Swedish and Dutch Pre-service Teachers’ Understandings of Equity and Preparedness to Promote Equity Through Their Teaching

Abstract

Equity is an important topic in school context globally because international migration is rapidly diversifying schools and classrooms across the world. Teacher quality is seen strongly related to student outcomes than demographic characteristics of students, and therefore important for achieving equity. This explorative study investigates the extent to which Swedish and Dutch pre-service teachers (PSTs) understand equity and are prepared to implement equity in their practice. Qualitative method was conducted in the study. Data from semi-structured interviews with 15 PSTs from Sweden and the Netherlands was thematically analysed to examine teacher knowledge about equity in education and related dispositions. The results showed that, while Swedish pre-service teachers had more theoretical knowledge in relation to teaching for equity, Dutch pre-service teachers had more practical knowledge and were therefore more prepared to implement equity in their lessons. The study recommends that teacher professional development for both in- and pre-service teachers needs to pay more attention to how equity is taught and how teachers embody equity principles in their practice.

Keywords

• pre-service teacher
• primary education
• secondary education
• teacher education
• Equity

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