Teachers working in culturally diverse classrooms: implications for the development of professional standards and for teacher education
Abstract
This paper reports the outcomes of a survey to investigate the level of cultural understanding and confidence for teachers working in culturally diverse classrooms. The survey was administered to teachers in primary and secondary schools in an Australian regional city. The aim of analysis was to determine the direction and strength of association of six demographic variables with measures of cultural awareness among teachers and confidence in supporting the learning of students. It found that teacher responses to working in culturally diverse classrooms varied according to levels of familiarity with the cultural groups ...
View more >This paper reports the outcomes of a survey to investigate the level of cultural understanding and confidence for teachers working in culturally diverse classrooms. The survey was administered to teachers in primary and secondary schools in an Australian regional city. The aim of analysis was to determine the direction and strength of association of six demographic variables with measures of cultural awareness among teachers and confidence in supporting the learning of students. It found that teacher responses to working in culturally diverse classrooms varied according to levels of familiarity with the cultural groups concerned and with the level of schooling within which the teacher worked. The paper outlines the implications of these findings for the development of professional standards and for teacher education. It discusses how these findings contribute to further investigations into the extent to which teachers understand cultural diversity and their confidence as literacy instructors.
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View more >This paper reports the outcomes of a survey to investigate the level of cultural understanding and confidence for teachers working in culturally diverse classrooms. The survey was administered to teachers in primary and secondary schools in an Australian regional city. The aim of analysis was to determine the direction and strength of association of six demographic variables with measures of cultural awareness among teachers and confidence in supporting the learning of students. It found that teacher responses to working in culturally diverse classrooms varied according to levels of familiarity with the cultural groups concerned and with the level of schooling within which the teacher worked. The paper outlines the implications of these findings for the development of professional standards and for teacher education. It discusses how these findings contribute to further investigations into the extent to which teachers understand cultural diversity and their confidence as literacy instructors.
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Journal Title
Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education
Volume
36
Issue
2
Copyright Statement
© 2008 Australian Teacher Education Association. Published by Routledge. This is an electronic version of an article published in the Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, Vol. 36(2), 2008, pp. 105-119. The Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education is available online at: http://www.informaworld.com with the open URL of your article.
Subject
Education systems
Curriculum and pedagogy
Specialist studies in education