ABSTRACT
In my work in initial teacher education, I have always eschewed separate ‘multicultural’ courses or bits of courses, be they optional or compulsory, rather to the surprise of like-minded colleagues in other Colleges, and of committed teachers, HMIs and others; but I think I can persuade them that, in the long run, the slow and patient process of transforming the entire programme is the only way to achieve the aims that I would set for teacher education in the multicultural context. My antipathy towards such special courses originated when I first came into teacher education, and inherited a course which was offered to second year students on Tuesday afternoons as one of a range of activities as heterogeneous as guitar playing and rock climbing. The ‘hidden curriculum’ located it as either a soft option; or at best, as a source of tips for dealing with some rather peculiar children that you might be unlucky enough to meet on teaching practice, and/or as an ornamental addition to the College reference for employers. More fundamentally, it became clear to me that no matter how exciting, sensitive or challenging I might seek to make the course, there was no virtue in trying to make it a compulsory element in the teacher education programme. It would have stuck out in grotesque isolation, far removed from the perceptions of most of my colleagues at that time, and a source of suspicion and resentment for a substantial number of students.
