The structure of teacher-specific intercultural
competence: Empirical evidence on the ‘Beliefs,
Values, and Goals’ dimension Cover Image

Структура интеркултурних компетенција специифичних за наставнике: емпиријски докази за димензију „Веровања, вредности и циљева“
The structure of teacher-specific intercultural competence: Empirical evidence on the ‘Beliefs, Values, and Goals’ dimension

Author(s): Bruno Leutwyler, Danijela Petrović, Tijana Jokić
Subject(s): Comparative Psychology
Published by: Društvo psihologa Srbije
Keywords: intercultural competencies; teacher education; intercultural education; assessment

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this contribution is to identify the elements that are integral parts of a teacherspecific intercultural competence construct. In this paper, we focus on those facets of the construct that are considered to be rather value-laden and affectively tinged. Following the widely used theoretical model of teachers’ professional competencies developed by Baumert and Kunter (2013), we conceptually place these facets within the Beliefs, Values, & Goals dimension, and propose four core elements: (1) appreciation of cultural diversity; (2) ethnorelative worldview; (3) attitudes toward integration; and (4) identification with goals of intercultural education. In order to test the hypothesis that these four aspects represent one single overarching latent construct, we operationalized each with an appropriate scale and then scrutinized the instruments’ internal consistency, and convergent and factorial validity. The results suggest that our four scales have good internal consistencies (Cronbach’s alphas between .82 and .89), adhere to a one-factor structure (as demonstrated by Confirmatory Factor Analysis), and indicate one latent construct (RMSEA = 0.000; TLI = 1.004; CFI = 1.000; SRMR = .007). With these results, this paper presents a valid, contextually relevant new instrument to assess (pre-service) teachers’ beliefs, values and goals regarding intercultural education and contributes to resolving theoretical, methodological, and practical issues of research on intercultural competencies.

  • Issue Year: 51/2018
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 107-126
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: English, Serbian