Culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy and cultural diversity climate are positively associated with the academic and psychological adjustment of immigrant and nonimmigrant students.

OBJECTIVES

This study investigated the associations between teachers' culturally responsive teaching (CRT) self-efficacy, students' perceptions of classroom cultural diversity climate (CDC), and the academic and psychological adjustment of elementary school students in culturally diverse German classrooms.

METHOD

The sample included 41 teachers and 234 fourth grade students ( = 10.48, = 0.56, 55% female; 38% first immigrant generation). We conducted multilevel analyses to assess the associations between teachers' CRT self-efficacy, student-perceived CDC (i.e., and ), and students' school achievement, school belongingness, and life satisfaction. We performed mediation analyses to investigate to what extent student-perceived CDC explains the association between CRT self-efficacy and student outcomes. Additionally, we explored the moderating role of students' immigrant generation in the associations.

RESULTS

Teachers' CRT self-efficacy and student-perceived were positively related to mathematical competence and German vocabulary. Student-perceived was positively associated with school belongingness and life satisfaction but negatively with reading comprehension. and did not mediate the relation between CRT self-efficacy and children's adjustment. Findings did not vary across students' immigrant generation.

CONCLUSIONS

Teachers' CRT self-efficacy and CDC positively contribute to students' academic and psychological adjustment, but independently. Both aspects can be beneficial for the adjustment of elementary school children, regardless of their immigrant generation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).