CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN FAMILY AND CONSUMER SCIENCES: TEACHERS ' BELIEFS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TEACHER EDUCATION

The purpose of this study was to identify practicing FCS teachers ' beliefs about culturally diverse classes and examine their recommendations for teacher education. This paper is based on a sample of 54 teachers who responded to open-ended questions on a survey instrument. Respondents ' comments were examined in relation to technical, communicative, and emancipative categories of action. Teachers believed that students need technical skill in English; teachers need technical knowledge about cultures and adaptive teaching approaches; and students can learn to understand each other and share common goals via FCS content and cooperative learning formats. They recommended that teacher education provide technical study of cultures and teaching adaptations along with direct experience working with culturally diverse students. At the same time that an increasingly diverse population in the United States now includes one-third minority students, eighty-seven percent of teachers are white; one student in every five has a parent who was born in another country (National Education Association, 2002). In Florida almost 50 % of students are classified as racial or ethnic minorities (Florid