Multiculturalism in Teacher Education

Abstract

The concept of multiculturalism has been the subject of many different disciplines such as sociology, philosophy, and educational science with its various dimensions. Considering the distinctive features of the 21st century society, it is seen that global life, multicultural citizenship understanding, and individuals' interaction with different cultural groups and development of positive attitudes are emphasized. In this context, it is thought that teachers play an effective role in developing individuals' attitudes and behaviors regarding multiculturalism from an early age. Therefore, it is necessary for the teacher to gain the awareness of multiculturalism and to strengthen this awareness in the pre-service education process. Within the scope of this chapter, primarily the concept of multiculturalism will be emphasized. Then, the concept of multicultural education and all aspects of this concept and teacher training approaches that are sensitive to multicultural education will be discussed.