Multicultural Education for the Classroom.

Overview & Synopsis

The National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) now requires teacher education programs to implement a multicultural component as part of teacher education. There is no expectation that a teacher education program would, or could, produce students with broad-based knowledge in all areas, but it is reasonable to require some depth of understanding of Third World issues generally, and perhaps one area specifically, e.g., Latin America. Students should also have expertise on United States society, a sense of the participation and contribution by minorities, and some understanding about one minority group. This paper offers a feasible design of options for implementing a multicultural education course in teacher education programs, given normal resources. An outline is presented of the goals, assumptions, historical development, teacher competencies, and a curricular process for such a course. (JD)