Tackling Multiculturalism in the classroom

It would then be seen that culture holds an obvious role in the classroom, as not only “a place where culture is produced, consumed and regulated” (Wadham, Pudsey & Boyd, 2007) but also where cultural differences and misunderstandings between teachers and students occur and create divides in a classroom unable to properly function. It is thus important that understanding is met by both students and teachers for such issues to be resolved, particularly when Australia is known for it’s variety of cultures.

To escape the negative issues that often arise in the classroom due to cultural misunderstanding, teachers should take steps to educate their students as well as themselves about the particular cultures in which they are encountering and act to dismiss views of ‘orientalism’ towards different cultures seen as unusual and less functional (Phillips, 2006). Teachers should also become aware of the certain “cultural tendencies” students may exhibit in the classroom and to shape their teaching methods in a way that leaves all students on a relatively equal level of understanding (Rosenberg, Westling & McLeskey, 2011). Some of these cultural tendencies may include the generally higher levels of value felt towards education among Asian Students and their parents due to cultural values of the importance of Education, as a “key to social success and advancement” (Leaney, 2013).

Education and schooling has an important role in helping to enhance a students understanding of their own and other cultures, being key to this through teaching students about the “ways in which we learn to live within and contribute to our own cultural lives” as Schools can be seen as “a site of cultural struggle” (Wadham, Pudsey & Boyd, 2007).

Resulting from this is the increased popularity in studies and practices of ‘Multicultural education’, particularly for primary school teachers who feel the need to establish this earlier in a child’s development. Beliefs that “such approaches help children feel more welcomed, validated, integrated, and able to cooperate with others in their classroom” (Levy, 2012) make them a key issue to integrate in the classroom.

The four main approaches that are taken under this program include “multicultural education, anti-bias curriculum, global education, and international education” (Levy, 2012) and hold obvious importance, particularly in Australia where multiculturalism is a defining feature, deeper understanding into issues of cultural difference and similarity are needed for adolescents to grow to form more cultured and un-biassed views about the wider world as well as the views and depth into their own culture, helping to attack and eliminate cultural misunderstanding and racism at it’s routes.

Resources:

Rosenberg, M. S., Westling, D. L., & McLeskey, J. (2011). The Impact of Culture on Education. Special education for today's teachers: an introduction (http://www.education.com/reference/article/impact-culture-education/ ed., pp. 63-64).

Leaney, G. (Director) (2013, August 14). EDST1104, Social Perspectives in Education. Context of Australian Education. Lecture conducted from University of New South Wales, Sydney.

 Wadham, B., Pudsey, J. & Boyd, R. (2007). Culture and Education. Sydney: Pearson Education. Chapter 1: What is culture?

Alison Levy - http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=141