Teachers’ beliefs and characteristics predictive of their willingness to cultivate a safe, ethnically inclusive school environment

This is a self-archived version of an original article. This version may differ from the original in pagination and typographic details. Author(s): Title: Year: Version: Copyright: Rights: Rights url: Please cite the original version: CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Teachers’ beliefs and characteristics predictive of their willingness to cultivate a safe, ethnically inclusive school environment © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. Published version Khanolainen, Daria; Nesterova, Yulia; Semenova, Elena; Fatkhulova, Elvira; Trach, Jessica Khanolainen, D., Nesterova, Y., Semenova, E., Fatkhulova, E., & Trach, J. (2024). Teachers’ beliefs and characteristics predictive of their willingness to cultivate a safe, ethnically inclusive school environment. International Journal of Educational Research, 127, Article 102420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2024.102420 2024 International Journal of Educational Research 127 (2024) 102420 Available online 17 July 2024 0883-0355/© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Teachers’ beliefs and characteristics predictive of their willingness to cultivate a safe, ethnically inclusive school environment Daria Khanolainen a , 1 , * , Yulia Nesterova b , 1 , Elena Semenova c , Elvira Fatkhulova c , Jessica Trach c a Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Jyv¨ askyl¨ a, Finland b School of Education, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom c Independent Researcher ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Multiculturalism Ethnic inclusion Safe learning environment Ethnicity-based exclusion Teachers Russia ABSTRACT This study fills an important gap in our understanding of how teachers’ beliefs and characteristics influence their willingness to engage in classroom practices that promote ethnic inclusivity and prevent ethnicity-based exclusion and conflicts among students. A sample of 454 in-service Russian teachers completed an online survey that included questions asking about teachers’ own ethnic background, the ethnic diversity of their school, their beliefs about multiculturalism, empathic anger experienced in response to witnessing ethnicity-based mistreatment, and job satisfaction. The results revealed that positive multicultural beliefs, empathic anger, and job satisfaction were positively predictive of teachers’ willingness to promote ethnic inclusivity in the classroom. 1. Introduction Globally, education systems are increasingly faced with the challenge of accommodating a growing diversity of cultures, religions, languages, and ethnic backgrounds. An important mandate of schools is to create a safe and inclusive school environment where students from different ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds can flourish (Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989). While traditionally inclusive schools referred to the inclusion of students with disabilities specifically (Beˇ si´ c, 2020), the modern definition has been widened to include every child, regardless of their ability, identity, and background, to ensure that everyone’s right to quality education is fulfilled (UNESCO, 2020). For example, Nishina et al. (2019) define inclusive schools as those that cultivate positive social experiences for students of all backgrounds and “provide safe opportunities for all students to practice cross-group interactions and engage in cross-group friendships” (p. 306). A safe and ethnically inclusive multicultural school supports social adjustment and integration among students by emphasizing equality, respect for diversity, and cultivating feelings of safety and confidence towards their teachers (¨ Ozdemir et al., 2021). A safe and ethnically inclusive multicultural school is also vital for students’ feelings of school belonging, as feeling welcomed and included fosters trust, friendship, and safety (Nergaard et al., 2020), and promotes healthy psychological and social adjustment (Nishina et al., 2019). Teachers play a critical role in either nurturing a safe and ethnically inclusive school environment or allowing identity-based bias * Corresponding author at: University of Jyv¨ askyl¨ a, Huone RUU B325, Ruusupuisto, Alvar Aallon katu 9, 40600 Jyv¨ askyl¨ a, Finland. E-mail address: [email protected] (D. Khanolainen). 1 These authors have contributed equally to this work and share first authorship Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Educational Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijedures https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2024.102420 Received 14 October 2023; Received in revised form 8 July 2024; Accepted 11 July 2024 International Journal of Educational Research 127 (2024) 102420 2 and social exclusion to persist as it is their beliefs, attitudes, expectations, and values that shape the classroom environment. As Gay (2020, p. 43) notes, teachers’ “racial, ethnic, and cultural attitudes and beliefs are always present, often problematic, and profoundly significant in shaping teaching conceptions and actions.” Regarding students from diverse cultural backgrounds, previous research identified teachers as a source of negative influence on students’ learning experience and academic achievement due to their lowered expectations for minority students (although not all ethnic minority groups; see Glock, 2016; Meissel et al., 2017; Rubie-Davies et al., 2006; van den Bergh et al., 2010). Such beliefs often stem from stereotypes and prejudgements about the capabilities and resources of students from diverse ethnic backgrounds (Krolak-Schwerdt et al., 2013; Parks & Kennedy, 2007; Vervaet et al., 2016). In addition to impacting minority students’ academic success, negative attitudes among teachers may also jeopardize their safety at school. Research shows that teachers’ avoidance of dealing with student aggression is strongly linked to higher rates of reported student victimization (Marachi et al., 2007; Yoon et al., 2020). In contrast, a