Teaching in Multicultural Settings-1
Teaching in Multicultural Settings-1
Teaching in Multicultural Settings-1
PGDT- 415
Instructor:
Temesgen Yadeta ( M.A, Assistant Professor)
Course Objectives
Understand the concept, goals, dimensions and approaches of
multicultural education.
Recognize the different forms of diversity in societies.
Know the concept of culturally responsive pedagogy.
Develop the skills of managing classrooms in a multicultural
context.
Evaluate curriculum materials from a multicultural
perspectives.
Develop skills for selecting and organizing student experiences
in multicultural context.
Analyze policies and strategies for promoting diversity in
schools.
Course Contents
Unit One: The Nature and Goals of Multicultural Education
Concept of Multicultural Education: Defining Culture & Multicultural Education
Goals of Multicultural Education
Dimensions of multicultural education
Approaches to Multicultural Education
Unit Two: Diversity and Educational Challenges of Minorities in
Multicultural School Setting
Major Forms of Diversity: Ethnicity, Gender ,Social class, Religion, and Disability
The Social Construction of Identities
Stereotypes and prejudices
Ethnocentrism
Discrimination in Schools
Strategies for tackling racism, sexism and other problems
Course Contents………
Unit Three: Teaching Strategies in Multicultural Context
Teaching in a multicultural perspective: Culturally Responsive Pedagogy
Cultural Diversity and its Influence on Teaching and Learning
Strategies for teaching and Learning in Diverse Setting
Managing Diversity in the Classroom
Assessment in Multicultural Setting
Characteristics of Effective Teachers in multicultural settings
Unit Four: Curriculum in Multicultural Context
Fundamental Values and characteristics of Culturally Relevant Curriculum
Levels of integrating multicultural contents
• Contributions, Additive, Transformative & Social action approaches
Selecting and Evaluating Multicultural Materials
The Hidden Curriculum in Multicultural context
Course Contents……..
Unit Five: Creating a Multicultural School Environment
Characteristics of inclusive educational environment
Strategies for Promoting Diversity in the Institutional Envirnoment
Promoting Positive self-esteem and cultural identities
Multicultural efforts beyond the classroom
Unit Six: Diversity in Ethiopian Secondary School Context
Multiculturalism in Education in Ethiopia
Strategies for Promoting Diversity in Ethiopian Secondary Schools
Challenges in Promoting Diversity in Secondary Schools
. Lack of Skilled Personnel
. Lack of awareness about the aim of MCE in the community
. Failure to adopt the curriculum in line with the needs of the
. Instructional Materials & Financial Resources
Course Delivery Approaches/Methods/Strategies
Introduction
Multicultural education is a global issue.
No country where all its students are from the same cultural background and ethnic group.
Students have differences in many terms.
So, this unit will help you to acquire knowledge about the:
• Concept of multicultural education,
• Goals of multicultural education,
• Dimensions of multicultural education and
• Approaches in multicultural education.
Unit Objectives : After completing this unit, you will be able to:
Understand the concept of multicultural education.
List down the goals of multicultural education.
Analyze the dimensions of multicultural education.
Explore the different approaches of multicultural education.
Defining Culture
• Culture is the system of shared beliefs, values,
customs, behaviors and products that a society holds,
follows, uses and produces to live in its environment,
and passes on from generation to generation.
Elements of Culture
• Cultural traits
• Cultural patterns
• Transmission of knowledge
• Societal structures and processes
Elements of Culture……….
Cultural traits
• How the group communicates symbolically through its
products, rituals, laws, social structures, economic systems,
etc.
Cultural patterns
• Wider, interrelated patterns of behavior and interaction in
which cultural traits may take on different meanings.
• Such as traits as certain behaviors, dress, foods eaten and
not eaten, ways of communicating and others.
Transmission of knowledge
• How the group teaches it’s young culturally approved and
valued ways of behaving, thinking and perceiving. This is a
key factor in the continuation of culture, for it gives cultural
shape and form to human activity. The simplest activity is
the learning of language
Elements of Culture……….
Societal structures and processes
• How a group regulates, orders and limits group actions to
maintain group cohesion and function.
• Societies represent culture in action, the everyday
application of a group through the group’s institutions,
systems and norms.
• These can include family structures, educational processes
and institutions, how a society manages the health, activities
of discourses of its members, how status is defined, legal and
economic systems, who can marry whom, age groups and a
host of other factors.
In generalSocialization:
• is theprocess by which individual acculturated (learns the
patterns of his/her culture) .
• It is largely carried out by the family, upon whom the child
models much of its adult’s behavior, but it also occurs as an
effect of the individual’s wider social interactions.
• It ensures the individual’s acceptance in the group and
conformity to certain social expectations, which in turn
ensures that social systems and norms are maintained.
1.2. Defining Multicultural Education
Through the 1970s, the elderly and people with disabilities organized visible and
powerful pushes for sociopolitical and human rights.
Those dissatisfied with the inequities of the education system during the late 1960s and
1970s, defined the earliest conceptualization of multicultural education.
During the 1970s such professional organizations as:
National Council for Social Studies,
National Council of Teachers of English, and
American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education–issued policy statements and
publications that encouraged the integration of ethnic content into the school and teacher
education curriculum.
National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) published Curriculum Guidelines for
Multiethnic Education in 1976, which was revised and reissued in 1992 as Curriculum
Guidelines for Multicultural Education.
