Multicultural education: Teachers’ perceptions in Hosanna College of Education, southern nations, nationalities, and peoples’ region (SNNPR), Ethiopia

Abstract

This study was intended to explore how the perceptions of teachers affect multicultural education (MCE) in diversified classrooms at Hosanna College of Education. A descriptive textual narration with a qualitative case study and purposive sampling research design were employed in this study. Semi-structured interviews and document analysis were used to collect data. The respondents were teachers at Hosanna College of Education. The findings confirmed that the perceptions of teachers were positive toward the teaching of a diverse student population. This is to say that it was evident that teachers felt a desire to provide experiences for their students to help them understand cultural diversity. Inevitably, the study acknowledged that MCE is crucial for nation-wide integration through peace building and sustaining progressive development. However, teachers had no sufficient skills and motivation to investigate studies to encourage and promote MCE because of the reluctant commitment of the College administration. Due to the absence of a strategic plan and a lack of purposeful preparation and content selection for the modular curriculum, the dimensions of MCE were not applied and incorporated into the curriculum as required. As MCE and diversity are not yet meaningfully implemented, it is recommended that teachers, regional education bureaus, policymakers, and the MoE should play a decisive role in efficiently enhancing diversity and tackle the acute problems related to MCE.

Keywords:

• Diversity
• Ethiopia
• Hosanna College of Education
• MCE
• perceptions

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT

The issues of cultural pluralism and MCE fundamentally focus on providing equal learning opportunities and accessing equitable education for all students regardless of their diverse natural and unique characteristics. The finding of this research investigation is found a core contribution for everyone who has a desire to further conduct basic as well as problem-solving studies in education institutions. As indicated in this study, teachers’ confirmed positive perceptions and intrinsic motivations are basic driving forces to properly manage and control diversity and MCE in Education Colleges. It is thus learnt that the findings of this study would be useful baseline in informing policy-makers, curriculum developers, and novice researchers to re-examine genuine approaches in order to achieve the goals of MCE in Education Colleges of the country. A genuine policy formulation and teachers’ motivational courage are best instruments to MCE to address the diverse needs of students and maximize their day-to-day performances in Education Colleges. Conclusively; MoE, experts in regional education bureaus, College directors as well as course offering teachers should coincide themselves toward the goals of MCE to cope with the current needs of the learners.

1. Introduction

It is widely acknowledged that in modern times, the school is seen as the most appropriate, active and official agent of education. Education, as we see it here, is a process of inviting truth and possibilities, of encouraging and providing time for discovery. It is a process of being with others and inviting truth and possibility (Stuckey et al., 2013). In view of this, education has a great social importance, as Sleeter and Grant (1988) found in their study that “MCE encompasses educational policies and practices that attempt to affirm cultural pluralism across differences in gender, ability, class, race, and so forth. This is to say that the proponents of MCE recognize the socio-cultural nature of behavioral patterns, literacy practices, and bodies of knowledge, language use, and cognitive skills. Banks and Banks (2010) investigated that “the educational institutions should therefore positively accept and appreciate cultural diversities based on the principles of MCE as they are highly responsible to serve all learners regardless of their social, cultural, racial, ethnic, religious and linguistic backgrounds.” It indicates that scholars receive education in a multicultural setting, and the interested stakeholders should encourage that the learning situation be directed the principles of MCE.

OU (2017) verified that “understanding differences in perception are crucial if we are to improve our communication ability and to get along well with people from other cultures.” Coherently, James (2004) reasoned out that “perception as the process enables a teacher to attain awareness of sensory information on a particular phenomenon” under investigation. Researchers in the field and across the field established that the responses of teachers in educational institutions are a manifestation of thoughts and ideas related to attitudes about diversity and multicultural issues (James, 2004).That’s is why the need for Teacher Education Colleges to understand and react positively to the racial, cultural, and socio-economic background of the students in their classroom appears to be critical and a priority, as teachers’ perceptions about students from diverse cultures play a major role in their expectations of students (Banks & Banks, 2010).

According to Gay (2010), teacher educational programs should then play a key role in enabling teachers to meet the challenge of understanding diverse students’ racial, ethnic, and class background, as “culturally responsive teaching with new paradigms of competent instructional action is the great start to multicultural awareness.” Teachers as main role players in Education Colleges should have the moral courage and the will to stay the course in efforts to make the educational enterprise more multicultural responsive as the socio-economic diversities in educational institutions increase at an alarming rate (Gay, 2010). It is thoroughly suggested that classroom activities as strategy in Colleges of Education with a diverse nature should be constructed to inculcate as well as enhance all students’ self-esteem by applying the dimensions of MCE (Banks & Banks, 2010). That’s is why these Bank’s five dimensions of MCE including content integration, knowledge construction, prejudice reduction, equity pedagogy, and empowering school culture and social structure are core principles to be used in the classroom by every teacher to successfully process MCE. To harmonize teaching in diversified classrooms, every teacher in Education Colleges has to consider all these basic perspectives when he or she thinks about his or her regular lesson delivery. For this reason, it is expressed that all teachers in Colleges of Education should teach each student in the same manner, expecting only the best from him or her (J. A. Banks, 2008).

Accordingly to Banks and Banks (2010), because diversities in culture, language, religion, beliefs, customs, and ethnic backgrounds are natural human behaviors, teachers should be considerate and aware enough to attain these inside and outside of the classroom. On the way, it is clear that Ethiopia has been constitutionally and legally recognized as one of the multicultural countries in Africa with more than eighty languages, “having a good opportunity to celebrate and enjoy all the cultural diversities without any discrimination” (MOE, 2002). The constitution of the country witnessed that “every nation, nationality and people in Ethiopia has the right to speak, to write and to develop its own languages; to express, to develop and to promote its culture; and to preserve its history” (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, 1995).In this context, it was reported that Ethiopia is now on the way to its renaissance, targeting at achieving unity within diversity and establishment of democratic systems, and a significant step has been taken to promoting MCE (Egne, 2015). But, it has been strongly criticized that an overall practice of MCE earned failure as the Education and Training Policy (ETP) and Its Implementation (MOE, 2002) and the Constitutional Provisions(Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, 1995) of Ethiopia incapable of directing the education institutions to answer the diverse socio-cultural needs of the learners (Dereje, 2016).

It is thus argued that “giving major emphasis and working with the sense of belongingness towards addressing MCE is undeniably important” in Ethiopia, where many ethnic groups live together (Semela, 2012). However, it was found that ETP (MOE, 1994) became ineffective to satisfy the diverse needs of the larger society, and the major contributions of teachers of higher education institutions on MCE lacked deep insight (Dereje, 2008). Local and international investigations have revealed that, until now, there has been no adequate research study investigating whether Ethiopian education institutions encourage MCE (Egne, 2015). Similarly, it is noteworthy that it has been discreetly assured that MCE is not handled as required at Ethiopian Education Colleges in general and Hosanna College of Education in particular. The researchers were then interested in conducting a critical investigation and exploration of how instructors’ opinions affect MCE at Hosanna College of Education. Given this, a concerted effort has been undertaken to reach out to MCE via the following basic research questions:

• How do the perceptions of teachers affect MCE at Hosanna College of Education?