study by Peter and Dalbert (2010) found that students who felt that teachers’ behaviours towards them were fair and equitable reported better experiences of class climate and stronger beliefs in a just world. Students were also found to prefer teachers who are proactive in deterring bullying, and are directly involved in solving bully-victim conflicts (Crothers et al., 2006). Consequently, a key aspect of creating a safe and ethnically inclusive school environment includes teachers’ ability to respond to various needs of diverse student populations, including preventing and handling discriminatory and aggressive behaviors towards students from different ethnic/cultural backgrounds. It is the role of teachers to establish such an environment at school and to ensure that they recognize and confront their biases, preventing these biases from influencing their judgments and behaviors toward students from different backgrounds. 1.1. The Russian school context As in other countries in Europe, teachers in Russia work in increasingly complex and sensitive multicultural environments that include both ethnic and religious minorities indigenous to Russia, and newly arrived children of migrant and refugee families. Although today, 80 % of the population identify as ethnically Russian (russkiy as opposed to rossiianin which means a citizen of Russia), the country has been multicultural, multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, and multi-religious for hundreds of years, and is now home to more than 190 diffrerent Indigenous, ethnic, cultural, religious, and linguistic minority groups (Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, 2010). Historically, these groups have experienced marginalisation, including within formal education institutions that are Russified and tend to exclude minority knowledges, values, cultural references, languages, and histories that are viewed as deficient (Khanolainen et al., 2022; Prina, 2014). Furthermore, although migration is still a relatively novel matter for contemporary Russia, the numbers of foreign citizens arriving to the country are growing rapidly and this has already made Russia one of the top five destination countries for migrants globally (McAuliffe & Triandafyllidou, 2021). This means that today Russian teachers are responsible for helping with the acculturation of many migrant children, in addition to supporting the country’s indigenous ethnic minorities, but it is unclear if teachers are adequately prepared to rise to this challenge. It has been previously found that Russian teachers have positive attitudes towards cultural diversity in society at large, but they are less welcoming of cultural diversity in their classrooms (Khairutdinova et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2022). Research further revealed that Russian teachers often see migrant students as hard-working, but also ‘hard to teach’ (Wang et al., 2022). Importantly, Russian educators lament a lack of professional support that they see as necessary to be able to accommodate the needs of minority students (Gromova et al., 2021). A majority of Russian teachers also believe that children’s acculturation is mostly facilitated not through direct teaching activities, but through communication and games with peers (Gromova et al., 2021). For this reason, the socio-emotional environment in the diverse classroom requires special attention from teachers, as social exclusion and poor peer relations could be extremely detrimental for the academic and social development of children from minority backgrounds. Regarding the issue of creating a safe multicultural school environment, aggressive behavior that disrupts peer relationships and school safety, such as psychological and physical bullying, persists in Russian schools. According to a recent global report, Russia is among the top countries for school bullying prevalence (Inchley et al., 2020). This likely includes bullying directed at religious and ethnic minority groups, though the issue of ethnicity-based bullying has hardly been studied in the Russian context. Considering that Russian students rarely bully overtly in front of their teachers (Khanolainen et al., 2021), it is important for teachers to work proactively to prevent bullying and support peaceful peer relations, even when no explicit aggression is observed. The Russian context is unique in that, in contrast to countries where ethnic and cultural diversity is a relatively new phenomenon, diversity has been part of Russia for centuries. According to previous research, teachers with more experience of teaching in culturally diverse settings exhibit less prejudice (Vervaet et al., 2016) and have more positive implicit attitudes towards ethnic minorities (Glock et al., 2019b). By examining the case of Russia, we intend to reflect on whether modern-day Russian teachers are well-prepared to accommodate the needs of a diverse student body and whether findings from the Russian context differ from those reported in other countries with shorter histories of multicultural relations. The current study sought to understand how teachers’ attitudes and values (e.g., multicultural beliefs, and empathic anger experienced when witnessing ethnic discrimination among students), individual characteristics (e.g., minority status, and ethnic match with students), and experience of the school context (e.g., school diversity and job satisfaction) influence their willingness to build a safe and ethnically inclusive school environment. 