“I Didn’t Know Much About Diversity…”
By Rebecca Edmiaston and Penny Beed, Department of Curriculum and Instruction
“I grew up in Waterloo, went to the Waterloo schools. I had very diverse classrooms-from African American to Bosnian to European, Asian…all those different cultures. I
have to say that just because I went to school with them doesn’t mean it taught me about
diversity. I just had diverse students around me. I didn’t know much about diversity…”
(Emma, UNI graduate)
UNI, like many other teacher education programs continues to struggle with the
preparation of future educators for the challenges of working with increasingly diverse
populations. A significant number of education students lack the cultural competency necessary
to effectively teach the diverse students they will encounter in their teaching careers (Garmon,
2005). To address this problem, most teacher preparation programs, including UNI’s program,
have established multicultural teacher education content and experiences. Despite these efforts,
many education students, like Emma, enter the workforce without the necessary knowledge,
skills, and dispositions.
Why do students who have “studied” diversity and participated in field experiences with
diverse populations not develop the needed competencies to teach children with differences? A
plethora of research has indicated that without examination of their own cultural identities and
guided reflections about their multicultural teaching experiences, education students may form or
retain deficit views and misconceptions about the strengths and resources diverse students and
families bring to their classrooms (e.g. Pence & Macgillivray, 2007; Trilokekar, & Kukar, 2011).
Guided international experiences can provide one mechanism to address this problem.
For three consecutive years, we (the authors) took five students annually for a two-week
immersion experience in St. Petersburg, Russia. During the semester prior to the trip we met with
the students regularly to discuss the Russian culture and prepare for literacy instruction. In
Russia UNI students were paired with Herzen University early childhood education students
(who spoke English) to attend seminars, help present at conferences, plan and provide literacy
instruction for preschool and kindergarten children in a field experience and participate in daily
debriefings and reflections. In the evenings and on weekends the Russian students provided
cultural experiences in the city and in their homes. Debriefing sessions were conducted at UNI
immediately following the trip, a month later, and six months later. In addition, the students and
professors worked as a group to prepare and deliver numerous presentations to university faculty
and students and local community groups.
To examine the perceptions of the UNI participants, who are now professional educators,
we recently conducted an interview study examining the impact of these international
experiences on their knowledge, dispositions, skills, and thoughts about the UNI teacher
education program preparation for working with diverse learners. The findings of the study
corroborated previous research indicating the value and importance of guided, reflective
experiences (Pence & MacGillivray, 2007; Willard-Holt, 2001). Placing students outside their
comfort zones and providing many opportunities for collaboration and reflection facilitated the
development of knowledge about specific cultures and positive dispositions towards diverse
learners and their families. In addition, they perceived increased confidence in their abilities to
welcome and effectively teach diverse learners. Emma validates the success of this experience
with the final words of her quote, which began this article. “I didn’t know much about diversity
until this international experience.”
The participants offered specific recommendations that targeted areas for program
changes to better prepare students as educators of diverse learners: 1) be more intentional about
providing meaningful experiences with diversity in all teacher education classes, with
consistency across sections; 2) identify ways to design field experiences that take students out of
their comfort zones; 3) accompany field experiences with guided reflections and rich
discussions that involve students in examining their own cultures and individual biases; 4) foster
students’ knowledge about and appreciation of other cultures; 5) guide students in understanding
the impact of culture on learning; 6) prepare students with more strategies for working with
English Language Learners; and 7) encourage more UNI students to take advantage of
experiences with other cultures at home and abroad. Interestingly, their recommendations align
closely with recommendations currently coming from the field. Their suggestions uphold the
crucial importance of the work of the UNI and COE diversity committees and of all of the
members of our college as we strive to provide exemplary programming for our teacher
education students.