• What major challenges are affecting MCE at Hosanna College of Education?

2. Literature review

2.1. The concepts and roles of multicultural education

Multicultural education became an agenda of debate among different scholars since its conception during the walk of civil right struggle of the 1960s in the USA supported by the women’s right movement of the early 1970s (Banks, 2001; Gorski, 2000).The concept MCE possesses variety of philosophical assumptions and perspectives by its nature hence it has no a single and universally agreed upon definitions by all scholars (Banks, 2001). Accordingly, MCE challenges and rejects racism and other forms of discrimination in schools and society and accepts and affirms the pluralism that students, communities, and teachers represent (Nieto & Bode, 2010). Concisely, it is analyzed that MCE is at least three things: an idea, an educational reform movement and a process incorporating the assumption that all students regardless of their gender, social class, and ethnic, racial, or cultural characteristics, should have an equal opportunity to learn in educational institutions (Banks & Banks, 2010). Multicultural education as a concept and a philosophy is mainly attributed to a set of beliefs that recognize the relevance of cultural diversity in shaping the lifestyles, social experiences, individual and collective identities, and the provision of educational opportunities for individuals and groups too (Zhou, 2002).

Similarly, there exist four basic values providing a philosophical framework for MCE such as: acceptance and appreciation of cultural diversity; respect for human dignity and universal human rights; responsibility to the world community; and respect for the earth (Bennett, 2011). Multicultural education gives much attention for providing equal opportunity for all children learning in the classroom and the school as a whole without any discrimination based on sex, age, color, social status, race, and so on (Gorski, 2000). On the other hand, he explained MCE as a progressive approach for transforming education that holistically critiques and addresses current short-comings, failings, and discriminatory practices in education (Gorski, 2000). According to Nieto and Bode (2010), MCE is viewed as a process of comprehensive school reform and basic education for all students. In the same way, Zhou (2002) added that MCE as a process refers to long-term investments of time and resources, and skillfully planned and monitored actions. That’s why the provision of educational equity and social justice as the main goals of MCE cannot be completely put into practice (Banks, 1997). It is to say that as the central purposes of MCE are never to be fully attained, progressive attempt should be made to maximize the provision of educational equality & access for all learners in their own learning environment.

According to Grant and Sleeter (2010), MCE acknowledges schools are essential to laying the foundation for the transformation of society and the elimination of oppression and injustice and it relates to education and instruction designed for the culture of several diverse cultural societies in educational system. The advocates of MCE argued that these different meanings contain several points in common and the content of MCE programs should include ethnic identities, cultural pluralism, equal distribution of resources and opportunities, and other socio-political problems stemming from long histories of oppression (Banks, 1997; Gay, 2005). They believe that MCE is a philosophy, a methodology for educational reform, and a set of specific content areas within instructional programs. Multicultural education means learning about, preparing for, and celebrating cultural diversity, or learning to be bi-cultural; and it requires changes in school programs, policies, and practices (Banks, 2010).

2.2. Approaches to multiculturalism and multicultural education

An attempt has been made to introduce & discuss critically multicultural issues based on three conceptual approaches: multiculturalism as a normative issue, multiculturalism as an anti- ideology, &multiculturalism as a feature of current global societies (Colombo, 2014).The 1^st perspective of this deals with the political theory in which multiculturalism challenges a liberal philosophy of universalism that conceives human beings as rational agents of free will, whose freedom may be granted only through identical, individual rights. Alongside, an appropriate recognition of individual& group difference establishes the basis for full development of individual capacities& for fair and democratic participation in social life (Colombo, 2010).

The 2^nd theoretical contribution to the multicultural debate is associated with the decolonization movements and postcolonial theory which has been denounced the universalism of those in power whose celebration of alleged universal values conceals practices of domination and exploitation since the 1960s (Wieviorka, 2013). In this case, a constructivist point of view is supported against an essentialist standpoint that conceives identity and difference as the deepest and more authentic nucleus, which is the basis for the existence of the individual and group. Likely, critical multiculturalism attempts to take cultural diversity as a basis for challenging, revising, and relativizing basic notions and principles common to dominant and minority cultures alike in order to build a more vital, open, & democratic common cultures (Egne, 2015).

The 3rd approach as a foundational route to the issues of MCE dictated that multiculturalism is conceived as an ongoing political accomplishment, a practical resource that can be used either in the defense of cultural, human rights or in defense of communal solidarity (Colombo, 2010). In its descriptive terms, multiculturalism refers to some peculiar characteristics of current societies focusing on the way in which cultural differences are produced and reproduced and the questions and tensions these processes generate. According to Kymlicka (2012), multiculturalism is then concerned with the fact that the meaning attributed to cultural diversity in western societies has radically changed since the 2^nd half of the last century representing the effort to find a new cultural, legal, &political accommodation of cultural difference.

Within the scope of this analysis, putting cultural difference in an appropriate context may help us better understand multiculturalism as base for MCE at various levels of education institutions. This precisely explains that cultural, sociological, economic, & political factors & their combinations have been indicated as causes of a significant change in the notion of cultural difference (Colombo, 2010). That’s why cultural factors mainly refer to the role of the new social movements & their struggle against the melting-pot ideology while political factors embrace the end of the Cold War. Similarly, it is judged that without a sociologically informed concept of cultural difference, multiculturalism ends up fostering new forms of discrimination, only superficially masked by respect and recognition of difference (Colombo, 2010).

In relation to this, Gary (1994) classified the positions of scholars in three major categories. As the opponents of cultural diversity and MCE, the 1^st view holds an extreme pole against the consequences of MCE that it causes disunity than unity among the learners. It highly lies on the theory of conservative MCE in which cultural differences are deliberately ignored to ensure homogeneity as well as control other ethno-cultural groups in order to maintain the status quo (Jenks, 2001). Intentionally, conservative multiculturalism marginalizes and dismisses the cultural differences of students and it believes that implementing MCE within the classroom of children with different cultural backgrounds will ignite a cultural conflict than bringing harmony among them (Egne, 2015). The 2^nd view point of MCE lies in the center of using it as a means of inculcating the dominating culture in the mind of the different children. This is mainly rooted in the perspective of conservative multiculturalism which insists on the assimilationist notion of addressing issues of cultural diversity where schools attempt to assimilate minority students into the mainstream culture (Jenks, 2001).

Both conservative& liberal multiculturalists believe that laws&policy decisions will bring about excellence& equity within the dominant culture. It is then analyzed that liberal multiculturalists remain supportive of the dominant culture& hegemonic power as they often do not strive to transform the existing inequalities in society. Likely, conservative MCE does not promote the recognition& promotion of the cultures of students with diverse backgrounds on an equal basis and students’ cultural differences have no significant roles in learning outcomes whereas liberal MCE emphasizes the need for diversity&cultural pluralism as well as the acceptance and celebration of differences. But, whose core objective is to foster a feeling of unity with no attempt to ensure social inequalities& transforming the existing situations (Jenks, 2001).

