Investigating Multiculturalism as Policy and Practice in the Middle Years of Schooling: An Australian Study

Abstract

Definitions and policy intents of multiculturalism have been contested in the public sphere at international and national levels; however the term has remained in use in Australia since the 1970s. In policy frameworks, successive Australian governments have promoted societal pluralism as a national goal over a period of 21 years. Recent federal and state policies relating to multiculturalism have featured terms such as 'social capital' and 'productive diversity', as well as 'inclusivity' and 'accountability'. At the level of middle schooling, understandings of the term and its enactment have varied. Within a wider, ongoing study, sociocultural data were collected from metropolitan schools that publicly espoused multiculturalism as foundational to their school philosophy and teaching practice. Analysis of interview data from teachers and school management explores accounts of 'good practice' in these schools. While some schools consider multiculturalism to be a domain within the curriculum, others are employing a whole-school approach. Implications are drawn for the enactment of multiculturalism in the middle years of schooling.

Multicultural Capital in Middle Schooling

“…The concept of multicultural capital started to emerge in the authors' research after the initial analysis and interpretation of the data while writing about the connection between current theoretical frameworks and concepts of 'multiculturalism', 'multicultural education' and 'productive diversity' (see Bridges and Poyatos Matas, 2006 for further information). Relevant to Australian schooling were Hickling Hudson's (2003) notions of "inter culturally proactive" and "culturally problematic schools".…”

“…In this paper, we draw upon literature in economic theory and sociology to explore five types of capital. The exploration of and focus on these five types is a logical extension from previous analysis (Bridges & Poyatos-Matas, 2006) which examined a) frameworks of multicultural education and b) the enactment of the principles of "productive diversity" (Cope & Kalantzis, 1997;Kalantzis & Cope, 1999). Our prior data analysis regarding multicultural education frameworks highlighted the multiple ways capital was seen as contributing to the school as a THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DIVERSITY IN ORGANISATIONS, COMMUNITIES AND NATIONS, VOLUME 8, NUMBER 2, 2008 http://www.Diversity-Journal.com, ISSN 1447-9532 "social system" (Banks, 2003, p.11).…”

Framing Multicultural Capital to Understand Multicultural Education in Practice

“…The notion of multicultural capital in the middle schooling arose from data analysis that showed evidence of how five categories of capital contributed to increasing multicultural awareness and knowledge in five Australian schools (Poyatos Matas & Bridges, 2008). The notion was built on work on culturally problematic and interculturally proactive schools developed by Hicking-Hudson (2003), and expanded prior analysis (Bridges & Poyatos Matas 2006) exploring concepts such as multicultural education and productive diversity (Kalantzis & Cope, 1999).…”

“…In Australia, the term 'multicultural education' has taken on a uniquely Australian characteristic in the last three decades in response to different federal and state policy developments (Poyatos Matas & Bridges 2005). Working with ethnographic data, Poyatos Matas and Bridges (2006) identified that Bank's five domains of multicultural education were present in the multicultural approaches described by the Australian schools that they investigated. In addition, they identified a sixth domain that they described as "productive diversity in action".…”

“…This transition has a real impact in student achievement (Carrington, 2006). At the level of middle schooling, conceptualizations of the term of multiculturalism and its enactment have been found to be varied (Bridges & Poyatos Matas, 2006). However, we need to learn more about what contributes to successful multicultural education approaches, and the role that multicultural capital may play to support multicultural education in middle schooling.…”