A Collaborative Self-Study: Advocating for Democratic Principles and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in Teacher Education

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a collaborative self-study of three teacher educators and how they understood, practiced, and promoted democratic education in response to the divisive rhetoric of 2015–2016 at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) in Southern California. The prevalence of neoliberal ideologies throughout the 2016 election season challenged our understandings of democratic education. Therefore, we explore how teacher educators promote democratic education and pedagogy during times of political uncertainty.     

What Teachers of Young Children Should Know About Islam

Increasing numbers of Muslim children attend programs for young children yet many teachers appear to know very little about Islam. Along with its overview of Islam, this article suggests how teachers can better support the rights and special needs of Muslim children. A list of references for further information and resources for teachers concludes the article.     

Nothing to do with me! Teachers’ perceptions on cultural diversity in Spanish secondary schools

One of the key effects of globalisation is the extraordinary increase in migratory movements. Spain, a country traditionally accustomed to emigration, has seen a considerable rise in the influx of immigrant population, with notable demographic, social and cultural transformations. Particularly, since the early 90s, schools have been experiencing increasing ethnic diversity in their student enrolments. Especially, over the last 10 years, their presence has multiplied 10-fold, reaching 9.53% of the total student body. Thus, along with linguistic difference, class, gender or ability, the most characteristic feature of Spanish schools in recent years is their multicultural nature. For these reasons, it seems reasonable to focus on how Spanish schools, and particularly teachers, perceive and manage cultural diversity. This article reports on a multiple case design study concerning the teachers’ views on cultural diversity and the impact on daily practice in their classrooms. Participants included 16 teachers, with experience ranging from 2 to 20 years of teaching, from four Spanish secondary schools. Semi-structured in-depth interviews with the teachers from each school were chosen as the research method. Additionally, the principal and four immigrant student families from each school were also interviewed. Further information was obtained through a focus-group interview with the four school counsellors. Over a six-month period, all the interviews and complementary field work were carried out by a researcher in each school. While recognising the efforts to accommodate ethnic groups and immigrant populations, the results indicated that teachers perceive cultural diversity as a particular problem whose management is marginalised and excluded from the set of school activities and teaching practices. Teachers agree that the issue is one of adaptation, a problem to be solved by the students themselves with the support of school counsellors and other educational specialists. This way, neither school policies nor teaching practices assume the commitments arising from cultural diversity, so we cannot say that teachers incorporate it in their work, putting culturally relevant teaching into practice in their classrooms. While one of the benchmarks achieved in recent years is the presence of educational specialists in schools to address cultural diversity, the next step is to create the conditions to articulate a joint and collaborative effort between the teaching body and these professionals, bringing cultural diversity management closer to the classroom. Another pending challenge would be determining how we can best prepare teachers for organising and managing their culturally diverse classrooms. Teachers in these schools are doing their job without a professional knowledge base concerning multicultural education. Therefore, pre-service and in-service teacher education programmes should consider questions related to multicultural education and classroom management, which are absent or rarely taken into account in teacher training to date.     

文化回应教学理论：背景、思想与实践--华盛顿大学多元文化教育中心Genev a Gay 教授访谈

文化回应教学作为一种教学取向以及一种行动方案,有其提出的理论背景、思想脉络和实践意向。教学忽视了学生的文化差异,没有关注他们的生活经历和文化背景,仍是以主流文化的标准及方式要求他们,因而造成少数民族学生学业低落。教师应该理解学生成长的母文化、学生文化行为所暗示的文化意蕴以及学生之间的文化差异,将学生的母文化作为学习的桥梁,而不是学习的障碍,学校教育应适度反应学生的母文化,使学生的学习经验更具脉络意义。教师需要关怀学生、与学生建立多种沟通方式、开发多元文化课程以及保持教学与文化一致性的教学架构。     

文化回应性教学国际研究现状与趋势——基于WOS数据库的文献计量分析

在文化日益多元的今天,文化回应性教学备受关注。应用计量可视化软件HistCite 分析Web of Science检索平台SSCI数据库收录的文化回应性教学研究文献,绘制了文献引证关系图谱,对相关研究进行分析。研究发现:文化回应性教学研究自2006年后总体呈稳步上升趋势,美国是该领域学术研究最具代表性的国家;研究聚焦于文化回应性教学的内涵理解与课堂实践,文化回应性教学与教师教育;研究内容不断细化、深化与多元化。加强文化回应性教学的理论基础研究,重视本土建构与国际视野的互动研究,增强基于证据的文化回应性教学实施效果研究,推进教师文化回应性教学能力培养的追踪研究是未来的趋势。     

Interrogating practice in culturally diverse classrooms: what can an analysis of student resistance and teacher response reveal?

As classrooms have increasingly become diverse and complex, developing culturally responsive pedagogies is a professional imperative for teachers. However, considerable international research suggests that meeting the needs of diverse pupil cohorts is challenging for many teachers. In this article, we highlight how curriculum and teaching practices reflect hegemonic values and cultural practices, and can potentially marginalise minority ethnic students. We draw on data from a study conducted in a culturally diverse lower secondary school in Austria where mandatory swimming classes are a source of tension between Muslim female students and their teachers. Our analysis of the intersection of student resistance and teacher authority raises issues of power, compliance and the construction of cultural difference as problematic. We suggest that scenario-based learning and in particular, the analysis of examples of student resistance and teacher response may facilitate teachers’ reflexivity about the values and beliefs that underpin their practice.