A turning point in the development of multicultural education occurred in 1977 when the
National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) issued standards
for the accreditation of teacher education.
The standards required all NCATE member institutions (about 80% of the teacher
education programs in the United States) to implement components, courses, and
programs in multicultural education.
Historical roots
By 1980s James Banks, one of the pioneers of multicultural education, was among the
first multicultural education scholars to examine schools as social systems from a
multicultural context (1981).
He grounded his conceptualization of multicultural education in the idea of
“educational equality.”
As to Banks, in order to maintain a “multicultural school environment,” all aspects
of the school had to be examined and transformed, including policies, teachers'
attitudes, instructional materials, assessment methods, counseling and teaching
styles .
In general:
What started as small ethnic studies movement and curricular shifts and additions
has become a framework for re-examining both schools and society from a
progressive and transformative framework.
Today, many theories, models and frameworks for multicult. education exist.
Hence, multicultural education is a relatively new concept that will continue to
change to meet the needs of a constantly changing society.
Summary
Summary…….
Summary
Defining of multicultural edu…….
The following are the most frequently used definitions of multicultural education:
• An idea, an educational reform movement and a process intended to change the
structure of educational institutions so that all students have an equal chance to
achieve academic success.
• A philosophy that stresses the importance, legitimacy and vitality of ethnic and
cultural diversity in shaping the lives of individuals, groups and nations .
• A reform movement that changes all components of the educational enterprise,
including its underlying values, procedural rules, curricula, instructional
materials, organizational structure and governance policies to reflect cultural
pluralism.
• An approach to teaching and learning based upon democratic values that foster
cultural pluralism; in its most comprehensive form, it is a commitment to
achieving educational equality, developing curricula that builds understanding
about ethnic groups and combating oppressive practices (Bennett, 1990).
Defining of multicultural edu…..
These various definitions contain several points in common. Advocates agree that:
the content of multicultural education programs should include ethnic identities,
cultural pluralism, unequal distribution of resources and opportunities and other
sociopolitical problems stemming from long histories of oppression.
Multicultural education is a philosophy, a methodology for educational reform and a
set of specific content areas within instructional programs.
Multicultural education means learning about, preparing for and celebrating cultural
diversity. And it requires changes in school programs, policies and practices.
Promoting diversity means acknowledging diversity, incorporating diversity into all
levels, and demonstrating pride in cultural pluralism along with a sincere belief that
diversity is desirable.
Multicultural education has implications for decision-making that will affect
operations at all levels of education, including instruction, administration,
governance, counseling, program planning, performance appraisal, and school
climate.
Defining of multicultural edu…..
The actions taken in schools to adopt multicultural education should reflect the race,
language, ethnicity, habits, and customs of ethnic groups throughout the global
community.
In sum multicultural education is :
a field of study whose major aim is to create equal educational opportunities for
students from diverse racial, ethnic, social-class and cultural groups.
a progressive approach for transforming education that is holistically grounded in
ideals of social justice, education equity, critical pedagogy and a dedication to
providing educational experiences in which all students reach their full potentials as
learners and as socially aware and active beings, locally, nationally and globally.
acknowledges that schools are essential to laying the foundation for the
transformation of society and the elimination of injustice.
To implement multicultural education fully, fundamental changes will need to be
made in the conception, organization, and execution of the educational process. These
changes must be deliberate, long-range, ongoing, and, most important,
comprehensive.
The Nature of M.Ed
1.2 Goals of Multicultural Education
1.
Content
5.
Integrati
Empowe 2.
on
ring Knowled
School ge
Culture Multicultural
Construc
and Education tion
Dimensions
Social Process
Structure 3.
4. Equity Reductio
Pedagog n of
y Prejudice
s
1. Content Integration
Curriculum has content which is instrumental for the attainment of the
educational objectives.
Content refers to the concepts, facts, principles, rules, skills, attitudes, etc.
students learn in order to achieve the intended objectives.
Content integration: refers to putting contents of minority or the disadvantaged
group in the curriculum.
It deals with the extent to which teachers use examples and content from a
variety of cultures and groups to illustrate key concepts, principles,
generalizations, and cultural content into a subject area.
Thus, multicultural education primarily viewed as content integration.
Opportunities exist for the integration of ethnic and cultural content in areas.
To implement the process of multicultural curriculum reform, banks has
outlined four successive levels of integration of ethnic content. These levels called
approaches. These are: Contribution, Additive, Transformative, and
Social action approaches.
Content integration Approaches
• focuses on use of heroes, holidays, and distinct
Contribution cultural elements in lessons during ethnic
celebration.
Types of knowledge
1. Personal/cultural knowledge
• consists of the concepts, explanations and interpretations
that students derive from personal experiences in their
homes, families, and community cultures.
• Cultural conflict occurs in the classroom because much of
the personal/cultural knowledge that students from diverse
cultural groups bring to the classroom is inconsistent with
school knowledge and with teacher’s personal and cultural
knowledge.
Prejudice:
is a negative or hostile feeling or attitude toward a group or a person who
belongs to a particular group because she/he is presumed to have the negative
qualities ascribed to the group.
The group categories upon which these negative attitudes are based can be wide-
ranging, including categories such as race, social class, gender, religion, age,
sexuality, ability, and ethnicity.
is a frame of mind or an attitude which prejudges a person or group without
sufficient experience or evidence.
occurs when negative attitudes concerning a social group are extended toward an
individual based upon that individual’s perceived membership in the group.
