Teachers' Understanding of Multicultural Education and the Correlates of Multicultural Content Integration in Flanders

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  • Additional Information
    • Availability:
      SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://sagepub.com
    • Peer Reviewed:
      Y
    • Source:
      27
    • Education Level:
      Elementary Secondary Education
      Grade 5
      Intermediate Grades
      Middle Schools
      Elementary Education
      Grade 6
    • Subject Terms:
      Course Content; Surveys; Teacher Attitudes; Multicultural Education; Institutional Characteristics; Hierarchical Linear Modeling; Mixed Methods Research; Foreign Countries; Religion; Cultural Pluralism; Teacher Characteristics; Teaching Methods; Whites; Ethnic Groups; Minority Group Students; Minority Group Teachers; Catholic Schools; Educational Policy; Grade 5; Grade 6; Questionnaires; Semi Structured Interviews
    • Subject Terms:
      Belgium
    • Accession Number:
      10.1177/0013124514536610
    • ISSN:
      0013-1245
    • Abstract:
      The bulk of scholarship on multicultural education continues to focus exclusively on U.S. education. Previous studies published in this field also have focused largely on topics that are considered relevant for the United States, whereas little attention has been paid to topics that are less problematized in the United States. In this mixed-method study, we explore teachers' understanding of multicultural education in Flanders (Belgium), and we examine whether teacher and school characteristics correlate with the degree to which teachers integrate multicultural content. Survey results with 706 in-service teachers from 68 schools and in-depth interviews with 26 teachers from 5 schools are used. The results point out that teachers focus mainly on religious diversity when they were asked about their understanding of multicultural education. However, their understanding was largely limited to the "contributions approach" and "additive approach" to multicultural education. Multilevel analysis revealed that ethnic minority teachers reported higher levels of multicultural content integration than native-White teachers, and teachers working in schools with higher share of ethnic minorities and public (State) schools incorporated more multicultural education than teachers working in elite-White schools and Catholic schools. Implications for both the literature on multicultural education and educational policymakers are discussed.
    • Abstract:
      As Provided
    • Number of References:
      52
    • Publication Date:
      2016
    • Accession Number:
      EJ1103185