A More Diverse Circle of Friends

In this study the authors explored the social inclusiveness of classrooms with culturally competent teachers who were identified both by their participation in in-service diversity training and by principal nomination. The design of this study is quantitative, using a one-way ANOVA to analyze whether students (N = 125) in classrooms with teachers identified as culturally competent are more inclusive in their mutual friendships than students (N = 117) in classrooms with untrained teachers at the same schools. Sociometric questionnaires were used to collect data on mutual friendships. In the social psychological research mutual friendships are considered to be a strong indicator of less social distance between diverse social groups. Findings from the sociometric questionnaire suggest that students with culturally competent teachers, also referred to as culturally responsive teachers in the literature, have broader and more diverse social networks than students in classrooms with teachers that were not trained.     

Social support perceptions,network characteristics,and international student adjustment

Two hundred seventy-six international students reported their perceptions of social support from multiple sources (i.e., friends, family, institution, and significant other) as predictors of three facets of cross-cultural adjustment (i.e., general, interaction, and school-related adjustment). In addition, this study explored the incremental effects of cultural diversity and social network size on adjustment by asking international students to report members of their social network that they rely on for instrumental (i.e., task-oriented) and socio-emotional (i.e., relationship-oriented) support. Findings showed that certain sources of social support (i.e., friends and institution) were more strongly related to adjustment than others. Moreover, cultural diversity and the presence of host-nationals in student’s socio-emotional support network were significant predictors of cross-cultural adjustment. This demonstrates the importance of promoting initiatives that encourage host-national and sojourner interactions and diverse relationships within higher education to benefit cross-cultural adjustment.     

The role of intercultural competence,in the relationship between intercultural experiences and creativity among students

We studied the interplay of intercultural competence, intercultural experiences, and creativity among Russian students from Moscow (N = 272). We expected the students from culturally diverse groups, attending the courses on cultural issues, to be more creative. We based our expectation on the idea that cultural diversity and cultural learning are associated with a higher level of intercultural competence that might contribute to students’ creativity. We measured the intercultural experiences by cultural diversity of study groups (a number of foreign students in the groups and the intensity of friendly contacts with them) and by cultural learning (a number of culture-related courses that students attended). We measured creativity by the “Many Instances Game” from the Runco Creativity Assessment Battery (rCAB). We measured intercultural competence by the adapted scale of Fantini and Tirmizi. We discovered positive associations of intercultural experiences in the university with students’ creativity. Such components of intercultural competence as attitudes and skills (the adaptability of behavior), played an important role in the students’ creativity. The attitudes were positive and the skills were negative, related to the creativity. We also revealed that these two components of intercultural competence mediated the relationship between the intercultural experiences and creativity of students. Based on the results, we discussed the factors of the educational environment which may enhance or prohibit creativity.     

Cross-and same-race friendships of Vietnamese immigrant adolescents: A focus on acculturation and school diversity

The purpose of this study was to examine friendship developments of 153 Vietnamese immigrant adolescents who resided in an East Coast metropolitan area of the United States. We examined the influences of school diversity and acculturation on the quantity and quality of cross-and same-race friendships. Surprisingly, students who came from schools that are more diverse reported fewer cross-race friendships and lower levels of social support from their cross-race friends. American acculturation predicted greater levels of social support from cross-race friends. For same-race friendships, students who went to schools with higher percentage of Asian students reported more same-race friendships; however, percentage of Asian students was not a significant predictor of social support from same-race friends. Students who reported greater levels of Vietnamese acculturation reported greater levels of social support from their same-race friends. This study has implications for understanding the impact of school diversity and acculturation on friendship development of Vietnamese immigrants. Also, suggestions on how to better conceptualize and measure diversity are discussed.     

Developing Multicultural Awareness,Knowledge, and Skills: Diversity Training Makes a Difference?

