Chilean teachers’ cultural threat and attitudes towards multiculturality at school: The role of outgroup anxiety and intercultural sensitivity

Abstract

In Chile, the arrival of immigrant students has had significant consequences for teachers, who have had to adapt quickly and with few resources to a new school reality. This makes it relevant to study variables affecting their attitudes towards immigrant students. This work aimed to determine the role of outgroup anxiety and intercultural sensitivity in the relationship between cultural threat and attitudes toward multiculturalism at school in a sample of 190 primary and secondary education teachers. A sequential mediation model was carried out. Outcomes show the direct effect of cultural threat on teachers’ attitudes towards multiculturalism at school, as well as its indirect effects through outgroup anxiety and intercultural sensitivity. The model explains 55% of the variability of the dependent variable. Results stress the importance of attending to the socio cognitive and emotional processes affecting teachers’ beliefs and attitudes regarding immigrant students to facilitate teaching work and school relationships.

Keywords

• teachers
• attitudes toward multiculturality at school
• cultural threat
• outgroup anxiety
• intercultural sensitivity