ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Language, Culture and Diversity
Teachers' Multicultural Sensitivity Scale: A Tool for Measuring the Multicultural Sensitivity of Teachers from a Culturally Diverse Asian Country
Provisionally accepted
Shelanee Theresa Peralta Ruales1*
Imelu Mordeno1
Josefina Tabudlong1
Onnah Pierre Peralta Talle1
Ma. Jenina Nalipay2- 1MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology, Iligan City, Philippines
- 2The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR China
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Teachers' multicultural sensitivity is an essential factor in providing students from diverse backgrounds with equal opportunities for quality education. Hence, we developed and validated the Teachers' Multicultural Sensitivity Scale (TMSS), a tool designed to measure the multicultural sensitivity of teachers from a highly culturally diverse Asian country. In Study 1, items were generated from responses in focus group discussions, interviews, and open-ended questionnaires. The initial version of the scale was administered to 239 teachers. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted, and a three-factor model composed of cultural empathy, cultural competence, and cultural inclusiveness was identified. It was found that teachers' multicultural sensitivity was negatively associated with social dominance. In Study 2, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis to examine the identified 3-factor higher-order model on a sample of 360 teachers. Results provided support for its goodness of fit to the data. Moreover, it was found that teachers' multicultural sensitivity was positively correlated with ethnocultural empathy, multicultural teaching competence, and multicultural awareness, providing evidence of convergent validity. The two studies were able to describe the development and provide support for the sound psychometric properties of the TMSS and its contextual and cultural relevance in understanding teachers' multicultural sensitivity.
Keywords: Multicultural education, multicultural sensitivity, scale development, teachers, Validation
Received: 22 Nov 2025; Accepted: 28 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Ruales, Mordeno, Tabudlong, Talle and Nalipay. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Shelanee Theresa Peralta Ruales
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