and different meanings to my emotional experience beyond seeing it as a mere response to students’ questions and understanding their psychical world in which questions like where are you from and where are you really from become the students’ own defense against difference.

Not a ‘Who Done it’ Mystery: On How Whiteness Sabotages Equity Aims in Teacher Preparation Programs

This essay interrogates the seeming diversity paradox of multicultural teacher education and its connection to the White world of education. Applying a critical race methodology and concepts from critical whiteness studies and the Black radical tradition, the authors draw from their combined lived experiences as teacher educators at institutions located across the U.S. as an important source of critical knowledge about the White world of education to highlight specific, representative moments of practices typical in many U.S. teacher preparation programs. The authors’ purpose is to critically examine these moments of teacher preparation practices as one way to better understand and push toward ameliorating the mechanisms and modus operandi of Whiteness in teacher preparation and expose how equity-oriented aims are daily sabotaged; it is not to blame individuals or programs or to promote White defensiveness or guilt. For multicultural teacher education to realize its equity-oriented goals, the realities of active complicity in protecting the Whiteness embedded within teacher preparation must be exposed and challenged. The persistent Whiteness in education is not accidentally or coincidentally [re]created behind the backs of individuals and programs—as if it were a kind of “who done it” mystery, despite historical collective cries of [White] innocence.

Development and Initial Validation of Cultural Competence Inventory–Preservice Teachers

Despite the critical role of emotions in multicultural teacher education, no attempt has been made to develop an instrument including affect as a dimension in measuring cultural competence for preservice teachers. To bridge this gap, the present three-study research used three distinct samples of 456 preservice teachers to develop and estimate the reliability of scores and validity of inferences for Cultural Competence Inventory–Preservice Teachers (CCI-PT), an 18-item instrument including three subscales: emotional cultural competence (ECC), behavioral cultural competence (BCC), and cognitive cultural competence (CCC). The three-factor model was supported using exploratory factor analysis ( N = 203) in Study 1 and confirmatory factor analyses ( N = 199) in Study 2. Correlation results provided preliminary evidence for the convergent and discriminant validity of CCI-PT in Study 1, and regression results in Study 3 ( N = 113) provided initial evidence of predictive validity of inference for the instrument. Further, the scores of cultural competence assessed through three independent studies also provided initial evidence of the reliability of CCI-PT.

Multicultural teacher education and diversity practices in early childhood

Multicultural teacher education (MTE), self-efficacy and satisfaction are all important for teachers, especially as they relate to their engagement in practices that are beneficial for culturally and linguistically diverse children. Yet it remains to be seen how these important constructs work together to predict teaching practices once teachers enter the field. The purpose of this paper is to explore how MTE, teacher efficacy, teacher satisfaction and culturally responsive teaching (CRT) practices are related among early childhood teachers.,Specifically, the paper will address the connections between these variables via a path analysis. Previously collected data from 105 public early childhood teachers (PreK-2) in a single county in the Southeast United States was analyzed for the study.,Results suggest that CRT in early childhood is a three-faceted construct with teacher efficacy having a direct effect on all dimensions of CRT and teacher satisfaction having a direct effect on two dimensions of CRT. MTE did not have any direct effect on teacher efficacy, teacher satisfaction or CRT.,This paper contributes to the literature in that it is especially necessary to examine how teacher education influences teachers’ efficacy and practices with culturally and linguistically diverse students. There is limited research on how these variables work together in the early childhood setting.

Where are the “People Like me”?: A Collaborative Autoethnography of Transnational Lives and Teacher Education in the U.S.

ABSTRACTGlobal multicultural teacher education courses and programs have made claims to offer Prospective Teachers (PSTs) a global understanding of diversity and multiculturalism. However, there is very little research that has examined the classroom experiences of PSTs and teacher educators. Drawing on a collaborative autoethnography, this article explores the ways our transnational identities shaped our experiences (as a PST and a teacher educator) in a global teacher education course focused on diversity and multiculturalism. We were guided by the following research question: How do we, as South Asian transnational migrants, experience the curriculum of a global multicultural education course in the United States? We found that the curricular nationalism within multicultural education courses often negates any critical engagement with the influence of transnationalism on immigrants and their educational experiences. Transnational migrants are expected to translate their experiences, cultural practices, and life ways to fit into the container of the U.S. nation-state. Furthermore, there was a visible absence of narratives and research about transnational lives and identities in the course curriculum. As teacher education programs prepare PSTs to enter classrooms with growing immigrant populations, it is important that we attend to this glaring gap in both practice and research.

Faculty and Student Teachers "Voices" in Developing a Multicultural Teacher Education Curriculum Using a Collaborative Participatory Approach

The innovative process of curriculum development reported in this paper entailed reversing the usual approach, from top down to bottom up; an approach consistent with decentralisation initiatives and programs presently being implemented in Philippine education particularly the localisation and indigenisation of curricular programmes. Important curriculum developers such as faculty and student teachers were actively involved in the successful creation of a multicultural teacher education curriculum through a collaborative participatory process. Multicultural content, pedagogy and assessment strategies were identified for infusion in the three components of the teacher education programme. The indigenous student teachers contributed much to the multicultural content. Faculty members contributed to the content, pedagogy and assessment. The administrators contributed to curriculum decisions for policy making and took other non-traditional roles

Exploring curriculum content forjustice-oriented multicultural teacher education

Exploring curriculum content forjustice-oriented multicultural teacher education

Preparing Teachers for Diversity: A Literature Review and Implications from Community-Based Teacher Education

This study reviewed current issues in preparing qualified teachers for increasing diverse student populations in the U.S. and in other multicultural and multiethnic countries. Based on the framework of community-based and multicultural teacher education, this literature review paper analyzed issues and problems existed in the current curriculum, content, and practicum in traditional teacher education programs in addressing cultural knowledge and competence of preparing pre-service teachers in a multicultural society. Drawing from implications from community-based teacher education, this paper proposed several suggested strategies to reform traditional teacher education programs to meet the needs from multicultural and multiracial student populations and instructional context.