Educating Teachers for Diversity
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Educating Teachers for Diversity

Meeting the Challenge

This publication summarises key research findings which can be used to redesign initial and continuing teacher education to help practitioners effectively teach diverse students. It looks at challenges teachers face in OECD countries and presents a range of policies and practices used in various contexts, from countries with long histories of diversity to those with more recent experiences. The key role of evaluation – of teachers, schools and systems – is emphasised. Educating Teachers for Diversity: Meeting the Challenge asks how these insights can inspire continuing educational reform for our changing classrooms, with a special focus on key questions for research, policy and practice.
Publication Date :
25 Feb 2010
DOI :
10.1787/9789264079731-en
 
Chapter
 

Diversity and educational disparities

the role of teacher education You do not have access to this content

Authors:
Russell Bishop
Pages :
119–135
DOI :
10.1787/9789264079731-8-en

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The most pressing problem facing education today is the persistent pattern of educational disparity which disproportionately affects indigenous peoples, populations of colour, those with lower socio.economic status, and new migrants. This disparity is exacerbated by a continuing lack of diversity among the teaching force, which tends to engage in pedagogic practices more appropriate to monocultural populations. This chapter suggests solutions drawn from gTe Kotahitanga: Improving the Educational Achievement of M.ori students in Mainstream Schoolsh, a government- funded professional development and research project underway in 50 secondary schools in New Zealand. Six main challenges identified include: (i) the hegemony of the status quo, (ii) the primacy of teachersf positioning, (iii) the need for evidence, (iv) the role of power in knowledge construction, (v) the disconnect between pre.service and in.service education, and (vi) the fundamental importance of research in the areas of teaching and teacher education.