Cultural plunge: a critical approach for multicultural development in teacher education

This report utilizes a qualitative methodology to investigate an educational approach designed to promote critical consciousness and multicultural understanding among undergraduate and graduate students in teacher education. The approach, referred to as a ‘cultural plunge’, involves intense exposure to social and cultural settings in which the students' norms are clearly in the minority. Initial encounters were followed by personal reflection and subsequent small‐group and whole‐class analyses. The findings revealed courage in the face of fear, social criticism and critical reflection, and identification with and empathy for others. The evidence suggests that the approach may indeed provide opportunities for critical growth and multicultural development. However, there are also potential liabilities related to use of the cultural plunge as an educational approach, including the possibility of reducing the ‘other’. Strengths and limitations are examined in detail, and implications are discussed for theory and practice in teacher education.