Professional development in multicultural education: What can we learn from the Australian context?

Including data from 3006 in-service primary and secondary public-school teachers in New South Wales,we investigated the effects of professional development in multicultural education on teachers' beliefsabout the effectiveness of multicultural strategies in fostering a culturally inclusive environment, theimportance of these strategies in providing equitable opportunities for students, and the teachers’support for monocultural ideologies and practices. Our multilevel structural equation model showed thatteachers who received professional development, especially during their in-service years, had morepositive attitudes and beliefs about multicultural ideologies and practices compared to teachers who didnot undergo professional development

Effects of multicultural education on student engagement in low‑ and high‑concentration classrooms: the mediating role of student relationships

Having positive and meaningful social connections is one of the basic psychological needs of students. The satisfaction of this need is directly related to students’ engagement—a robust predictor of educational achievement. However, schools continue to be sites of interethnic tension and the educational achievement of ethnically-minoritized students still lags behind that of their ethnic majority peers. The goal of the present study was to provide a quantitative account of the current segregated learning environments in terms of multicultural curriculum and instruction, as well as their possible impact on student outcomes that can mitigate these challenges. Drawing upon Self-Determination Theory, we investigated the extent to which the use of multicultural practices can improve students’ engagement and whether this relationship is mediated by students’ peer relationships. With data from 34 upper primary school classroom teachers and their 708 students, our multigroup analysis using structural equation modeling indicated that, in classrooms with a low (compared with high) minoritized student concentration, peer relationships can mediate the positive as well as negative effects of different dimensions of multicultural education on student engagement

Practice what you preach: The moderating role of teacher attitudes on the relationship between prejudice reduction and student engagement

The current study examined the relationship between teachers' prejudice reduction practices, focusing on dialogue about issues around diversity, and their students' engagement. We additionally investigated the potential moderation of this relationship by teachers' explicit multicultural attitudes and implicit attitudes towards ethnic minorities. Our multilevel models using 35 primary school teachers and 711 students showed that for teachers who reported above-average multicultural attitudes, prejudice reduction was positively associated with student engagement. Our results suggest that these teachers might not only promote multiculturalism as an abstract ideal, but they actually “walk the talk” and hence can improve educational lives of their students

Teacher reactions to student misbehaviors: The role of ethnicity, emotional sensitivity, and cultural tolerance

Teachers play an important role in students’ educational trajectories. As a consequence, their approach to diversity in the classroom might contribute to an unfavorable educational position for ethnic minority students. The current study tested whether teachers in Dutch primary schools differed in their interventions towards ethnic minority students compared to ethnic majority students for the same kind of misbehavior and whether this difference was related to their multicultural attitudes and their abilities to recognize and interpret emotions. Teachers responded to scenarios depicted in vignettes, describing student misbehaviors, by providing the frequency with which they would engage in various intervention strategies. Our results yielded no significant differences in teachers’ intervention strategies to student misbehaviors based on student ethnic background. A notable finding was that teachers’ multicultural attitudes were related to their intervention strategies: an increase in teachers’ positive multicultural attitudes predicted an increase in relatively tolerant (e.g., discussing the misbehavior) as opposed to more dismissive intervention strategies (e.g., sending the student out of class). This finding may suggest that demonstrating positive attitudes towards multiculturalism reflects an awareness of and comfort with cultural diversity, as well as general understanding of individual differences between students and their behaviors

Teachers' multicultural attitudes and perspective taking abilities as factors in culturally responsive teaching

Background Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) has been associated with increased student engagement and achievement. Its practice in classrooms, however, has been shown to be less than optimal. Nonetheless, certain teacher qualities have been suggested to facilitate its practice. Aims The current study sought quantitative evidence in support of two of these teacher qualities, namely teachers’ multicultural attitudes, and their perspective taking abilities. By identifying the strength of the suggested relationships, we aimed to examine the generalizability of previous findings in the literature and inform teachers’ professional development and interventions. Sample A total of 143 primary school teachers from different parts of the Netherlands responded to our online survey. Methods We conducted a multivariate multiple regression analysis to investigate the relationship between these qualities and teachers’ engagement in two separate but related components of CRT (i.e., socially sensitive and culturally sensitive teaching). Results Results of our analysis yielded significant relationships between the two teacher qualities and the frequency with which teachers engage in socially and culturally sensitive teaching. Perspective taking was a stronger predictor for both aspects of CRT. Conclusion These findings signal the significance of incorporating especially perspective taking experiences and exercises into teacher education and professional development programmes, which could benefit all students regardless of their backgrounds. Our results are promising as these qualities are malleable and thus can be improved

Exploring multicultural classroom dynamics: A network analysis

Students' relationships with peers and teachers strongly influence their motivation to engage in learning activities. Ethnic minority students, however, are often victimized in schools, and their educational achievement lags behind that of their majority group counterparts. The aim of the present study was to explore teachers' multicultural approach within their classrooms as a possible factor of influence over students' peer relationships and motivation. We utilized the novel methodology of estimating psychological networks in order to map out the interactions between these constructs within multicultural classrooms. Results indicate that a multicultural approach is directly connected to student motivation for both ethnic majority and minority students. Social integration within peer groups, however, seems to be a possible mediator of this relationship for the ethnic minority students. Due to the hypothesis generating nature of the psychological network approach, a more thorough investigation of this generated mediation hypothesis is called for