Critical multicultural education and preservice teachers’ multicultural attitudes

Purpose This study aims to examine the effect of critical multicultural education on the multicultural attitudes of preservice teachers in a teacher education program. Design/methodology/approach The study sample consisted of 76 preservice teachers enrolled in a teacher preparation program. This study used a pretest–posttest quasi-experimental research design with pretest-posttest. The multicultural content integration was implemented in an experimental group for one semester, and data were collected using the teacher multicultural attitude survey. Findings Analyses indicated that preservice teachers who were exposed to the critical multicultural education program showed significantly greater progress in their multicultural attitudes compared with teachers in the control group. The results of this study indicate that the integrating critical multicultural education content into teacher education program has a positive effect on fostering preservice teachers’ multicultural attitudes. Practical implications Teacher education program planners should integrate multicultural content, materials and activities into teaching methods courses to promote change in preservice teachers’ multicultural attitudes. Originality/value This study contributes to the multicultural studies on teacher education.