Accommodating differences: Multicultural education courses in Michigan's teacher preparation programs

In spite of the amount of multicultural education literature in teacher education, little is known about the content and approaches of courses designed to prepare teacher candidates for diversity. In this dissertation, I describe findings from a study of 14 multicultural education courses required in 13 teacher preparation programs in Michigan. I examined 31 course syllabi to determine the explicit curricula of the courses. I also drew on findings from a survey of course instructors to understand instructors' beliefs about multicultural education courses.; Among the findings in this study, Michigan's multicultural education courses were designed to increase teacher candidates' understanding of foundational topics about schools and schooling and pedagogy. I also found that the primary objective of multicultural education courses was to cultivate teacher candidates' dispositions, particularly empathy and self-awareness. I found little evidence to suggest that the cultivation of social activism was a course objective. In contrast to the existing literature about the types of skills teacher candidates need to develop teach diverse groups of students, course materials did not emphasize developing teacher candidates' instructional skills. Courses primarily aimed to facilitate students' abilities to engage in critical analysis and reflection.; The multicultural education courses in this study reflected three diverse course approaches. Courses aligned the dispositional approach focus almost entirely on preparing teacher candidates for diversity through the cultivation of empathy and self-awareness. The critical course approach provided teacher candidates an understanding of how schools reflect social inequality. In these courses, teachers' pedagogical choices were identified as a way for teachers to challenge structural inequality. The third and final approach described diversity preparation in pedagogical terms. These courses mostly consisted of materials documenting effective pedagogical techniques and strategies for helping minority student learn.; This dissertation concludes with a discussion of the knowledge, skills, and dispositions important for preparing teacher candidates to teach diverse groups of students. I argue, by drawing on findings from the exiting literature, that dispositional objectives are important, but preparation programs should also help teacher candidates acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for meeting the social and academic needs of minority students.