1.3. Teachers’ multicultural beliefs One important factor that may influence whether teachers are willing to invest in creating inclusive spaces for ethnic minority students is their beliefs about multiculturalism. Multicultural beliefs refer to the beliefs teachers hold towards diversity in their classroom and society. As Harjatanaya and Hoon (2020) note, teachers’ multicultural beliefs “influence their decisions and views when D. Khanolainen et al. International Journal of Educational Research 127 (2024) 102420 3 it comes to managing, teaching and fostering the value of diversity” (p. 23), and thus their decisions and views regarding cultivating a safe and ethnically inclusive school environment. Teachers who hold positive multicultural beliefs see the diversity of the student body as a call to qualitatively change their approaches towards interethnic inclusivity and to build a community where all students feel included (Dubbeld et al., 2019; Horenczyk & Tatar, 2002; Nergaard et al., 2020; Nishina et al., 2019). For example, Hachfeld et al. (2015) conducted a study with secondary school teachers in Germany and found that teachers who held multicultural beliefs benefited minority students’ learning as they took their students’ cultural background into consideration when developing lessons, had higher enthusiasm for teaching immigrant students, and held less negative stereotypical beliefs about minority students’ motivation for learning. In contrast, teachers with negative multicultural beliefs expected minority students to assimilate into the majority group’s culture and did not acknowledge that minority students might have different needs (Hachfeld et al., 2015). In addition, teachers who hold negative multicultural beliefs tend to be less likely to initiate fundamental structural or pedagogical changes to accommodate minority students (Horenczyk & Tatar, 2002), which has been found to be negatively related to school inclusivity and teachers’ stress levels (Dubbeld et al., 2019). It remains unclear, however, whether teachers’ multicultural beliefs also predict their willingness to cultivate a safe and ethnically inclusive school environment by addressing the quality of social relationships among students from diverse backgrounds (e.g., preventing student conflicts and bias-based bullying). 1.4. Empathic anger In addition to teachers’ multicultural beliefs, it is important to understand how teachers feel about and respond to minority students being excluded and/or mistreated by their peers as this could be an important motivator behind teachers’ willingness to take proactive stance in prevention efforts and foster a safe and ethnically inclusive environment. Research shows that empathy (often operationalised via feelings of compassion and sympathy for the victim) is a significant predictor of teachers’ helping behaviour in peer agression situations (Boulton et al., 2014; Craig et al., 2000; Fischer et al., 2021); the more empathetic teachers are, the more likely they are to identify bullying, to view it as serious, and to intervene (Craig et al., 2000; VanZoeren & Weisz, 2018). Given the evidence that teachers often struggle with managing their uncomfortable emotions in multicultural classrooms (e.g., feelings of guilt, embarrassment, and uneasiness) (Zembylas & Papamichael, 2017), it is worthwhile to examine if different feelings and emotional responses of teachers might be linked with different types of multicultural beliefs. In a theoretical article, Warren (2018) argued that empathy is essential for culturally sensitive teaching because it allows teachers to develop new perspectives and a deeper understanding of their students’ cultures. Complementing this theoretical work, new empirical research is emerging. For example, Abacioglu et al. (2020) found a link between perspective-taking skills and culturally sensitive teaching. Lin and Chung (2024) extended this work by conducting a mediation analysis, discovering that teacher empathy (operationalized via perspective-taking) was positively associated with multicultural beliefs, which in turn were positively associated with multicultural knowledge and skills. Similarly, a study with mental health counselors revealed that higher levels of empathy predicted better abilities to serve diverse communities (Constantine, 2001). In the present study, we relied on the concept of empathic anger, that is, anger experienced in situations when another person has been mistreated or harmed. Empathic anger has been described as a thoughtful analysis of an unjust situation which motivates constructive, non-violent action to address the injustice (Bringle et al., 2018). It has been linked with a higher likelihood to defend a victim of bullying, a lower likelihood to remain passive when bullying happens (Pozzoli et al., 2017), and a higher likelihood to punish a transgressor (Vitaglione & Barnett, 2003). In spite of the apparent importance of empathic anger for responding to social injustice, empathic anger is often overlooked in research on helping and prosocial behaviour (Pozzoli et al., 2017), and to our knowledge, has not yet been brought into the field of multicultural education. Previous research has suggested that individuals who are higher in empathic anger are more accepting, non-prejudicial, democratic, inclusive, helping, and justice-oriented (Bringle et al., 2018; Vitaglione & Barnett, 2003). According to Bringle et al. (2018) “empathic anger predisposes the person to act at a broader, more systemic level of social change rather than only helping individuals” (p. 7). Thus, empathic anger would seem to be a relevant emotional reaction that might also predict teachers’ intentions to prevent ethnicity-based exclusion, conflicts and bullying and promote peaceful intercultural interactions. By testing empathic anger as a predictor of teachers’ willingness to promote a safe and ethnically inclusive environment at school we aim to bridge two lines of research: studies on empathic anger, prosocial behavior, and responses to bullying (Bringle et al., 2018; Pozzoli et al., 2017; Vitaglione & Barnett, 2003) and studies on empathy, multicultural beliefs, and culturally sensitive teaching (Abacioglu et al., 2020; Lin & Chung, 2024). 