MULTICULTURAL ENVIRONMENT AND PRE SERVICE TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMME

Diversity in cultures has become the prominent feature of 21st century. The effect of this feature can be observed in classroom environment where the teacher has students having multicultural backgrounds. Therefore, there is need to train prospective teachers for teaching in diverse/ multicultural classroom. They are not prepared for coming in contact with different cultures than the sheltered one many of them have lived in. They are not prepared for the different needs possessed by today's multicultural student population. In this paper, we discuss not just the problems that arise due to this issue. We also discuss ways to remedy these problems, starting with pre-service teacher education programs and ending with these prospective teachers themselves.