Competency and comfort: teacher candidates' attitudes toward diversity.

Abstract. The purpose of this study was to identify and describe teacher candidates' perceived levels of competency and comfort in teaching diverse student populations. For three semesters, teacher candidates (n = 221) volunteered to complete questionnaires at the beginning of their professional education courses. A second group (n = 242) completed questionnaires as they exited student teaching. Although the majority of teacher candidates have limited professional and life experiences, findings indicate both groups feel both competent and comfortable interacting with diverse populations.

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Since the 1960s and the onset of the Civil Rights Movement and resulting federal mandates, public school districts have been held to more equitable instructional and evaluative standards for minority students than before. More than 40 years later, however, a disproportionate number of minority students continue to be unsuccessful in school achievement (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2001; Nel, 1992; Perez, 1994). Nearly 40 years ago, Duma (1968) recognized the high placement rates of racial minority students in special education classes. More recent findings indicate minority students continue to be over-represented in special education classes (Agbenyega & Jiggetts, 1999; Smith-Deutsch, 2001). While these achievement gaps narrowed in the 1970s and 1980s, they stabilized or widened in the 1990s (Lee, 2002).

Although the society and home life cannot be discounted, these factors do not solely determine student behavior (Sleeter & Grant, 1999). Rather, students determine their own behavior as they make sense of the daily experience of schooling. That is, students' values and beliefs are shaped as much from within as from outside the school (Sleeter & Grant, 1999). These school experiences vary by race, social class, and gender. Another factor has been the gap between teachers and students, "resulting at least from age and role and often compounded by differences in cultural background. This gap has recently been expanded, as an increasing number of students come from homes that have alternative life styles and family arrangements" (Sleeter & Grant, 1999, p. 29). If education is to enable students to access the larger society and participate in the democratic process, the dynamic between minority student populations and the teacher work force warrants investigation.

The number of minority students has increased dramatically across the last decades. Although not meeting the prediction that public school classrooms would shift from a nonwhite minority to a nonwhite majority (Hodgkinson, 1985), students of color make up more than 30 percent of the school-age population (NCES, 2001). Therefore, public school teachers are faced with a greater range and complexity of issues. However, 85 percent of public school teachers in urban areas are women, European American, and middle class (Campbell, 1996).

Although some teachers are able to bridge this disparity, others are not. Some teachers believe it is their role to control, limit, and discourage the differences they encounter (Sleeter & Grant, 1999). Yet pluralism is the cornerstone of democracy. Therefore, the ways in which teacher candidates perceive and interact with diverse student populations hold the potential to influence future societal expectations.

Background

Critics of the American public school system acknowledge that any viable attempt to reform education must address the issue of teacher preparation programs (Giroux & McLaren, 1986). In particular, teachers should be educated to function as intellectuals. To this end, it is believed that teacher education is directly linked to critically transforming the school setting as it is the teachers who can make changes toward the larger social structure. Giroux and McLaren (1986) believe the place to start is by linking the purposes of public schooling to the importance of economic and social reform. The ways in which teachers are prepared for, and understand, this relationship will influence their classroom practices and, in turn, determine students' learning outcomes (Nel, 1992). "Educational reform must embrace equity goals, must honor the right of parents and communities, must promote tolerance for diversity, and responsiveness to clients" (Sykes, cited in Zeichner, 1991, p. 364).

The original purpose for public schools in the United States was to help frame a more equitable, democratic, and just society. In doing so, there cannot be conformity to a single cultural norm (Sleeter, 1996). Therefore, preparing teacher candidates to deal with diversity becomes integral to a teacher education program (Burriss & Burriss, 2002; McCall & Andringa, 1997; Sleeter, 1996). Investigating the perceptions of teacher candidates' levels of comfort and competence in dealing with issues of diversity before and after professional coursework will help determine the effectiveness of teacher education in achieving this agenda.

