Effects of Multicultural Society Recognition and Multicultural Education Experience on Cultural Sensitivity of Middle and High School Students in Daejeon: Focusing on the Mediating Role of Multicultural Education Needs Perception

Abstract

The objective of this study is to underline the important role of needs for multicultural education in the formation of middle and high school students' cultural sensitivity for the sake of coping multicultural society. This study focuses on how adolescents' multicultural society recognition and education experiences shape and influence their cultural sensitivity, with the mediating role of multicultural education needs perception. A survey 303 middle school students and 236 high school students Daejeon was conducted. The results of this study as follows. First, high school students' open minded and social participation were significantly higher than those of middle school students, while the latter multicultural education experience level was higher than the former. Second, it was found that multicultural society recognition and education experiences have an indirect impact on cultural sensitivity mediating multicultural education needs perception as well as have a direct effect. However, adolescents' cultural sensitivity was shaped by mediating role of multicultural education needs perception rather than by direct effect of multicultural society recognition and education experiences. A major contribution of this research is the identification of the role of multicultural education needs perception in fostering adolescents' cultural sensitivity.(multicultural education needs perception), (cultural sensitivity), (multicultural society recognition), (multicultural education experience)