Teaching culturally diverse student groups in the Nordic countries-What can the TALIS 2018 data tell us?

Abstract

Almost all Nordic classrooms have some or a considerable number of students with a native language different from the language of instruction. Therefore, most Nordic teachers have to address the issues this setting imposes on them. The chapter is concerned with teachers' attitudes and experiences of teaching in a multicultural setting-that is, variations in their perceived self-efficacy in multicultural classrooms. The TALIS study is used to explore these effects and relate teacher experiences with the issues of equity and diversity. Our analysis includes all five Nordic countries. A linear regression approach was used, taking into account the multi-stage sampling in TALIS. The results indicate that general self-efficacy in teaching and not specific multicultural knowledge or experience has the most significant influence on the experienced ability to handle a multicultural setting. This is a somewhat surprising, albeit reassuring, result, as it indicates that a good and trustworthy teacher education and functional general teacher competencies are the most essential ingredients in adequately handling a multicultural classroom.