Civic and Intercultural Competencies of Pre-Service Teachers in a Longitudinal Perspective

Secondary school teachers are confronted with new societal challenges that arise from changes in the ethno-cultural composition of the (student) populations. Although teacher education programs have been adapted to better prepare teacher students for these challenges, empirical evidence supporting change in Civic and Intercultural teacher Competencies (CIC) is scarce. This project proposes a quantitative panel study focusing on CIC whereby educational masters (KU Leuven) and educational bachelors (KdG) are followed from the beginning of their training until the beginning of their (teaching) career. In addition, teacher students will be questioned about their experiences in civic and diversity courses (via experience sampling method). The two methods will allow to investigate 1) the level of teacher students’ initial CIC at the inflow 2) (which factors positively relate to) the development of CIC during their training, and 3) the durability of this development.

Keywords:Multicultural education, Teachers' professional development, Longitudinal Research, Teacher training, Civic education

Disciplines:Teacher education and professional development of educators, Citizenship, immigration and political inequality not elsewhere classified