Christine D. Thomas

Cultural diversity is basically a foreign term to me: the challenges of diversity for preservice teacher education

Abstract While student populations grow more diverse, the preservice teacher population is becoming more homogeneous, primarily White and middle-class. One challenge for teacher preparation programs arising from the mismatch of teacher and student cultures is to facilitate intercultural sensitivity and learning among prospective teachers. This longitudinal study examines the effectiveness of the approach to diversity issues used in an urban university during the final year of a teacher preparation program. The article examines the effects of the treatment on teacher beliefs in two case studies at the end of the program and also looks at residual effects three years later.