Attitude toward diversity: Can teacher education programs really make a difference?

“It's Not My Job”: K–12 Teacher Attitudes Toward Students' Heritage Language Maintenance

“…Thus, the findings suggest that it is not the years of teaching experience nor the composition of the student population that Downloaded by [Universite Laval] at 01:09 26 December 2014 affects teachers' attitudes toward issues of heritage language affirmation and maintenance, but rather the nature of preparation for teachers that makes a significant difference in teacher understandings and attitudes toward students' heritage language maintenance. These findings align with previous research which shows that teacher attitudes are influenced by professional development (Dickens-Smith, 1995;Gilman, 1988) as well as teacher education programs (Huber & Kline, 1993;Lacefield & Mahan, 1980). For example, Lacefield and Mahan (1980) found teacher education programs to have more influence on attitude formation than teaching experience.…”