1.5. Teachers’ job satisfaction in multicultural environments Job satisfaction is a combination of the extent to which people are fulfilled by and satisfied with their job and its status, the status of their mental health and wellbeing (e.g., stress, burnout), their self-efficacy and autonomy, and the degree their needs are met regarding pay, professional growth, working conditions, support, relationships, own aspirations, and treatment (Buonomo et al., 2020; Spector, 1997; Zembylas & Papanastasiou, 2006). Job satisfaction is important as it impacts teachers’ behaviours and commitments especially regarding changes and challenges in the classroom and society caused by increased diversity. To our knowledge, there is no research that directly connects teachers’ job satisfaction to their willingness to promote ethnic inclusivity. However, teachers’ stereotypical expectations related to cultural and ethnic diversity, biased perceptions of ethnic minorities, and assimilationist views have been shown to be related to higher levels of diversity-related burnout and lower levels of self-efficacy (two aspects of job dis/satisfaction) (Amitai et al., 2020; Costa et al., 2023; Glock et al., 2019a; Tatar & Horenczyk, 2003). Tatar and Horenczyk (2003) explain that efforts to deny and ignore diversity may be more detrimental to teachers’ wellbeing than learning to embrace it. However, Dubbeld et al. D. Khanolainen et al. International Journal of Educational Research 127 (2024) 102420 4 (2019) caution that teachers may be more inclined to adopt negative multicultural beliefs when attempts to implement pluralistic policies fail due to lack of training and other reasons. Thus, efforts to better prepare teachers to work effectively with students from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds may result in benefits for teachers (in terms of greater job satisfaction) as well as better outcomes for their students. 1.6. Ethnic identity and ethnic match A concern shown in many studies is that minority students are primarily educated by teachers who belong to majority backgrounds (Magos, 2007; Nesterova, 2019; Sales et al., 2011; Zembylas et al., 2011). Glock and Schuchart (2020) found that the ethnic match between teachers and students (i.e., whether teachers and students share the same ethnic background) can benefit students’ academic achievement. A reason for this might be that majority background teachers are better equipped to serve majority students and are less sensitive to the needs of minority students whose cultural differences, challenges, and barriers they have limited knowledge and understanding of (Cochran-Smith, 2004; Gay & Kirkland, 2003), and of whom they may hold negative stereotypes (Gay, 2010). For example, majority background teachers are more likely to hold more positive implicit attitudes toward majority students than towards minority students (Costa et al., 2022; Glock & Karbach, 2015; Kumar & Hamer, 2013; Kumar et al., 2022), and report discomfort and unpreparedness to work in diverse settings (Villegas et al., 2018). Teachers in European countries, for example, have acknowledged feeling unprepared to effectively respond to the challenges and issues related to cultural diversity (Herzog-Punzenberger et al., 2022), and reported feelings of discomfort (Zembylas & Papamichael, 2017) or being stressed and burdened (Eisikovits, 2008) when working in multicultural classrooms. As a response to culturally insensitive education, Indigenous peoples, for example, believe that teachers with an Indigenous/minority background will help to better support Indigenous students due to their familiarity with Indigenous students’ cultural experiences and absence of bias or prejudices (Nesterova, 2019). Similarly, Tatar et al. (2011) argued that having immigrant teachers work with immigrant students can be valuable, especially in contexts where systematic multicultural education is absent and teachers rely on personal experience. Teachers who identify as minorities themselves may be better able to relate to the experiences of minority students and use this knowledge to create more inclusive learning environments. 1.7. The present study The purpose of the current study was to investigate the individual characteristics and beliefs of teachers that predict their willingness to cultivate a safe and ethnically inclusive multicultural school environment. It was hypothesized that teachers who valued diversity would be more willing to promote such an environment, whereas those who perceived diversity as a threat would be less willing. Additionally, teachers’ emotional regulation was expected to be associated with their intentions to promote ethnic inclusivity, such that teachers’ who reported feeling more empathic anger when witnessing ethnicity-based conflicts would be more likely to want to take action to prevent intercultural conflicts and promote inclusivity in their classrooms than teachers who did not endorse empathic anger. In terms of teachers’ experiences in the school context, we anticipated that higher job satisfaction and exposure to more diversity at school would both be positively related to their willingness to support multicultural classrooms. Lastly, teacher’s own minority status was expected to influence their promotion of a safe and ethnically inclusive school environment, such that teachers who identified as a cultural minority would be more likely to value culturally safe teaching practices compared to teachers who identified as part of the Russian majority. Similarly, the extent to which teachers reported sharing the same ethnic background as their students was expected to positively predict willingness to create a safe and ethnically inclusive multicultural school environment. 