Multiculturalism and a Research Perspective in Initial Teacher Education: Possible Dialogues

Abstract

This article describes action research within a multicultural pedagogical praxis orientation in a teacher education course at a higher education institution in Brazil during the academic year 2003. The narrative draws on the ways in which the course sought to develop a research perspective that could equip student teachers with elements that allow them to interrogate the constructions of social and cultural inequalities, as well as of the process of research itself and the impact of the researcher as a multicultural identity. The meanings, potentials and challenges of the research undertaken are discussed and should be relevant comparatively, not only because they highlight tensions of multiculturalism and seek to refine the concept of multicultural research, but also because local narratives reflect imbricated global issues that go beyond national borders, particularly concerning the role of research within teacher education in highly multicultural countries.