Pre Service Teachers on the threshhold of entering the actual classroom: Are they really prepared to manage the classroom diversities?
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Indian classrooms mirror the vast diversity that is omnipresent in India ranging from religion, culture, ethnicity, languages, region, socioeconomic , status as well as gender among the many. More than ever now there is pressing need to have teachers who are not only aware of their own culture but also have explicit knowledge of their students’ cultural background which they blend into the curriculum. Essentially in a multicultural country like India, teacher education programs shoulder the herculean task of not only preparing the would be teachers to be apt at teaching methodologies and classroom management but also to be able to comprehending and successfully work with students from culturally, linguistically, religiously and socially diverse backgrounds. To accomplish this goal, teacher educators need to develop a sound understanding of Pre-service teachers' level and nature of sensitivity toward diversity issues and of the factors that might impact these views. The present research focused on the attitude and beliefs of pre service teachers regarding diversity and gauged their preparedness to handle a multicultural classroom pre and post an intervention program on meaning, relevance of diversity, diversity in Indian classrooms as well as pedagogical strategies to address diversity. One Group Pre-test Post-test Design was adopted. The sample comprised of 40 first year B.Ed students of a particular Teacher Training Institutions in Mumbai. Purposive sampling technique was used. Tools used were Rating scale on Attitude towards Diversity and a semi structured questionnaire. Data Analysis was done in terms of frequency and percentages. The major findings of the study revealed that in pre-test most pre service teachers believed in suppressing, ignoring or being neutral towards diversity issues in classrooms while in post-test their responses were more towards handling diversities .the pre service teachers expected teacher training programs to make them more trained in