2. Method 2.1. Participants and procedure The study was conducted after an ethical approval (#0.1.2.20.1.01-13/14/2022) from Kazan Federal University was received in January 2022 (25.01.2022). Participation in the study was voluntary and anonymous. A sample of 454 Russian teachers (96 % female; 39.4 % elementary, 60.6 % secondary) responded to an anonymous online survey measuring teachers’ multicultural beliefs and culture-related practices. The sample was geographically diverse coming from 63 different regions of the Russian Federation: 32.2 % came from rural localities, 17.2 % were from towns (population between 10,000 and 100,000), 29.9 % – from cities (population between 100,000 and 1000,000), and 20.7 % – from metropolitan areas (population over a million). The majority of participants identified as ethnically Russian (79.1 %), whereas 20.5 % identified as ethnic minorities. The respondents were professionally experienced (M =16.04 years, SD =10.62) with the most experienced respondents having 42 years of teaching experience (n =2) and the least experienced having less than a year of teaching experience (n =21). The respondents were also highly qualified: 24.9 % had basic teacher qualifications (this qualification category is awarded immediately after a teacher graduates from their educational programme and is admitted to teach at school), 31.5 % had medium-level teacher qualifications (this qualification category is awarded after a minimum of 2 years of teaching experience, provided a consistent record of highly professional conduct is demonstrated and the teaching qualifying examination is successfully passed), 43.6 % had the highest teacher qualifications (this qualification category is awarded after a teacher has successfully maintained the medium level of qualifications for at least 2 years and has additionally demonstrated a record of actively disseminating their teaching expertise through workshops and conferences). In terms of community socio-economic status (SES), two-thirds of the respondents (67.6 %) reported that most of their schools’ D. Khanolainen et al. International Journal of Educational Research 127 (2024) 102420 5 students had middle or high SES and the rest indicated that low SES students constituted at least half of the whole student body. To report the SES of their students, teachers used a 5-point scale (1 =there are no/almost no students with low SES, 2 =there are students with low SES, but they are a minority, 3 =half of the students have low SES, 4 =more than half of the students have low SES, 5 =all/ almost all students have low SES). The labels in this questionnaire item were worded this way because the Russian language has a commonly used term for “students with low SES” (deti is neblagopoluchnykh semey) and it is much less likely to be misinterpreted than any other term (i.e. “students with middle or high SES”). A quarter of participating teachers (24.4 %) reported working in homogenous schools without ethnic minority students, while (22.9 %) worked in highly diverse classrooms where at least half of all students were from ethnic minority backgrounds. Approximately half of the participating teachers (52.6 %) reported that they worked in somewhat diverse school settings, where the percentage of ethnic minority students was under 50 %. The survey was created using the services of Qualtrics XM, an online survey software, which allowed items to be presented in a random order. The survey was disseminated through “International forum on teacher education” – the telegram group for Russian teachers with almost 4000 participants. Demographic questions were presented to participants first, while the remaining items that are listed below were presented in random order. No financial compensation was offered to respondents, but upon survey completion they received a certificate thanking them for participation. 2.2. Measures 2.2.1. Safe and inclusive classrooms Teachers’ willingness to promote a safe and ethnically inclusive multicultural environment at school and prevent ethnicity-based conflicts was measured with the following six items designed for this study: 1. “It is important that schools teach students to overcome conflicts arising from cultural differences”, 2. “I pay attention to how my students treat each other to ensure that no one is picked on for their cultural/ethnic background”, 3. “It is the job of teachers to engage students in safe discussions about diversity, multiculturalism and appropriate behavior regarding these”, 4. “I teach my students to be inclusive and respectful towards people from other cultures”, 5. “Students should learn in school that saying anything derogatory about minorities is not acceptable”, 6. “Respecting other cultures is something that children should be learning at school”. These items had a 7-point scale (1 =absolutely disagree, 7 =absolutely agree) and Cronbach’s alpha was 0.82. 2.2.2. Multicultural beliefs General attitudes towards multiculturalism were measured using the Multicultural Ideology Scale previously tested with teachers from a variety of countries (Horenczyk & Tatar, 2002; Stogianni et al., 2021). This scale was adapted to the Russian context and included five items asking respondents if they valued ethnic and cultural diversity (“It is good that many different groups with different cultural backgrounds live in Russia”) and five items asking them if they saw diversity as a threat (“The unity of our country is weakened by non-Russians”). Participants replied to these items using a 7-point scale (1 =absolutely disagree, 7 =absolutely agree). Cronbach’s alphas for the valuable and threatening subscales were 0.84 and 0.78 respectively. 2.2.3. Empathic anger The survey additionally included two items measuring empathic anger arising in situations of someone being mistreated (Vitaglione & Barnett, 2003) but these items were reworded to be specifically about ethnicity and race (1. “If I see that someone has been mistreated because of their ethnicity/race, I feel mad”, 2. “I get angry when someone’s ethnicity/race is being made fun of”). Answers to these items were given on a 7-point scale (1 =absolutely disagree, 7 =absolutely agree). Cronbach’s alpha was 0.78. 2.2.4. Teacher job dissatisfaction Teachers’ job dissatisfaction was measured with the following three items (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2010): 1. “Do you feel that you work very hard as a teacher but don’t get the respect and/or recognition you deserve?”, 2. “If you could choose an occupation today, would you choose to be a teacher?” (this item was reveresed), 3. “Have you ever thought about leaving the teaching profession?” Thus, higher scores indicated lower job satisfaction. The Cronbach’s alpha for this scale was 0.62. This measure had a 7-point scale (1 = absolutely no, 7 =absolutely yes). 