In pursuit of being Canadian: examining the challenges of culturally relevant education in teacher education programs

This article is about an ongoing initiative that addresses the challenges confronted by teacher candidates to whom English is an additional language and whose cultures are considered different from those of the Canadian mainstream. The initiative is a seminar, Language and Cultural Engagement, in which teacher candidates are prepared for practice teaching through discussions and presentations about diversity, language, and culture; video recorded, peer and teacher analyzed ‘rehearsal’ classroom teaching in a partnership school; and Enriched English as a Second Language lessons. The article is based on data collected through surveys at the beginning and end of the seminar, as well as on instructors' reflections working with teacher candidates from diverse cultural backgrounds dealing with the nuances of the Canadian classroom. Three concerns, concern for authority, language, and cultural acceptance, which were identified as impacting teacher candidates' practice are examined. In addition, the degree to which these concerns were reduced through the seminar is presented. Nonetheless, the concern for cultural acceptance remained unchanged and was identified by teacher candidates as fundamentally important to how they were viewed by their host teachers as knowledgeable, qualified professionals.