Enhancing or reducing interethnic hierarchies? Teacher diversity approaches and ethnic majority and minority students' ethnic attitudes and discrimination experiences

Meeting in school: Cultural diversity approaches of teachers and intergroup contact among ethnic minority and majority adolescents

“…Most importantly, all these results were replicated across ethnic minority and majority adolescents, indicating that equal treatment by teachers could improve the overall quality of intergroup contact of all students regardless of their ethnic background. To conclude, such findings provided novel insight into the potential of equal treatment as a crucial factor that can reveal “teachers' invisible hands” (i.e., a metaphor that refers to the unique role of teachers in guiding the social interactions of students; Farmer et al, 2011 ; see also Kindermann, 2011 ; Schwarzenthal et al, 2022 ) in creating a school climate characterized by harmonious relationships among adolescents from diverse ethnic backgrounds.…”

“…Considering the central role of teachers as positive role models for all students, we assessed schools' cultural diversity climate through adolescents' perceptions of teachers' norms. Given that the discrepancies might arise between teachers' and students' perceptions of how cultural diversity is handled in school (particularly among minority youth; Civitillo et al, 2017 ), future studies should draw on multi‐informant designs including teachers' as well as students' responses to identify whether adolescents' perceptions accurately reflect those of teachers (e.g., Schwarzenthal et al, 2022 ).…”

“…In this regard, schools represent the main context in which adolescents establish experiences with formal authorities. Thus, school authorities, and more specifically teachers, have a fundamental role in facilitating beneficial intergroup relationships (Schwarzenthal et al, 2022 ; Thijs & Verkuyten, 2014 ). Indeed, teachers can promote intergroup relationships among students by expressing their own beliefs and institutional policies toward cultural diversity and acting accordingly (Saleem & Byrd, 2021 ).…”

The interplay between diversity climate and multiculturalism policy: How diversity contexts shape student collective voice

“…This research has shown positive consequences of 'intrapersonal' voice concerning achievement, future aspirations, and positive engagement in the school community (e.g., via extracurricular activities), and has shown positive individual-level antecedents such as perceived trust, understanding, and approachability with teachers as well as perceived sense of inclusion in the school. Such antecedents may reflect perceived school climates, as the authors suggest (see also Kirk et al, 2017), but empirically, they are measured on the individual rather than contextual (i.e., school) level (see also Schwarzenthal, Phalet, & Kende, 2023). To our knowledge, no research has examined the role of climates assessed as a collectively perceived, contextual factor on this important outcome reflecting social justice; an outcome that we examine, also importantly, as a perceived collective form of empowerment among students rather than an individual, intrapersonal experience.…”

“…These climates reflect norms, shared forms of thinking, and comprise aggregated individual opinions or perceptions within a given context (see also Green, Visintin, & Sarrasin, 2018). While much of this research on the effects of such climates has been conducted when comparing large geographical units such as countries, some researchers have begun to examine smaller units like organization or school climates in this way, too (e.g., Baysu, Celeste, Brown, Verschueren, & Phalet, 2016; Baysu et al, 2023; Schwarzenthal et al, 2023; see also Leslie & Flynn, 2022; Plaut, Thomas, & Goren, 2009). In conducting a systematic review of the literature on school climates, Cohen et al (2009) conclude that ( individually perceived ) positive school climates predict a host of behavioural and academic outcomes among students.…”