Preservice Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices of Educational Diversity in the Sultanate of Oman

Although there are many studies on diversity in education, the beliefs and expectation of preservice teachers towards diversity are sometimes neglected in Omani higher education, which typically give minimal attention to issues of diversity or to reflective discourse in their coursework. This study examines preservice teachers’ beliefs about diversity as key aspect in improving educational practices. The quantitative-descriptive study was carried out with 319 preservice teachers enrolled in the college of education at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), Oman. . The results show that preservice teachers ranked diversification of teaching methods as their strongest belief around teaching learners from diverse backgrounds. The analysis revealed a significant relationship between diversity and the two variables of nationality and age. One of the most significant findings from the one-way analysis of variance was that their opinions regarding diversity did not differ according to the gender of pre-service teachers. The discussion focused on the importance of preparing preservice teachers for dealing with diverse students in institutions of higher education.