Monocultural Education in a Multicultural Society:The Case of Teacher Preparation in Botswana

Abstract

In several policy documents reviewing the country’s education system, the Ministry of Education has made noteworthy pronouncements on how to improve teacher education in Botswana. This mainly concerns equipping teachers with pedagogical skills to better address the learning needs of the linguistically and culturally diverse student population. Even though at policy level it is acknowledged that Botswana is a multicultural society, at implementation stage there is no such evidence. This article argues that lack of implementation of policy pronouncements contradicts the government’s aspirations to provide equal learning opportunity to all learners. The infusion of courses in multicultural education at teacher education level is seen as an alternative.