O przygotowaniu nauczycieli do pracy w warunkach wielokulturowości: konteksty, opinie studentów, propozycje

Abstract

The presented study constitutes a continuation of the discussion and presentation of research results which the authoress introduced in her previous publication “Social experiences in preparing future teachers for work in multicultural conditions” (Toruń 2013, Wydział Etnologii i Nauk o Edukacji UŚ, Wydaw- nictwo Adam Marszałek). Both books are mostly based on the results of extensive, multivariate studies conducted in several academic environments which differ in location (the centre or borderland of Poland) and the socio-economic potential. The focus in this volume is on teacher education: on the dimensions of learning from Others, on teaching Others, on the fi elds of preparing the teacher for work in the multicultural environment. What the study also presents are students’ opinions on current education and preparation of teachers for work in multicultural conditions and their suggestions for change. The results of the presented quantitative and qualitative studies constitute the foundation for interpreting and presenting a suggestion for the model of teachers’ multisided preparation for work in multicultural conditions. What prevails in the theoretical layer of the book are the references to social psychology of development and to the idea of constructivism. The associations are also emphasized in R. Havighurst’s concept of developmental tasks. The theoretical assumptions were discussed more broadly in the previous volume. The consciously applied eclectic approach results in numerous interpretations and references to J. Bruner’s socio-cultural perspective of learning, K. Illeris’s whole complexity of learning, and social practices of learning – E. Wenger’s learning in the environment of work. The applied methodological assumptions, presented research orientations and concepts, as well as (formulated in detail) aims and problems determined the eclectic procedure of the (quantitative-qualitative) studies. The use of statistic methods and techniques, e.g. data clustering, canonical correlation analysis, factor analysis, enabled capturing all the variables introduced in the study. Qualitative studies were applied twice as the introduction to quantitative studies (individual interview) and as the way of verifying and interpreting the results of quantitative research. The narrative interview and focus group interview allowed to gain more profound knowledge of social experiences in relations with representatives of other cultures, the attitudes to various Others, and hidden motivation in future teachers’ conduct. The wealth of the collected empirical material (1268 respondents, i.e. 1268 objects, each with 225 variables, and the material obtained in 12 group interviews, with the participation of 84 people), acquired in the studies among students of pedagogy in three central zones of Poland and three borderland ones differentiated in terms of socio-economic development, and its interpretation provide a lot of signifi cant information and open new prospects for the research on the border of intercultural education and general pedagogy, pedeutology, several subdisciplines of psychology and sociology, and other fi elds of broadly understood humanities. What seems cognitively valuable are the analyses concerning the factors of individual and social learning, and – as a consequence – of shaping the space of learning from Others, as well as analyses concerning four dimensions of learning (identity of the professional role, experiences in relations with Others, practice and social participation). The respondents’ statements and the author’s analyses of students’ needs and expectations from further education are signifi - cant from the cognitive and methodological point of view. A reliable diagnosis of the fi elds and symptoms of the future teacher’s preparation for work in multicultural conditions, indicating the social perception of the current education of candidates for teachers, and the need for changes in shaping multicultural societies, enabled familiarizing with the mechanisms and conditions in which teacher education is carried out, presenting a suggestion for the empirical model of multisided preparation of the teacher for work in the multicultural environment, indicating cogeneration as a process associated with shaping the community in action, sharing duties and responsibility, and creative group acting in undertaking new tasks. The contents of the dissertation O przygotowaniu nauczycieli do pracy w warunkach wielokulturowości – konteksty, opinie studentów, propozycje /On preparing teachers for work in multicultural conditions – contexts, students’ opinions, suggestions/ as well as of the earlier monograph Doświadczenia społeczne w przygotowaniu przyszłych nauczycieli do pracy w warunkach wielokulturowości /Social experiences in preparing future teachers for work in multicultural conditions/ – the sources, students’ opinions, results of quantitative and qualitative studies and their analysis, encourage to reach for both classical approaches and recent works. This proves that it is possible to search for entirely new trails, drifting apart from one-dimensional describing and explaining the essence of learning in the teacher’s preparation for work in multicultural conditions and heading for conducting synthetic and comparative studies in this fi eld. Such an approach to teachers’ education seems appropriate and utterly needed – in accordance with the critical-creative approach to educational reality and with the aim of searching for positive solutions of social (thus also educational) problems.