As the population becomes more diverse, social work educators will bear a larger responsibility for educating culturally competent practitioners. To enhance student learning, research should consider those factors that influence students' multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills. This information potentially can help students better prepare for cultural competency courses and improve student outcomes. The focus of this study was to evaluate BSW and MSW students' (N = 191) multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills at the beginning and end of a required cultural diversity course. The results indicate that more previous diversity trainings at different sites consistently predict higher pre-test scores while previous diversity training sites and pre-test scores predict post-test scores. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of research, practice, and teaching implications.     

Diversity in the Classroom: Implications for School Counselors

U.S. classrooms reflect the diversity of a nation in the midst of transformation. These issues of student diversity force educators and policymakers to explore and more importantly address the needs of a changing population. A key person in the school to help facilitate positive interactions between diverse students, parents, and faculty is the school counselor. Sometimes referred to as change agents, counselors are in the position to affect attitude through changing awareness, providing necessary knowledge and skills, and enhancing opportunities that foster respect for cultural differences. This article discusses the current literature on culture and diversity and the need for classroom cultural congruity. In addition, discourse on school counselors' role in promoting respect for diversity is advocated with a school-based social justice intervention strategy.     

Advancing Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in a Secondary Methods Course

Given changes in the U.S. school-age population, it is crucial that colleges of education prepare teacher candidates to work effectively with students from diverse backgrounds. Because diversity constitutes such a small portion of the curriculum in many teacher education programs, it is crucial that teacher educators find creative ways to incorporate diversity into the courses they teach. In this article a teacher educator at a predominantly White institution in the American Southeast describes how she introduces culturally relevant pedagogy and connects it to the content, activities, and assessments included in the remainder of a course.     

Stressors, anxiety, acculturation and adjustment among international and North American students

The acculturation process generally contributes greatly to stress and anxiety levels among international students. The objectives of the present study were: (1) to see whether international students experience more anxiety, irritability, and stress from being apart from family and friends, pressure from school, difficulties with language, work and finances than students with permanent US residency, and (2) to investigate the same stressors in groups within the international student population. Surveys were distributed to 246 students aged 17–51 at an ethnically diverse community college in Southern California, US. Analysis of variance was conducted to investigate group differences between students: permanent US residents vs. international students, and, permanent US residents vs. European and Asian students, respectively. No significant differences were found between international students and students with permanent US residency. However, when the international student population was sub-grouped by above cultural regions a different pattern emerged. Difficulties of not being able to work and of socially related problems were perceived as more severe for the European and the Asian groups, while finance problems were hard for all three groups. The variable of language difficulties was harder for Asian students, while that of stress of being apart from family was harder for students from Europe. Findings are not only congruent with prior research results on international students but also demonstrate that international students with culturally diverse needs should not be considered as one homogenous group. It is suggested that educational systems need to properly adapt in order to accommodate international students’ unique cultural needs.     

“What Are You Reading?”: How School Libraries Can Promote Racial Diversity in Multicultural Literature

While many educators state beliefs about the importance of selecting fiction that will engage a diverse student population, use of multicultural titles in secondary classrooms has lagged, in part due to increasing focus on the Common Core State Standards in the United States. The purpose of this study was to determine if high school students in a Southern California district were using school libraries to access multicultural literature characterized by racial diversity. Four years of circulation data from the district's five comprehensive high schools were examined. Analysis revealed that the titles with the highest circulation were overwhelmingly written by White authors and about White protagonists. Suggested are ways that educators can use resources within school libraries to promote more racially diverse multicultural literature, even as classroom titles remain static. Included are recommendations for how teachers and teacher-librarians can encourage students to select from a wider range of texts, as well as guidance on conducting a circulation analysis.     