2.2.5. Minority status Teachers were additionally asked three demographic questions related to their own and their students’ ethnicity: 1. “What ethnic group do you belong to?” (this question was open-ended; we qualitatively analyzed responses and created a binary variable differentiating between majority and minority teachers [0 =“majority”, 1 =“minority”]), 2. “Is your ethnic background the same as the ethnic background of the majority of your students?” (a binary variable in which 0 =“yes, we are of the same ethnic group”, 1 =“no, we come from different ethnic groups”), 3. “How similar are the students you teach in terms of their ethnic background?” (a 5-point scale variable in which 1 =“Very similar, almost everyone has the same ethnic background”, 5 =“Very diverse, most students are from different ethnic backgrounds”). 2.3. Statistical analysis A total of 497 participants responded to the survey. Forty-three responses were excluded for three reasons: 1) for being duplicates (19 participants completed the survey twice), 2) for coming from outside Russia (6 participants reported being from Uzbekistan, D. Khanolainen et al. International Journal of Educational Research 127 (2024) 102420 6 Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan), and 3) for coming from an educator who was not a teacher in secondary school (18 respondents reported teaching in kindergartens/pre-schools or that they were tutors providing private one-on-one lessons), resulting in a final sample of 454 participants. 3. Results The descriptive statistics including means, standard deviations, skewness, kurtosis, and Pearson correlations are presented in Table 1. Most variables related to multiculturalism were skewed towards more positive beliefs. Around 90 % of all teachers reported high levels of commitment to promoting a safe and ethnically inclusive environment in the classroom (having a sum score ≥5 out of maximum 7 points) and almost a third of the sample (31.7 %) provided a maximum rating on all items of the scale. Furthermore, a slightly smaller percentage of participants (24.9 %) reported highest possible ratings on all items related to positive multicultural beliefs (i.e., questions about valuing ethnic and cultural diversity) and only 5.5 % of the sample reported seeing diversity as a threat (having a sum score ≥5 out of 7 on the subscale with questions about negative multicultural beliefs). Two-thirds of respondents (72.0 %) reported experiencing high levels of empathic anger when witnessing ethnicity-based mistreatment (having a sum score ≥5 out of maximum 7). The data set did not contain any extreme outliers and there were very few missing values. Pearson correlations between all variables indicated that teachers’ willingness to promote a safe and ethnically inclusive environment at school was positively related to empathic anger and seeing diversity as valuable. Teachers’ willingness to promote ethnic inclusivity was also negatively associated with job dissatisfaction and seeing diversity as a threat. Finally, teachers’ minority status was significantly correlated with valuing diversity and empathic anger so that majority teachers placed slightly less value on diversity and experienced slightly less anger in situations of ethnicity-based mistreatment. Multiple linear regression analysis with latent variables was carried out with the use of Mplus Version 7.3. The use of latent variables reduced the measurement error present in observed scores. Because the distributions of many variables were skewed, we used the maximum likelihood estimator with robust standard errors (MLR) for model estimation in Mplus. Reliance on robust standard errors provides more accurate results when data are non-normal (Maydeu-Olivares, 2017; Savalei, 2010). Since there was no indication of multicollinearity, one regression model was constructed that included all predictors (see Fig. 1). Latent variables were built for the following predictor constructs: seeing ethnic and cultural diversity as a threat, valuing diversity, empathic anger in situations of ethnicity-based mistreatment, and teacher job dissatisfaction. The outcome measure (teachers’ willingness to promote a safe and ethnically inclusive environment at school) was also constructed as a latent variable. The model fit statistics indicated a good fit: χ 2 (238) =321.44, p <.001, root-mean-square error of approximation (RMSEA) =0.03, comparative fit index (CFI) =0.96, Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) =0.96, standardized root-mean-square residual (SRMR) =0.05. As shown in Fig. 1, both pro-multiculturalism views and empathic anger positively predicted teachers’ willingness to promote a safe and ethnically inclusive environment at school. In contrast, teachers’ job dissatisfaction was a negative predictor. Teachers’ minority status, shared background with their students, perceived school diversity, and negative multicultural views (i.e., seeing diversity as a threat) were not significantly predictive in the regression model. In total this regression model explained a large portion of the variance in teachers’ willingness to foster a safe and ethnically inclusive environment for their students (49 %). 4. Discussion This study explored a number of teacher-related factors that were expected to predict teachers’ commitment to cultivating an ethnically inclusive classroom environment, in which intentional efforts are made to discourage bias-based bullying and intergroup conflicts. We particularly wanted to understand the drivers behind teachers’ willingness to build a safe and ethnically inclusive multicultural school environment in the context of Russia. This is the first study of this kind in Russia, and the first study internationally, to combine four varied teacher factors (i.e., multicultural beliefs, empathic anger, job dissatisfaction, and demographic characteristics). First, not surprisingly, results of this study indicated that teachers who held positive multicultural beliefs (i.e., valuing diversity) Table 1 Descriptive statistics and correlations of all variables. M SD Skewness Kurtosis 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. Teacher’s own minority status 1.46 0.13 1 2. Teacher sharing the same ethnicity with students 2.27 3.16 0.34*** 1 3. School’s diversity 2.15 1.01 1.12 0.99 0.23*** 0.24*** 1 4. Valuing