Discrimination occurs when there is an action (based on the prejudice), which
denies a person or group equality of treatment or denial of certain rights.
Prejudices and stereotypes have been a common feature in human relationships.
A stereotype is an oversimplified generalization about a particular group, which is
usually negative and unfavorable, without sufficient basis.
Prejudice Reduction………
Prejudice reduction describes lessons and activities used by teachers to help students to
develop positive attitudes toward different racial, ethnic, and cultural groups .
The following are some of the ways that teachers can help students deconstruct prejudicial
knowledge.
By facilitating environments of positive inter-group contact. Prejudice may be reduced
by equal status contact between majority and minority groups in the pursuit of common
goals.
Allport’s (1979) put four conditions for positive contact that are based upon democratic
principles of justice and equality. These are:
• equal status, common goals, cooperation, and institutional support.
Equity pedagogy, which is inclusive of all aspects of school policies and curricula.
• It involves “teaching strategies and classroom environments that help students from
diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural groups attain the knowledge, skills, and attitudes
needed to function effectively within and help create and perpetuate a just, humane, and
democratic society”.
• Positive inter-group contact conditions foster democratic attitudes that help all students
reduce prejudice and learn equitably.
4. Equity Pedagogy
Equity:
• refers to fairness.
• in education it refers to accessibility of education as well
as provision of accessible curriculum to all students.
• is very fundamental for all students since educational
excellence is unattainable for any student when certain
groups are denied a fair chance to receive the highest
quality education.
• It is providing access to schools for students from diverse
backgrounds; building a culture where they feel
authentically included and ensuring that they succeed.
• These are teaching techniques and strategies that
designed to improve the academic achievement of diverse
students.
Equity Pedagogy………..
Equity Pedagogy:
• includes using a variety of teaching styles and approaches
that are consistent with the range of learning styles
within various cultural and ethnic groups.
• includes using cooperative learning techniques to
enhance the academic achievement of the marginalized
groups of students.
• rejects the cultural deprivation paradigm that was
developed in the early 1960s.
• assumes that students from diverse cultures and groups
come to school with much strength.
• constituteculturally responsive teaching, which means
using the cultures and experiences of different ethnic
groups as filters for teaching knowledge and skills schools
is crucial.
Equity Pedagogy………..
The major domains of Culturally responsive teaching
consists of:
• multicultural content;
• pluralistic classroom climate and learning environments;
• teacher attitudes and expectations towards diversity;
• building community among diverse learners;
• caring across cultures;
• use of multiple teaching techniques that are congruent
with the cultural backgrounds, values, experiences, and
orientations of different ethnic groups;
• developing personal efficacy and an ethos of success
among diverse students; and
• using culturally informed assessment procedures to
determine learning needs, knowledge acquisition, and
skill proficiencies.
Equity Pedagogy………..
Dimensions of culturally responsive pedagogy
(All three dimensions significantly interact in the teaching and learning
process and are critical to understanding
Personal the effectiveness of culturally
responsive
refers pedagogy)
to the Instructional
Institutional
cognitive and includes materials,
reflects the
emotional strategies, and
administration
processes teachers activities that
and its policies
must engage in to form the basis of
and values
become culturally instruction.
responsive.
Equity Pedagogy………..
In sum:
Teachers practice culturally responsive teaching when equity pedagogy is
implemented.
Teachers fulfill their responsibility to all students by:
using instructional materials and practices that incorporate important aspects of the
family and community culture of their students.
using cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and styles of
ethnically diverse students to make learning more relevant and effective.
establishing and maintaining standards of behavior that require respectful treatment
of all in the classroom.
role modeling, demonstrating fairness and reminding students that difference is
normal.
ensuring that all students have an equal opportunity to achieve to the best of their
ability.
Therefore, equity pedagogy exists when teachers modify their teaching in ways that will
facilitate the academic achievement of students from diverse racial, cultural, and
social-class groups.
5. Empowering school culture and social
structure
The four dimensions of M.E. above each deal with an aspect of a culture or social
system: the school. School can also be conceptualized as:
one social system that is larger than its interrelated parts .
an institution that includes a social structure of interrelated status and roles.
a cultural system with a specific set of values, norms, ethos, and shared meanings.
The empowering school culture and social structure dimension of multicultural
education involves :
restructuring the culture and organization of the school so that students from
diverse racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and language groups experience equality.
the creation of relationships that are based on mutual and reciprocal respect for
cultural differences that are reflected in school-wide goals, norms, and cultural
practices.
facilitates the practice of multicultural education by providing teachers with
opportunities for collective planning and instruction, and by creating democratic
structures that give teachers, parents, and school staff shared responsibility for
school governance.
Empowering school culture and social structure………
To make the institution more culturally responsive, reforms must occur in at least
three specific areas:
3. Community involvement
• is concerned with the institutional approach to community
involvement in which families and communities are expected
to find ways to become involved in the school, rather than
the school seeking connections with families and
communities.
Conclusion:
To implement multicultural education effectively, teachers and administrators
must attend to each of the five dimensions of multicultural education described
above.
Teachers should :
use content from diverse groups,
help students to understand how knowledge in the various disciplines is
constructed,
help students to develop positive inter-group attitudes and behaviors, and
modify their teaching strategies so that students from different racial, cultural,
and social-class groups will experience equal educational opportunities.