Diversity ideologies and flourishing: An Australian study comparing polyculturalism,multiculturalism, and colorblindness

In pluralistic societies such as Australia, an emerging diversity ideology of polyculturalism promotes sharing ideas and practices among people from diverse cultural traditions. What are the psychological associations of endorsing polyculturalism in contrast to multiculturalism and colorblindness, especially for an individual’s psychological well-being? We tested a path model to investigate if diversity ideologies are associated with flourishing through ethnocultural empathy, intercultural contact quality, and cultural identity clarity, using questionnaire responses of 255 Australians. The results supported our hypothesis that polyculturalism is associated with higher ethnocultural empathy and higher-quality intercultural contact and with higher flourishing through these pathways. Simultaneously, polyculturalism also associated with lower cultural identity clarity and indirectly with lower flourishing through this pathway. In contrast, the results did not support the link between these mediators and multiculturalism or colorblindness. Our findings indicate that polyculturalism has both positive and negative associations with eudaimonic well-being for those who endorse this ideology and suggest the increasing relevance of polyculturalism for Australians and the need for further research.     

Third Culture Kids,their diversity beliefs and their intercultural competences

Positive diversity beliefs are known to increase the effectiveness of diverse groups in organizations and society. Early cross-cultural experiences might facilitate developing these diversity beliefs. This study examined the relationship between being a third-culture kid (TCK) and one’s diversity beliefs, and the possible mediation of this relationship by intercultural competences.Data came from 1454 respondents, 17–19 years of age, who filled out the Intercultural Readiness Check (IRC) between 2011 and 2016 (49.1 % female, 50.9 % male). 65.0 % of the respondents had specified their nationality as Dutch, and 35.0 % had indicated a different nationality. 550 respondents (37.8 %) had spent one or more years abroad and were thus classified as TCKs. Their diversity beliefs were compared to 904 respondents (62.2 %) who had never lived abroad, and who therefore were classified as non-TCKs.A mediated regression analysis showed that TCKs had higher positive diversity beliefs than non-TCKs, and that this relationship was mediated by the degree to which they had developed specific intercultural competences, being intercultural sensitivity and building commitment. These findings show that early cross-cultural life experiences help individuals to develop intercultural competences and positive diversity beliefs. Equipped with these competences and beliefs, TCKs can add value to organizations and society.     

Territory and treatment of diversity: The case of the Communities of Cantabria,Asturias, Andalusia,and Valencia (Spain)

The presence of culturally diverse students in the classrooms of educational centers suggests that the autonomous communities with educational powers in Spain address the issue in a rather complex way. The case that concerns us in this text centers on the legislative and organizational analysis of four autonomous communities in Spain: Cantabria, Asturias, Andalusia, and Valencia. Each of the territories analyzed has distinct characteristics in terms of the approaches taken in relation to this type of student body, derived not only from the number of such students present in the classrooms, but also from other criteria of an ideological nature and educational or pedagogical positioning given this reality. We move from a macro analysis to a more concrete one that tries to define what, who and how the autonomous communities and the educational centers coordinate this process.This leads us to the consideration of at least three elements that are related to this decision-making process: the legislation that results from this reality, the specific organization of the educational centers, and the structures that have been created ad-hoc to respond to diversity.The process must be understood from a broad view of the situation that goes beyond that which is exclusively school-based. We must not forget that this is a matter of human rights, of democratically agreed-upon values, and of establishing appropriate conditions so that rights and values can be made possible within educational contexts. Without forgetting this macro perspective, the analysis includes the way in which communities present the cultural project and how this is manifested in the official curriculum in the form of practices that are determined by the construction of an image of childhood.     

PART IV: THE MULTICULTURAL LIBRARY

The changing demographic representation of students in United States public schools has significant implications for colleges of education. These changes make it imperative for colleges of education to produce candidates that possess the knowledge, skills, and sensitivity to deal with diverse student populations. To do so effectively, teacher educators would have to understand the meaning of cultural diversity and how to effectively integrate it into all facets of their teacher education programs. Such integration processes will include helping candidates to become more diversity mature (that is, to be comfortable with who they are) so that they can develop the self-efficacy that will propel them to contribute to the goals of a multicultural society. This article suggests the systems approach based on the systems analysis theory as a model for integrating cultural diversity in colleges of education. The process of systems analysis consists of a sequence of activities that includes (a) definition of the problem, (b) determination of the objectives and criteria for performance, (c) examination of alternative plans, and (d) evaluating the chosen alternative in light of resulting outcomes from the process. Using the systems approach to integrate cultural diversity will lead to a comprehensive assessment of current diversity efforts in individual colleges of education. Integrating cultural diversity will also entail collaboration among the systems and subsystems within and outside the college community, and finally, it will lead to the designing of a cultural diversity plan that takes advantage of the values inherent in the material and human resources possessed by the institution. This article challenges educators to examine their commitment to promoting cultural diversity and offers a plan to make their programs more multicultural in nature.     