This view then focuses on the assumption of assimilation strategy of the “Melting Pot” &contradicts the theory of multiculturalism which claims multiculturalism is part of a larger human rights revolution involving ethnic & racial diversity (Colombo, 2010).The 3^rd point of view of MCE is the provision of education at equal base for all citizens& education institutions should be in a democratic nature. It has a link with the assumption of multiculturalism as an anti-ideology and/or critical multiculturalism which is about empowering the disempowered, contesting dominant groups& transforming their institutions& discourses (Colombo, 2010). Moreover, critical multiculturalism is not only tied to define the setting for the entitlement of rights, power,& privileges but also it constitutes a readjustment of unequal relations of power&exploitation between dominants& the dominated (Colombo, 2010).

Critical multiculturalism integrates issues of cultural diversity& the emancipatory nature of critical educational practices which are emanated from postmodernism & critical theory (Egne, 2015).Therefore, MCE should give equal educational opportunity for all citizens regardless of their differences because in critical education students are encouraged to be independent learners, ask questions, & seek answers for themselves. Basing these viewpoints, it is crucial to deal with the role of Education Colleges in a multicultural society as they are highly expected to act accordingly. This justifies that MCE is an attempt to restructure knowledge of education institutions& pedagogical practices that shape their experience serve a multicultural society (Sleeter, 2005). Because of the way that they function, students with varied background may not get equal learning opportunities& achievements to ensure democratic concepts in education: equity, equality, & justice.

A lot is expected from the educational Colleges to respond to the challenges of educating different groups of students about each other and to making learning equal and equitable for all (Grant& Sleeter, 2006). The prevalence of discrimination in the education system emanates from the very unique cultural characteristics of an individual or a group will lead to prejudice, identity conflict, and alienation that will end-up in disintegration that threatens national integrity. Any attempt in Education Colleges aiming at MCE should reflect the language, ethnicity, culture, gender difference, and social class as discrimination embarks educational failure and generally economic, social& political decline. And, attempts should be made by MCE& multicultural College curriculum to offer a very comprehensive ground for democracy, equity, tolerance, and mutual understandings that emanate for knowing and respecting one another since national integrity and unity is a matter of tolerance, equity, & equality in all spheres (Banks, 2001).

2.3. Trends of cultural diversity and multicultural education in Ethiopia

As research and the issues of diversity are currently becoming more complex, collaborative academic activity and hot and common agenda across the world, critically investigating the practice of cultural pluralism and MCE in Ethiopia as a research study in connection with the international context better meets the needs of the learners, the community of the academic institutions and the larger society as well. Historically, the development of education in Ethiopia is directly associated with the core areas consisting of indigenous education, religious education, and modern education. Derebssa (2008) indicated that traditional education has played a great role on the transmission of cultural heritage to new generation including two major areas: indigenous education and religious education. According to Derebssa (2008), indigenous education is a type of education that can be offered by all ethnic and linguistic groups and remains an important transmitter of cultural identity from generation to the next. It aims to instill in children the attitudes and skills appropriate for male and female social roles, emphasizing the duties and privileges derived from cultural values. It is further expressed that the Ethiopian nations, nationalities, and peoples do have various mechanisms of implementing the indigenous education so as to create members of the community who respect cultural values.

Familiar with this, McNab (1988) studied that Ethiopian culture is remarkable for its degree of ethno-linguistic diversity and/or it is well known for the Ethiopians that Ethiopia is culturally, linguistically, ethnically, and religiously a country of diversity and pluralism. It has to be noted that economic, social, political, cultural, educational, religious, and other activities of the country should accommodate these diverse realities. But, Teshome (1979) declared that since the time of Minilek-II to the Dergue Regime the type of educational system was known as non-Ethiopian contents, non-Ethiopian teachers, and extremely full of injustice and unfairness. It has been critically added that a major problem for curriculum studies and teaching courses in African institutions is the lack of satisfactory African textbooks (Salia, 1989). Magnificently, Banks and Banks (2010) investigated that diversity occurs when people of different races, nationalities, religions, ethnicities, and philosophies come together to form a community. A truly diverse society is one that recognizes and values the cultural differences in its people. As a response to this, education as social, political, and cultural engine should have to equally and fairly address multicultural issues in its system and serve the whole citizens of the country.

If one of the primary functions of schooling is to transmit the socio-cultural legacy of the nation to its citizens, it is imperative for the education system to incorporate MCE as a prime port of its programs and practices (William & Miller, 2003). By the time of the Dergue Regime there were developments in the educational system of the country. The 1^st measure was the removal of church control over the schooling system of education. The 2^nd development was the special expansion of schools in the rural areas even though there were many problems and discriminations. The 3^rd development in the educational system was the mass education conducted throughout the country. This national literacy campaign was given in different nationality languages because prior to this period one language has remained a medium of instruction throughout much of the history of Ethiopia although it is a multilingual country (Derebssa, 2008). The Dergue Regime, on the occasion of its formation in Sept. 1984, confirmed the equality of the nationalities& their right to economic&cultural development within the framework of a common socialist culture, but the education system of the country was highly centralized by the socialist ideology. The regime proclaimed the existence of nations, nationalities&peoples with their unique cultures& languages, their equal rights in the countries over all activities&advantages simply for the sake of political consumption (McNab, 1988).

There was, however, a paradigm shift from the “Melting Pot” towards “salad bowl” perspective of educational system in Ethiopia, which means the nations, nationalities, and peoples of the country, began to live on equal political and social basis (Tekeste, 1990). On this basis, taking into consideration the issue of cultural pluralism and MCE, the formulation of ETP has been realized to provide education that promotes democratic culture, tolerance and peaceful resolutions of differences that raises the sense of discharging societal responsibility (FDRE, 1994, article 2.2.9). Alongside to this, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (1997) in its national policy elaborated that the cultural policy proposes strategies, such as inclusion of cultural themes into the school curricula with the intention of integrating culture with education and thereby shape the youth with a sense of cultural identity as well as the transmission of educational programs that reflect the various cultures of the country through mass media (MOE, 2002). It was hoped and believed that these core components: the ETP (MOE, 1994), the Constitution (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, 1995), and the National Cultural Policy (1997) of Ethiopia should be cooperatively linked each other to attain the objectives of cultural diversity and MCE.

In view of this, as to Song (2010), multiculturalism indicates the situations in which people who hold different habits, customs, traditions, languages, and/or religions live alongside each other in the same social space, willing to maintain relevant aspects of their own difference and to have it publicly recognized. It, therefore, usually involves a positive evaluation of cultural diversity and the institutional commitment to its preservation Ethiopia is envisaging improving quality of teacher training since the endorsement of the ETP of (MOE, 1994). In this regard, several reforms and strategies were designed to strengthen the quality of education in Ethiopia with a special focus on improving the capacity of Teacher Training Colleges at regional and national levels (Teklu, 2019). Some of the majority action areas targeted in the policy were intensifying the teaching profession, the autonomy of teacher training institutions, inclusion of special needs education in teacher preparation, the medium of instruction in preprimary and primary education, and the decentralization of educational management (MOE, 1994).