Teacher education has the potential to help teachers avoid feeling passive and powerless to make a difference; in doing so, teachers can take on the responsibility in preparing students to assume an active role in a democratic society (Giroux & McLaren, 1986).

Contemporary public school teachers are expected to effectively accommodate student populations that frequently are significantly different from themselves with regard to, among other factors, race, socio-economic status, and language. These differences interact with one another and create an individual's unique background, acting as filters through which impressions of the world and its people must pass. These filters are powerful in framing individual expectations and behaviors (Burriss & Burriss, 2000). In other words, teacher candidates' individual filters regarding issues of diversity are inherent to the teacher education program.

Teacher education engages teacher candidates in activities wherein they can identify how their personal life experiences have shaped their perceptions about the world and its people. It is critical that teacher candidates develop the ability to analyze how their personal perceptions may vary--even be contradictory--from others', and to determine how these differences may influence classroom interventions with diverse students. Nevertheless, findings indicate teacher candidates are not comfortable with discussions of racism. Furthermore, their perceptions of racial issues usually come from their initial concepts of racial issues (Cross, 1993). According to Sleeter (1996),

   [A]s white women, many of whom have worked
   up from working class origins, teachers already
   have a considerable knowledge about social
   stratification in America, and it tends to be
   fairly conservative. They integrate information
   about race provided in multicultural teacher
   education programs into the knowledge they
   already have, much more than they reconstruct
   that knowledge. (p. 65)

Findings further indicate that teacher candidates prefer to teach children who are like themselves (Liston & Zeichner, 1990). It thus becomes critical during teacher preparation for teacher candidates to interpret how their individual perceptions may influence classroom practice, and, in doing so, to consider the possible consequences of their actions for diverse students.

In addition to personal reflection, it is important for teacher candidates to confront what they know and do not know about issues of diversity. Teacher candidates cannot, however, reflect on what they do not know. That is, teacher candidates are largely European American women from rural areas, small towns, or suburban communities with little experience or knowledge regarding diverse cultures (Liston & Zeichner, 1990), and findings indicate that teacher candidates' definitions of multicultural understanding are minimal and limited to race and ethnicity (Neuharth-Pritchett, Reiff, & Pearson, 2001). Findings further indicate that these attitudes and beliefs are not easily altered (Campbell, 1996; Larkin & Sleeter, 1995).

Delaney-Barmann and Minner (1997) argue these beliefs will change as a result of experience across time. However, the question at hand is whether or not the teacher education program can influence or mediate teacher candidates' perceptions regarding their levels of competency and comfort with diverse populations.

Methods

Across the course of three semesters, 463 undergraduate teacher education candidates at a major university in the southeastern United States were given a 31-question Likert scale instrument to determine their perceived comfort and competence regarding a number of issues related to diversity and diverse populations. The students involved in the survey were from an introductory education class, while the second group consisted of candidates exiting their student teaching experiences. The professional education courses and student teaching experiences were considered to be the intervention. The professional education courses included an introductory education class, two literacy courses in reading and language arts, a mathematics methods class, a semester-long practicum experience, and an introduction to technology course. The teacher education program did not designate a separate course for multicultural education. Rather, the university faculty members teaching the candidates integrate issues of diversity into their particular content areas.

In addition, the student teaching experience includes one nine-week and one six-week assignment. One experience is in Grades 1 through 4, and the other is in Grades 5 through 8. In addition, teacher candidates are supposed to be placed in an urban environment for at least one of their student teaching assignments.

It should be noted at the outset that although students were measured at the beginning and end of their course work, this was not a true pretest/posttest experimental design, but rather what Campbell and Stanley (1966) call a "static group comparison" (pp. 12-13, 40). In this case, one group was measured at the beginning of their educational experience, and another group was measured at the end. Thus, the coursework teacher candidates took in their professional methods courses, between their introductory professional education class and the conclusion

of student teaching, is considered the "intervention" or "treatment."

