Hugs and smiles: demonstrating caring in a multicultural early childhood classroom

Abstract

In many ways, teacher preparation programs have made great strides in preparing future teachers to work with an increasingly diverse population. However, there is still controversy about whether or not these courses are adequate and result in real change. This article represents a study that was designed to investigate preservice teachers’ beliefs about how they would express caring to English‐language learners (ELLs) in their classrooms. Results showed that most of the respondents in this group would demonstrate caring in ways that addressed surface culture and linguistic concerns but did not address potential deep culture differences. This study provides evidence for a need for further work in the area of multicultural education in the preparation of preservice teachers who will work with ELLs.