Students' conceptualization of diversity and interculturality as a tool for teacher training strategies in public universities

Abstract

This article aims to identify how undergraduate and high school students conceptualize diversity and interculturality, as well as to reflect on the implications that this has for teaching practices in public universities. To this aim, a qualitative study was carried out based on natural semantic networks and discussion groups that worked around the concept of diversity. 45 undergraduate and high school students from the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo (UMSNH) participated in the study.
The results show that the idea of diversity depends on several factors, including; the experience of the students, their context, and their personal history. The dialogues with the students are seen as important because they lead to the emergence of ideas related to equality, gender, and justice that can be used to generate more pertinent teaching practices. This investigation highlights the need to create spaces for dialogue where both students and teachers can participate and encourage the latter to identify elements for their training from an intercultural perspective.