The total environment and culture of the school must also be transformed so
that students from diverse ethnic and cultural groups will experience equal
status in the culture and life of the school.
• Although the five dimensions of multicultural education are highly interrelated,
each requires deliberate attention and focus.
1.4 APPROACHES TO MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION
(Banks)
Transfor
Additive
mative
APPROACHES TO MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION…………….
• Diversity is a fundamental aspect of our world and a defining characteristic of the field
of education.
• The major forms are learning styles, gender, race, ethnicity , social class, religion,
disability etc.
A/ LEARNING STYLES
A learning style refers to the way people learn new information.
It includes how information is processed and how study habits differ.
The preferences are associated with which senses a learner uses more when learning.
The concept of learning styles finds its basis in learning styles theory.
Learning styles theory states that students prefer one way or style of learning over another.
The theory suggests that designing educational experiences, curriculum, and instruction
that match student learning styles may improve academic achievement.
Learners use all three to receive information, but the dominant style defines the best way
for a person to learn new information.
Thus based on sensory receivers the major categories of learning styles are:
Major categories of learning styles:
Race
•attempts to categorize human beings into distinct groups according tophenotypes or physical traits(e.g., skin
color, eye shape, etc).
•Throughout history, race as been used as a social, cultural, and biological construct to group people.
Ethnicity •is defined by group membership based ongenealogy, national origin, and ancestry.
•does not change, even though the characteristics of a specific ethnic group’s culture may change.
C/ Gender
Gender
•Sex stands for being biologically male or female.
•Whereas gender is role attributed to male and female in a given society.
•Thus, gender is the socially and psychologically appropriate behavior for the males and females sanctioned by and expected within
a society.
•Recognition ofgenderis one of important manifestation ofsocial equalityandan area of interest in multicultural education.
D/ Social class
•There is no commonly known criterion for determining social classes.
•However, variables such as income, education, occupation, lifestyle, and values are among the most frequently used indices to
determine social class status.
•refer to “distinctions not only in income but also in property ownership, occupation, education, personal and family life, and
education of children”
D/Religion
As human beings we develop different forms of social identities that makes it
possible to live together.
We further construct our identities to suit our ever-changing environments.
These different identities are important forms of cultural differences that
have evolved in society during time.
These identities also shape the lives of people around the world.
By understanding that Social identity is constructed through socialization.
Socialization is a process by which adults or children learn certain types of
behavior, roles and values.
These behaviors are learnt from parents, friends, school and the
environments humans engage in, to become functional members of society.
These various groups, institutions and individuals can be referred to as the
'agents of socialization’.
This learning process starts from childhood and continues to adulthood, and
the process is ongoing.
2.3 Stereotypes and Prejudices
Status Affects Group Attitudes: Functional use of social groups is the main
cause for biases among high/low status children.
• By using social group status functionally children found differences
among groups significant and more so significant that children who were
given high/low status suggestions and not functionally used in that
manner.
Personal Names Encourage Racial Stereotypes: Personal names might
encourage children in stereotyping race through personal names
Education to Change Unawareness of Prejudice:
• Education is key to reduce prejudice and to help society increase respect
and tolerance among all people.
• educators need to involve the family in all aspects of anti-prejudiced
education.
• Educators also need to incorporate new techniques to stimulate
knowledge of cultural differences, balance student’s values outside their
comfort area, and develop self-awareness in a proper moral society.
2.4 Ethnocentrism
• Ethnocentrism is the tendency to believe that one's ethnic or cultural group is centrally
important, and that all other groups are measured in relation to one's own.
• The ethnocentric individual will judge other groups relative to his or her own particular
ethnic group or culture, especially with concern to language, behavior, customs, and religion.
• These ethnic distinctions and sub-divisions serve to define each ethnicity's unique cultural
identity.
• "Ethnocentrism" is a commonly used word in circles where ethnicity, inter-ethnic relations,
and similar social issues are of concern.
• The usual definition of the term is "thinking one's own group's ways are superior to others"
or "judging other groups as inferior to one's own".
• "Ethnic" refers to cultural heritage, and "centrism" refers to the central starting point... so
"ethnocentrism" basically refers to judging other groups from our own cultural point of view.
• To address the deeper issues involved in ethnocentrism can be defined as: making false
assumptions about others' ways based on our own limited experience.
• The key word is assumptions, because we are not even aware that we are being
ethnocentric... we don't understand that we don't understand.
2.5 Discrimination in Schools
Discrimination:
occurs when someone is treated unfairly or badly in certain respects.
happens because people have stereotypical or prejudiced ideas or beliefs about other
people because they happen to belong to a particular group of people or because they
have certain personal characteristics or attributes.
This kind of direct discrimination is often the result of failing to treat each person as an
individual regardless of their sex, age, race etc.
can also happen in a more indirect way. In some cases treating everybody the same can
be unfair because it disadvantages a whole group of people.
Indirect discrimination is not usually intentional but is often the result of forgetting to
think about the impact of rules and requirements on different people.
• Direct discrimination: occurs when one person treats another person less favorably than
they would another because of a protected characteristic.
• Discrimination based on association is also illegal.
• Discrimination based on perception is unlawful.
• Combined discrimination claims: The Equality act allows people to bring a claim of
direct discrimination because of a combination of two protected characteristics (not
including marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity).
