Cultural diversity in the curriculum: perceptions and attitudes of Irish hospitality and tourism academics

Abstract

Academics are facing significant challenges in preparing indigenous students for employment in the multicultural working environment of hospitality and tourism organisations. In dealing with the impact of the new skills and flexibilities demanded by increasing globalisation, the indigenous workforce needs to possess a multicultural perspective and the adaptive skills and mindsets to integrate more inclusively in diverse work settings. This article explores the nature of cultural diversity within the Irish hospitality and tourism workforce (in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland). An attempt is made to identify the challenges that hospitality and tourism educators face in implementing education for cultural diversity within the curriculum in order to prepare indigenous students (and indeed local industry staff) for employment within a multicultural workforce. The main themes analysed include: training requirements; educators' requirements; programme content and learning outcomes; assessment methods; and methods of programme delivery

Values-based Internships: Combining TEFI Values, Career Internships, and Community Engagement

“…In addition, one of the underlying values in mutual respect is that of diversity, a commonly articulated concept in many destinations and companies requiring increased attention from higher education (Devine, Hearns, Baum, & Murray, 2008); opportunities for obtaining student evidence of mutual respect are expected to be moderate in career internships. As noted in the introduction, there is no direct evidence yet in the literature that TEFI values of ethics and stewardship are strong focal points during typical student internship experiences or during handson industry projects, so these two values are set at limited for the career internship.…”