The teacher candidates completed the survey during their introductory education class and a second group completed the survey at the completion of the student teaching experience. Following completion of the survey, two sets of analyses were run, using the SPSS statistical package. One set of Chi-Square analyses compared reported comfort and competence levels across the different education issues. The other set consisted of a series of t-tests comparing scores between the incoming and exiting teacher candidates.

Results and Discussion

Table 1 is a recapitulation of the demographic breakdown of the 463 students (some variables do not add up to 463 because of missing data due to students not answering particular questions). In addition, it should be noted that each variable row is independent of any other row. That is, in looking at Table 1, the Age variable is not related to the Gender variable (i.e., there were not necessarily 20 males ages 18-20).

The data support the notion that teacher candidates are primarily Caucasian and female. Although increasing numbers of post bachelor degree candidates enter the teaching profession, teacher candidates primarily are in their early 20s. This is not to suggest that persons in their 20s do not have valuable life experience; their typical experience, however, is not readily translated into the well-developed teaching philosophy needed to effectively deal with diverse student populations. Furthermore, the fact that approximately 98 percent of enrolled teacher candidates are residents of the university's service area indicates the regional culture of the teacher education program (T. Brown, personal interview, Jan. 23, 2004).

Tables 2A and 2B address how comfortable and competent teacher candidates feel about dealing with diverse student populations. As can be seen, respondents indicated a significantly high level of both comfort and competence. Table 2B indicates that, in general, these feelings of comfort and competence are present in teacher candidates at the beginning of their program, and do not significantly change as a consequence of their professional education coursework.

It thus behooves us to ask, "How can the teacher candidates be truly competent considering their limited professional and life experiences interacting with diverse populations?" In addition to general principles regarding interactions with cultural and language populations different from their own, specific skills and knowledge are essential when interacting with particular diverse groups. As individuals interact with diverse populations, their competence and comfort grows. In the case of these data, however, it appears that prior to extensive life experiences or professional education courses, teacher candidates already say they feel comfortable and competent to interact with an array of diverse populations.

We may ask how we can persuade teacher candidates they are not fully competent when they enter the program, and that a false comfort level may undermine their ability to appreciate and learn new strategies and dispositions toward diverse populations. The ability of teacher candidates to effectively interact with diverse student populations depends on more than a willingness to do so. It requires the ability to individualize students within each diverse population. That is, because a student is a member of a particular diverse population, teacher candidates can not assume a "one strategy approach fits all."

These findings are surprising, considering the low number of bilingual teacher candidates and that it is not uncommon for public schools to have students from numerous language backgrounds.

Thus, as reflected in Tables 3Aand 3B, the question to ask regarding teacher candidates' perceived levels of competency and comfort regarding language difference is, "How do teacher candidates expect to communicate with their students who speak a different language?" And, as important, have the teacher candidates considered the issue of communicating with parents and with the community of non-English speakers?

Tables 4A and 4B describe teacher candidates' feelings of comfort and competence as they relate to racial diversity. As with the previous data, teacher candidates at all levels showed a significant level of comfort and competence in this area. However, Table 3B suggests this may be the result of teacher education programs, since significant differences exist between teacher candidates who are beginning their teacher education program and those who are ready to exit the student teaching experiences. These findings may be explained by heightened media coverage. Furthermore, teacher candidates are more likely to meet peers from different racial backgrounds in the teacher education program than they are to meet students from, for example, different language backgrounds or cultures.

In Tables 5A and 5B, the teacher candidates' responses overwhelmingly indicate they perceived themselves both competent and comfortable interacting with students of different religions. In Common Bonds (1996), Haynes interprets religion as the most deeply hidden difference among people. This issue is less frequently discussed openly and is perceived by some as a nonissue. Teacher candidates may perceive religious differences as playing little or no role in the day-to-day operation of the classroom (aside from policy considerations that generally limit the amount of discussion of religious issues). Thus, teacher candidates say they feel competent to address religious differences because these differences may be perceived as non-issues. This position is further indicated with the lack of significance between the pre- and posttest groups.

