The effect of multicultural sharing workshop on preschool teachers' views and perceptions of efficacy regarding multicultural education

The aim of the research is to examine the effect of the multicultural sharing workshop on preschool teachers' views and perceptions of efficacy regarding multicultural education. Embedded design from mixed methods was used in the research. In the quantitative dimension of the research, one group pre-test-post-test design which is one of the weak experimental designs was used. In the study group of the research, 44 teachers according to criterion sampling among 126 teachers who completed the pre-tests were included. The 16-session sharing workshop lasted 8 weeks and was conducted online. Then, 21 volunteer teachers who participated in the application were included in the qualitative study group. The quantitative data of the research were collected using "Multicultural Education", "Multicultural Efficacy Perceptions" and "Multicultural Concept Map" before and after the multicultural sharing workshop. Qualitative data were gathered through focus group interviews, observation notes, researcher diaries and letters to the researcher. Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test and Dependent Samples t Test were used to analyze quantitative data; content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. In the quantitative dimension of the research, it was seen that the multicultural sharing workshop had a positive effect on raising teachers' Multicultural Education Scale, Multicultural Efficacy Perceptions Scale and Multicultural Education Concept Map scores. In the qualitative dimension, it was seen that the workshop supported teachers' professional, personal and social development, reduced prejudices and positively affected teachers' gaining different perspectives, although teachers had negative opinions about the multicultural sharing workshop, such as the narrow scope of the multicultural sharing workshop, the sessions being simple and long. Teachers stated that the content of the workshop should be expanded, disseminated and reflected in education programmes. They also stated that teachers have positive views towards multicultural education, but they consider themselves inadequate in this regard, so they should be supported by adding related courses in the teacher training process and providing more practice opportunities. Within the framework of the findings, suggestions were made to teachers, decision makers and researchers on multicultural education. Keywords: Multiculturalism, multicultural education, preschool, teacher.