Innovative Research Practice to Engage Preservice Teachers With Religious Diversity

• In Event: Poster Session 6
  In Poster Session: Social Justice and Multiculturalism in Teacher Education

Abstract

This innovative study explores how a group of Caucasian pre-service teachers responded to Muslim immigrant parents’ accounts of the marginalization of their faith practices in Canadian public schools. Data were collected through interviews with parents, dialogues between parents and pre-service teachers, on-line reflections, and focus groups among pre-service teachers. Results indicate that the parents expected recognition of religious symbolic clothing, exemptions from certain classes, and accommodation of prayer in the public schools their children attended. The pre-service teachers recognized educators’ misconceptions about Muslim women, expressed concerns that exemptions from swimming classes and gender segregation may hinder students’ learning opportunities, and rejected parents’ requests of prayer in the name of secularism. Implications for structural change and teacher practice are discussed.

Author

• Yan Guo, University of Calgary