Preparing student teachers to teach in diverse classrooms: A comparative case study of two teacher education programmes

Sammendrag

Abstract

An increasing diversity in pupil populations poses new pedagogic and didactic demands on teacher educators and student teachers. Research on student teachers’ learning on campus indicates that teacher education programmes do not provide students with sufficient qualifications for teaching in diverse classrooms. Few studies look specifi­cally into how campus programmes prepare student teachers for diverse classrooms. We provide insight into how student teachers are being prepared to teach in diverse class­rooms by comparing two teacher education programmes in two European countries. Our research design is a comparative case study with a pattern-matching mode of analysis. We find that the two programmes have different approaches. One focuses on developing student teachers’ self-awareness by working with art and culture, the other focuses on effective methods for pupils’ learning. We claim that student teachers need to acquire competence both in Intercultural Education and in Differentiated Instruction, and that these two need to be merged in teacher education programmes. Training student teachers in self-awareness and intercultural sensitivity, as well as in developing stra­tegies to differentiate their instruction, is of equal importance. Further research is necessary to find how student teachers can develop their professional agency for diversity on campus, and how this will reflect on their classroom practices.