Discrimination………
• Combined discrimination claims
• The Equality act allows people to bring a claim of direct
discrimination because of a combination of two protected
characteristics (not including marriage and civil
partnership, and pregnancy and maternity).
• failure to make reasonable adjustments.
• Harassment
• Victimization
There are different types of discrimination based on: Race ,
Sex, Physical Features, Age, Nationality, Gender, Disability
Discrimination based on:
Sex
Breastfeeding, Sexual Orientation & Pregnancy
Status
• Career Status, Parental Status & Marital Status
Our Choice
• Personal Association, Family Responsibility, Culture,
Political Belief
Economy
Employment Activity, Industrial Activity
UNIT THREE
TEACHING STRATEGIES IN MULTICULTURAL CONTEXT
Unit Objectives: At the end of the unit, the student will be able to:
• Explain the concept of culturally responsive pedagogy.
• Discuss the cultural foundations of teaching and learning.
• List down the different strategies of teaching in a culturally diverse context.
• Apply teaching strategies in diverse contexts.
• Master skills of managing classrooms in a multicultural context.
• Develop culture-fair, gender-fair assessment tools.
• Develop attitudes of avoiding bias in testing and grading.
• Mention the chief characteristics of the multicultural teacher.
Activity
What do you understand about culturally responsive pedagogy?
Discuss in your group the different strategies of teaching do you think are
appropriate to be used in a culturally diverse context?
3.1. Teaching in a multicultural perspective:
Culturally Responsive Pedagogy
• Transformative Culturally responsive teaching means respecting the cultures and experiences
of various groups and then uses these as resources for teaching and learning.
• It appreciates the existing strengths and accomplishments of all students and develops them
further in instruction.
• Banks(1991) asserts that if education is to empower marginalized groups, it must be
transformative. Being transformative involves helping “students to develop the knowledge,
skills, and values needed to become social critics who can make reflective decisions and
implement their decisions ineffective personal social, political, and economic action".
In general, culturally responsive teaching:
recognize, respects and uses students identities and backgrounds as meaningful sources for
creating optimal learning environments.
is emancipator that is liberating.
guides students in understanding that no single version of “truth is total and permanent”.
These freedom results in improved achievements of many kinds, including increased
concentration on academic tasks, clear and insightful thinking, more caring, concerned,
human interpersonal skills, better understandings of interconnections among individuals,
local, national, global and human identities and acceptance of knowledge as something to be
consciously shared ,revised and renewed.
3.2 Cultural Diversity and its Influence on
Teaching and Learning
• Some cultural differences have a more substantial impact on learning than others.
• E.G. The relative value placed on individualism, collectivism and mutual support.
• Other culturally-inflected differences and dispositions that may have an influence
include:
• Independent versus interdependent learners
• Task orientated students as compared with those who place more emphasis on
relationship building
• Commitment to the group
• Expectations of the teacher
• Challenging the teacher compared with accepting everything the teacher says
• Willingness to take on board ideas which have not come from the teacher
• Risk taking as compared with a more conservative approach
• Acceptance of change or resistance to it
• Receptivity to new ideas
• Team-building
• Participation in group discussions.
Cultural Diversity and its Influence on
Teaching and Learning…………….
Independent learners
• Students may have great difficulty in becoming independent learners.
• High dependence on teachers in the past may make them feel totally lost in their new environment.
• As a result, they may need quite a high level of guidance and support in order to develop the skills
required of independent learners.
Interdependent learners
• Cooperation and team skills are highly valued.
• Both independent and interdependent learners are highly desirable.
Task-orientated vs. relationship building approaches
• Students who are more task-orientated will find it frustrating if some students prioritize relationship
building.
• Tutors may find it helpful to bear this in mind when supporting group work.
Group commitment
• Not all students will be equally committed to their peers in small groups. Some students who are highly
motivated while others do not have the same group commitment.
• This leads to the more dynamic and enthusiastic students end up doing most of the work in order to
earn a high mark for the group.
• Tutors may be aware of this situation but do not find it easy to intervene to good effect.
Cultural Diversity and its Influence on
Teaching and Learning…………
Expectations of the teacher
• These can have a major influence on learning.
• For example, those who are used to being dependent on their teacher to provide them
with knowledge will find it hard to cope when asked to perform tasks involving
independent learning.
• They may find it shocking that they are given basic guidance and are then expected to go
off and find things out for themselves.
Challenging the teacher
• There may be such a cultural proscription on openly challenging the teacher that some
students will be highly embarrassed when asked to do so and will do all in their power to
avoid it.
• In many cultures all knowledge comes from the teacher and it is simply not possible to
question what the teacher has said.
• It is fine to ask clarifying questions but it is not acceptable to raise more controversial
questions, which may be seen to be challenging the authority of the teacher.
Cultural Diversity and its Influence on
Teaching and Learning …
Putting forward students' own ideas
• Some students may find it hard to discuss ideas that have not come from their teacher.
• Some students will need plenty of practice before they are confident in stating their own opinions in
front of others.
Risk-taking
• Particularly where students are more dependent on their teacher, there may be a complete
unwillingness to engage in risk-taking.
• This will be especially important in cultures where the maintenance of ‘face’ and the avoidance of the
loss of ‘face’ are valued very highly indeed.
