Preparing Teachers for Culturally Diverse Schools

TLDR

Research on preservice teacher preparation is abundant, yet it largely focuses on White students’ attitudes and knowledge instead of identifying strategies that produce effective multicultural and culturally responsive teachers. This article reviews data‑based studies on preparing preservice teachers for multicultural schools serving historically underserved communities. The author evaluates 80 studies on strategies such as student recruitment, cross‑cultural immersion, multicultural coursework, and program restructuring to prepare preservice teachers.

Abstract

This article reviews data-based research studies on preservice teacher preparation for multicultural schools, particularly schools that serve historically underserved communities. In this article, the author reviews 80 studies of effects of various preservice teacher education strategies, including recruiting and selecting students, cross-cultural immersion experiences, multicultural education coursework, and program restructuring. Although there is a large quantity of research, very little of it actually examines which strategies prepare strong teachers. Most of the research focuses on addressing the attitudes and lack of knowledge of White preservice students. This review argues that although this is a very important problem that does need to be addressed, it is not the same as figuring out how to populate the teaching profession with excellent multicultural and culturally responsive teachers.