Due to high numbers of immigrants, more and more pupils in Germany have a migrant background. Dealing with this cultural diversity in classrooms requires specific professional competences that teachers need to acquire during teacher education. According to the competence model proposed by Baumert and Kunter (2013), teachers’ professional competence does not only include knowledge but also non-cognitive aspects like values and beliefs. Regarding teaching in culturally diverse settings, cultural beliefs are of particular relevance and, therefore, are examined in this study. Cultural beliefs can be defined as persistent ideas, subjective views and expectations about (the coexistence of) people of different cultural backgrounds (Hachfeld et al. 2012). Teachers’ cultural beliefs have consequences for how they deal with cultural, ethnic and religious diversity in their teaching practice. Often, two types of cultural beliefs are distinguished: multicultural and egalitarian beliefs. Both beliefs “reflect positive attitudes toward immigration”, but they “differ in how they encounter, interpret, and respond to diversity” (Hachfeld et al. 2011, p. 987). Teachers' cultural beliefs, and in particular multicultural beliefs, are expected to influence the beliefs and attitudes of their students and to promote or inhibit school integration and the educational success of children with a migrant background (Lorenz and Müller 2017; Hachfeld et al. 2011; Civitillo et al. 2016; Hachfeld et al. 2015). The present study analyses the longitudinal development of cultural beliefs of (prospective) teachers in Germany, thereby focusing on changes through transitions from higher education to preparatory service (in-service training) and from preparatory service to employment. Referring to the opportunity-use model (Fend 1980; Helmke 2012; Zierer and Seel 2012) and empirical results from other studies, we expect cultural beliefs to be affected by learning opportunities and experiences in teaching culturally diverse students. It is known that the social context of teacher education students strongly influences their perception and acceptance of cultural diversity (Cardona Moltó et al. 2010). However, in the course of time, their beliefs should increasingly build on their own experiences in teacher education and teaching in multicultural classes (Lorenz and Müller 2017). Furthermore, we expect prospective teachers' cultural beliefs to decline as they enter the teaching profession, as beginning teachers have to subject their beliefs, which have been shaped under sheltered conditions at university, to a reality check and might modify them in view of the challenges of dealing with multicultural classes (Scholz and Scheer 2017; Kunter et al. 2011).
While most studies on the cultural beliefs of (prospective) teachers focus on specific types of schools (e. g., Wischmeier 2012) or teaching subjects (e. g., Hachfeld et al. 2011), this study is able to compare (prospective) teachers of different educational levels (e. g., primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary education) and to take the whole range of subjects into account. As (children of) immigrants are overrepresented in lower secondary schools and underrepresented in upper secondary education (Autorengruppe Bildungsberichterstattung 2016), teachers have more or less opportunities to learn teaching in multicultural classes. Consequently, their cultural beliefs may evolve differently. We also include self-efficacy expectations for teaching students with a migrant background in our analysis, as previous studies showed that they are highly correlated with cultural beliefs (e. g., Bender-Szymanski 2000; Hachfeld 2011).

The empirical analyses are based on data from Starting Cohort “First-Year Students” of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), which accompanies first-year students of the winter semester 2010/2011 throughout their studies and into their professional lives (Blossfeld and Maurice 2011; doi: 10.5157/NEPS:SC5:11.0.0). The Panel of Teacher Education Students (LAP) is closely linked to the NEPS. It examines (prospective) teachers in the sample from higher education to preparatory service and up to the first years in the teaching profession applying an additional survey programme. Data on cultural beliefs and experiences with teaching in multicultural classes were collected in two online surveys in 2016 (n = 1,972) and 2018 (n = 1,312). A total of n = 1,026 panel members in the target group participated in both panel waves. To measure cultural beliefs, a modified version of the Teacher Cultural Beliefs Scale (RCBS; Hachfeld et al. 2011) was used. This instrument consists of two subscales – multicultural and egalitarian “colour-blind” beliefs. These scales have an acceptable internal consistency at both measurement points: α1=0.75 and α2=0.66 for multicultural beliefs and α1=0.80 and α2=0.76 for egalitarian beliefs. Self-efficacy for teaching immigrant students was assessed by a three-item version of the scale developed by the COACTIV project (Max-Planck-Institut für Bildungsforschung 2010). This scale has a high internal consistency with α1= 0.91 and α2=0.90. To analyse the impact of learning opportunities and teaching experiences in multicultural classes on the development of cultural beliefs and to investigate the relationship between self-efficacy and cultural beliefs, we use autoregressive cross-lagged models (Selig and Little 2012). Apart from the aforementioned explanatory variables we also take into account selected individual characteristics that are expected to have an impact on (the development of) cultural beliefs, such as having a migrant background oneself and partner or friends with a migrant background. To deal with missing values, the Full Information Maximum Likelihood (FIML) method is used.

Since the longitudinal analysis has yet to be performed, only preliminary cross-sectional and descriptive results can be presented here. Generally, the respondents report very positive cultural beliefs (multicultural beliefs t1: M=5.32, t2: M=5.20; egalitarian beliefs t1: M=5.16, t2: M=5.15; min=1, max=6), whereby students (st), teacher candidates in preparatory service (ps) and employed teachers (et) differ only slightly from each other (multicultural beliefs t1: Mst=5.23, Mps=5.21, Met=5.25; egalitarian beliefs t1: Mst=5.18, Mps=5.13, Met=5.18). From 2016 to 2018, there is a slight decline in cultural beliefs on the aggregate level (multicultural beliefs t2: Mst=5.16, Mps=5.16, Met=5.21; egalitarian beliefs t2: Mst=5.13, Mps=5.15, Met=5.14). The self-efficacy expectations for teaching in multicultural classes are also high on average (t1: M=4.40, T2: M=4.36; min=1; max=6), with slightly lower scores for teacher candidates in preparatory service than for students and employed teachers. In contrast to cultural believes, self-efficacy slightly increases over time on average for students an people in preparatory service, while the mean value for employed teachers decreases (t1: Mst=4.47; Mps=4.29; Met=4.50; t2: Mst=4.54; Mps=4.31; Met=4.34). As expected, two years after the first panel measurement of learning opportunities, respondents on average report more learning opportunities (t1: 3.25, T2: 3.37; min=1, max=6) and professional experience in teaching students with a migrant background (t1: 2.39, t2: 2.79; min=0, max=4). Cultural beliefs are considered to be key to teaching successfully in culturally diverse settings (Hachfeld et al. 2011). Therefore, our study addresses a topic that is crucial for teachers and research on teaching. Although we use data from Germany, we expect to provide results that apply to other school systems as well.

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