A Study on the In-service English Teachers’ Perceptions on Multicultural Education and Implications for Multicultural Teacher Education

With the increase and diversification of immigrants in Korea, multicultural policies have been expanded to meet diverse demands and needs. Accordingly, multicultural education has become an essential issue for Korean society. However, Korea s government-led change has been criticized for its ambiguous direction while failing to keep up with the pace of change in society. The study explores Korea s multicultural education by analyzing how Korean high school English teachers perceive multicultural education and what implication the perception has on the current system and operation of multicultural education. More specifically, the study explores the limitations and possibilities of multicultural education in the Korean educational scene by interviewing ten in-service English teachers working at high schools in Seoul metropolitan region. Ultimately, the study aims to provide direction to future multicultural teacher education for all teachers. The English teachers showed a poor understanding of multicultural education and even misunderstood the purpose and goal of the education, which consequently affected their implementation and delivery of the education. Second, the teachers limited the subject of multicultural education to multicultural members, mainly the students from multicultural families, showing assimilative tendencies. Although teachers did recognize the need for education on diversity and discrimination, they perceived it as a matter of the future. Thirdly, teachers recognized multicultural education and subject education course as separate education. Teachers saw multicultural education as apart from the subject education. They thought multicultural education does not fit the current education system, where grades and evaluations are taken very sensitively. Lastly, although teachers were not particularly against multicultural education, they were skeptical about implementing multicultural education. They argued that theory-based education does not appeal to teachers who usually prefer hands-on pedagogies. Also, the teachers regarded multicultural education as another task on top of the already heavy workload. Moreover, teachers once again confirmed their belief on the unnecessariness and unprofessionalism of multicultural education through a school s unilateral work distribution without providing proper education for the teacher in charge or verification of qualification of the teachers in charge. The findings imply that teachers vague understanding of multicultural education and absence of systematic and practical multicultural teacher education under biased education policies and guidelines led to confusion and indifference toward multicultural education, unconsciously reinforcing misunderstanding, stereotypes, and institutional discrimination at schools. Overall, teachers’ perception indicates that the current teacher education system and operation failed to fully convey the need and importance of multicultural education.