Conference Agenda

Preparing teachers for increasingly diverse classrooms remains a persistent challenge in teacher education worldwide. Although diversity, equity, and social justice are widely referenced in teacher education curricula, research suggests that they are often treated as peripheral or add-on components rather than as structuring principles of professional preparation (Cochran-Smith et al., 2016; Gorski, 2009; Zeichner, 2024). Moreover, much existing research focuses on intended curricula rather than how diversity is actually experienced by preservice teachers (van den Akker, 2003). This study addresses this gap by examining how preservice teachers in Flanders, Belgium, perceive their preparation for teaching in ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse classrooms.

The following research questions guided this study: (1) How do preservice teachers perceive the integration of diversity, equity, and social justice into their theoretical coursework? (2) How do they experience diversity within their practical training, particularly internships? (3) What do these perspectives reveal about the strengths and limitations of current teacher education practices in preparing educators for diverse classrooms?

The study draws on qualitative focus group discussions with 18 preservice teachers enrolled in five teacher education colleges in Flanders, Belgium. To support dialogic and reflective knowledge production, the research design employed creative stimulus activities, including a “cake metaphor” exercise and participant-selected artefacts. These methods were deliberately chosen to move beyond extractive data collection and to create spaces where participants could collaboratively reflect on their learning trajectories, tensions, and uncertainties (Morgan et al., 2008; Kamberelis & Dimitriadis, 2005).

The findings reveal substantial variation across programs in how diversity is conceptualized and enacted. In some programs, diversity is systematically embedded across multiple courses and years, enabling preservice teachers to develop conceptual understanding and critical self-awareness. Participants described how structured modules on inequality, multilingualism, and inclusive education shaped their perspectives and challenged deficit assumptions. Such findings resonate with research showing that sustained, integrated approaches are more likely to transform teacher beliefs than isolated interventions (Gorski, 2009; Gay, 2018).

In contrast, other programs positioned diversity as an optional or peripheral topic, often confined to a single theoretical course. Participants described these courses as fragmented, superficial, and disconnected from practice. In some cases, such limited exposure appeared to reinforce monolingual or color-blind orientations, echoing concerns raised in prior research on add-on models of diversity education (Sleeter, 2008; Zeichner, 2010).

Internships emerged as a critical site of learning, yet with uneven outcomes. Community-based placements—such as work in homework support centers or social organizations—were consistently described as transformative. These experiences challenged stereotypes, fostered empathy, and enabled preservice teachers to connect theory with lived realities, aligning with evidence on the value of community-based teacher education experiences (Guillén & Zeichner, 2018; Milner, 2005). By contrast, traditional school-based internships often exposed students to discriminatory practices, such as biased tracking or classroom segregation. Without structured guidance, participants felt constrained in their ability to question these practices, particularly given power relations with mentor teachers.

Participants also emphasized the role of pedagogy and institutional culture. Courses that promoted dialogue, used authentic materials, and included lecturers with lived experience of diversity were perceived as more impactful than lecture-based formats. Similarly, structured reflection sessions during internships helped students transform challenging encounters into professional learning, underscoring the importance of guided reflection in teacher education (Cochran-Smith et al., 2016).

The findings suggest that preparing teachers for diverse classrooms requires more than formal curricular commitments: it demands coherent program design, meaningful engagement with diverse communities, and sustained opportunities for critical reflection. These insights have relevance not only for teacher education in Flanders, but also for international debates on how to move beyond superficial approaches toward transformative preparation for inclusive teaching.

The educational success of students from immigrant backgrounds is a central concern in both Quebec and Luxembourg, two contexts marked by significant ethnocultural, religious, and linguistic diversity. Despite political efforts to support inclusion, research continues to show persistent gaps in achievement between first-generation immigrant students and their native-born peers in both societies (MENJE et al., 2016). In this context, teachers play a determining role in supporting the academic and educational success of these students, not only through their pedagogical practices but also through their beliefs, convictions, and the competences they develop during their initial and further training (Mc Andrew, 2015). Yet little research has simultaneously examined teachers’ perceptions of their own preparation for diversity in these two comparable contexts.

This study explores how primary teachers in Quebec and Luxembourg perceive their initial training in relation to the competences required to support students from immigrant backgrounds, drawing on a qualitative-interpretive approach based on semi-structured interviews. The aim is to understand:

(1) which competences teachers consider necessary in order to support the educational success of these students;

(2) how they perceive their own training in relation to these competences;

(3) how their beliefs, convictions, and implicit biases shape their practices; and

(4) how these insights differ between Quebec and Luxembourg.

The conceptual framework mobilises four competency domains identified in the literature and reflected in teachers’ discourse: general knowledge, didactic competences, relational competences, and ethical competences (Mc Andrew, 2015; Potvin, Larochelle-Audet, et al., 2015). Four transversal competences emerge as central to effective support in diversity: plurilingual competence (Decke-Cornill & Küster, 2010), intercultural competence (Potvin, Borri-Anadon, et al., 2015), collaboration with families, schools and communities (Duong & Kanouté, 2007), and metareflection, i.e., the ability to reflect critically on one’s own beliefs and attitudes (Romijn et al., 2021).

Findings show that Luxembourg teachers emphasise the centrality of plurilingualism in their daily practice and consider this competence essential for supporting newly arrived students. However, they also report that their training places disproportionate emphasis on linguistic aspects while insufficiently addressing cultural and migratory dimensions, and almost not at all issues of racism, discrimination or implicit bias.

Quebec teachers, for their part, describe themselves as more accustomed to working in ethnoculturally diverse classrooms and report stronger competences in critical reflection, openness, and awareness of diversity-related issues. However, they also underline important gaps in their initial training regarding anti-racist education, implicit bias, and concrete strategies for supporting students from immigrant backgrounds – gaps already noted in the literature (Potvin et al., 2020).

Across both contexts, teachers highlight the limited transversal integration of diversity-related content in initial teacher education programmes, despite official expectations (MEQ, 2020; Université du Luxembourg, 2021). Teachers in both contexts thus feel insufficiently equipped to address the full complexity of diversity in the classroom.

These findings reveal that although Quebec and Luxembourg face similar challenges, their priorities and approaches differ: Quebec shows stronger reflexive and critical orientations, while Luxembourg demonstrates stronger plurilingual competences. Bringing these strengths together – integrating plurilingual pedagogies in Quebec and embedding structured reflexive and anti-racist approaches in Luxembourg – could significantly improve teacher preparation in both contexts.

The study contributes to comparative research on teacher education by highlighting the importance of combining linguistic, intercultural, relational and ethical competences, integrated across training curricula, to better support the educational success of students from immigrant backgrounds.