diversity 6.02 1.02 −1.24 1.32 0.11* 0.05 0.03 1 5. Seeing diversity as a threat 3.05 1.18 0.56 0.24 −0.66 −0.00 −0.00 −0.46*** 1 6. Empathic anger 5.49 1.37 −0.81 0.13 0.09* 0.05 0.00 0.25*** −0.12** 1 7. Job dissatisfaction 3.44 1.31 0.23 −0.45 0.05 −0.03 0.04 −0.15** 0.19*** −0.10* 1 8. Willingness to create an ethnically inclusive environment 6.33 0.76 −1.42 1.90 0.01 0.06 0.03 0.51*** −0.31*** 0.35*** −0.22*** Note. * p<.05, ** p<.01, *** p<.001. N (for teacher’s own minority status) =452, N (for all other variables) =454. D. Khanolainen et al. International Journal of Educational Research 127 (2024) 102420 7 were significantly more likely to positively endorse a commitment to nurturing a safe and ethnically inclusive multicultural school environment and preventing ethnicity-based conflicts. This is in line with previous research that found that positive multicultural beliefs result in teachers investing in cultivating an environment where all students feel included (e.g., Dubbeld et al., 2019; Nergaard et al., 2020; Nishina et al., 2019). At the same time, negative multicultural beliefs (i.e., viewing diversity as a threat) were not significantly predictive. This is different to other studies that discovered that teachers with negative multicultural beliefs have a negative impact on ethnic minority students, such as an expectation of their assimilation (Hachfeld et al., 2015), and lack of accommodation of minority students’ needs (Hachfeld et al., 2015; Horenczyk & Tatar, 2002). It is important to note that there was a moderate correlation between the two subscales of multicultural views (−0.46) and a moderate correlation between negative multicultural views and the outcome measure (teachers’ willingness to create a safe and ethnically inclusive multicultural school environment) (−0.31), suggesting that valuing diversity and seeing diversity as a threat explained common variance in the outcome. In this study, the endorsement of positive beliefs rather than the absence of negative beliefs turned out to be a better predictor of a proactive stance in promoting safety and ethnic inclusivity. Second, we discovered that teachers who experienced more empathic anger in situations when others faced ethnicity-based mistreatment were more likely to promote a safe and ethnically inclusive multicultural school environment. This is consistent with previous research showing a positive link between teachers’ empathy and multicultural beliefs (Abacioglu et al., 2020; Lin & Chung, 2024). Thus, our study provides empirical evidence supporting Warren’s (2018) argument that empathetic teachers are better equipped to understand different cultural perspectives, enabling them to teach more effectively in diverse classrooms. Extending previous research, our findings reveal that empathetic teachers not only feel more positive about ethnic minorities but also recognize their vulnerability and see the need to take preventative measures against bias-based aggression. Our empathy-related findings are also in line with earlier research on general empathic anger and response to mistreatment of others (Bringle et al., 2018; Pozzoli et al., 2017; Vitaglione & Barnett, 2003). Empathic anger is a critical aspect to develop in teachers to ensure their active engagement in preventing and addressing aggressive and violent behavior among students (Pozzoli et al., 2017). Our study extends previous literature by showing that empathic anger is an important element to cultivate in teachers to specifically curb ethnicity-based injustices and aggressive behaviors against minorities in school settings. Third, our study found that teachers who were less satisfied with their job were also less likely to promote a safe and ethnically inclusive multicultural school environment. Whilst there is no similar study done in the past, this finding echoes previous research that showed that teachers with assimilationist beliefs experience diversity-related burn-out (Amitai et al., 2020; Dubbeld et al., 2019; Glock et al., 2019a; Tatar & Horenczyk, 2003). As job satisfaction is critical for teachers to become and remain committed to feeling confident in cultivating spaces where all students feel safe, supported, and included (Karousiou et al., 2019), it is the responsibility of schools to focus on developing a collegial, non-violent, and open school environment where teachers can thrive and receive relevant support (Kollerov´ a et al., 2021; Strohmeier & Gradinger, 2021; Yoon et al., 2016). This specific finding suggests that teachers’ well-being needs to be taken seriously if they are expected to accommodate the needs of a diverse student body. Fourth, we found that teachers with minority backgrounds are not necessarily more likely to be invested in creating multicultural environments, relative to their non-minority colleagues. Though contrary to the study hypothesis that teacher’s own minority status Fig. 1. Multiple linear regression model with latent variables Note. * p<.05, ** p<.01, *** p<.001. Significant paths are indicated with thicker lines. D. Khanolainen et al. International Journal of Educational Research 127 (2024) 102420 8 would positively influence their willingness to promote a safe and ethnically inclusive school environment, this finding does align with Glock and Schuchart’s (2020) study that revealed that simply having more ethnic-minority identifying teachers does not necessarily benefit ethnic minority students. This result is also consistent with Tatar et al.,’ study (2011) which found that among immigrant teachers, those who endorsed more assimilative attitudes (i.e., positively reinforcing assimilation within the new culture without recognizing or incorporating their own minority culture) reported lower self-efficacy towards teaching immigrant students. This points to the potential for internalized prejudice among minority teachers and suggests that minority status alone cannot prepare teachers to adequately support all students from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. However, other research has found that having a specific ethnic match between a teacher and their student(s) can