Prisms of Whiteness: A Critical Analysis of the Multicultural Competence of Pre-Service Teachers

Joshua B. L. Tolbert

Abstract


This study endeavored to assess the cultural competency of pre-service teachers in a region of the United States with limited ethnic or linguistic diversity.  To do this, the prior work of D’Andrea, Daniels, and Noonan (2003) was used to develop an updated survey instrument.  Students at a small university in the Midwest were surveyed at multiple intervals during the course of their teacher education program, and their total responses (n=190) are analyzed here.  Findings for reliability and validity of the instrument are discussed, as well as general trends when comparing students by course enrollment, major, and degree status.  Further discussion centers on the potential discovery of a partial measure of white fragility and how the results of the study may be enhanced by applying a lens of critical whiteness.  Finally, implications are presented regarding how white fragility might be directly and deliberately incorporated into future efforts to measure and develop cultural competency in pre-service teachers.

https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.18.4.8


Keywords


white fragility, cultural competency, multicultural education, critical whiteness

Full Text:

PDF

References


Banks, J. A. (1995). Multicultural Education: Historical Development, Dimensions, and Practice. In J. A. Banks & C. M. Banks (Eds.). Handbook of Research on Multicultural Education (pp. 3-24). New York: Macmillan. doi.: 10.2307/1167339

Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism. (2018). Report to the Nation: Hate Crimes Rise in U.S. Cities and Counties in Time of Division and Foreign Interference. Retrieved from https://csbs.csusb.edu/sites/csusb_csbs/files/2018%20Hate%20Final%20Report%205-14.pdf

D’Andrea, M., & Daniels, J. (1999). Exploring the psychology of white racism through naturalistic inquiry. Journal of Counseling and Development, 77, 93-101. doi.: 10.1002/j.1556-6676.1999.tb02426.x

D’Andrea, M., Daniels, J., & Heck, R. (1991). Evaluating the impact of multicultural counseling training. Journal of Counseling & Development, 70, 143–150. doi: 10.1002/j.1556-6676.1991.tb01576.x

D’Andrea, M., Daniels, J., & Noonan, M. J. (2003). New developments in the assessment of multicultural competence: The Multicultural Awareness-Knowledge-Skills Survey-Teachers Form. In D. B. Pope-Davis, H. L. K. Coleman, W. M. Liu, & R. L. Toporek (Eds.), Handbook of competencies in counseling and psychology (p. 154-167). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781452231693.n10

DiAngelo, R. (2018). White fragility. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

DiAngelo, R. (2012). Nothing to add: A challenge to white silence in racial discussions. Understanding & Dismantling Privilege, 2(1), 2-17.

DiAngelo, R. (2011). White fragility. International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 3(3), 54-70.

Frankenberg, E. (2008). The segregation of American teachers. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 17(1), 1-44. doi: 10.14507/epaa.v17n1.2009

Hall, J. C., & Theriot, M. T. (2016). Developing multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills: Diversity training makes a difference? Multicultural Perspectives, 18(1), 35-41. doi: 10.1080/15210960.2016.1125742

Iverson, S. V. (2012). Multicultural competence for doing social justice: Expanding our awareness, knowledge, and skills. Journal of Critical Thoughts and Praxis, 1(1), 62-87. doi: 10.31274/jctp-180810-14

Jones, J., & Walker, S. L. (2016). The development of the multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills survey: An instrument for assessing the cultural competency of pre-service teachers. Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader, 1(2), 40-54.

Ladson-Billings, G. (1994). The dreamkeepers: Successful teaching for African-American students. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. doi:10.3726/978-1-4539-1735-0/39

National Center for Educational Statistics. (2017). Racial/Ethnic Enrollment in Public Schools. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/pdf/coe_cge.pdf

National Center for Education Statistics [NCES]. (2015). Characteristics of postsecondary faculty. In The Condition of Education 2015 (pp. 226-229). Washington, DC: Department of Education. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2015/2015144.pdf

Orozco, R., & Diaz, J. J. (2016). “Suited to their needsâ€: White innocence as a vestige of segregation. Multicultural Perspectives, 18(3), 127-133. doi: 10.1080/15210960.2016.1185610

Prieto, L. R. (2012). Initial factor analysis and cross-validation of the Multicultural Teaching Competencies Inventory. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 5(1), 50-62. doi: 10.1037/a0026199

Sensoy, O., & DiAngelo, R. (2017). “We are all for diversity, but…†How faculty hiring committees reproduce whiteness and practical suggestions for how they can change. Harvard Educational Review, 87(4), 557-580. doi: 10.17763/1943-5045-87.4.557

Southern Poverty Law Center. (2019, Spring). Intelligence Report. Retrieved from https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/intelligence_report_166.pdf

Spanierman, L. B., Oh, E., Heppner, R. P., Neville, H. A., Mobley, M., Wright, C. V., Dillon, F. R., & Navarro, R. (2011). The multicultural teaching scale: Development and initial validation. Urban Education, 46(3), 440-464. doi: 10.1177/0042085910377442

Warring, D. F. (2005). Assessing student multicultural attitudes, knowledge, and skills in teacher education. Journal of Thought, 40(3), 107-119.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


e-ISSN: 1694-2116

p-ISSN: 1694-2493