Personality Traits and Beliefs About Diversity in Pre-service Teachers
Author(s): Lori E. Unruh, David M. McCord
Abstract: Classroom teachers in America's public schools face a rapid increase in ethnic and socio-cultural diversity among their students. Research shows that teachers' attitudes toward diversity have measurable impact on educational effectiveness. Thus, teacher education programs stress multi-cultural sensitivity and teaching methodology, and accreditation agencies insist on measurable outcomes in this regard. One relatively neglected issue concerns individual differences among teachers. It is reasonable to assume that teacher candidates may differ in basic dispositions that relate to diversity attitudes, and that these differences may predict differential levels of effectiveness of diversity education curricula. The Five Factor Model of personality (FFM) provides a widely accepted framework of human individual differences. In the present study, we correlated all traits of the FFM with a scale measuring beliefs about diversity in a sample of teacher education students. Significant correlations were found between diversity beliefs and Openness facets of Artistic Interests, Emotionality, and Liberalism, as well as the Agreeableness facet of Sympathy. These results have implications for diversity training in teacher education programs and for evaluation studies of such programs. Results may also relate to questions of job fit for public school teachers.
Pages: 1-7
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