An Examination of Preservice Teachers' Multicultural Teaching Competencies

• In Event: Transformative Experiences to Build Teaching Competencies That Connects Content and Context With Culture

Abstract

As American K-12 student populations grows increasingly diverse, as does the importance of ensuring that teachers are well prepared and capable of serving these culturally and linguistically diverse student populations in an equitable manner. The purpose of this study was to describe the perceived knowledge, skills and dispositions of multicultural education teaching competencies, of undergraduate students at a university in the Southwest region of the United States. The study revealed that although the pre-service teachers perceived themselves to understand and be familiar with general topics in diversity when presented items related to critical issues, such as race or bias, their ratings were lower; indicating a unfamiliarity and discomfort with the critical multicultural education that is needed in today’s diverse classrooms.

Author

• Denise N. Lara, Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi