Merry M. Merryfield

Why aren't teachers being prepared to teach for diversity, equity, and global interconnectedness? A study of lived experiences in the making of multicultural and global educators

Abstract Despite increasing demands for teachers to teach for equity, diversity and global interconnectedness, colleges of education are not producing teachers with such knowledge and skills. In this study the author identified teacher educators, who are recognized by their peers for their success in preparing teachers in both multicultural and global education and asked them to reflect upon the experiences that have most influenced their work in these fields. The 80 teacher educators in the study told of encounters with people different from themselves, experiences with discrimination, injustice or outsider status, and their felt contradictions in dealing with multiple realities. There are significant qualitative differences between those experiences identified by people of color and those who are white. Most of the people of color acquired an experiential understanding of discrimination and outsider status by the nature of growing up in a society characterized by white privilege and racism. However, many of the middle-class white teacher educators had their most profound experiences while living outside of their own country. Given the demographics of professors of education, the findings have implications for the ability of the nations universities to prepare teachers in multicultural and global education.

Pedagogy for Global Perspectives in Education: Studies of Teachers' Thinking and Practice

Abstract As Americans come to understand the effects of globalization, there is increasing concern that schools today are not adequately preparing students for our interdependent world. Although much has been written about the need to infuse global perspectives in education so that students will understand and benefit from the increasing interconnectedness of the worlds cultures, economies, and political relationships, few scholars have studied the actual practice of social studies teachers as they teach global perspectives or tried to understand the contexts of their instructional decisions. In this article multiple perspectives on current classroom practice in global education are examined, including those of master teachers considered the best global educators in their school districts, practicing teachers who have recently completed their first formal instruction in global education, and preservice teachers who are beginning to teach globally-oriented social studies as part of their certification pro...

The Paradoxes of Teaching a Multicultural Education Course Online

The author shares her pedagogy in taking a conventional, campus-based graduate course, transforming it for asynchronous learning and teaching it over the World Wide Web. Some paradoxes resulted as the course changed from face-to-face to online interaction. First, the teachers were more open, frank, expansive, curious, even confessional in their willingness to share and discuss prickly issues such as White privilege, racism, educational inequities, injustice, and xenophobia than teachers have been in the campus version of the course. Second, the interaction patterns online were more equitable and cross-cultural than those in the campus version. However, many teachers questioned whether the course’s reliance on electronic technologies prevented them from “knowing the other.” Some perceived that they had to physically interact with people face to face to develop relationships across cultures—relationships that some teachers said were prerequisite to their rethinking how their own teaching could better support diversity and social justice.

Using Electronic Technologies to Promote Equity and Cultural Diversity in Social Studies and Global Education

Abstract As new electronic technologies are infused into social studies teacher education, there is the potential of their application to goals of equity, diversity, and cross-cultural understanding. This article focuses on the use of one electronic pedagogy, threaded discussion, and its application within graduate courses in social studies and global education. Used in conjunction with conventional face to face alternatives, threaded discussions can add to the development of a culturally diverse learning community, deepen meaningful discussion of controversial and sensitive issues such as prejudice, privilege, and discrimination and increase educational equity by changing patterns of dominance and interaction.

Preparing Social Studies Teachers for the Twenty-First Century: Perspectives on Program Effectiveness from a Study of Six Exemplary Teacher Education Programs in Global Education

Abstract Over the last twenty years some social studies teacher educators have developed programs that prepare teachers to teach global perspectives. This study examined six exemplary teacher education programs in global education in order to identify factors related to program effectiveness. Special attention was paid to the perspectives of the teacher educators and their clients—the preservice and inservice teachers, school administrators, or curriculum supervisors who are served by the programs. A broad scope of program offerings and formats, support services, collaboration with other institutions and organizations, visible channels of communication, opportunities for professional growth, and excellence in leadership were some of the more important factors related to program effectiveness. Although the programs are idiosyncratic in order to address local contexts, they all respond to the felt needs of educators, treat teachers as professionals and overcome the ad hoc nature of inservice education throu...