Lydiah Nganga

Higher education institutions play an important role in preparing students for democratic participation, ethical leadership, civic responsibility, and engagement with complex social challenges. However, universities increasingly operate within contexts shaped by political polarization, misinformation, neoliberal reforms, and debates regarding their public purpose. Although democratic citizenship education has been widely examined in K–12 settings, less attention has been given to how faculty conceptualize and enact it in higher education across different national contexts. Guided by Democratic Citizenship Education (DCE), this comparative qualitative case study examined faculty perspectives from two higher education institutions in Kenya and the United States. Data were collected through faculty focus groups, collaborative research dialogues, institutional document analysis, and researcher field texts and analyzed using iterative thematic analysis. Findings revealed four interconnected themes: (a) higher education as a civic institution for democratic learning, (b) democracy as a lived practice grounded in ethics, dialogue, and relational responsibility, (c) context-specific pedagogical approaches to democratic citizenship education, and (d) decolonizing democratic education through local knowledge and transnational dialogue. Faculty in both contexts viewed democratic citizenship education as central to higher education’s civic mission, although their approaches reflected distinct historical, institutional, sociopolitical, and cultural influences. The study highlights the importance of culturally grounded, contextually responsive democratic learning in higher education.

Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) establishes a shared commitment to inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all

This qualitative study examines how early childhood and lower primary educators in Kenya conceptualize and describe their enactment of civic and democratic education within the framework of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC). Guided by a Critical Civic Relational lens, the study foregrounds democracy as a relational, ethical, and community-embedded practice rather than a discrete body of civic knowledge. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews, written reflections, and analysis of instructional artifacts, including lesson plans, classroom routines, assessment tools, and samples of student work. Findings indicate that educators perceive young children as capable of participating in democratic life through everyday classroom practices such as co-constructing norms, engaging in peer collaboration, exercising shared responsibility, and participating in culturally grounded civic activities. Civic learning was described as contextual and multidimensional, rooted in local knowledge systems, community values, and relational ethics. At the same time, educators identified structural constraints including large class sizes, limited professional development, and assessment pressures that shaped how democratic practices were realized. Rather than abandoning civic goals, teachers described adaptive strategies that embedded democratic values into daily routines and informal pedagogies. By centering educators’ perspectives alongside instructional artifacts, this study challenges deficit-oriented assumptions about young children’s civic capacities and contributes a Global South perspective to scholarship on early childhood democratic education. Implications are discussed for social studies educators, teacher preparation, curriculum policy, and future research on civic learning in early childhood contexts.

Multicultural education remains a foundational yet contested area of teacher preparation in increasingly diverse, unequal, and politically polarized educational contexts. This conceptual review examines multicultural education through culturally responsive, critical, and democratic approaches by synthesizing foundational scholarship and recent research published between 2023 and 2026. Although these traditions have been widely examined, they are often treated as separate perspectives, limiting the development of a coherent framework for teacher preparation across diverse educational settings. Guided by the question of how multicultural education is conceptualized, enacted, and sustained within teacher preparation programs, the review argues that multicultural education is most effective when embedded throughout curriculum, assessment, clinical practice, and program design rather than confined to stand-alone diversity courses. The synthesis demonstrates that implementation remains predominantly fragmented or additive, acknowledging diversity without systematically advancing equity. To address this limitation, the article proposes an integrative conceptual framework organized around three complementary pedagogical orientations—culturally responsive, critical, and democratic—operationalized through reflective practice, curriculum transformation, community and contextual engagement, and pedagogical translation. The framework further incorporates contemporary scholarship on intercultural education, culturally sustaining pedagogy, democratic citizenship, Indigenous education, and decolonizing perspectives, extending existing conceptualizations of multicultural teacher preparation. The review concludes by identifying persistent challenges related to institutionalization, faculty capacity, policy contexts, and assessment while outlining directions for future research and program development across diverse national and sociocultural contexts. By integrating recent scholarship within a unified conceptual framework, the article offers teacher educators, researchers, and policymakers a comprehensive model for designing coherent, equity-oriented teacher preparation programs.

