Becoming Critical: In-service Teachers’ Perspectives on Multicultural Education

Abstract

Many in-service teachers take a passive position regarding multicultural issues such as race, class, ethnicity, socio-economic, religion, gender, and sexual orientation. This passive position impacts classroom dynamics and has social justice consequences. The present qualitative study focuses on 12 in-service teachers' perspectives on multicultural issues. It describes the transformation of their perspectives and practices as they take a semester-long course on diversity. Data sources include the participating teachers' written reflections on assigned readings, classroom discussions and activities, paper presentations, instructor's field notes, and the teachers' final implementation papers. The findings of the study suggest that classroom activities and discussions provided teachers with opportunities to critically reflect on who they are and make changes in their perspectives and practices. Also, the study discusses the vital role of classroom social norms established by the instructor and the participating teachers as a form of praxis. This step is crucial for creating caring communities relative to cross-cultural interaction and individual transformation, which in turn has social justice implications in terms of rethinking teaching and learning as well as school reform.

Inclusive curriculum design: Meeting the diverse needs of students for social improvement

“…Culturally responsive teaching involves actively challenging stereotypes, biases, and misconceptions that may exist within the classroom and society at large. Educators play a critical role in promoting cultural understanding, empathy, and critical consciousness among students, encouraging them to question stereotypes and biases and to critically analyze information from multiple perspectives (Pourdavood et al, 2020). One strategy for challenging stereotypes and biases is to incorporate diverse perspectives and counter-narratives into the curriculum.…”

Con Amore: Exploring How Italian School Leaders and Teachers Accommodate Immigrant Students

“…Additionally, teachers may influence peers to interact with immigrant students, opening a culturally diverse experience which is why their perspectives are vital to their experience (Chiofalo et al, 2019b). Pourdavood & Yan (2020) find that "teachers' perceptions and attitudes influence their expectations and treatment of the learners, which may directly impact students and cause them to exhibit either positive or negative attitudes or behaviors" (p.116). Scholars have looked into Italian teachers' attitudes toward immigrant students and found that school leaders encourage teachers to use the presence of newcomers to encourage the rest of the class to "reflect on the themes of diversity" (Chiofalo et al, 2019b, p. 10).…”

Lesson Study: A Proposed Intervention for Professional Development of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Instruction in a Multicultural Classroom

“…Thanks to the literature that indicates that higher-order thinking (Alismail, 2016;Hjerm et al, 2018;Moreno, 2015) and Banks's (2008Banks's ( , 2019 social action approach have a positive influence on student learning opportunities and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the school and the community, one might assume that all educators would adopt instructional strategies that could encourage higher-level critical thinking. However, insights in recent literature suggest many educators do not follow instructional approaches that would encourage higher-level thinking skills in the way that the social action approach would do (Atwater et al, 2017;Balkaran & Roberts, 2019;Banks, 2008Banks, , 2019.…”