• The ability to start taking even quite small risks can only be developed over time in a secure
environment.
Acceptance of change or resistance to it
• This depends on a number of interconnecting factors: personality, previous experience, cultural
background, willingness to take risks, and perceived rewards compared with the fear of failure.
Being receptive to new ideas
• It must be assumed that since international students have come to study in the UK, they will be
receptive to new ideas to a certain extent. However, their motivations in coming here will be very
diverse and they may not have given deep consideration to the fact that they will be exposed to a range
of new ideas which may be totally unfamiliar to them .
Cultural Diversity and its Influence on
Teaching and Learning…
Team building
• Many students may regard assignments involving team building as irrelevant.
• Where they have very bad experiences as team members they may be quite negative and
hostile towards this concept.
• team building skills are important factor in equipping students for life beyond school.
• Assignments involving team work need to be designed with care to ensure that they
produce the desired outcomes.
Participation in group discussions
• Participation can be exceedingly difficult for those students who are used to sitting and
listening to the teacher.
• Many will not have been required to express their opinion before and will initially be
extremely reluctant to do so.
• The engagement of students in group discussions is an important part of university
education, yet it is a subject that fills many international students with dread.
• Group discussions must be organized with great care and sensitivity if everybody is to be
actively engaged in them.
3.3 Strategies for teaching and Learning
in Diverse Setting
• Build on the knowledge that students bring into classrooms, particularly that knowledge
which is shaped by their family, community, and cultural histories.
• Family pedagogy is also vital.
• Teachers must come to understand the real lived experience of the families and children
they teach.
• Teacher diversity capital is intended to name the type of teaching enhancement that
embraces emotion and drives teachers to seek new opportunities and ideas for building
positive relationships with students and families from culturally diverse backgrounds.
Teacher capital, is the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to be an “effective” teacher.
• Diversity capital can in turn afford teachers the knowledge, skills, and dispositions
needed for a sustainable commitment to, validation of, and exchange with culturally
diverse students and families
• Good teachers already implement diversity capital.
In order to offer positive information regarding student progress the teacher need to:
• Call each child’s family with positive information.
• Provide family during the school year with positive information.
• Send a positive message via audio or audio/visual medium regarding each student.
3.4 Managing Diversity in the Classroom
The following are some major points to take into consideration while handling diversified groups in
classrooms.
They help teachers prepare themselves for a better management of the teaching and learning
process.
• Educate and Sensitize Oneself to Cultural Diversity
• Celebrate Cultural Differences in the Classroom
• Learn About the diversity in your Classroom
• Consider Students’ Needs First
• Learn to Communicate with Culturally Diverse Parents
3.5 Assessment in Multicultural Setting
Suggestions for Improving Multicultural Assessment
1. Concentrate on empirical and operational definitions of groups, not just labels.
2. Identify measures specifically designed for multicultural groups.
3. Encourage the consideration of cultural factors in the earliest conceptual stages of instrument
development.
4. Increase opportunities for an exchange of information between those with quantitative training
in instrument development and those with an interest and expertise in multicultural issues.
3.6. Characteristics of Effective Teachers in
multicultural settings
Activity
What makes a given curriculum culturally relevant?
Why do you think that multicultural extracurricular activities are needed in
the school?
4.1 Fundamental Values and characteristics of
Culturally Relevant Curriculum
• As classrooms become more and more culturally diverse, the need to infuse multicultural
content into the curriculum becomes increasingly evident.
• One way of integrating multicultural content into the curriculum involves four levels or
approaches.
1. The Contributions Approach (level 1) : Focuses on heroes, holidays, and discrete elements
and is the most extensively used approach to multiculturalism in the schools.
• The traditional ethnocentric curriculum remains unchanged in its basic structure, goals,
and salient characteristics.
• Cultural traditions, foods, music, and dance may be discussed, but little or no attention is
given to their meaning and significance to minority groups.
2.The Additive Approach (level 2): Adds content, concepts, themes, and perspectives of
minority groups to the curriculum without changing its structure.
• For instance, teachers may add a book, unit, or course to the curriculum that focuses on
diverse groups or topics.
• However, the students may not have the knowledge base to understand multicultural
concepts, issues, and groups.
• Minority students learn little of their own history, and the rest of the students learn little
of the history and contributions of other racial and cultural groups to American society.
Characteristics of Culturally Relevant Curriculum……..
• One strategy for creating multicultural gifted education is to blend the works of Banks and
Banks (1993) and Bloom (1956).
• This framework, described below, serves as a guide for helping educators promote higher level
thinking based on Bloom's cognitive taxonomy (knowledge, comprehension, application,
analysis, synthesis, and evaluation) and to promote multicultural thinking based on the four
levels presented by Banks and Banks (1993).
• The lowest levels of both models (e.g., knowledge-contributions) involve fact-based questions,
statements, and activities that do not promote higher level thinking or substantive multicultural
experiences.
• Conversely, at the highest levels of both models (e.g., evaluation-social action), students think
critically about and take action on multicultural topics, concepts, material, and events.
• Here is an example of a lower level question contrasted with more complex multicultural
questions: "Name three songs that were popular during slavery" (knowledge-contributions).
• In contrast, "Predict how our nation would have prospered without slave labor. What other
forms of labor could have been used?" (analysis-transformation level).
• The following outline can help educators to develop questions and learning experiences that
are challenging, rigorous, and multicultural.