reduce ethnic disparities in school, as teacher from the same ethnic-minority background express more positive assessments of minority student’s academic competence and proficiency compared to minority teachers with different backgrounds (Glock & Schuchart, 2020), and have also been found to hold more positive implicit attitudes towards students of the same ethnic background (Kleen et al., 2019). Thus, when considering teachers’ capacity to promote a safe and inclusive multicultural school environment a more nuanced approach might be needed, wherein the match between teacher and student ethnic identity should also be considered. In situations where teachers do not share the same ethnic background as their students, additional support and training should be provided to help them develop their multicultural competence for working with students from different ethnic backgrounds. Overall, our findings show that teachers of all backgrounds should receive targeted support to help them cultivate a safe and ethnically inclusive multicultural school environment. This support can be provided in the form of pre-service and in-service teacher training as teachers do not develop pro-multicultural beliefs on their own, despite living in a highly multicultural context and, in some cases, being ethnic/cultural minority themselves. Prior academic training in multicultural issues has shown to support professionals in better understanding and responding to the needs of ethnically/culturally diverse groups (Constantine, 2001). Drawing on previous studies, such training should particularly focus on equipping teachers with tools to manage their emotions and feelings when working with diverse others (Zembylas, 2010; Karousiou et al., 2019), developing a more flexible mindset to be able to transform own discomfort, habits, and assumptions (including biases and prejudices) into productive and positive processes (D’Urso et al., 2023; Eisikovits, 2008; Strohmeier & Gradinger, 2021; Zembylas, 2010), and understanding how teachers’ own values, beliefs and histories affect their teaching and relationship-building with students (Karousiou et al., 2019). 4.1. The Russian multicultural context It is important to recognize the historical and multicultural context within which the current study was conducted. As Russia has been home to over 190 Indigenous groups, it can be assumed that diversity has become normalized to the extent that it may be hidden from plain view. For example, one concern we have is whether teachers in Russia can actually identify which students are ethnically Russian, and which ones belong to ethnic minority groups. The limited research on Russia’s Indigenous and minority groups suggests that Russian Indigenous peoples are largely assimilated into the Russian culture and identity (Khanolainen et al., 2022; Prina, 2015), and many Indigenous languages are in danger of extinction (Evdokimov & Ashitkova, 2019; Semenova et al., 2021). At the same time, Indigenous and ethnic minority groups have been gradually absorbed into the russkii identity, that is, ethno-culturally Russian identity that is not anymore based on descent (i.e., being born ethnically Russian) but on culture and language (Blakkisrud, 2023). Recognition of the tendency for minority cultures to be ‘absorbed’ into the dominant identity is relevant for future research, which may need to consider what measures can be used and/or what methodological choices could be more appropriate to conduct research on the issues of minority inclusion and ethnic diversity in countries with similar, long-standing histories of migration and colonization. The historical context of cultural assimilation in Russia calls into question whether teachers in Russia are willing and prepared to cultivate a safe and ethnically inclusive multicultural school environment. Somewhat surprisingly, the current results showed that around 90 % of the surveyed teachers reported high levels of commitment to safe and ethnically inclusive multicultural school environments and the majority of them reported holding the highest possible ratings on questions about valuing ethnic and cultural diversity (72 %) and experiencing high levels of empathic anger (72 %). These findings are promising, as previous research has shown that in the general population up to one quarter of ethnic Russians are racial exclusionists and are only willing to accept immigrants of the same race (i.e., white Slavic or European; Gorodzeisky, 2019). This difference may be due to the fact that at least ¾ of the Russian teachers who responded to the survey reported working in schools with moderate to high levels of student diversity, thus exposing them to the reality that Russia is already a country with immense cultural diversity. 4.2. Limitations and future directions The study has a few limitations. The minority-identifying teachers in our sample are all Indigenous (i.e., born in Russia) and not of immigrant background, as reported in their demographic information. This is a reflection of immigration being a recent phenomenon in the Russian education system. This poses a challenge to researchers who are interested in understanding the perspectives of individuals with different cultural identities (e.g., Indigenous ethnic minorities vs. immigrants). Moreover, in this study we simply categorized teachers as belonging to either the ethnic majority or minority. However, it is important to note that Indigenous groups in Russia are not a monolithic entity but a diverse constellation with distinct histories and varying degrees of assimilation into Russian culture. Other research methodologies may be better suited to capturing the experiences of minority-identifying teachers, such as qualitative interview methods, or targeted sampling procedures in which teachers with different minority backgrounds are oversampled. In particular, it would be informative to examine whether teachers from different ethnic backgrounds are more inclined to cultivate culturally inclusive classrooms, as well as their motivations and strategies for doing so. Future research may also consider D. Khanolainen et al.