The reorientation of the attitude and values of the society towards recognizing the roles and contributions of women in development and inclusion of gender equality issues like preparing a gender sensitive curriculum were also focused (FDRE, 1994). Although the FDRE Constitution (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, 1995) and the ETP (MOE, 1994) uphold the equality of citizens’ culture and guarantees the use of multilingual education, educational institutions become targets of criticism for failing to respond to students’ diverse needs of social, economic, cultural, linguistic, and religious backgrounds (Dereje, 2016). Subsequently, the New Curriculum Framework and Education Development Roadmap (Teklu T., 2019) were designed as a response, in which a greater attention has been given for cultural diversity and MCE as prime concern of the curriculum of the 39 Education Colleges in Ethiopia. It was aimed to improve quality education and maximize the participation and performance of student-population in the system of education by promoting diversity and MCE at all levels of educational institutions. Nevertheless, due to the outbreak of civil war and political instability; it is being implemented in Education Colleges/institutions of the country more recently and lately after the three years of attempt at the end of 2022.

3. Materials and methods

3.1. Research design

The design for any research includes beliefs about the nature of reality and humanity (ontology), the theory of knowledge that informs the research (epistemology), and how that knowledge may be gained (methodology). This brought about differences in the types of research methodologies used in social science research (Cohen et al., 2000).Research design entails the research plan that will guide the researcher in conducting the study (Joseph & Russell, 2012). In this study, a qualitative case study research design with descriptive textual narration was employed, which is a research procedure that produces descriptive data such as people’s own written or spoken words and observable behavior (Hatch, 2002).

A qualitative case study is an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context (Yin, 2003). Accordingly, a single case study is more preferable when the researcher wants to create a high-quality theory, as it produces more evidence and a better theory (Gustafson, 2017). As a case study, Yin (2003) and Stake (2006) base their approach on a constructivist paradigm. The philosophical position appropriate to this study is interpretivist research worldview, which claims that truth is relative and dependent on one’s perspective.

3.2. Sources of data

Primary and secondary data sources were used extensively in this investigation. Teachers at Hosanna College of Education were the primary sources of primary data. Furthermore, the ETP (MOE, 1994), the Constitution (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, 1995), the National Cultural Policy (1997), and the Modular Curriculum Materials were employed as secondary data sources for document analysis.

3.3. Sampling technique

Qualitative inquiry typically focuses on relatively small samples, even single cases (N = 1), that can be purposefully selected to permit inquiry into and understand of a phenomenon in-depth (Patton, 2002). The real name of the College where this study took place was changed into ECE and then given a pseudonym for ethical concern and the sake of securing the self-esteem of the interviewees. In this study, Hosanna College of Education was selected in the year of 2021 using the purposive sampling method due to its geographic proximity and ample information. Based on their experiences, 5 teachers from the course offering Education Stream, 2 from the Social Science Stream, 2 from the Language Stream, and 1 from the Mathematics and Natural Science Stream (i. e., total of ten teachers) were intentionally selected (Silverman, 2006).

Moreover, among the professional courses of “Curriculum and Instruction” designed for the purpose of MCE to be offered and coordinated by education stream, two courses: “Multicultural Education” and “Sociological Perspectives on Teaching and Learning,” found appropriate for document analysis were purposely selected.

3.4. Data collecting instruments

In the study, the researcher employed interviews and document analysis as a means for collecting data. The process of instrument administration, appropriate document selection, and data collection for this study situated in between April 1, 2021 to April 2022 time-line.The in-depth semi-structured interview was used because it enables the participants to express their feelings on face-to-face basis and allows for emphasis on core points of the study (Bryman, 2012; Sarantakos, 2005). In brief, interviews create a special kind of speech event during which interviewers ask open-ended questions, encourage informants to explain their unique perspectives, and listen intently for special language (Hatch, 2002).

That’s why the in-depth interview is the most common type of interview used in qualitative research and the health care context (Dejonckheere & Vaughn, 2019). More likely, relevant documents such as educational, constitutional, and cultural policies, programs, modules, guidelines, and any available resources related to the topic of the study were collected and critically analyzed to build up the data obtained through the in-depth semi-structured interviews.

3.5. Methods of data analysis

The data collected using the interviews and documents were analyzed through inductive qualitative data analysis approach, moving from specifics to generalizations (Bogdan & Biklen, 2003). Inductive data analysis was employed to provide a better understanding of the interaction of mutually shaping influences and to explicate the interacting realities and experiences of researcher and participant (Y.S. Lincoln & Guba, 2005).

The qualitative data collected were presented as descriptive narration with words& an attempt was made to understand the instructional process in a multicultural setting (Lincoln and Guba, 2000).The process of data analysis began with organizing the data, breaking them into manageable units, coding them; synthesizing them & searching for patterns (Bogdan and Biklen, 2003). Accordingly, the respondents and their views were coded for critical analysis as Education Stream Teacher-1, 2, 3, 4 & 5; Social Science Teacher-1 & 2; Language Teacher-1 & 2; and Natural Science Teacher-1 indicating the perceptual engagement of each teacher in education, social sciences, languages, and natural sciences streams respectively. Then, at this point as a procedure, the code/pseudonym was properly used in order to safely analyze the data and keep the confidentiality of the interviewees involved in the study.

4. Results and discussion

4.1. Analysis of results

A qualitative case study was collected with the teachers at Hosanna College of Education using in-depth interviews and document analysis. The analysis of results and the subsequent discussion of the study’s findings are based on the following core themes:

4.1.1. Theme one: Teachers’ perceptions toward MCE and diversity related issues

Teachers in Hosanna College of Education were asked for their perceptions about the overall know how on diversity and MCE. Accordingly, they reflected almostsimilar views as they understand diversity and MCE. They expressed that they have been working a lot to integrate those multicultural components into the classroom. They believed that MCE is a key to provide equal learning opportunities for all students and create an environment for them to communicate each other in terms of their culture, language, and religion. One of the interview extracts stated:

Diversity means developing or widening or looking things concerning different people living in a certain area. In our locality, there are people from different corners of the country. Keeping this people in mind and doing things may develop the concept of diversity. Hosanna College of Education is founded with different ethnic groups including the Hadiya, the Kambata-Tembaro, the Guraghe, the Silte, and so on. Our education system/the classroom environment should not be dominated by one culture. A classroom teacher has to know his or her students well having different diversities during the actual instructional process and provide equal learning opportunities for all students all the time to satisfy their diverse needs. (Natural Science Teacher-1)

In similar fashion, another interviewee stated that the ETP and Its Implementation (MOE, 2002) of Ethiopia has given emphasis for all cultures, languages, and value systems of all ethnic groups to be accommodated in the curriculum of Education Colleges. The interviewee explained as:

Diversity and/or MCE are core part of our education policy. Our country is a nation of many tribes, languages and diversities. We have more than 88 local languages here in Ethiopia. It is therefore right time to accommodate cultural diversities, ethnic diversities, language diversities, attitudinal diversities, and so on through the well formulated education policy. To speak to these all issues, it is very crucial to focus on cultural diversity and MCE. (Language Teacher-2)

