Preparing teachers for the future: Reflections of student teachers in culturally diverse and culturally homogeneous practicum settings

The purpose of this study was to determine if there were differences in the reflections of student teachers based on the practicum setting, both culturally diverse and culturally homogeneous settings. Through qualitative interviews, student teachers expressed their personal understandings in their own words. Focused interviews in the initial phase of the study were useful in obtaining comparable data across all participants. Key issues and recurring events became themes of focus which overlapped and interacted as in the dynamics of the real world. In the second phase of the study, student teachers were interviewed specifically about multicultural issues. Analysis separated the data into site-based groups. The qualitative methodology used in this study resulted in grounded theory. Data were collected and analyzed by means of constant comparison. Through this process, theoretical propositions were built from the relationships discovered. Theoretical Proposition One posited that cooperating teacher and university supervisors in both culturally diverse settings and culturally homogeneous settings only minimally addressed the issues of multicultural education. Theoretical Proposition Two posited that the difference between student teaching in a culturally homogeneous setting and a culturally diverse setting was basically the difference in being able to teach about different cultures and being able to teach students of different cultures. Theoretical Proposition Three posited that student teachers had predispositions for teaching which included taking the initiative to create for themselves many experiences with children prior to entering the teacher education program and knowing for a long time prior to entrance in the teacher education program that they wanted to be teachers. Theoretical Proposition Four posited that although there were some differences, student teaching in both settings provided a vivid access into the culture of schools and a hands-on preparation of teachers