The Preparation of Teachers for Ethnocultural Diversity

This paper presents preliminary findings from a doctoral research project investigating the preparation of teachers to teach ethnoculturally diverse student populations. Census data suggest that some 70 percent of North American teachers are white, female, middle class, and from suburban or small rural communities, while the majority of students are not. A two stage design was used for the study. Data were collected from 450 teachers working in three distinct sociogeographic environments in western Canada, including urban, rural, and isolated settings. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used in the study. During the first stage, a survey questionnaire was distributed to 150 teachers in each of the three settings. The second stage involved semi-structured interviews with a number of the respondents. Preliminary findings suggest that few of the recommendations in the literature concerning the preparation of effective teachers for ethnoculturally diverse student populations are being implemented. This is the case for both preservice and inservice programs. It is recommended that schools do not rely on preservice teacher education programs to prepare teachers for student diversity. Rather, schools must play a proactive role in developing and implementing orientation, induction, and other inservice practices which will facilitate teacher growth in this area. (Contains 31 references.) (Author/ND)