Becoming critical: In-service Teachers’ Perspectives on Multicultural Education

Many in-service teachers take a passive position regarding multicultural issues such as race, class, ethnicity, socio-economic, religion, gender, and sexual orientation. This passive position impacts classroom dynamics and has social justice consequences. The present qualitative study focuses on 12 in-service teachers’ perspectives on multicultural issues. It describes the transformation of their perspectives and practices as they take a semester-long course on diversity. Data sources include the participating teachers’ written reflections on assigned readings, classroom discussions and activities, paper presentations, instructor’s field notes, and the teachers’ final implementation papers. The findings of the study suggest that classroom activities and discussions provided teachers with opportunities to critically reflect on who they are and make changes in their perspectives and practices. Also, the study discusses the vital role of classroom social norms established by the instructor and the participating teachers as a form of praxis. This step is crucial for creating caring communities relative to cross-cultural interaction and individual transformation, which in turn has social justice implications in terms of rethinking teaching and learning as well as school reform.