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Teachers College Record Volume 120, 050307, May 2018, 30 pages
Copyright © by Teachers College, Columbia University
0161-4681
The Ethnic Prejudice of Flemish Pupils: The
Role of Pupils’ and Teachers’ Perceptions of
Multicultural Teacher Culture
ROSELIEN VERVAET
Ghent University
MIEKE VAN HOUTTE
Ghent University
PETER A. J. STEVENS
Ghent University
Background/Context: As a result of migration processes, schools in Flanders (the Dutch-
speaking region of Belgium) are notably ethnically diverse. This evolution has coincided with
an increasing number of studies focusing on ethnic-minority pupils’ experiences of ethnic
prejudice from their ethnic majority counterparts.
Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: Taking into consideration the lack
of research on the importance of cultural school features to students’ ethnic prejudice, this
study investigates the association between a multicultural teacher culture and the ethnic
prejudice of Flemish secondary school pupils. In addition, the analysis tests the mediating role
of pupils’ perceptions of the multicultural educational practices of teachers and controls for
individual and school characteristics that have been shown to be related to ethnic prejudice.
Population/Participants/Subject/Research Design: Multilevel analyses were carried out on
data from 2,083 Flemish pupils and 636 teachers in 40 secondary schools, collected by means
of a written questionnaire.
Findings/Results: The main finding of this study is that a more multicultural teacher culture
is associated with reduced ethnic prejudice among Flemish pupils. However, the association
between a multicultural teacher culture and pupils’ ethnic prejudice is mediated by pupils’
perceptions of multicultural teaching.
Conclusions/Recommendations: These findings highlight the importance of including macro
factors, individual variables, and their interdependence when explaining ethnic prejudice.
The findings also show that what matters most for reducing prejudice among pupils is not
what teachers claim they do in terms of multicultural teaching, but pupils’ perceptions of
what their teachers do in practice.