Multicultural teacher training for schools and preschools in the United States

There are many multicultural countries, where people of different nationalities live and work. For effective cultural interaction, under the conditions of a multinational country, it is necessary to have knowledge about social structure of the society, mentality of the nation, behavior etiquette of ethnos, availability of intercultural competence. The most modern response to the cultural diversity at the beginning of the XXI century became the policy of multiculturalism. Great experience of multicultural policy has America, which differs from average multicultural countries in a range of peculiarities, one of which is the fact that cultural interaction was not within an individual ethnos, but within immigrants – descendants of different countries, representatives of various cultures. The aim of this study is to research the main peculiarities of multicultural education and training of teachers, preschool workers in the USA. The theoretical methods of research included: analysis of scientific sources, systematisation and generalisation of data, definition of basic concepts, identification of the current state of the problem. Multicultural education in America has a status of the state educational policy and it is set forth at the legislative level. It is closely connected with bilingual education which may be interesting for Ukraine and needs further research. The following result features of multicultural education can be distinguished: psychological readiness to cooperation with the representatives of other cultures; openness to another culture; perception of psychological, social and intercultural distinctions; ability to differentiate between the collective and individual in communicative behavior; possession of a set of current communicative means; ability to change behavior modes of communication depending on a situation; observance of the etiquette norms; readiness to overcome social, ethnic and cultural stereotypes. Practical and theoretical value of the study determines the necessity and possibilities of multicultural education of teachers and preschool educators in the USA and proves the importance of the US experience for Ukraine. Multicultural education of teachers and preschool educators is a necessary condition for successful intercultural interaction in multiethnic society.