Research Informing Practice: How Preservice Teachers Understand Multicultural Education

• In Event: Roundtable Session 25
  In Roundtable Session: Interrogating Patterns in Teaching for Social Justice

Abstract

This study builds on the literature examining the need for and practices of multicultural education as a part of teacher preparation process. Few studies examine the ways in which pre-service teachers understand that instruction, so in this study, the researcher examines pre-service teachers understanding of multicultural education, and more specifically, their understanding of various LGBTQ concepts. The 69 participants of this study report conceptualizations of multicultural education as either being about teachers’ beliefs or about specific teaching practices. Their understanding of LGBTQ concepts is far broader. This study has implications for pre-service teacher educators in the ways they address multicultural education in the teacher education process, in order to best meet the needs of all students in the classroom.

Author

• Cathy A.R. Brant, University of South Carolina - Columbia