Preservice Elementary Teacher Views on the Relationship Between Diversity and Democracy

Abstract

This qualitative inquiry reports the ways in which three graduate-level preservice elementary teachers conceived of the relationship between diversity and democracy, and explores how their understandings of this relationship informed their planning for democratic citizenship education with young learners. Findings indicate while the participants exhibited a certain measure of variance in their thinking about diversity and democracy, all of them planned their lessons at a lower level of multicultural support than their views suggested they would. This primarily highlights the ongoing lack of understanding regarding what it might mean to teach democratic citizenship through its practice as well as its study.

Citation

Ritter, J.K. (2013), "Preservice Elementary Teacher Views on the Relationship Between Diversity and Democracy", Social Studies Research and Practice, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 42-59. https://doi.org/10.1108/SSRP-03-2013-B0003