Although teacher candidates are obliged to take one survey course in special education (to be taken with other majors), it is obvious that a single course is not adequate to impart the knowledge necessary to make a significant difference. Although the quantity and specificity of knowledge needed to interact with a range of populations with special needs is difficult to impart in a single university course, instructors for this survey course report their primary goal is to help shape teacher candidates' dispositions toward children with disabilities. In this way, when teacher candidates enter the public school they can assume a proactive role on behalf of their students. However, as Tables 6A and 6B indicate, teacher candidates did not show a difference in their competence or comfort levels toward populations of special needs as a consequence of their teacher education program.

These data may indicate that inexperienced teacher candidates appreciate the field of special education as a unique discipline. As such, it is supposed they are probably unable to interpret their future role as facilitating an inclusive setting with a range of students with varied disabilities.

Table 7A indicates that a majority of teacher candidates report feeling competent and comfortable interacting with gay/lesbian parents. Furthermore, Table 7B indicates the teacher education program helped raise teacher candidates' levels of competence when interacting with gay/lesbian parents. It is not clear whether this increased level of perceived competence originates from enhanced communication skills training or because of greater opportunities during the program to interact with populations of difference, including gay and lesbian peers. Findings also suggest a possible confound for teacher candidates when they may be asked to balance more fundamental religious beliefs in interactions with alternative parent groups.

Tables 8A and 8B show the teacher education program moved teacher candidates' appreciation of the goals of multicultural education in a significantly positive direction. However, individual teacher candidates' understanding of multicultural education is not reported. Thus, there remains a question of just what multicultural education means to individual teacher candidates.

There may be a genuine appreciation of the goals of multicultural education, as defined by equity and justice. On the other hand, although the teacher education program has sensitized teacher candidates to the importance of multicultural education, the candidates probably hold a range of interpretations of what this means for their classroom practice.

For some, multicultural education is inappropriately understood to be simply a unit on food and festivals (Derman-Sparks, 1989), which could, in effect, yield a "false positive." This position is further validated by the fact that Table 8B shows a significance level of only 0.07 as a consequence of the teacher education program.

The findings in Table 9 about perceptions of tolerance are noteworthy. Teacher candidates show a significant difference in self-reported tolerance that may be a result of the teacher education program. If tolerance refers to teacher candidates accepting diversity as contributing to the classroom community, the potential for justice and equity may be realized. Teacher education is a part of the university experience and is supposed to expose undergraduates to a range of different perspectives. An additional level of reflection is achieved when undergraduates reflect upon their own identities and analyze how that has contributed to their thinking and, in the case of teacher candidates, how it may influence their pedagogy.

The findings in Table 10 indicate the teacher education program did influence teacher candidates' perceptions regarding issues of socioeconomic status. This is important when considering that prejudice or discrimination based on social class is often cited as a significant pattern that diminishes student learning outcomes (Sleeter & Grant, 1999).

Implications

Overwhelmingly, teacher candidates reported themselves to be both competent and comfortable in dealing with diverse student populations. Logically, however, these results are at variance with the majority of teacher candidates' "real world" opportunities, because of their lack of life experiences. Typically, in addition to minimal, if any, classroom experience with diverse populations, teacher candidates' personal life histories tend to be restricted. The high level of perceived comfort and competence interacting with diverse student populations may be caused by teacher candidates' inability to separate from the issues. Because notions of class, gender, race, and ethnicity are socially constructed, teacher candidates probably have not yet engaged in real life experiences to cause the cognitive dissonance necessary to initiate the reflective introspection necessary to understand cross-cultural interactions.

