Perceptions of the Pre-Service Teachers on Multi-Cultural Education

Abstract

Multicultural education was created to provide educators with a platform for working with such diverse school populations and achieving justice within societies marked by inequalities based on language, gender, socioeconomic status, or religion (Banks, 2004; Alanay & Aydin, 2016); democracy (Ozen, 2016); respect and togetherness (Salgur, 2015); and equality (King, 2004). This concept is relevant considering that most pre-service teachers are well-equipped with the principles and techniques of teaching but unaware that the classroom is comprised of students representing different cultures. Understanding the various cultures of the students is vital because it can spur and boost the personal development and the progress of students’ academic success (Salgur, 2015). Hence, this paper focuses on the perceptions of pre-service teachers about multicultural education. The participants of this study were the teacher education students of Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology. They were randomly selected and answered a semi-structured questionnaire. The findings revealed that pre-service teachers believed that showing fairness and equality to students who come from various cultural orientations, and understanding or respecting their beliefs are means in which teachers meet the diverse needs of an increasingly multicultural student population. Secondly, they believed that multicultural education has a great role in achieving peace, unity and equality in the society. To achieve this, they believed that improvement in the curriculum is necessary to provide a different perspective in education. The study concludes that the pre-service teachers demonstrate understanding on the importance of multicultural approaches in education.



Author Information
J-Roel Semilla, Mindanao State University - Iligan Institute of Technology, The Philippines

Paper Information
Conference: ACAS2017
Stream: South-East Asian Studies (including Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos)

This paper is part of the ACAS2017 Conference Proceedings (View)
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Posted by James Alexander Gordon