PRESCHOOL EDUCATORS' CLASSROOM PRACTICES RELATED TO MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION IN MALAYSIA

In a multicultural and democratic society such as Malaysia, to foster respect for religious, linguistic, and cultural diversity, especially in education is a challenge for preschool educators. Preschool educators in Malaysia increasingly have to cope with the demands of a multicultural population. This situation indicates the need for multicultural inputs in the preschool curriculum which includes the activities and assessment that should be carried out by the preschool educators. This paper will discuss the findings of a study on multicultural education focusing on activities and assessment conducted in northern Malaysia. The aim of the study is to determine the extent to which preschool educators incorporate multiculturalism in the curriculum focusing on the activities and assessment. In addition, the challenges or problems encountered while carrying out activities and assessment on multicultural education in their classroom were identified. A survey was conducted including 119 preschool educators in northern part of Malaysia. The data was collected through questionnaire using four point likert scale and open-ended questions. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were employed to obtain the answers related to classroom practices of preschool educators incorporating multicultural education.