Teaching diverse students: exploring factors contributing to multicultural efficacy

Abstract

The rapid increase in immigration in different parts of Canada calls for the implementation of effective teaching practices that accommodate cultural diversity. Many White teachers enter classrooms with limited cross-cultural awareness and low levels of confidence. Teachers’ lack of confidence may enhance their anxiety levels and negatively impact diverse students’ academic achievements. Therefore, teaching a heterogeneous body of students requires teachers to have multicultural efficacy (ME). This notion is the extent to which teachers believe in themselves as capable and confident individuals to deal with the challenges that teaching in multicultural environments imposes upon them. The investigation of many factors (e.g., ethnicity, political orientation, cross-cultural experiences, and extraversion) impacting ME have produced mixed results. The purpose of the current study was to explore the ME of preservice teachers at different academic years, the contributing factors to ME, and the relationship between ME and anxiety levels. 110 preservice teachers enrolled in the Faculty of Education at the University of Regina were asked to complete measures of political orientation, ME, cross-cultural experiences, extraversion, and teacher burnout. Senior and junior students did not vary in terms of their ME levels. There was a negative association between preservice teachers’ ME and anxiety levels. Higher levels of preservice teachers’ ME were predicted by lower anxiety levels and more frequent cross-cultural experiences in their childhood and adolescence. By better understanding ME and its determining factors, appropriate training practices for preservice teachers can be offered in order to create positive school climates for diverse students and teachers.