Effects of pre-service teachers’ cultural competence on their social justice and self-efficacy beliefs: a cross-cultural comparison between Turkey, South Korea and the United States

This study is a comparative research investigating whether cultural competence of preservice teachers is causally related to their social justice and self-efficacy beliefs in Turkey, South Korea and the United States. The study group involved pre-service teachers from Turkey (n = 560), South Korea (n = 790) and the United States (n = 352). The model was developed in the study to discern pattern of relationships among cultural competence acting on social justice and self-efficacy beliefs via multiple causal pathways. Multisample structural equation model was performed to test the equivalence of relationships among variables in the three samples by estimating the model separately for Turkish, S. Korean, and US groups. The study results revealed that cultural competence of pre-service teachers has positive effect on their social justice and self-efficacy beliefs in all three samples. The results indicated that there is a strongest effect of pre-service teachers’ cultural competence on their social justice beliefs in S. Korea. There was a strongest effect of pre-service teachers’ cultural competence on their self-efficacy beliefs in Turkey. The implications for academic research and teacher training are discussed.