Banks and Bloom Levels of integrating
multicultural contents
1. Contributions approach
• Knowledge: Students are taught and know facts about cultural artifacts, events, groups, and other cultural
elements.
Example: Name three songs that were popular among slaves.
• Comprehension: Students show an understanding of information about cultural artifacts, groups, and
other cultural elements.
Example: Make an outline of events leading to the Civil War.
• Application: Students are asked to and can apply information learned on cultural artifacts, events, and
other cultural elements.
Example: Create a model of the underground railroad.
• Analysis: Students are taught to and can analyze (e.g., compare and contrast) information about cultural
artifacts, groups, and other cultural elements. Example: Examine how stereotypes about minority groups
might have contributed to slavery.
• Synthesis: Students are required to and can create a new product from the information on cultural
artifacts, groups, and other cultural elements.
Example: Write a story about the contribution of Greece to education.
• Evaluation: Students are taught to and can evaluate facts and information based on cultural artifacts,
groups, and other cultural elements.
Example: Critique the work of a famous American Indian artist.
Banks and Bloom Levels of integrating
multicultural contents
2. Additive approach
• Knowledge: Students are taught and know concepts and themes about cultural groups.
Example: List three factors that contribute to prejudiced beliefs.
• Comprehension: Students are taught and can understand cultural concepts and themes.
Example: After reading a biography about a famous person of color, summarize the racial
barriers that the person faced.
• Application: Students are required to and can apply information learned about cultural
concepts and themes. Example: Find a book or song that discusses the problems of racial
prejudice in society.
• Analysis: Students are taught to and can analyze important cultural concepts and themes.
Example: Compare and contrast the writings of W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington on
issues of racial discrimination.
• Synthesis: Students are asked to and can synthesize important information on cultural concepts
and themes.
Example: Write a play about the Spanish Inquisition.
• Evaluation: Students are taught to and can critique cultural concepts and themes. Example:
Write a paper explaining why you think it is important (or not important) to learn about
prejudice.
Banks and Bloom Levels of integrating
multicultural contents
3. Transformative approach
• Knowledge: Students are given information on important cultural elements, groups, and
can understand this information from different perspectives. Ex: Describe how ………?
• Comprehension: Students are taught to understand and can demonstrate an
understanding of important cultural concepts and themes from different perspectives.
Example: Explain why ……..?
• Application: Students are asked to and can apply their understanding.
Example: Read an essay and write a paper showing how ……...?
• Analysis: Students are taught to and can examine important cultural concepts and
themes from more than one perspective.
Example: Predict how what other forms of labor could have been used?
• Synthesis: Students are required to and can create a product based on their new
perspective or the perspective of another group.
Example: Develop a survey regarding students' experiences on prejudice?
• Evaluation: Students are taught to and can evaluate or judge important cultural
concepts and themes from different viewpoints (e.g., minority group).
Example: Evaluate or judge the ……………….?
Banks and Bloom Levels of integrating
multicultural contents
4. Social action approach
• Knowledge: Based on information on cultural artifacts, etc., students make recommendations for social action.
Example: What would you have done ……..?
• Comprehension: Based on their understanding of important concepts and themes, students make
recommendations for social action.
Example: What can be done to improve how the media portray minorities?
• Application: Students are asked to can apply their understanding of important social and cultural issues; they
make recommendations for and take action on these issues. Example: Review three to five sources on affirmative
action……………..?
• Analysis: Students are required to and can analyze social and cultural issues from different perspectives; they
take action on these issues.
Example: Share the results with storeowners?
• Synthesis: Students create a plan of action to address one or more social and cultural issues; they seek important
social change.
Example: Form a school club whose goal is to create a sense of community and respect in the school building?
• Evaluation: Students critique important social and cultural issues, and seek to make national and/or international
change.
Example: Examine school policies to see if democratic ideals are present?
4.3 Selecting and Evaluating Multicultural Materials
a/ Delivery
• Delivery must acknowledge and address a diversity of learning styles while challenging
dynamics of power and privilege in the classroom.
– Vary instructional techniques : Lecture, Cooperative Learning, Dialogue,
Individual Work, Student Teaching
– Understand the dynamics of power in the classroom .
– Challenge the notion of Teaching as Mastery.
b/ Content
• Content must be complete and accurate, acknowledging the contributions and
perspectives of ALL groups.
– Ensure that the content is as complete and accurate as possible.
– Avoid tokenism—weave content about under-represented groups.
• Study the history of discrimination in curriculum.
C. Teaching and Learning Materials
• Teaching and learning materials must be diverse and critically examined for bias.
– Vary instructional materials. Texts, Newspapers, Videos/Movies, Games, etc.
– Examine all materials for bias and oppressive content.
– Diversify images and content in bulletin boards, posters, and other constantly-
visible materials.
Selecting and Evaluating Multicultural Materials……..
d/ Perspective
• Content must be presented from a variety of perspectives and angles in order to be
accurate and complete.
– Present content from a variety of perspectives, not only that of majority groups.
– Present content through a variety of lenses, not just those of a few heroic characters.
e/ Critical Inclusivity
• Students must be engaged in the teaching and learning process—transcend the banking
method and facilitate experiences in which students learn from each other's experiences
and perspectives.
– Bring the perspectives and experiences of the students themselves to the fore in the
learning experience.
