Multicultural teacher knowledge: examining curriculum informed by teacher and student experiences of diversity

ABSTRACT

Herein, we consider how we might support teacher candidates to meet the learning needs of an increasingly diverse student population, in part by encouraging candidates to draw from their own experiences to inform their developing teacher knowledge about multicultural education. We conducted a school-based, long-term narrative inquiry to explore complexities of multicultural teacher knowledge. We document ways in which two practicing teachers, William and Janine, drew from their experiences of diversity in their teaching, and schooling, to build their body of multicultural teacher knowledge that, in turn, informed their work with their students. We recognize the importance of acknowledging teacher candidates’ experiences in shaping their developing teacher knowledge, and argue for including it deliberately as essential to teacher education curriculum. Considering the potential of a professional knowledge community developed early in a teaching career—beginning in preservice programs—is a logical implication. We argue that a pragmatic intellectual space may provide such a framework for teacher preparation programs for exploring developing multicultural teacher knowledge. In this way, teacher candidates’ experiences are constructed and reconstructed through inquiry with theoretical foundations that may offer explanations for complex, interconnected influences shaping school systems.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher knowledge
• multicultural education
• curriculum
• teacher experiences
• student experiences

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada [Grant 853-2004-0056].