Another participant of the study perceived that the role of MCE is tremendous in shaping even the education system. The interviewees noted that it is so important to invite all the cultural diversities by bringing equitable learning opportunity and access to the class for all students with diverse backgrounds. In the words of interviewee, it was narrated as:

The practice of MCE is inevitable as it is vital instrument to our education system to address different needs and interests of students and ethnic groups with diverse socio-cultural and education identities. The issues related with the diversity and MCE help to use our education system greatly in order to incorporate all the demands of our nations’ children who need to learn through participatory and cooperative teaching-learning strategies. The system that accommodates these all diversities in an equal, a fair, and an effective way is what we call it MCE. It holds positively and healthily the existing diversities for the sake of ensuring the advantage of those diversified needs of the students in the College. (Social Science Teacher-2)

More critically, all the interviewed teacher respondents were asked whether they have ample awareness, knowledge, and skills on how to influence MCE in their classroom situations. They all felt that they are conscious and aware to support and run MCE in the College. One of the well experienced respondents elucidated the case in the following manner:

I felt that I have ample experience and contributed a little bit in conducting basic research on diverse issues in different Universities of Ethiopia including the language diversities, ethnic diversities, religious diversities, and MCE. I have developed a module for MCE. I have been offering courses of curriculum and instruction related with MCE since 2008 for the last fourteen years in Hosanna College of Education. Fortunately; I am experienced, skillful and aware about diversity and MCE. (Education Stream Teacher-4)

In a similar vein, the participants altogether further opinionated that they do have knowledge and positive perceptions that may help them to promote diversity and MCE. However; that is not gained as a result of special skill development organized by the College. An interview extract taken from one of the interviewees indicated:

Although most of us did not pass through the full-fledged skill training and course of specialization and didn’t conduct problem solving studies, we are informative about what diversity&MCE mean to our education system in multicultural society. We all are diverse&have participated in cultural events as well as some diversity-oriented courses. (Social Science Teacher-1)

All the participant teachers interviewed felt that they all belong to a College community with diverse socio-economic background and free from discriminating one to another. They drew central views as they have convinced positively toward the reduction of prejudices to create discrimination free environment in the course of MCE by using co-operative teaching-learning strategies to address the needs of all students. One of the interviewees puts his feelings as:

Our college is a good example of how to exercise diversity and MCE as we treat students from various ethnic groups. The environment and community of Hosanna College of Education are not bounded only by one ethnic group, one culture, and one interest. Every day, we treat each of these ethnic groups’ unique cultures and share necessary information and experiences with them. We are not sure about that discriminating element as the College is not isolating students because of their unique cultural identities. Students are fortunate to be on a common campus and to be gathering where they can better understand and benefit from one another. We did not face such a negative concept. (Natural Science Teacher-1)

Coinciding to the above version, the interviewees cumulatively responded that they have never seen any kind of social injustices or stereotyping related to MCE in their working environment. They justified the position they held in such a way that the atmosphere of Hosanna College of Education, without question, is found to be impressive, where students with all varied cultural identities have been very lucky to learn together in a relaxed way.An interviewed respondent explained his views in the sentence below:

I haven’t seen such a thing at our College. In some way or another, it may have happened, but I don’t know. To my knowledge, I have not witnessed such injustices in our town or at College. We have a good culture, a good base in this regard, and good experience of hosting many diversities and ethnicities at Hosanna College of Education. Hosanna is a big city with different ethnic groups. For example, the Oromo, the Amhara, the Sidama, the Guraghe, the Tembaro, the Maraqo, the Kembata, the Silte, the Halaba, the Kebena, the Wolaita, the Tigre and others live and learn with us side by side in peace. The same culture is truly evident in our College. (Language Teacher-2)

The results gained from the in-depth semi-structured interview with all participants indicated that they all like to work in an environment where socio-cultural diversities are available and enjoy teaching in diversified classrooms. One of the participants testified that:

Because the campus where we all work and the country where we all live are both diverse and enjoyable, it is obvious that teachers in Education Colleges should incorporate multicultural issues and local examples into classroom instruction. We ourselves are diversified in many aspects. Curriculum or content integration is mandatory. That is, we are sharing different ideas, experiences, and other individual-level differences in different ways. This means we belong to them, and they belong to us too. The same should be done in classroom situations. Thus, as a College teacher, I am very happy, interested, and eager to be engaged with such a condition to help promote effective communication among students from various social and educational backgrounds. (Education Stream Teacher-3)

On the other side, all the interviewed teachers negatively narrated that the capacity of the College is fragile because it failed to offer appropriate service and support for teachers to promote MCE.The respondents expanded the fact that the administrative body was not sufficiently entitled to prepare and initiate teachers and supply material resources to issue MCE as required. They added that skill development trainings and incentive provisions made by College Deans to motivate teachers’ efficiency in teaching diversified groups was insignificant. One of the interviews expanded this idea and said:

I didn’t see any special support, training, and multicultural and/or diversity-oriented material provision that fit the current diverse needs of teachers and students in the College. Previously, academic activities in the College were planned strategically by its administrators in a good way. There were various types of training on topics related to teacher education and multicultural issues as hot agenda items; material access and facility as resource availability; incentives as a motivating tool; and other necessary skill development trainings stipulated such cultural pluralism conditions. But, by now, situations are deteriorating and things lack normality to run smoothly and extend a good experience as they had before. Teachers have been demotivated to effectively enhance MCE as there are no appropriate services and incentive provisions. (Language Teacher-1)

4.1.2. Theme two: Teachers’ perceptions toward MCE-oriented curriculum materials, as well as documents in terms of multicultural policy direction of the ETP and its implementation

All the interviewed teacher respondents expressed their feelings very boldly, as they have been facing serious challenges with the shortage of MCE-oriented curriculum materials in the College. Besides, they all forwarded their responses in such a manner that the curriculum materials prepared for the purpose of MCE in the College were inadequate. In this regard, one of the interviewed respondents reflected as follows:

I haven’t seen its availability in our College at a point where it would enhance MCE. Multicultural education suffers from the insufficient provision of curricular materials. As a result, only two modules have been prepared for the College-level course MCE, which is insufficient to achieve its objectives. We need further improvement for its productivity, and thus serious attention should be given to the issue. In order to effectively promote MCE in the College, additional multicultural teaching materials should be prepared. (Education Stream Teacher-5) (See, Table 1 below)

Table 1. Shows professional courses designed for MCE (documents selected for analysis in hosanna college of education)

No	Course title	Credit hour
1	Multicultural Education (MCED-201)	2
2	Sociological Perspectives on Teaching & Learning (Tecs-222)	3

Source: Adapted from MOE (2012)

As it is indicated in Table 1, the interview results gained directly related to the documents, in which there are only two courses prepared for the purpose of MCE. This is represented by the course “Multicultural Education,” which has been developed to be offered only for students in the department of Special Needs and Inclusive Education. This course material is purely multicultural in nature and attempts to inform learners about cultural diversity, cultural pluralism, and fundamental dimensions of MCE. It tries to connect the local cultural experiences of teaching and learning and indigenous knowledge construction mechanisms with the current of multidimensional international trends in education.