This qualitative study examines how culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) and transformative learning are fostered in higher education when structured reflection, dialogic engagement, and feedback are intentionally embedded in teacher education coursework. Drawing on data from two university courses—one undergraduate course for preservice teachers and one graduate course for in-service educators (n = 44)—the study explores how equity-focused instructional design supports development toward inclusive, globally informed practice. Data sources included student reflective writing, an anonymous pre- and post-semester survey aligned with InTASC dispositions, instructor reflexive journals, peer observation reports, and course feedback artifacts. Of the 44 enrolled participants, 39 completed the pre-survey and 19 completed the post-survey; survey results were analyzed descriptively at the group level because responses were anonymous and could not be matched across time. Analysis followed Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis procedures, with trustworthiness strengthened through triangulation, peer debriefing, member checking with a subset of participants, and reflexive journaling. Findings revealed seven interconnected themes demonstrating how reflective writing, critical scholarship, multimedia exemplars, dialogic feedback, and iterative course design supported movement from awareness toward equity-oriented pedagogical praxis. Four overarching outcomes were especially salient: (a) expanded understandings of CRP as justice-oriented praxis; (b) increased capacity to identify and interrogate personal and systemic bias; (c) stronger connections between global and intercultural perspectives and locally grounded teaching commitments; and (d) reported pedagogical shifts toward more inclusive, equity-centered practice. Survey findings indicated a group-level shift from Agree toward Strongly Agree across equity-oriented dispositions, suggesting strengthened professional commitments while warranting cautious interpretation given unmatched responses and post-survey attrition. Comparative analysis also highlighted cohort-differentiated developmental trajectories, underscoring the importance of scaffolded, context-responsive approaches in equity-focused teacher education. Overall, the study demonstrates how intentional instructional design can position reflection as an ethical and professional stance that supports equity, inclusion, and global readiness across educator career stages.

Indigenous students continue to experience persistent educational inequities shaped by colonial histories, assimilationist schooling structures, and the marginalization of Indigenous knowledge systems. Although social–emotional learning (SEL) is widely promoted as foundational to student well-being and academic success, dominant SEL frameworks often reflect Eurocentric assumptions that overlook Indigenous understandings of relationality, land, identity, healing, and collective responsibility. In alignment with Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), this study examines how SEL and teacher professional development can be reimagined through Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK). Using a qualitative collaborative ethnographic design integrated with a structured literature synthesis, the study drew on two years of community-engaged research involving collaborative focus group dialogues, community interactions, and sustained relational engagement with Native teachers, Elders, cultural leaders, and community practitioners (N = 20). Thematic analysis revealed five interrelated themes: culturally grounded SEL frameworks, structural barriers and equity-driven strategies, culture as prevention and healing, schoolwide conditions that sustain belonging and identity, and alignment between Indigenous-centered SEL and SDG 4. Findings highlight the importance of cultural identity, ceremony, storytelling, Elder mentorship, talking circles, land-based learning, relational accountability, and community partnerships in supporting meaningful SEL. The findings also reveal tensions between Indigenous relational approaches to SEL and dominant educational systems shaped by standardization, accountability pressures, and assimilationist schooling structures. The study advances a conceptual model showing how Indigenous-centered SEL, mediated through relational teacher professional development, can support culturally sustaining, healing-centered, equity-oriented, and sovereignty-affirming educational outcomes aligned with SDG 4. In addition to contributing to SEL scholarship, the study offers implications for teacher education, educational policy, and school leadership seeking to advance culturally sustaining and community-responsive educational systems.

Multicultural education remains a foundational yet contested area of teacher preparation in increasingly diverse, unequal, and politically polarized educational contexts. This article offers a conceptual review of multicultural education in teacher preparation, focusing on culturally responsive, critical, and democratic approaches. Drawing on foundational and contemporary scholarship, including examples from research on culturally responsive pedagogy, critical curriculum analysis, intercultural competence, Indigenous education, and democratic teaching, the review synthesizes major conceptual traditions, pedagogical applications, and ongoing implementation challenges. The article argues that multicultural education is most effective when positioned as a foundational and integrative orientation across teacher preparation rather than as a stand-alone course or symbolic diversity requirement. It proposes a conceptual framework organized around three interrelated pedagogical orientations culturally responsive, critical, and democratic enacted through reflective practice, curriculum transformation, community and contextual engagement, and pedagogical translation. The review concludes by highlighting persistent tensions related to institutionalization, faculty preparedness, policy climates, and assessment, while identifying future directions for research and program development in diverse national, sociocultural, and decolonizing educational contexts. Overall, the article positions multicultural education as an ongoing project of pedagogical, curricular, and democratic renewal in teacher preparation.

This interpretive phenomenological study explores the perspectives of in-service, K-12 teachers in a graduate teacher education program on using goal setting to promote culturally responsive practices. The participants set two goals, documented their growth, and rated course instructional strategies that contributed to their learning. Data were collected through written reflections and responses to an anonymous midterm questionnaire in an online forum. Additional data came from the participants’ final reflections, the principal researcher’s reflective teaching notes, and end-of-semester reflections gathered by an unaffiliated critical friend after grades were posted. Coded data revealed that: 1. In-service teachers created goals that were relevant to specific areas of growth in professional learning and development in culturally responsive teaching practices and understanding diverse learners, 2. Goal setting, as a self-regulated learning strategy, serves to empower teachers toward teaching for promoting culturally responsive teaching practices, 3. Instructional supports and activities enhance personal development in becoming culturally responsive teachers, 4. Teacher educators’ reflection-on-action supports professional development.