ICP 2020+ A

Multicultural Attitudes of Turkish Teachers and Their Attitudes Towards Refugee Students

Asil Ali Özdoğru, Fatma Nur Dolu, Ayşenur Akan, and Sena Aldemir

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between teachers’ multicultural attitudes, their attitudes towards refugee students, and sociodemographic characteristics of teachers. Methods: The participants of this study consisted of 135 teachers working in different educational levels in Turkey that were reached through snowball sampling. Ages of the participants ranged from 23 to 62 (M=38.70, SD=7.97) and 55 of them were female (41%) and 79 male (59%). Participants completed an online survey including demographic questions, the Teacher Multicultural Attitude Survey (TMAS), and the Refugee Student Attitude Scale (RSAS). Results: Correlation analysis revealed a statistically significant correlation between the TMAS and RSAS total scale scores [r(124)= 0.23, p<.05]. TMAS total scores were also significantly correlated with RSAS communication subscale scores [r(125)=0.28, p<.01] and the RSAS competency subscale scores [r(128)=0.18, p<.05]. The scale scores did not differ significantly for the variables of gender, traveling abroad, multicultural experience, presence of refugee students in the class, and professional training about refugees. However, there was a significant effect of city size on teachers’ TMAS scores [F(3, 127)=4.09, p<.05]. Teachers who have spent most of their lives in a metropolis (M=73.89, SD=9.73) had higher TMAS scores than those have lived in cities (M=78.21, SD=6.03). Conclusions: There was a positive relationship between teachers’ multicultural attitudes and their attitudes towards refugee students. Teachers who had higher levels of multiculturalism had more positive attitudes in communication and competency with refugee students as well as overall attitudes toward refugee students. Multiculturalism was also found to be positively influenced by living in a metropolis. Implementations and policies that aim to improve teachers’ attitudes towards refugee students should support teachers’ multicultural attitudes.

Citation: Özdoğru, A. A., Dolu, F. N., Akan, A., & Aldemir, S. (2023). Multicultural attitudes of Turkish teachers and their attitudes towards refugee students [Conference presentation abstract]. International Journal of Psychology, 58(S1), 315. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.13001