It is objectively found that the goal of this curriculum material is to help one understand oneself and the world accordingly so that he or she by any means cannot be deprived of enjoying his or her natural, cultural, and education identities. Another pillar of the course is to provide equal and equitable learning opportunities for all students in order to realize psychological, sociological, and pedagogical benefits in learning situations. The module has, however, been confined only to serving the field of Special Needs and Inclusive Education, with hesitating current pressing demands for student diversity in other disciplines. It also ignored students in other departments to see the relevance of multicultural education, which plays a great role in bringing an integrative national feeling through the motto “There is Unity in Diversity and Diversity in Unity” and contributes to medicating the social evils (superiority and inferiority complexes) that might be sometimes apparent among the learners of the College.

This course material lacked clarity and comprehensiveness as it failed to reach out to harmonize learning for all those learners from minority, marginalized, and culturally diverse backgrounds at different department levels. This is “what a miss” and a “real gap” considered in the ETP and Its Implementation (2002). However; the Constitutional Provisions (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, 1995), Cultural Policy (1997), and the ETP and Its Implementation (2002) of Ethiopia placed emphasis on all cultures, languages, and histories of each and every ethnic group being promoted and education being provided for all learners equally and equitably using MCE as a core means. Conclusively, as this course is not offered in all other streams of the College other than the education stream, the availability of curriculum materials assigned to facilitate MCE is almost nonexistent.

On the other hand, a course material titled “Social Perspectives on Teaching and Learning,” designed for students in specialist and generalist modalities, has four major focus areas of multicultural contents addressing the issues of cultural diversity and the principles and core components of MCE. The basic elements and narrations of details founded on cultural diversity and MCE are highly committed to the fundamental provision of equal learning opportunities for all learners regardless of their diverse socio-economic status in their learning environment. This MCE course is comprehensive and deep enough in its scope and dimension to explore and bring about clear and vivid images on those basic elements and sensitive issues as crucial, critical, and recently mandatory themes of sociology of education.

The implication of this is that how peaceful settlement and co-existence between the diverse student population in Teacher Education Colleges and pluralistic society in a multicultural country can be introduced and communicated well. This teaching material found effective in addressing the issues of diversity and the philosophy of MCE but did not accommodate students in the linear modality for the reason the curriculum was designed to promote students’ learning from the specialist and generalist modalities only. The right to educate as well as the learning opportunity of students with such an agenda is currently decisive to cope with the dynamics of human life philosophy in a linear program in the College. However, it has been deprived due to the inappropriate development of curriculum materials. The ETP and Its Implementation, thus, faced a number of challenges, including the deliberate lack of depth, vision, provision, and purpose in designing and preparing teaching materials relevant to multicultural settings.

Theme three: Teachers’ perceptions toward their major roles in harmonizing diversity as well as challenges affecting MCE

The role of teachers in Education Colleges is pivotal and they are always expected to work very effectively towards harmonizing the diversified needs of the students. Accordingly, all the interviewed research participants indicated that teachers endeavors is the major factor that influences MCE. They also believed that although teachers are the most responsible body for enhancing MCE in the classroom setting, the involvement of other concerned body has its own great role. One of the interviewees narrated this in the following manner:

All what I can say is that the role of stakeholders vital. They have their own role in boosting diversity or MCE. In other words; teachers, students, department heads, stream facilitators& deans have to play their own roles. Each& every stakeholder has his/her own responsibility. Teachers have unfolding potential&many roles in harmonizing diversity& MCE in the classroom based on the principle of culturally responsive teaching. What they should do in their major roles for example, is to plan the course in a multicultural classroom& treat all students equally. They should also create awareness about MCE system& train their trainees to equip themselves with the necessary knowledge to help them when they go to school after their graduation. Teachers have great responsibilities to promote diversity&share their experiences with their students. (Language Teacher-2)

Congruently, another respondent described the major roles of College teachers in promoting MCE in the classroom as follows:

Teachers in Education Colleges are the main responsible individuals and key factors to introduce, expand and practically apply cultural diversity and MCE with their respective elements in classroom situations. They should further extend multicultural issue to the catchment area schools through training in collaboration with the leaders of the College and other stakeholders. Based on this situation, the College teachers can thus invite the wereda and zonal education sector officers and other professionals to help them by providing awareness-creation trainings and workshops. Finally; by training them and cooperating with them, teachers can therefore confidently promote multicultural in the College as well as in society. (Education Stream Teacher-2)

The major encounters of MCE, as described by some of the respondents, are linked with the rigid nature of the curriculum design, in which MCE and its core components were not aggressively implied. One of the participants in an in-depth interview coined the following statement:

The problem is the ETP (MOE, 1994) by itself. The preparation of modular curriculum lacked purpose as its content did not sufficiently incorporate basic multicultural components. The MCE curriculum appears to be tailored solely to the interest of students with special needs. That’s good; no objections. There is a gap in the design of the curriculum at national education policy level or whatever level. That’s why students in the linear modality do not take MCE courses designed for students in the specialist, cluster, and/or generalist modality. For the multicultural experience to be inculcated in each&every one of our students, the course must be given to all departments as a common course. All these mislead emanated directly from the ETP. (Education Stream Teacher-1)

Similarly, another interviewee attempted to clarify the curriculum’s failure to identify priorities as to which comes first and benefits students more, as well as the hesitation of multi-dimensional advantages and use of MCE.

For example, we see in our College that students are taking music and art courses in their respective departments. Why not MCE? Which one is the beneficiary? Which one benefits students of the country at large? Thus, MCE must be given to all students at all departmental levels in all Colleges of Education and Universities in the country. It should be mandatory and priority, as students’ diversity is increasing nowadays. What we would like to express is that all students in all departments should take at least a course on MCE to develop their understanding of multidimensional issues and multi-social interactions since this is a place where students are learning to shoulder their social responsibilities in the future. (Education Stream Teacher-4)

Some of the interviewed respondents reflected their perception and belief that MCE is not currently equipped with the provision of special skill development and teachers’ motivation and devotion to their profession. On this occasion, the same respondent of the study mentioned the challenges to MCE as:

Some common challenges affecting the effectiveness of MCE in College include a lack of training, awareness, understanding, and professional commitments. Challenges may arise from a lack of experiences and proper provisions for orientations on multicultural policy directions, most notably regarding religious issues. Students who have Orthodox religious backgrounds gather together; those who come from the Moslem religion gather together; and the Protestants alone gather together. This may in turn bring about some sort of detachment among them in a secular environment, affecting friendly interactions somehow. These are challenges if things are kept in such circumstances, and they may bring about problems in the future, which is my fear. Even though relevant measures were not taken in such a case, the issue of religious diversity was not a serious challenge in the country in general or in our College in particular. (Education Stream Teacher-4)

4.2. Discussions

This section is primarily guided by three important suggestions as answering the questions posed in the introduction; showing how the answers are supported by the results; and explaining how the answers fit relative to the existing body of knowledge about the subject (McCombes, 2019).

