The Relationship Between Middle School Teachers' Cultural Metacognition and Perceptions of Multicultural Career Education

This study analyzed the impact of secondary school teachers' cultural metacognition on their perceptions of multicultural career education. Teachers require a high level of cultural metacognition to effectively address the educational needs of students from diverse cultural backgrounds. This study surveyed 77 secondary school teachers in Seoul and Gyeonggi. Correlation analysis, t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and simple linear regression analyses were performed to analyze the results. The findings revealed that cultural metacognition was significantly highly correlate with teachers' perceptions of and attitudes toward multicultural career education. The average scores for cultural metacognition and perceptions of multicultural career education were significantly higher among teachers in the humanities and social sciences than among those in the natural sciences. Furthermore, the length of enrollment in graduate programs specializing in careers and academic counseling was positively associated with higher levels of cultural metacognition. Regression analysis also demonstrated that cultural metacognition has significant explanatory power concerning the ability to guide multicultural students’ careers and academic paths. Therefore, cultural metacognition was identified as a crucial variable influencing perceptions of multicultural career education. These findings suggest the need for educational policies and training programs aimed at enhancing teachers' cultural metacognition to improve the educational outcomes of multicultural students.