HOW EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATORS ARE ADVOCATES: IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHER EDUCATORS

The aim of the present study was to examine prospective early childhood educators' attitudes towards teaching multicultural classes using the planned behavior theoretical framework. One hundred and forty-eight undergraduate students voluntarily participated in the study. Participants were divided into two groups. The first group comprised students who attended courses on multicultural education, whereas the second group comprised students who did not attend those courses. A specifically designed questionnaire was administered to assess attitudes toward teaching multicultural classes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and self-assessed knowledge. Results showed that the planned behavior model can be applied to the multicultural domain. Self-assessed knowledge significantly increased the predictability of the prospective students' intentions only for the first group (R ² = .61). It was concluded that prospective early educators' participation in courses regarding cultural diversity facilitated their attitudes towards teaching children from various cultural backgrounds.