Student immigration, migration, and teacher preparation
Global migration in recent decades means more schools enrol students from diverse cultural backgrounds than before. Such trends highlight the international importance of multicultural education within schools. This study reviews the evolution of multicultural education as a framework for addressing the education of immigrant students and examines the current extent to which teachers feel prepared for and are attentive to culturally responsive practices. Analyses of data on lower secondary teachers (n = 151,122) in 46 countries from the Teaching and Learning International Survey of 2018 reveal few teachers overall feel prepared for teaching culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms. However, teacher preparation and practices in multicultural education tend to be higher in classrooms with a greater percentage of students from immigrant backgrounds. The results present policy and research implications for teacher preparation in multicultural education, as well as creating more equitable education systems internationally.