Chapter 9: Assessing Multicultural Competence and Stress with Teachers

This study (1) examined the effectiveness of a workshop on multicultural competence for teachers, and (2) replicated a study examining how teachers’ perceptions of demands and resources in the classroom are related to their personal resources for coping with stress, job satisfaction, and intention to leave the profession. Participants were 77 elementary, middle, and high school teachers in a central Texas school district. Approximately one-third attended a workshop on dismantling stereotypes, and the remaining participants served as controls. All participants were given a vignette to assess multicultural competence and the Diversity Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ), which assessed stress experienced in dealing with students, parents, and administrators around diversity issues in school settings. At six-week follow-up, participants were contacted by e-mail to complete these measures again through an online survey system, as well as the following additional measure: the Preventive Resources Inventory— Self Acceptance Scale (PRI-Self-Acceptance), the Classroom Appraisal of Demands and Resources (CARD), a job satisfaction measure, and a measure of their Plans to Leave Current Job (PCLJ).

Results showed no significant time or intervention effect for vignette responses or teachers’ responses on the DEQ—Stress or Frequency scales for students, teachers, or administrators. However, participants who reported utilizing workshop materials and ideas did report statistically significantly higher scores on the preparedness scale of the DEQ for working with students and parents at time two. In order to analyze how classroom resources and demands were associated with stress, job satisfaction, and intention to leave the profession, we classified teachers into the following three groups based on their CARD scores: demands < resources, demands = resources, and demands > resources, and compared the three groups on a series of stress-related outcomes. There were statistically significant differences between the groups on job satisfaction, stress associated with classroom diversity (DEQ), and intention to leave the field. Post hoc comparisons revealed that the demands > resources group reported lower job satisfaction, higher stress, and more likelihood to leave the profession.

While not significantly different for workshop attendees, the results of this study suggested the potential utility of using vignettes to assess multicultural competence. Vignettes offer the opportunity to evaluate responses that approximate actual behaviors, and are not time intensive to complete. Further, the results suggested that teachers perceiving high demand levels in relationship to classroom resources experience lower levels of job satisfaction and may be more likely to leave teaching. Such teachers may also find it more demanding to address the needs of diverse classrooms.