Transforming the Multicultural Education of Teachers: Theory, Research, and Practice - Book Review

Theory Into Practice, Summer, 2003 by P. Taylor Webb

By Michael Vavrus. Teachers College Press, 2002. 217 pp., $24.95 (paper). ISBN 0-80774-260-0

Teacher educators, roll up your sleeves because there's plenty of work to do. Michael Vavrus has written an informative book about the multicultural education of teachers. Part argument and part example, this book describes the commitment needed from higher education to prepare culturally responsive teachers. Vavrus is concerned, rightly, with how the overwhelmingly White, female teaching force in the United States teaches to the diverse racial, ethnic, religious, and class perspectives found in today's schools. The increasing gap between diverse student populations and their nearly homogenous teachers demands a cogent response from those educating future teachers. Within these pages, Vavrus weaves his knowledge and experiences as a teacher educator into a compelling model for institutional building.

Vavrus' argument begins with the distinction between transformative multicultural education and other theories of multicultural education. He seeks a definition of multicultural education that resides largely in action, or transformation, instead of conceptions of multiculturalism that rely on principles of psychology and vague notions of humanness. The author argues that psychological conceptions of multicultural education mask the unequal power relations that produce inequitable school conditions. Instead, Vavrus believes that the idea of transformative multicultural education, aligned with principles of social justice, can help teachers eliminate racist practices in schools. The way to do this, he argues, is for future teachers to identify racist policies and practices in schools and change them. Vavrus, like many others, focuses on teachers as the key component in successful school reform. Ultimately, the definition of transformative multicultural education presented here provides readers with a framework from which to act and uphold America's commitment to civil rights.

Vavrus' argument is compelling. He does not simply advocate improving the academic achievement of marginalized students; he argues for an end to the practices and policies that create inequitable conditions in the first place. Not to be stopped there, he includes a thoughtful chapter on the effects of globalization as a factor contributing to inequitable schooling in the United States. By discussing the economic conditions of schooling, this book examines the moral implications of unequal material and political resources that teachers and teacher educators should consider when educating democratic citizens. Thus, teacher education programs that do not help students identify the distinction between educating democratic citizens and educating productive workers walk a slippery slope of moral and democratic relativism (Gutmann, 1999).

This book is not all polemical, but a thorough description of practices and policies that contribute to effective higher education programs of transformative multicultural education. As such, I found Vavrus' argument bolstered by the numerous examples of institutional building. In essence, he walked the talk. Whether starting from scratch or changing the organization from within, Vavrus equips teacher educators with specific items with which to improve the multicultural education of teachers. He discusses how program evaluation, conceptual frameworks, and reflection can provide the basis for excellent program improvement. Vavrus also provides readers with sample curricula, book suggestions, and performance-based rubrics that can help teacher educators begin their institutional transformation.

The final two chapters demonstrate how Vavrus, his colleagues, and students practice democracy within the teacher education program at Evergreen State College. These examples provide readers with concrete examples of "doing democracy." The faculty of Evergreen provides opportunities for preservice teachers and themselves to participate and practice the hard work of ensuring equity within the halls of the institution. I did wonder, though, about faculty disagreements as they strive for a democratic program. I would have appreciated an example or two about the ways the faculty and students resolved conflicts among themselves, no matter how minor, as they practiced democracy at the College. However, Vavrus did note that cooperating teachers' focus on control and behaviorist pedagogies challenge student teachers to implement democratic classroom practices. As such, the last chapter discusses how learning communities can galvanize individual attempts at democracy and provide powerful collective action in the schools. Citing a range of literature on teacher education reform, Vavrus examines the role of professional development schools as a potential idea for learning and transformation in schools. Thus, he completes his definition of transformative multicultural education by linking democracy with collective action between the school and university.