Multicultural Education in Türkiye: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Global migratory movements have recently increased dramatically due to conflict, economic challenges, and health crises. Consequently, multiculturalism has gained prominence, necessitating the introduction of multicultural education in educational institutions. This change, in turn, has led to increased research studies on multicultural education. The main objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive systematic review of research on multicultural education in Turkey. Within this framework, the study examined the prevailing research trends, methods, focus areas, measurement instruments used, participant groups, and outcomes described in articles on multicultural education in the Turkish context. To analyze the research data, a thorough examination of the articles published in the index TR between 2013 and 2023 was conducted. The resulting data were carefully analyzed using the descriptive content analysis method. The study results show that the number of research papers on multicultural education has increased significantly in recent years. Qualitative research methods were preferred in these studies, while scales stood out as the primary instruments for data collection. In addition, the study found that the majority of participants in these studies were educators, particularly teachers. In addition, a significant portion of the articles were published in social studies. It was also found that the predominant variables in these studies were attitude and gender, with a positive change in participants' perceptions of multiculturalism. By comprehensively assessing these facets, the study contributes to our understanding of the dynamics and trends in multicultural education research in Turkey.