Teacher candidates can only "know" what they have experienced, and a discussion of epistemological theory behind that knowing is beyond the scope of this paper. Nevertheless, a large part of this experience comes from the life of family, church, and community. Typically, the life experiences that frame teacher candidates' filters about the world and its people are narrowly defined by race, culture, religion, SES, and language. In addition, teacher candidates' prior experiences with disabilities and sexual orientation will shape their sense of comfort and competence toward diverse populations.

As they enter their professional education courses, teacher candidates are presented with new information regarding diverse populations. They are not only expected to understand the material, but also be able to interpret the new content as it influences their future pedagogy. Furtherore, teacher candidates are expected to grasp the implications of their unrehearsed pedagogy as it influences students' learning outcomes. Finally, teacher candidates are asked to consider how their interactions with students of diverse populations may affect the larger society. This is a monumental reflective task for veteran teachers, let alone the novice teacher education graduate.

In addition to the task of processing new information regarding diversity and then projecting how this material influences classroom practice and students' learning, teacher candidates are confronted with another historical filter that may undermine deeper professional insights. This refers to an understanding of familiarity that many individuals, in and out of the field of education, hold. This derives from a familiarity with schools and teaching. Teacher candidates entering their professional courses may feel comfort and competence because they have been in the classroom experience for at least 15 years as students. They already know the physical layout, the materials needed, and the people involved. That is, teacher candidates are familiar with teaching/learning expectations. They believe they know the "rules to the schooling game." In contrast, students entering the fields of, for example, aerospace or the recording industry are not as familiar with future professional expectations; their professional course content is new. As such, these undergraduates may feel less comfortable. In order to achieve competence, undergraduates in such fields are challenged to gain new understandings. As teacher candidates process new information, however, their prior classroom experiences as students may have a greater influence on their professional learning than that of other majors. That is, the extensive public school experience that teacher candidates hold may, in fact, diminish the opportunity for cognitive dissonance, and thereby undermine the potential of the teacher education program.

However, teaching is not a performance, nor mere repetition of what they as children have learned about the classroom. Effective teachers do not teach "at" students, but rather "interact" with them.

Findings from the current study beg the question of whether or not teacher candidates grasp the complexity of the issues involved in interacting with diverse populations. While a positive attitude is notable when beginning teacher preparation, acknowledging a lack of competence and some discomfort with issues of diversity may indicate the need for new understanding. However, if teacher candidates assume from the beginning that they are already competent, and have no discomfort with diversity issues, these high-rated perceptions may undermine the possibility to accommodate information in new ways.

There is an old Arabic proverb that certainly capsulizes these notions: "He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool--shun him; He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is ignorant--teach him; He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep--wake him; But he who knows, and knows that he knows, is a wise man--follow him."

For teacher education programs, the current findings suggest considering the process and stages of reflection in mediating teacher candidates' perceptions regarding diverse populations. As noted earlier in this paper, the authors recognize the limitations inherent to this design. Nevertheless, the current study is useful for establishing a baseline for further, long-term research tracking.

Table 1
Demographics

Gender                   Male                        Female
                          47                           477

Age             18-20   21-26   27-33        34-39   40-46   47+
                  20     325     57            33      15     4

Race            Caucasian    African          Native    Bi-Racial
                            American         American
                   402         26                3          5

Sexual              Heterosexual              Bisexual
Preference              442                       2

Religious       Christian   Muslim         Jewish   Other
Preference         434         0             0        22

Language              Monolingual   Bilingual   More than 2
                          381           21          1
Student      Incoming Students (pretest)   Exiting Student Teaching
Status                                             (posttest)
                221                                    242

Table 2A
I Am Comfortable and Competent Dealing With Diverse Student Populations

                     Comfortable
                    Yes        No

Competent   Yes   286 (278)   1 (9)
            No     23 (31)    9 (1)

N=319, p < 0.001 (Fisher's Exact Test)

Table 2B
I Am Comfortable and Competent Dealing With Diverse Student Populations

                    Competent                       Comfortable
       Average Score   t    Sig (t)   Average Score        t    Sig (t)

