Prospective Primary School Teachers’ Reflections Regarding Multi-Cultural Learning Environments*

Abstract

This paper aims to secure that prospective teachers reflect their observations in and their thoughts about multi-cultural educational environments. In line with this general purpose, the study is significant in that it describes the circumstances that the Syrian students-who are in our country in the context of multi-culturalism-face in educational environments. Despite the fact that this qualitative study uses the design of multiple case study, the study group was formed in purposeful sampling method. Accordingly, 7 schools located in Altındağ, Ankara included in the study were chosen on the basis of criterion sampling. The findings obtained from reflective prospective teacher diaries were put to content analysis. The themes distinguished at the end of the research describe the problems that the Syrian students encounter in learning Turkish, in teachers' attitudes towards them, in peer bullying, in cultural differences and in classroom management. The results underline the efficiency of intercultural skills development within primary education settings.