Immigration to Estonia has increased five times which means Estonian educational landscape has gotten increasingly multicultural. As Estonia is moving towards integrated school models, preparing teachers to be effective in multicultural classroom in essential. The last TALIS study (Taimalu et al., 2019) showed that although third of Estonian teachers have experience with working in a diverse classroom, only 15,7% of teachers believe they are well prepared for this. 

The center of intercultural teaching competence is the ability to communicate with students who differ by their native language, cultural background or by other aspects from the teacher themselves. It's essential this communication supports the students' learning as well as be respectful, inclusive, and culturally sensitive. (Dimitrov & Haque, 2016) Through literature review we came to the conclusion that culturally responsive teaching is an approach that implements intercultural teaching competence, and thus would be an effective way to develop Estonian teachers' competencies to support them in being successful with teaching in diverse classrooms. Culturally responsive teaching a pedagogical approach that puts the students' academical improvement to the center, using students' cultural backgrounds and previous experiences in all subjects (Gay, 2000). Our research into previous studies showed that culturally responsive teaching has mostly been researched in the United States of America and hasn't gotten a lot of attention in European countries. The studies are mostly qualitative and have rather small sample, focusing on students' well-being and academical improvement. 

Our research problem was that we do not have a clear and well implementable knowledge of what should a training developing teachers' intercultural teaching competencies and culturally responsive teaching skills be like in Estonia. The purpose of this study was to develop an in-service training based on study circles methodology to improve teachers' culturally responsive teaching skills and intercultural teaching competencies. Based on this, we formulated the following research questions: what should the in-service training that develops teachers' culturally responsive teaching skills consist of; how does teaching using elements of study circle methodology support the development of teachers' culturally responsive teaching skills and related intercultural teaching competencies? 

Through this action research we developed an in-service training that consisted of a short introductory lecture and six study circles. Each study circle (Suda, 2001) had a specific topic that was discussed with the participants. The topics included stereotype threat, self-reflection, learning materials, learning environment, case studies and creation of learning plans. 

Our sample consisted of 18 teachers from two different Estonian schools. The teachers were with various experiences and professional backgrounds. The groups met in their own schools until it wasn't possible anymore due to the pandemic. That's when the training was moved to an online platform. 

The conducted study was an action research which main focus was to develop an in-service training for teachers to develop their culturally responsive teaching skills. The ADDIE model (Branch, 2009) was used as a baseline for the action research. First stage was the analysis where the need for a training like this was determined. This was followed by the planning and design of the training. Third stage was development of learning activities and specific study circles. This was the stage where we determined that study circles need to be preceded by a short lecture to give participating teachers basic knowledge of cultural theories, culturally responsive teaching theories, and benefits of implementing it in a multicultural classroom. Fourth stage was implementation. We conducted the lectures and six study circles in two different Estonian schools, having a sample of 18 teacher altogether. The period of implementation was October through January, 2019-2020. Throughout implementation period we gathered the data through teachers' self-reflections, homework assignments and research diary. The final stage, currently ongoing, is the evaluation. Analysis itself is qualitative. We are coding the written homeworks, research diary and using numeric vales from self-reflection forms as supportive data. The self-reflection forms included open questions that give us information on the need for further developments of the in-service training.

As our analysis has yet to be finished, I can only discuss the findings we currently have, and are expecting. This far the analysis shows that through participating the in-service training, teachers became more self-critical and aware of their practices. Self-analysis and completed homeworks show an increase in awareness when it comes to best practices of teaching in a multicultural classroom. Extracts of research diary and completed homeworks show teachers’ knowledge of culturally responsive teaching as well as practical skills related to it, increase. Through the in-service study circles teachers began to analyze who are the students in their classroom, which methods work most effectively in teaching these students as well as how to design the physical and emotional learning environment to support students of different backgrounds. The main ideas that teachers pointed out in discussions were the importance of developing general competencies (incl. critical thinking, analytical skills) through culturally responsive teaching as well as adaption and creation of learning materials to suit students with different language skills and cultural backgrounds.

Branch, R. M. (2009). Instructional Design: The ADDIE Approach. Georgia: Springer. Dimitrov, N. & Haque, A. (2016a). Intercultural teaching competence: A multi-disciplinary framework for instructor reflection. Intercultural Education: Special issue on Learning at Intercultural Intersections. (27)5, 437-456. Gay, G. (2000). Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research, and Practice. New York: Teachers College Press. Suda, L. (2001). Learning Circles – Democratic Pools of Knowledge. ARIS Resources Bulletin, 12(3), 1-4. Taimalu, M. jt. (2019). Õpetajad ja koolijuhid elukestvate õppijatena. OECD rahvusvahelise õpetamise ja õppimise uuringu TALIS 2018 tulemused. I osa. Tallinn: Haridus- ja Teadusministeerium.