MULTICULTURAL EFFICACY OF PRESERVICE TEACHERS: A STUDY

Diversity prevails in the education system. Diversity in the classroom consists of different learners. Teachers play an important role in dealing with such diversity. It is pivotal that pre- service teachers must be confident and possess the ability to cater to a multicultural classroom. It is imperative that pre-service teachers are effectively trained to meet the needs of diverse learners. In short high multicultural efficacy among pre- service teachers is needed. Do the preservice teachers possess the experience, attitude and multicultural efficacy towards teaching? Can they effectively implement multicultural strategies for equity pedagogy?The paper is an attempt to study it.The present study is a descriptive research of comparative type. The main goal of this type of research was to compare the Multicultural Efficacy on the basis of type of management and year- wise of the pre- service teachers. The sample consisted of 400 pre- service teachers from colleges of education. The Multicultural Efficacy Scale was prepared by Guyton, E. M., &Wesche, M. V was used for the present study.In the present study, two- stage sampling technique was used. ‘t' test was used to compare the means scores and profile analysis to identify the dimensions of Multicultural efficacy.The study reveals that the Multicultural Efficacy of pre- service teachers of aided colleges of education is higher than that of unaided colleges of education. There is no statistically significant difference in the multicultural efficacy of F.Y.B.ED and S.Y.B.ED pre- service teachers. The result of the profiles analysis of aided and unaided colleges of education intersect across dimensions on the basis of type of management. The profiles of F.Y.B.ED and S.Y.B.ED are not equal and do not intersect across dimensions on the basis of year- wise