In the multi-culture education, teachers become the principal agents by providing students with concrete activities and making the multi-culture education environment. Therefore, the positive awareness of teachers, who have direct impact on students, ...
In the multi-culture education, teachers become the principal agents by providing students with concrete activities and making the multi-culture education environment. Therefore, the positive awareness of teachers, who have direct impact on students, on the multi-culture education is very important for the successful multi-culture education. There are existing studies regarding the awareness levels of junior-high school teachers; however, they are limited to specific subjects related to multi-culture education such as Korean Language or Community Life; therefore, it is difficult to know the overall awareness level of junior-high school teachers on multi-culture education.
The purpose of this study is in the suggestion of improvement measures by diagnosing the awareness levels and types of general teachers in the junior-high schools; so that the multi-culture education would advance toward the ultimate objectives it should aim for.
The study tasks explored in this study for above purpose are as following.
First, what are the awareness levels of junior-high school teachers dependent on their multi-cultural knowledge and attitudes?
Second, what is the ‘objective awareness type distribution’ of junior-high school teachers dependent on the multi-culture education objectives?
The study objects of this study were the general teachers in the junior-high schools located in Siheung City, Gyeonggi-do Province. 281 questionnaire sheets from them, each comprised of 55 questions and answers, had been statistically processed.
Third, what would be the improvement measures required so that the multi-culture education would arrive at the objectives that fit with the social justice?
The major study results as analyzed through above process are as following.
First is the awareness levels of teachers analyzed through the checklists on the multi-cultural knowledge and attitudes. Specialist Type teachers were the least with 1.8% of all junior-high school teachers. Understanding Type teachers were 13.2% and 44.5% were Concern Types. 40.5% of the junior-high school teachers were Indifferent Type teachers. Teachers with positive awareness levels were less than 15%; while 85% of the junior-high school teachers were just having concerns or they were simply indifferent. It was possible to know that there are big differences in the awareness levels among the junior-high school teachers regarding the multi-cultural knowledge and attitude.
Second is the difference between the ‘actual’ awareness level and the ‘aiming’ awareness level of junior-high school teachers dependent on the objectives of multi-culture education. Regarding the ‘actual’ awareness, teachers with awareness on Minority Adaptation were the least with 14.9%. Society Innovation was 15.6% and Education Innovation was 29.3%. 40.2% of the junior-high school teachers were Human-Relation. On the other hand, regarding the ‘aiming’ awareness, teachers focusing on Human Relation were the least with 7.2%, Minority Adaptation was 10.1%, Education Innovation was 23.3% and Society Innovation was 59.4%. There were substantial differences between the aiming awareness types and the actual awareness types.
The improvement measures for the awareness level regarding the multi-cultural education objectives and the awareness types regarding the multi-cultural knowledge and attitudes of junior-high school teachers are suggested as following.
1) The urgent tasks for the improvement of awareness level differences are the distribution of Case Studies Books regarding the multi-cultural situations and the vitalization of training program for the teachers on the multi-culture education; so that the multi-cultural knowledge and attitudes of the teachers would be enhanced. It is important to upgrade the awareness level so that all teachers would be at least the Understanding Type teachers.
2) In order to improve the awareness type of the Minority Adaptation focused teachers, the objects of multi-culture education should be expanded from the minority multi-culture group to all students.
3) In order to improve the awareness type of the Human Relation focused teachers, the cooperation among groups and equal status of them should be shared so that members of various groups would achieve the common objectives in the same team.
4) In order to improve the awareness type of the Education Innovation focused teachers, their practice capabilities should be reinforced by having them participate in the community social activity projects, actively utilizing the parents and the local communities.
The study results suggested that current awareness levels of junior-high school teachers on the multi-culture education are too low. The awareness levels of the teachers have big impact on the students because teachers are doing important roles in the multi-culture education. Therefore, it is essentially required to expand the training opportunity of teachers on multi-culture education to narrow the gap of awareness levels and develop the programs that would enhance the effectiveness of multi-culture education.