An Argument for Increased Multicultural

Education in Teacher Training Programs

Abigail Hasebroock
CIEP 524; Loyola University of Chicago
 I chose this topic because Im
interested in evaluating teacher
training programs on the whole
Specific interest: Teacher
Leadership
My Research Multiculturalism is one piece of
this
Topic Based on my own experience, I felt
that there was not enough
The lack of multicultural education in emphasis on multiculturalism,
teacher training programs primarily race, class, and gender
I wanted to understand and
evaluate the impact of multicultural
education on teacher efficacy
 Research Questions
How can a focus on multicultural education in teacher training
programs improve teacher capacity?

What might such a focus include?

What are the results of current multicultural education

courses?
Summary of Scholarly Literature
Review
Multicultural education in teacher training programs is seriously lacking (Darder, 2012;
Mayo, 2014).
Research suggests that teacher education coursework is failing to provide the
necessary anti-bias training and understanding that ensures successful teaching
practices
As curriculum standardization increased throughout the 20th century, multiculturalism
received less attention
Teachers needed to bridge the gaps that bicultural students faced in the United
States educational systems, but were poorly equipped to do so
By the 1960s, teacher autonomy was further diminished, as curriculum became
regimented under the control of policymakers and teacher licensure was required.
During the 1980s, standards for teacher credentialing were aligned to K-12 content
standards (Sleeter & Stillman, 2013).
The result: the entire effort to create fixed standards violates the very essence of
multiculturalism (Bigelow, 2014, p. 128).
 My Own Learning: The Case for Now
This is not an issue that can wait until after completion of a teacher training
program
Once teachers are in the field, the challenges to implementation are
numerous:
The dominant culture favors institutional cultural blindness and counts
on divisions in order to maintain control
A curricular reconceptualization challenges the fundamental nature of
a school as an organization
Teachers lack time and incentive to change
The teacher workforce is predominantly Caucasian, and are racially
and socioeconomically segregated from the students they teach
My Own Learning, continued
I argue that fixed standards have institutionalized deficit thinking
Schools have become sites the perpetuate the ideology of the
dominant culture, and bicultural students struggle to succeed
Teachers are complicit in the failure of bicultural students, whether
knowingly or unknowingly
As such, there is a desperate need to address multiculturalism in teacher
training programs today
This should occur in both field work and reflective coursework
Teachers who engage in mastery-focused
practices, rather than performance-focused
practices, are more likely to emphasize
collaboration and mutual respect among
students and to create a learning
environment that does not perpetuate
inequality in practice and pedagogy (Kumar
& Hamer, 2012, p. 165).
Challenges in Research
Our course readings focus primarily on the student experience or theoretical
approaches to curriculum design
While most readings focus on the limitations of teacher training programs, very
few posited solutions for adjustments to course work or field work
As such, there is not substantial research reporting the effects of multicultural
education in teacher training programs in terms of curricular efficacy
The shifting demographics of todays students necessitate a pressing need for more research in
this area
I overcame these challenges by using readings from previous graduate and
doctoral classes and carefully selecting search terms
Keywords: multiculturalism, teacher training, field work, culturally relevant teaching, conceptual
change learning theory, achievement goal theory
 Directions for Future Research
The results of the 2016 Presidential election indicate a critical need for
multiculturalism in classrooms in non-metropolitan areas
Future researchers should consider various educational contexts, not just
urban schools
Much more research needs to be done evaluating how teacher training
impacts rural settings and homogeneous school cultures, even vocational or
alternative schools
Researchers might consider the results of multicultural implementation in
classrooms in which teachers and students share a similar background
Reflection on Learning Throughout the
Course
What We Have Discussed: Shifting the focus from subtractive to additive
schooling
This research helped me realize teacher complicity in bicultural student
failure
Emphasizes that change must start within, but be facilitated and/or
remediated by teacher learning
Universities are slow to change, and standardization limits elementary and
secondary educators autonomy in the classroom
More research must focus on preparing pre-service teachers, not just the
need for multiculturalism in general