Multicultural Matters: An Investigation of Key Assumptions of Multicultural Education Reform in Teacher Education

Abstract

Five decades of rhetoric and reform in teacher education underscore the importance of multicultural education in preparing teachers to meet the needs of all students. State and national policy initiatives targeting multicultural education build on two assumptions: first, that preservice teachers lack the multicultural awareness to function as culturally responsive educators, and second, that higher levels of multicultural awareness correspond with increased pedagogical proficiency. Few studies have examined variation in multicultural awareness across preservice candidates, or the link between multicultural awareness and prospective teachers’ measured competencies. Using a novel dataset of 2,500 preservice teachers’ beliefs and student teacher performance assessments, we find that Black and Latino candidates report greater multicultural awareness, while Asian Americans report less, compared with their White counterparts. Prior experience working with nondominant populations is linked with higher levels of awareness, particularly for minority respondents. Propensity score matching analyses reveal that multicultural awareness is tied to candidates’ competence in creating nurturing classroom environments.

Strengthening Islamic Behavior and Islamic Psychosocial in Developing Professional Madrasah Teachers

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Analysing stereotypes and prejudices about immigrant students in European secondary education.

“…It is a precise duty of teachers of all kinds and degrees to be aware of this danger that undermines the root of the principles of acceptance and multiculturalism on which Europe is founded, since "efforts must be invested in implementing language learning programmes, additional support aids during schooling, and setting up schools and procedures that avoid ghettos as well as segregation" (Essomba, 2012, p. 137). Following this research, it is suggested that a pedagogical reform emerges in school programs where the voices of immigrants are really heard (Trueba and Bartolomé, 2000) and where there is specific teacher training that allows processes of deep self-reflection on their sense of diversity (Guo, Arthur and Lund, 2009) leading to more positive environments in the multicultural classroom (Cherng & Davis, 2019). Above all, this process is required to meet the following objectives promulgated by Frujas and Roxas (2016): (a) advancing the role of genuine cross-cultural relationships over traditional forms of cross-cultural competence in multicultural educational spaces and (b) abdicating the search for cultural authenticity implied in some multicultural education practice in favour of facilitating cultural agency for newcomer youth (p. 155).…”

Educational Trilingualism As A Lingvoeducational Environment Of Universities In Russia

“…Some scientists also emphasize the importance of the reformation of pedagogical education towards multicultural education in teachers' training for different educational institutions to meet the needs of all the students (Cherng & Davis, 2019).…”