Global mindedness and dispositions towards diversity in the classroom

This study examined global mindedness and dispositions towards diversity in the classroom between two groups of teacher candidates. One group had obtained a bachelors degree before starting the teacher education program while the other group started the teacher education program without a college degree. The global mindedness scale (GMS) and the Teacher Multicultural Attitude Scale developed by Hett (1993) and Ponterrotto (2004) respectively were used for the study.;The study was guided by four research questions and four corresponding hypotheses. Univariate t-tests were use to analyze data for research questions one and two to determine the difference between the mean scores of the two groups of teacher candidates. For research question three, a correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between teacher candidates' global mindedness and dispositions towards diversity in the classroom. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to determine the interactions between the demographic variables and the latent variables of global mindedness and dispositions towards diversity.;Though both groups of teacher candidates were positively disposed to global mindedness and diversity in the classroom, the study found that teacher candidates with a prior college degree showed a more positive orientation towards global mindedness and diversity issues in the classroom. The study also found a positive relationship between global mindedness and disposition toward diversity in the classroom. Thus the more globally minded teacher candidates were the more positively they were disposed to diversity issues in the classroom and vice versa. Finally, the study found that the demographic variables of age, teaching experience, travel/study abroad experience were positively related to global mindedness and disposition towards diversity in the classroom.