Studies have shown that teacher preparation with regard to cultural sensitivity is one-sided, as teachers are prepared to teach one socioeconomic group and mainstream culture (Van Hook, 2000).
”This form of educational preparation overlooks a number of diverse populations and fails to challenge a teacher’s beliefs and attitudes that have developed as a result of membership in the mainstream culture” (Van Hook, 2000: 3).
Van Hook refers to research on the subject of teacher preparation for entering the diverse classroom and notes that although the student population becomes more and more diverse, teachers continue to reflect the majority culture, a culture that may contrast with that of their students and may influence their teaching methods (Van Hook, 2000). Van Hook points out that research regarding the alteration of teachers’ attitudes is minimal. She proposes a framework for teacher education programmes, the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) that consists of six stages, in order to help teacher educators and teachers, identify the stages of intercultural development. These are cognitive structures used to view the diverse world based on life experiences, first introduced by Milton Bennet, and help understand the teacher’s worldview and assess cultural competency. They are defined as follows: Denial, Defence, Minimization, Acceptance, Adaptation, and Integration. (Van Hook, 2000).
Denial, defence and minimization are ethnocentric, since within these stages events are interpreted from one’s own cultural viewpoint and differences are either denied or minimized. On the other hand, acceptance, adaptation and integration are ethnorelative where the importance of differences is stressed. Differences are accepted and respected, different cultural beliefs are adapted and, finally, integration is achieved.
Moreover, teachers can identify the development of cultural and ethnic characteristics of their students, mainstream and diverse, as well as themselves, using the stages of cultural identity defined by Banks: (Banks, 2001:134).
Stage 1: Cultural and psychological captivity. This stage refers to low self- esteem due to experiencing negative beliefs about the individual’s cultural group. The individual is ashamed of his identity and responds by avoiding contact with other cultural groups or society and trying to become assimilated. Conflicts may occur among different cultural groups. This stage is experienced most often by people who do not belong to the mainstream society.
Stage 2: Cultural encapsulation. In stage 2, the individual considers their culture superior to other cultures, participates only in it, and feels threatened by other cultural groups.
Stage 3: Cultural identity clarification. The individual in stage 3 is in a position to clarify attitudes and cultural identity, has a positive attitude towards the group and experiences self-acceptance. He/she responds positively to other groups.
Stage 4: Biculturalism. The individual at this stage develops a sense of cultural identity and the skills needed in order to participate in his cultural community as well as in others He/ she can function effectively in two cultures and is fully bicultural. This level is experienced mostly by people who do not belong to mainstream society.
Stage 5: Multiculturalism and reflective nationalism. By stage 5, the individual has developed a positive personal, cultural, and national identity and has developed a positive attitude toward other groups. He/she can function within several cultures and demonstrates respect, understanding and empathy for other cultural groups. Also, he/she has developed a commitment to their cultural group as well as to the nation-state.
Stage 6: Globalism and global competency. The individual in stage 6 has developed a global identity and the skills to participate effectively in the nation-state and in other parts of the world. He/she has developed universal values and principles.
Banks argues that “teachers who are primarily functioning at stages 1 and 2 cannot be expected to help students develop positive racial attitudes towards different ethnic and racial groups” (Banks, 2001:309). Moreover, he points out that the curriculum should be consistent with the students’ level of cultural identity as there are curricular implications for each stage of cultural development.
Research also indicates that children become aware of cultural differences and express negative attitudes from a very early age. If nothing is done to modify their attitudes they tend to become even more negative and crystallized as the children grow older (Banks, 2001). This is why teachers’ attitudes, behaviour and perceptions are so important, namely to create a positive atmosphere in the diverse classroom. Teachers’ cultural sensitivity is closely related to the students’ academic performance and it is also considered as an essential characteristic of effective teaching for diverse students (Larke, 1990 quoted in Cotton, 1993).
However, research findings (Cotton, 1993) on teachers’ intercultural knowledge attitudes and behaviour reveal that brief and superficial training of teachers has no effect in the diverse classroom. Even more, Grotkau- Mays quoted in Cotton points out that
“short-term interventions may even be detrimental to the preservation
of a respect for human diversity” (Cotton, 1993:20).
Effective techniques to change teacher attitudes and behaviour vary from diverse experiences (such as visitations and seminars) to community involvement, cross-curricular interaction and even psychotherapy (Banks, 2001).
Skills for multicultural teaching
In service teacher education is essential in order to be able to reduce racial conflicts, as teachers must first clarify their own perceptions before becoming involved in prejudice reduction strategies for students. Moreover, teachers must be helped to develop democratic attitudes and values otherwise any multicultural plan and material will be ineffective (Banks, 2001). Banks consider teachers as “cultural mediators and change agents… (teachers) should support and defend moral and ethical positions that are consistent with democratic values and ideals” (Banks, 2001: 241).
