An investigation on pre-service teachers' perceptions and level of professional preparation for multicultural education

This study was conducted in order to examine the multicultural education perceptions and professional preparation levels of pre-service teacher candidates and was carried out with mixed research method and partial mixed sequential and equal status pattern in line with the research problems. This research was held with the voluntary participation of the pre- service teachers who are in undergraduate degree of the teacher training programs, English Language Teaching, Primary Education, Elementary Mathematics Education, Early Childhood Education, Guidance and Psychological Counseling in 2021-2022 Spring Semester in Faculty of Education at a private university in Ankara. In the quantitative dimension of the research, the date collected by ''Multiculturalism Perception Scale'' (Ayaz, 2016) were analyzed using SPSS 2021. Kruskall-Wallis H test with Bonferon Deciency correction and Mann-Whitney U test were used for comparisons between groups due to the fact that the data were not normally distributed. 0.05 was used as the significance level in this analysis. In the qualitative dimension of the research, the data obtained through the semi-structured individual interview form developed by the researcher and her thesis advisor were analyzed by descriptive analysis under certain themes and codes. Findings of the study shows that there is a need for improvement teacher training curriculum for pre- service teacher candidates' perceptions of multicultural education and the level of professional preparation. It is expected that the conclusions revealed in this study will contribute to the future studies on multicultural education in the teacher training curriculum in Turkey and to the stakeholders in the field.