Preparing Teacher Candidates for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Classrooms in Turkiye: Challenges and Opportunities

• In Event: Global Perspectives on Preparation for Diversity: Enacting Anti-Bias Pedagogies for Transformative Multicultural Education

Abstract

Turkiye’s increasing cultural and linguistic diversity, shaped by migration and geopolitical conflicts, has transformed classroom demographics. Yet, teacher education programs struggle to prepare candidates to meet the needs of diverse students, including Afghan, Syrian, and Ukrainian populations. This qualitative study explores the experiences of a professor and 18 in-service teachers in a Spring 2025 course on culturally responsive pedagogy. Grounded in teacher identity theory (Varghese et al., 2005) and culturally responsive pedagogy (Gay, 2018), the study examines identity formation and institutional challenges. Preliminary findings reveal that teachers feel underprepared and lack exposure to inclusive pedagogies, while faculty cite barriers in curriculum and support. The study calls for systemic reform to integrate multicultural and multilingual perspectives into teacher preparation in Turkiye.

Author

• Ozge Yalciner, University of Kentucky