Pre-service Teachers and the Multicultural Classroom: Are They Ready?

According to data from the Statistics Bureau of Japan, a population trend in recent years shows an increase in the percentage of foreign residents, jumping up from 1.4% to nearly 2.0% of the total population in the last five years alone (Statistic Bureau of Japan, 2016; 2021). This data suggests that many of our current university students majoring in education will be entering a work environment that is drastically different from that of their predecessors; a multicultural work environment with not only students from non-Japanese cultural backgrounds but co-workers as well. The current study examines the results of a survey given to 75 students of education at one university in Japan to see how these pre-service teachers perceive their preparedness to work and teach in a multicultural classroom.