As the needs on MCE are become continually increasing around the world, by integrating the multicultural competence in education and in various curricula; there is the possibility to change perceptions and behaviors both of teachers and students, both of the self towards the other and of the other towards the self (Merkel, 2010). The findings from this study illuminate and clarify the importance of positive perceptions from teachers to support MCE in the College. The teachers’ perceptions of and attitude towards MCE are directly related to how they will implement multicultural education (Sharma, 2011). This study provides important findings on how teachers in Ethiopia perceive MCE. The findings of the study are linked with the literature in that the teachers’ knowledge of and positive attitude towards MCE will allow them to reach a target of high success levels for all students (Aydin & Tonbuloğlu, 2014). This study is thus a core contribution to the international perspective on MCE and how teachers in different cultural and social contexts support it.

Similarly, the findings obtained from the participants of this study are tied to the results of the previous research study as to which the goal of MCE is to prepare the students for the world with an ever-increasing diversity (Aydin & Tonbuloğlu, 2014). The findings of the study confirm that the perceptions of teachers at Hosanna College of Education are positive and can reasonably affect MCE. This compares itself with the literature of Pedersen (2007), which describes that “teachers should develop positive perceptions to the issues of MCE.” This is also critically capitalized that those multicultural-oriented teacher education policies and curricula may not be fruitful on the ground if the teacher educators, as the key actors, lack the perceptions, skills, and dispositions to offer courses in diversified classrooms (Banks & Banks, 2010). Coincidentally, Hussein (1969) stresses that “the development of a positive attitude by a teacher towards cultural diversity is a basic issue of contemporary society.” It can be discussed that Education Colleges will undoubtedly continue their efforts in reforming teachers’ perceptions as a key instrument by creating fertile ground to motivate them through the provision of necessary resources. Marsh and Keating (2006) definitely see that that “unfounded beliefs and illogical prejudices should be removed from the minds of the teachers” so as to promote MCE.

That’s why Pedersen argues that necessary skill training and verbal and non-verbal communication are fundamental when interacting with people from cultures different from our own and produce relevant curriculum materials to practice MCE (Pedersen, 2007). Smartly speaking, it is evident that in both research findings and reviewed literature that truly managed MCE and diversity issues in light of current learner needs can be put into action tremendously and contribute much more in all spheres of life through teachers’ visual perceptions and touch sensations in Education Colleges. Hussein (1969) emphasizes that “the learners come from different social and family backgrounds; possess different capabilities and tastes, different likes and dislikes and different personalities.” To cope with this, teachers should up-date their knowledge and are competent enough to intervene, and the Education Colleges should make heartfelt attempts to understand these and deal with them positively in such a way that the students benefit fully from the activities on the ground. Furthermore, the study’s findings clearly relate that, because education primarily aims at the reformation of everyone’s perceptions, Banks & Banks recommend that teacher education institutions, as formal social agencies, should positively appreciate pluralistic approaches based on MCE philosophy (Banks & Banks, 2010). In summary, although teachers have not sufficiently gone through a prearranged series of provisions for training in multicultural curriculum, the principles of MCE consolidate attachments among learners in their everyday classroom interactions.

In relation to this, Marsh and Keating (2006) investigate how “teachers’ confirmed perceptions in educational institutions assist in developing& cultivating good&higher values like truth, sympathy, love& cooperation in every learner.” Through different social interactions& moral teachings, the Education Colleges can spread out the messages of righteous living in a pluralist society, realizing the expression that education everywhere has the function of forming social personalities. This is because the convinced perceptions of teachers in the Colleges are very helpful in transmitting culture through proper molding of social personalities. In this way, teachers largely contribute to the integration& to survive emotional&mental attributes that characterize a unique individual. This communicates with the philosophy of MCE playing fundamental roles in creating equal learning opportunities for all learners irrespective of their socio-economic background (Banks & Banks, 2010). It informs that MCE lays a surface free environment from unnecessary irregularities for national integration&help to medicate negative racial attitudes.

To the contrary, when MCE is laissez fairly organized what will, in turn, be yielded as undesirable behaviors are stereotypes and social injustices although the teaching-learning atmosphere of the College found un-discriminatory and prejudice free as reported in the results of the study. In reality, in a country like Ethiopia with cultural-pluralism and multicultural society, Mostafazadeh (2015) implies “any policy of education needs to possess a dynamic, efficient and of course comply with the contemporary issues necessitated for now and the future.” Since the perceptions of teachers have great influence to bring paradigm shift in all educational system in progressing MCE, creating a spirit of cooperative working environment with all stakeholders in accordance with achieving the goals are inevitably important. What has been reasonably witnessed is that College teachers’ power and position in classroom instructional processes and the success and failure of general educational activities are changing. To create inventive and innovative instructional strategies, first, College teachers should take their own personal initiatives and then be motivated by MoE, regional education bureaus, and the College officials for further promotion of MCE.

Analysis of the results justifies the ETP and Its Implementation (2002) is theoretically well designed document but not fully practicable and integrative of elements of cultural diversity into the system of the College Education. As a result, the policy has little empirically to do with teachers’ attitude toward the fundamental principles of MCE, and are thus constrained by multifaceted issues. The findings of this study are related to the results gained from different literature in that the “effect of the provision of the declaration of cultural diversity of the nations in overall activities and advantages simply for the sake of political consumption” (Fisseha, 2006). Contextually, Dewey (1966) states that “education must have a practical value for and be useful to the learners as well as the society at large.” This displays there found apparent mismatch between the policy and practice with regard to MCE at grass root level.

Besides, the preparation of modular curriculum as part of this study does not focus on basics of MCE to help benefit all learners and allow them to learn according to their learning pace during the classroom instruction. The development of the students’ higher-order thinking skills and over-all growth of educational knowledge would be deficient unless the issues of cultural diversity are supplemented by adequate context-based curriculum materials (Salia, 1989). The insufficiency of relevant teaching materials and the lack of availability of necessary resources are thus reported as another serious challenge in this study. At Hosanna College of Education, the scope&depth of MCE are not integrated with other courses delivered across various disciplines. The courses linked to cultural diversity are limited in the content of the modular curriculum& are not communicated well with the conception of MCE. The findings of the study thus urge the opening of the department of “Multicultural Education” as a new field of study in the College. The requirement for the foundation of MCE as a separate department emerges as an integral area of knowledge construction inferred from the current needs of contemporary society.

On the other hand, it has learned that teachers in the College do not have sufficient professional knowledge formation and skills to support and promote MCE. The motivational courage of teachers in their work place is not considerable, as the role of the College officials is shocking, in which they are negligible. This is because they are hardly introduced to MCE and lack vision and an integrated personality to face this newly advancing field. Scholarly attempts by College teachers to study basic as well action research to improve MCE are almost nonexistent. In touch with this, Derebssa (2008) notes that “the number of scholars involved in research activities is small in Ethiopia, and their research findings cannot mostly be used for decision-making in education.” Hanley (1999) strengthens that “understanding multicultural education is not something easy issue; rather, it requires critical thinking with attention paid to complexity.” It also requires research and learning about the multiple perspectives involved in any historical or contemporary experience in order to understand the rich meaning therein.

