Structural Relationships between elementary school teachers' intercultural sensitivity, multicultural acceptability, learning cultures, and multicultural teaching competency

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the structural relationships between the variables of elementary school teachers' intercultural sensitivity, multicultural acceptability, learning cultures, and multicultural teaching competency. To achieve the research purpose, a survey was conducted among 690 elementary school teachers in Seoul, South Korea using probabilistic sampling. The collected data were analyzed with structural equation modeling to verify the relationships between the variables, and the study results were as follows: First, when teachers face multicultural teaching situations, their affective reactions, problem recognition, and attitudes toward multicultural education vary with their levels of intercultural sensitivity and multicultural acceptability. Second, teachers' learning cultures, which reflect their autonomy and initiative, can improve their multicultural education competency. © International Information Institute.