Preservice teachers’ reflections on diversity and on teaching diverse pupils in Norwegian compulsory school

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate how preservice teachers reflect on diversity and on teaching pupils from diverse backgrounds. Following a qualitative research design, the empirical data were constructed through focus group interviews with pre­service teachers attending a 4-year initial teacher education programme for compulsory school in Norway. The thematic analysis of focus group interviews yielded three main results, namely differences are individual and considered natural, diversity as a value and challenge, and belief in practice rather than theory. Results suggest that despite their appreciative views towards diversity, the preservice teachers seem to be having a dilemmatic position regarding whether they should treat every pupil the same or differently. Moreover, the results point to the significance of establishing coherence between theory and practice in initial teacher education regarding the preparation of preservice teachers for their work with diverse pupils. Keywords: initial teacher education, diverse classrooms, theory-practice coherence Lærerstudenters refleksjoner over undervisning og mangfold i norsk grunnskole Sammendrag Formålet med denne studien er å undersøke hvordan lærerstudenter i den fireårige grunnskolelærerutdanningen reflekterer over mangfold og undervisning av elever som har ulik bakgrunn. Studien er basert på et kvalitativt forskningsdesign, og data er kon­struert ved hjelp av fokusgruppeintervjuer med lærerstudenter i den fireårige grunn­skolelærerutdanningen. Den tematiske analysen ledet fram til tre hovedresultater: Forskjeller er individuelle og forstås som noe naturlig, mangfold som en verdi og utfordring, og vektlegging av praksis heller enn teori. Resultatene viser at til tross for deltakernes verdsetting av mangfold, opplever lærerstudentene dilemma når det gjelder hvordan de skal handle i praksis. Resultatene peker videre på betydningen av å etablere koherens mellom praksis og teori i lærerutdanningen for å forberede lærerstudentene for arbeidet med mangfoldige elevgrupper. Nøkkelord: lærerutdanning, mangfold i klasserom, teori-praksis koherens

Comparing pre-service teacher attitudes toward the use of students’ home language(s) in linguistically diverse English as an additional language classrooms in Norway and Cyprus

“…For these reasons, Tavares (2023) concludes by stressing the need for the development of a practical experience with a more concrete focus on diversity. The importance of establishing a strong link between theory and practice in teacher education programs was also mirrored in the study of KC and Ohna (2021). The participants pinpointed a discrepancy between their et al (2022, 2023) highlighted the need of adopting multilingual pedagogies with teacher and student participants stressing the benefits that can be derived from such practices not only in language learning but also in content classrooms.…”

“…Empirical data from Norwegian classrooms underlined the need for more concrete and practical multilingual training. Recent research (KC and Ohna, 2021;Lorenz et al, 2021;Neokleous et al, 2022Neokleous et al, , 2023Tavares, 2023;Vikøy and Haukås, 2023) revealed that EAL teachers were reluctant to integrate multilingual pedagogies because of either insufficient teacher training on the topic or lack of knowledge and adequate teaching materials. The participants in the study of Tavares (2023) cast a critical eye on the emphasis that their teacher education training placed on the theoretical perspectives of the concept of diversity and multilingualism and the lack of focus on how to put these theories into practice.…”

Upper Secondary Teachers’ Experiences Promoting Belonging and Engagement in Culturally Diverse Classrooms

“…However, culturally diverse classrooms represent opportunities for student learning about different cultures, norms, and values alongside academic learning, which is important for overcoming discrimination, exclusion, prejudice, stereotypes and racism, and promoting interaction between students from different cultures. According to previous research, the promotion of such interaction presupposes an acceptance of diversity among the students in the class (KC & Ohna, 2021;Solbue et al, 2017). Moreover, learning to work together in a pluralistic society has been emphasised as important (Gay, 2018).…”