Preparing Culturally Responsive Han Teachers in China: A Case study of One Teacher Education Program

Abstract

The People’s Republic of China is a multiethnic, multilingual, and multicultural country, with 56 different ethnic groups. From the foundation of The People’s Republic of China, various policies and reforms were implemented to improve national education quality. Despite the central government’s concerns about promoting education equity and quality for ethnic minority, rural, and migrant students, they are still often criticized to be biased and stereotypical representation in mainstream Han society. In working with an increasingly diverse student populations, a critical question majority Han teachers and teacher educators must ask themselves is what teaching strategies and educational practices are in place to enhance instructional quality to effectively teach multicultural and multiethnic students. This qualitative case study addressed this issue by examining teacher education programs from a target normal university in Beijing. Qualitative research analyses of data generated from semi-structured interviews, narrative stories, and documents produced five major findings. These were: Ambiguous perceptions of diversity; inadequate academic preparation in teaching for diversity; disparity between academic training and teaching practice; transformative pedagogy through multicultural teaching experiences; and institutional lack of commitment to preparing teachers for diversity. Based on the findings, several recommendations for future research and practice were suggested. These included promoting multicultural awareness, redefining multicultural knowledge and competence, refining university-based teacher education for preparing culturally responsive teachers, connecting teacher education to living communities, and reinforcing policy implementation regarding programmatic efforts to prepare teachers for cultural, ethnic, and regional diversity. The results of such research could contribute to the improvement of ethnic minority education, rural education, and education for all Chinese students.