– Encourage students to ask critical questions about all information they receive from
you and curricular materials, and model this type of critical thinking for them.
– Make content and delivery relevant for the students—facilitate experiences in which
they connect it with their everyday lives.
– Recognize your students as your most important multicultural resources.
Selecting and Evaluating Multicultural Materials……..
Hidden curriculum:
refers to the unwritten, unofficial, and often unintended lessons, values, and perspectives that students
learn in school.
While the “formal” curriculum consists of the courses, lessons, and learning activities students participate
in, as well as the knowledge and skills educators intentionally teach to students, the hidden curriculum.
consists of the unspoken academic, cultural, and social messages that are communicated to students while
they are in school.
concept is based on the recognition that students recognize and absorb lessons in school that may or may
not be part of the formal course of study—for example, how they should interact with peers, teachers, and
other adults; how they should perceive different races, groups, or classes of people; or what ideas and
behaviors are considered acceptable or unacceptable.
is described as “hidden” because it is usually unacknowledged or unexamined by students, educators, and
the wider community.
also extends to subjects, values, and messages that are omitted from the formal curriculum and ignored,
overlooked, or disparaged by educators.
in any given school encompasses an enormous variety of potential intellectual, social, and environmental
factors.
can reinforce the lessons of the formal curriculum.
Hidden Curriculum in Multicultural context…………..
• Teaching strategies: The way that schools and teachers choose to educate students
can convey both intentional and unintended messages.
• School structures: The way that a school or academic program is organized and
operated can convey messages to students.
• Institutional rules: The formal rules in a school may communicate a wide variety
of intentional and unintentional messages to students.
For example, some schools require students to wear school uniforms, and others
have very liberal or permissive clothing policies. While the intent of formal school
rules and policies tell students how they are expected to behave, the degree to
which they are enforced or unenforced, or the ways in which they are enforced,
may communicate messages the undermine or contradict their stated intent
Generally speaking, the concept of a hidden curriculum in schools has become more
widely recognized, discussed, and addressed in recent decades.
The hidden curriculum is, by nature, “hidden,” which means that many of its
lessons and messages are difficult to perceive or acknowledge.
UNIT FIVE:
CREATING A MULTICULTURAL SCHOOL
ENVIRONMENT
Unit Objectives: At the end of the unit the student will be able to:
• Describe the major characteristics of inclusive educational
environment.
• Analyze policies and strategies for promoting diversity in schools.
• Analyze mechanisms of helping students develop positive identities.
Activity
What do you think are the major characteristics of inclusive
educational environment.
What strategies do you recommend schools to promote diversity?
5.1 Characteristics of inclusive educational environment
Many educators have identified qualities that indicate an inclusive environment. Some of these are:
• All students are welcomed in general education. The general education class (with support) is the first
option considered, regardless of disability type or severity.
• Students are educated in classes where the percentages of those with and without disabilities are
proportional to those percentages in the local population (e.g., 10%-12% have identified disabilities).
• Students are educated with peers in the same age groupings available to those without disability labels.
• Students with varying characteristics and abilities participate in shared educational experiences while
pursuing individually appropriate learning outcomes with necessary supports and accommodations.
• Shared educational experiences take place in settings predominantly frequented by people without
disabilities (e.g., general education classrooms, community work sites).
• Educational experiences are designed to enhance individually determined outcomes for students and seek
individualized balance between the academic/functional and social/ personal aspects of schooling.
• Students receive typically available supports such as classroom teachers, classmates, and school
counselors (sometimes referred to as "natural supports") and specialized supports such as special
educators, and therapists only as needed.
• Inclusive education exists when each of the previously listed characteristics occurs on an ongoing, daily
basis.
5.2 Strategies for Promoting Diversity in the Institutional
Environment
• Feeling good about themselves is linked to greater personal resources that fostered
success and fewer problem behaviors that could have interfered with that success.
• efforts to increase achievement will be more successful if they focus on self-esteem,
personal resources, and the reduction of problem behaviors rather than on fostering
strong cultural identity.
5.4 Multicultural efforts beyond the classroom
It becomes difficult to learn about other cultures, without understanding about ones
own culture.
Therefore, in laying out practical steps for incorporating a Multicultural curriculum into
the classroom it is important to first make sure that students understand their culture
and where they come from.
There are six chronological steps which need to be taken in order to incorporate the
"Social Reconstruction" approach into the classroom.
These steps need to start with the individuals personal understanding of their teacher
and themselves and then work toward understanding other people, their cultures, and
how those cultures relate to them personally.
Multicultural efforts beyond the classroom……………….
• Each of these steps must include practical activities and evaluations and involve the
parents as partners in the teaching process. (It becomes very difficult to teach children if
the parents aren't supportive of what is occurring in the classroom).
• In this way the students will be able to acquire an accurate understanding of the world
in which they live.
Step 1. To make the students aware of the teachers culture
An idea of a practical theme to achieve this goal could be "Friendships".
This is the perfect time for the teacher to model how he would like the students to do
activities.
The teacher should also let the students work in an environment where they are able
to share, present, and comment on their work with one another.
Thus, the teacher could make fair evaluations of the success of the activities.
Step 2. Concentrate on the students own personality and how they differ from
others around them.
One would need to be careful that the activities used could be applied to all areas of the
curriculum, would involve the parents, and were applicable outside the classroom.
Multicultural efforts beyond the classroom……………….
THANK YOU