Implicit theories of culture (ICTs) shape intergroup attitudes and behavior in educational settings as well as elsewhere. Color-blindness, multiculturalism and polyculturalism are among the most researched ITCs. Their benefits and weaknesses for developing fair and equitable intergroup relations have been demonstrated in social psychological research, but these findings are underused for the development of educational research and practice (Morris et al. 2015; Rosenthal & Levy, 2010, 2012; Osborn et al. 2020). In the field of intercultural teacher education, willingness to acknowledge the sociopolitical context as well as the courage to expose forms of injustice are increasingly present signifiers of the desirable orientation of teachers (Gorski 2016). We explored German and Finnish preservice teachers’ ICTs and how they are related to student teachers’ orientation to teaching for diversity and social justice. The research questions are: 1) How do ITCs manifest in student teachers’ self-evaluations? What kind of differences there are between German and Finnish preservice teachers? 2) What kind of ITC profiles can be identified among German and Finnish preservice teachers? 3) How are ITC profiles related to preservice teachers’ a) self-reported amount of experience of diversity, b) enthusiasm to teach in the context of diversity c) social justice orientation? German (n=477) and Finnish (n=379) preservice teachers at Bamberg University and Tampere University, respectively, responded to a self-report questionnaire in fall 2021. Research questions were explored by conducting descriptive analysis, multi group latent profile analysis (LPA) and analyses of variance (ANOVA). Polyculturalism emerged as the strongest and color-blindness the weakest ITC among both Finnish and German preservice teachers. Multiculturalism was rather typical in both groups. Finnish preservice teachers reported slightly higher levels of color-blindness than German preservice teachers, other statistically significant differences between countries were not found. The four ITC profiles identified by LPA were named 1) polyculturalist multiculturalism, 2) moderate polyculturalist multiculturalism 3) disengaged and 4) non-multicultural polyculturalism. ITC profiles were not related to preservice teachers’ experience of diversity, but they were associated with enthusiasm for teaching in the context of diversity (ENT) and orientation to social justice (SJB). Multiculturalism and polyculturalism have been identified as implicit theories of culture that have the most positive consequences for intergroup interaction; therefore, the finding about as most typical ICTs among preservice teachers can be positively regarded. Knowing more about how ITCs shape teachers’ pedagogical orientations will be important for developing intercultural teacher education.

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