Approaches and strategies for multicultural teacher education - Experiences from the United States of America

Abstract

The paper discusses different approaches and strategies for educating teachers in the United States of America for work in multicultural schools, bearing in mind teacher efficiency. The first part of the paper contains theoretical considerations on the basic competences of teachers for multicultural education, provides an overview of the key questions that need to be answered in the process of developing multicultural teacher education and presents the effects of multicultural education programmes aimed at eliminating prejudice and establishing the pedagogy of equality. The second part of the paper lists strategies for the multicultural education of teachers who are members of the majority population and discusses the educational effects of these strategies. The third part of the paper discusses the approaches based on the model of cross- cultural teacher development that facilitate the understanding of teacher behaviour and their resistance to change, as well as the adapting and sequencing of courses for future teachers. The concluding part of the paper offers recommendations for enhancing multicultural teacher education.