Teacher Training with Emphasis on Immigrant Pedagogy: Statement of Reasons and Curricular Building Blocks

Abstract

Over 20 percent of students in today's schools are multilingual students of foreign descent. This has forced new teacher-training curriculum to include interculturalism as a topic. But this new area, "intercultural teachers' education," is threatening to deteriorate into an alibi, at least when certain educational-policy preconditions go unfulfilled. The main goal of efficient teacher training is to ensure statistically equalized performance in school for both native Swiss students and students with other cultural backgrounds. This in conjunction with the demand for the dismantling of the monolingual modus operandi of Swiss schools, and the reform of the discriminatory monolingual orientation of the selection system. The discussion culminates in a model for an immigrant-oriented curriculum in teacher education.