Due to the lack of an appropriate strategic plan and a shortage of conceptual and empirical research studies, major components of cultural diversity and academic multicultural activities are seriously exposed to many acute problems. This depicts that there is still a need to re-consider and invoke an attractive atmosphere by capacitating teachers in the College to find out their effects in a scientific manner. In order to achieve this, culturally responsive teaching and freely designed classroom interactions with each learner, regardless of his or her different learning pace and style, as well as diverse natural characteristics, have been widely recognized (Gay, 2010). Fortunately; the physical, educational, & social environment and holding potential of the College are very conducive to gender-responsive teaching and the promotion of cultural diversity.

Magnificently, MCE involves transforming the self, the schools, & the society in ways that enhance educational equality& justice for all groups& achieve its goals meaningfully (Banks & Banks, 2010). Multicultural education can play an important role in helping the nation’s schools& the larger society promote national unity. Despite the fact that, World Bank (2008) considers the achievement of MCE goals& the design of a genuine cultural diversity curriculum to be important, much works remain to be done gradually contextualize. To coincide with& many other pressing ideas as argued everywhere in this study, those unique diverse behaviors, individual differences, &MCE should have their own defined spot in the Colleges where things can regularly be treated, topics are critically studied, &sharp problems are to be dealt with.

5. Conclusions and implications

Taking into account the findings obtained from the research study in the analysis and discussion of the data collected, the following conclusions and implications were drawn.

The analysis of this study depicted that the current multicultural needs of learners in Hosanna College of Education were not thoroughly investigated and meaningfully addressed due to the miss link between the theory and practice of ETP and Its Implementation. Banks (2010) magnified that teachers in educational institutions and the stakeholders should critically examine the structure of education that hinders learning and empowering students and families for diverse racial, ethnic, religious, and gender groups in school environments. It was insightfully persuaded that one who teaches in a MCE setting should be equipped with relevant knowledge, positive attitudes, and skills to provide equal and equitable learning opportunities for all students according to their unique characteristics.

This is because un-feignedly developed positive perceptions of teachers toward MCE certainly become line of demarcation and mandatory to support students coming from the diverse socio-cultural backgrounds. Coincidently, Nelson (2001) consolidated that “valuing diversity in socially organized belief systems, races and cultures is the key to providing equal educational opportunities to all students.” It was reported in the study that to maximize the success of MCE, teachers should have a thorough understanding and confirmed perceptions positive to their profession to identify the existing problems and conduct scientific studies related with diverse nature of students learning. It is meant that College-based awareness-creation skill training provisions and research conduction strategies should strongly be set regularly to form knowledge and reform attitudes of teachers to foster MCE.

The study acknowledged that equal and fair treatment of those multicultural and far-reaching students can be effectuated mainly by developing positive perceptions of teachers to responsibly employ equity pedagogy as cooperative teaching-learning strategies. As to which, as there is no room for negative racial attitude to be developed as depicted in this study, students from the catchment areas and elsewhere with their diverse identities need to deserve their freedom to enjoy and gain a good opportunity to learn about their culture with others. This study truly drew its findings to the literature in which teachers have the responsibility to reassess their own prejudices, partiality, and perceptions that can affect the learning experiences of their students (Gorski, 2000). Prejudice reduction as a core dimension of MCE should continually be adapted in the instructional processes by all teachers to mitigate the superiority and inferiority complex that may be apparent between some learners. Accordingly, D’souza’s (1995) studied that “multiculturalism considers all cultures as equals and none of them are superior to another.” That’s why MCE is concerned with “difference but not deficit,” in which the difference should be viewed as having multiple alternatives in all spheres of social activities (Fullinwider, 1996).

The findings provided insight on how to genuinely enhance MCE in the context of the College based on Banks’ (2010) five fundamental dimensions in order to benefit all students and foster national integration. The proper use of the core dimensions as the strategies for instructional process and overall understanding of educational enterprise was considered as priorities for the success of MCE. The teaching-learning environment of the College looked free to experience students their unique social and education identities (socio-cultural background characteristics). The results of this study evidently informed that what students learn should properly be selected and incorporated into the College curriculum as part of education policy to reflect the cultures of different societies, communities, and groups. That may serve as a means of developing a sense of belongingness in the curriculum and that his or her culture has a contribution on the development of the society.Multicultural education however suffered from some serious challenges such as inappropriate content selection and preparation of multicultural modular curriculum.

Teachers in the College did not have strategic plan to sufficiently incorporate the basics of MCE into their daily classroom activities and become demotivated to conduct diversity-oriented educational researches. As reported in this study, a majority of constraints were the consequential effects of the ETP and Its Implementation (2002) for its theory divorced from practice on the spot. For example, World Bank (2008) confirmed that internal inefficiency, the issue of equity, and poor education qualities persist as challenges in the ETP especially for those educationally disadvantaged students. It was found relevant that a solid foundation needs to be laid to open a new department for MCE in the College as a discipline to fill the gap in skill training, professional knowledge formation, and attitude reformation of teachers.

The study indicated that there is a request to have genuine and practicable multicultural policy to bring about progressive changes to the existing and forth-coming irregularities of MCE as well as cultural diversity-oriented activities. Upon the findings produced and trends adapted from the international context on MCE, it is exclusively pointed out that policy-makers, regional education bureau experts, administrative and academic staff of Education Colleges should work responsibly, conduct problem-solving research studies, and prepare themselves to pedagogically, psychologically, and sociologically enrich MCE and cultural diversity.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors have no funding to report.

Notes on contributors

Tesfaye Limoreo Degaga

Tesfaye Limoreo Degaga is a graduate from Addis Ababa University with BA Degree Majoring Ethiopian Languages and Literature and Minoring History in 2002. He earned his MA in Curriculum and Instruction from Addis Ababa University in 2008. Currently, he is a Ph.D. candidate at Haramaya University. His topics of interest consist of dealing with cultural diversity and MCE, developing multicultural teaching materials, offering trainings and workshops on cultural pluralism, gender equity and democratic concepts in education, and conducting basic as well as problem-solving studies in Education Colleges.

Yilfashewa Seyoum Mekuria

Yilfashewa Seyoum Mekuria (PhD) is an academic program director at Haramaya University in Ethiopia. He also works as an associate professor in the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, where he teaches postgraduate courses and supervises MA and PhD students. As a director, he assists in the planning, implementation, and monitoring of core activities (curriculum, staff development, and academic planning) and is a key player in the Vice President’s Office of Academic Affairs. Dr. Yilfashewa Seyoum has conducted research in the fields of professional development, distance education, adult and lifelong learning, and curriculum design and development. As part of his professional responsibilities, he produced 24 peer-reviewed scientific papers, 1 book chapter, and 2 books.