Intercultural sensitivity of preservice primary school teachers: insights from a modified intercultural sensitivity scale and interethnic friendship, plurilingualism, and socioeconomic status as key antecedents

Intercultural sensitivity, the affective component of intercultural communication competence, is essential for teachers to develop during their studies to succeed in increasingly diverse schools. In the present study, the intercultural sensitivity of preservice teachers ( n = 215) in Slovenia was assessed using the ISS-S, the Slovenian version of the intercultural sensitivity scale. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed the need for adaptation to the Slovenian sociocultural context: a four-factor structure representing four dimensions of intercultural sensitivity was developed and validated. Results showed that preservice teachers exhibited relatively high levels of interaction engagement, respect for cultural differences and interaction enjoyment, but lower levels of interaction confidence. Linear regression analyses identified interethnic friendship as the antecedent of all four dimensions, socioeconomic status of interaction enjoyment, and plurilingualism of interaction confidence and, when not accounting for interethnic friendship, of interaction engagement. Given these findings, implications for fostering intercultural sensitivity within initial teacher education are discussed.