More specifically, teachers working with diverse students must have the following skills (Banks, 2001:306):
- Democratic attitude
- Multicultural philosophy
- Ability to view events and situations from diverse ethnic perspectives and points of view
- An understanding of the complex and multidimensional nature of diversity
- Knowledge of the stages of cultural identity and their curriculum teaching implications
- The ability to function increasingly at the higher stages of cultural identity.
Furthermore, teachers need to be aware of the factors of effective teaching in a multicultural environment (Cotton, 1993):
- instruction must be carefully designed to serve multicultural purposes
- the importance of the environment must not be ignored
- cooperation
- lack of competitive spirit
- the equal status of all students
- multicultural curriculum based on students’ experience.
Studies quoted in Cotton (Cotton, 1993) have identified the following teachers’ skills and behaviours for positive cross-cultural interaction and social integration in schools: racial/ethnic mixing, positive staff role models, security staff support for integration, multicultural exposure, intercultural fairness.
Development of personal identity
It must be noted that literature on cultural diversity in schools is strongly related to the development of personal identity (Kanga, 2002). Researchers agree on the maintenance of cultural identity as an important factor in diverse students’ learning (Damanakis, 1997; Banks, 2001; Cummins, 2003; Papas, 1998).
‘Assimilation is in many ways similar to exclusion in so far as both orientations are designed to make the problem disappear. If students retain their culture and language then they are viewed as less capable of identifying with the mainstream culture and learning the mainstream language of the society” (Cummins, 2003:2). Consequently, teachers should make use of what their students bring to the classroom and promote students’ talents and abilities through instruction (Cummins, 2003).
The issue of negotiating identities is also prevalent in research regarding the teacher’s role in a diverse teaching environment. Cummins (2003) argues that the students’ empowerment is the result of the negotiation of identities in the classroom. He proposes a “Framework For Making A Positive Difference In Children’s Lives” (Cummins, 2003). Emphasis is given to the interactions between teachers and culturally diverse students. These interactions
- are strongly related to the children’s success or failure
- reflect the educator’s identity, the image of identity we aim for our students, and the image of the society we help them form
- are never neutral but instead may work in two different ways:
“either reinforce or challenge coercive relations of powering the
wider society…it is both the right and the responsibility of
educators both individually and collectively to contribute to
this challenge and thereby make a positive difference in the lives
of their students” (Cummins, 2003:16)
At this point, it must be noted that mother tongue, plays a very important role in the students’ personal and educational development. According to research, there are a number of reasons to justify the importance of language (Cummins, 2003). Cummins argues that multilingual children can contribute not only to their societies but also to the global community as long as educators use the students’ cultural background as a foundation for their learning and recognize, respect and promote each student’s talents and abilities. As Cummins notes, educators should
“…open our eyes to the linguistic, cultural, and intellectual resources
they bring from their homes to our schools and societies” (Cummins, 2003:7).
Another interesting view of empowerment- not so different from the one expressed by Cummins- has been expressed by some theorists and is reviewed by Zou (1998). For those theorists, empowerment is related to a smooth transition and adaptation from the country of origin to the new country. Therefore, the idea of empowerment/transition is theoretically based on Vygotsky’s approach (Vygotsky 1962, 1978), which relates intellectual development to social and cognitive phenomena and stresses the importance of everyday interaction in learning. Zou refers to research on the relation between communication even outside the classroom, the social context and the implications for effective teaching. Such an approach implies culturally and linguistically meaningful strategies within the zone of proximal development that may lead to effective empowerment/transition from one country another ( Zou, 1998).
In this sense, learning difficulties of immigrants can be explored under the scope of “abrupt transition from a familiar to an unfamiliar sociocultural environment and therefore to the lack of linguistic and cultural knowledge needed for meaningful interaction with adults and peers” (Zou, 1998:7).
Zou concludes that the zones of proximal development are closed or unsuitable for immigrant children and Vygotskian pedagogy of active learning cannot occur in a learning environment where “hegemonic discourse silences culturally and linguistically diverse children” (Zou, 1998:7).
This is why the teacher’s role is so important. The teacher and the peers must offer assistance, scaffolding, guidance and support so that transition from one cultural and linguistic system to the other is smooth. Above all, the importance is on the trusting relationship that must be built between teacher and students that will present the teacher as a positive model who will offer assistance in the students’ learning process. Zou adds another condition for the empowerment of immigrant students to those set by researchers; (political control, self-confidence, self-identification and motivation): "the opportunity to play a role in a functionally competent way, under the mentorship of skilled persons” (Zou, 1998: 8). You, the teacher, are one of them.
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