An investigation of the relationship between attitudes of teachers towards peace within the multicultural context and their intercultural sensivity

Multiculturalism is a phenomenon attributed to the coexistence of individuals with different cultures. Interactions of individuals with different cultures require intercultural competencies. The aim of this research is to determine relationships between teachers' attitudes towards peace within the context of multiculturalism and their intercultural sensitivity. The sample of this research, carried out in accordance with correlational survey model, consists of 467 teachers working at primary and secondary schools in 2021-2022 academic year in Bursa. "Peace Attitude Scale" developed by Urlu (2019), "Intercultural Sensitivity Scale" developed by Chen and Starosta (2000) and adapted into Turkish by Rengi and Polat (2014), and a personal information form were used to collect the data. In order to analyze the research data, arithmetic mean, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis H test and Spearman Correlation analyzes were performed in SPSS 28.0 package program. According to research findings, teachers' peace attitude levels were very high. Significant differences were found in peace attitude levels according to gender. There were significant differences in social peace, personal and interpersonal peace levels according to eTwinning/Erasmus project experience; openness to differences levels according to abroad experience and foreign friendships; openness to differences, personal and interpersonal peace levels according to branch; personal and interpersonal peace levels according to seniority. There was no significant difference in peace attitude levels according to the number of foreign students and foreign languages. According to findings, intercultural sensitivity of teachers was very high. There were significant differences in intercultural sensitivity levels according to gender, foreign friendships, branch, foreign languages, eTwinning/Erasmus project and abroad experiences variables. There was no significant difference in intercultural sensitivity levels according to seniority and the number of foreign students. It was concluded that there was a positive and moderate relationship between teachers' attitudes towards peace and intercultural sensitivity.