Advancing cultural competence and intercultural consciousness through a cross-cultural simulation with teacher candidates

Teacher education curricula typically introduce multicultural concepts, principles, and practices. However, candidates benefit greatly from experiences that pursue multi-faceted contexts. In this study the simulation, Barnga, enhances candidates’ cultural competence and intercultural consciousness by exploring perceived realities in classrooms and communities. Through Barnga, candidates are afforded a rich investigation into self knowledge, acceptance of group conventions, exposure to multiple perspectives, and self-assessment of their stance toward equity and change. Expressing their reactions, responses, and reflections, candidates experience multi-layered transformation, intercultural consciousness, and cultural competence for themselves. By participating in cross-cultural simulations and interacting with people like and unlike themselves, candidates gain appreciation for the power of the propinquity effect and other insights that encourage replication in their own future classrooms