Preparing culturally responsive teachers: a systematic review

Abstract

As the world continues to ponder issues of equity and diversity, U.S. public schools face an expanding demographic divide between teachers and students. While diverse groups of public school students show an increase in population, the teaching workforce in the U.S. remains overwhelmingly White. The purpose of this systematic review is to examine how preservice teachers (PST) are being prepared to be culturally responsive. A total of 26 studies published between 2006 and 2020 were reviewed. The results indicate that PSTs’ learning experiences are varied and tend to be stand-alone approaches focused on changing the attitudes and beliefs of PSTs. Findings also bring to light the vagueness of terminology used in the research to define cultural groups of students, the conspicuous absence of studies related to LGBTQ+ populations, and the lack of study replications. Implications for future research are discussed.