A Preliminary Study of the Effects of a Cultural Immersion Program on Boosting Multicultural Teaching Competence

Abstract

This mixed-methods study investigated the impact of the Philadelphia Urban Seminar on preservice teachers’ multicultural teaching competence. In the first phase, twenty-eight preservice teachers and ten teacher educators responded to the Program Evaluation Survey, the Multicultural Teaching Competencies Scale, and/or the Multicultural Attitude Scale. In the second phase, reflective essays and extensive journals from seven preservice teachers were analyzed. The results from the two phases supported the effectiveness of the seminar on nurturing preservice teachers’ capabilities in teaching diverse students. The study sheds light on how to strengthen the seminar and restructure teacher education programs to promote multicultural competence.

Keywords

• multicultural teaching competence
• urban education