Pre‐service teacher intercultural sensitivity assessment as a basis for addressing multiculturalism

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to assess the cultural sensitivity of a sample of Greek University Elementary education students using an adjusted version of Chen and Starosta’s Intercultural Sensitivity Scale, which is based on Bennett’s Inventory on Intercultural Sensitivity. Results show that Greek student intercultural sensitivity is already high, but that they feel they are not well enough prepared by their training for future educational work that might demand intercultural sensitivity.

Keywords:

• intercultural communication
• intercultural sensitivity measures (assessment)
• teacher higher education
• multicultural research
• reliability

Notes

An earlier version of this paper was entitled ‘Teacher intercultural sensitivity assessment and recent educational initiatives: the case of Greece’ and was presented at the XXII CESE Conference on ‘Changing knowledge and education: Communities, information societies and mobility. The World in Europe – Europe in the World’.