Multicultural teaching competences of preservice teachers in the Netherlands: the role of previous and current interethnic contact

Abstract

Universities offering teacher training programmes have been criticized for decades for failing to provide preservice teachers with sufficient training in multicultural teaching competences. To develop these competencies, universities are now advised to provide programs that facilitate interethnic contact between preservice teachers and pupils during internships or community-based exposure. Based on the literature, it was hypothesized that contact experiences should occur both within and beyond school settings and should extend over a prolonged period of time. This study aims to reveal the potential role of different types of interethnic contact for multicultural teaching competences among second-year preservice teachers using a repeated measures design. The findings show the crucial role of previous interethnic contact in the neighbourhood over an extended period of time on the perceived quality of multicultural teaching competences of preservice teachers.