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International teaching placements are offered to students in many Initial Teacher Education institutions. The outcomes for preservice teachers in these international settings are widely researched and debated, but few studies focus on the experience of the receiving side. This article investigates outcomes for Indian cooperating teachers in eight schools after receiving cohorts of Norwegian preservice teachers on placement over a period of twenty years.Through an analysis of qualitative research interviews with twenty-one Indian teachers, the article explores how a host community perceives and assesses its outcomes from the placements. The article finds that the teachers view their outcomes mainly in terms of exposure to new and different pedagogical methods, and as personal enrichment through encountering a foreign culture. The impact on pedagogical practices or school culture however, seems to be minimal due to systemic differences and barriers.

The article focuses on multicultural education in the Norwegian teacher education programs. We ask to what extent the student teachers experience achieving relevant competence. The findings indicate that the student teachers are relatively satisfied with the competence and skills they achieve. However, they ask for more specific knowledge about the pupils’ religious and cultural background. Knowledge about these factors could, according to the student teachers, be given through a compulsory element in the curriculum focusing on religion and culture. The findings seem to be in accordance with other researches which show that multicultural competence requires that the teachers have knowledge about the cultural background of the different minority groups. On the other hand, it seems like the students are not to any great extent aware that minority students tend to be overrepresented in special education and compensatory actions in schools. This finding indicates that there is a need for putting more emphasis on critical thinking with regards to multiculturalism in the teacher education programs in Norway, and an analytical approach in this context.Keywords: teacher education, multicultural education, critical multiculturalism, religion, culture, BanksNøkkelord: lærerutdanning, flerkulturell utdanning, kritisk multikulturalisme, religion, kultur, Banks