Multicultural fiction in education: possibilities for preservice teachers’ empathetic responses

This study is part of a longitudinal research project exploring the role of fiction in teacher education. We examine how preservice teachers reflect on multicultural fiction set outside their own culture and time, and whether their empathetic responses to such fiction can be applied to their future students. The data consist of individual written reflections and group conversations from preservice teachers who were assigned to read and discuss To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This novel presents a social context that preservice teachers were not familiar with. The analysis reveals that engaging with multicultural fiction allowed preservice teachers to reflect on diverse people and events in an unfamiliar context, helping them to immerse themselves in this context. Additionally, the preservice teachers developed emotional connections with the characters. Our findings suggest that engaging with multicultural fiction can enhance preservice teachers’ capacity to cultivate empathy in their future classrooms, highlighting its value as an educational tool for future teachers.