Pre       3.73-0     .843    0.400         4.15         -1.721    0.086
Post      3.81                             4.29

Table 3A
I Am Comfortable and Competent Dealing With Students With Different
Languages

                      Comfortable
                    Yes         No

Competent   Yes   115 (69)     2 (48)
            No     34 (80)   102 (56)

N=253, p < 0.001 (Fisher's Exact Test)

Table 3B
I Am Comfortable and Competent Dealing With Students With Different
Languages

                    Competent                       Comfortable
       Average Score    t     Sig (t)   Average Score     t     Sig (t)

Pre         2.86       -.84    0.403         3.36       0.123    0.902
Post        2.97                             3.35

Table 4A
I Am Comfortable and Competent Dealing With Students From Different
Races

                     Comfortable
                     Yes       No

Competent   Yes   408 (402)   1 (7)
            No     10 (16)    6 (0)

N=425, p < 0.001 (Fisher's Exact Test)

Table 4B
I Am Comfortable and Competent Dealing With Students From Different
Races

                Competent                       Comfortable
       Average
        Score      t     Sig (t)   Average Score      t     Sig (t)

Pre      4.25    -3.392   0.001         4.47       -2.577    0.010
Post     4.53                           4.65

Table 5A
I Am Comfortable and Competent Dealing With Students From Different
Religions

                     Comfortable
                    Yes        No

Competent   Yes   386 (396)   2 (9)
            No     10 (17)    7 (0)

N=405, p < 0.001 (Fisher's Exact Test)

Table 5B
I Am Comfortable and Competent Dealing With Students From Different
Religions

                Competent                      Comfortable
       Average
        Score      t     Sig (t)   Average Score      t     Sig (t)

Pre      4.18    -2.591   0.010         4.37       -0.942    0.346
Post     4.38                           4.45

Table 6A
I Am Comfortable and Competent Dealing With Special Needs Students

                      Comfortable
                     Yes        No

Competent   Yes   296 (272)   12 (36)
            No      6 (30)    28 (4)

N=342, p < 0.001 (Fisher's Exact Test)

Table 6B
I Am Comfortable and Competent Dealing With Special Needs Students

                      Competent                     Comfortable
       Average Score     t     Sig (t)   Average Score     t    Sig (t)

Pre         3.98       0.312    0.755         3.96       0.842   0.400
Post        4.95                              4.88

Table 7A
I am Comfortable and Competent Dealing With Gay/Lesbian Parents

                     Comfortable
                    Yes         No

Competent   Yes   296 (276)   18 (38)
            No      5 (25)    24 (4)

N=343, p < 0.001 (Fisher's Exact Test)

Table 7B
I Am Comfortable and Competent Dealing With Gay/Lesbian Parents

                 Competent                      Comfortable
       Average
        Score       t     Sig (t)   Average Score     t      Sig (t)

Pre      3.94    -2.278    0.023         3.81       -1.402    0.162
Post     4.19                            3.97

Table 8A
I Believe in the Goals of Multicultural Education

                                          Comfortable
                        Average Score      t     Sig (t)

Pre-Student Teaching         4.25       -2.198    0.028
Post-Student Teaching        4.42

Table 8B
I Believe Schools Should Practice Multicultural Education

                        Average Score     t      Sig (t)

Pre-Student Teaching         4.01       -2.704     0.07
Post-Student Teaching        4.26

Table 9
I Am a Tolerant Individual

                        Average Score      t     Sig(t)

Pre-Student Teaching         4.22       -3.000    0.003
Post-Student Teaching        4.46

Table 10
I Am Competent To Intervene Across Different Socioeconomic Levels

                        Average Score      t     Sig (t)

Pre-Student Teaching         4.05       -1.227    0.002
Post-Student Teaching        4.31

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Kathleen Burriss

Larry Burriss

Middle Tennessee State University