Games from around the world: Promoting intercultural competence through sport education in secondary school students

Intercultural competence (IC) is a key competence in individuals’ life. Educational programs carried out to date have been motivated by the presence of culturally diverse students. This situation calls for programs to be implemented in low cultural diversity contexts, considering its repercussion on all students.This study aimed to explore the impact of a Sport Education Model (SEM)-based program about games from around the world on seventh-grade students’ intercultural competence and friendship goals. A quasi-experimental control group design (pre-test, post-test, and retention test measures) was carried out. The experimental group (EG) followed a SEM-based program (18 sessions) about games from around the world, whilst the control group (CG) was not exposed to any specific treatment, continuing with its ordinary syllabus. Data were collected from questionnaires, interviews and field notes.EG obtained significant improvements on reward, help, intercultural understanding and friendship-approach goals; whereas CG had significant diminishment on both intercultural sensitivity and understanding, as well as on friendship goals. Qualitative results conveyed: (a) an approach to new cultural realities; (b) how the teaching content led to cultural reflection; (c) how students created new relationships; (d) greater collaborative relationships; (e) how the model helped to mitigate negative behaviours; and (f) how the intervention provided students with greater opportunities for participation. Games from around the world are shown to be a suitable content for developing IC, suggesting the need for expanding evidence about possible effects of new teaching contents when conjugated with SEM.     

The Summer of Friendship by Fire: A Doctoral Student Reminisces about Lessons in Diversity

The journey toward becoming a multicultural person is not easy and is never finished. As an educational administrator in a tri-cultural state, I felt comfortable that I was proficient in dealing with diversity. Only when I began a doctoral program at a major Texas university was my naivety exposed. I quickly learned that experience in working with diverse populations and the ability to relate effectively to people of different ethnic backgrounds were vastly different. The two years I spent deeply immersed in a multiculturally rich cohort of doctoral students changed me. My eyes were opened to injustices that I had never before seen as I vicariously experienced life through the eyes of the “other.” Today, I am a professor at a regional university. My experiences, focused through the lens of theory, are the basis for the message to my students. I have traveled the road before and can now point the way toward a broader definition of acceptance and tolerance.     

Wrestling Whiteness: Three Stages of Shifting Multicultural Perspectives among White Pre-service Teachers

Pedagogical progress in the field of multicultural education moves at a snail's pace due to pre-service teachers' level of acceptance of multiculturalism and its tenets. Teacher candidates and seasoned teachers are simply unconscious and apathetic about matters of diversity. Pre-service teachers, primarily White and middle class, are mandated to take multicultural courses and grapple with recognizing their own cultural beings and the cultural realities of others. While student populations grow more diverse, the pre-service teacher population is becoming more homogenous. A major obstacle in teacher preparation programs arising from this mismatch of teacher and student cultures is the ability to facilitate a critical consciousness. This includes the ability to analyze the world and employ equity pedagogy in pre-service teachers who are resistant to diversity issues.

Pre- and post-course surveys, in open-ended and anonymous narrative form, were administered to White pre-service teachers (= 94), and this article is divided into two sections based on the results. First, I outline the three shifting perspectives that were identified during a semester-long course with White and middle class pre-service students, and then connect these perspectives to existing research on racial identity ego, theorizing whiteness, and curriculum integration. This new theoretical model addresses equity pedagogy and is framed within whiteness and consciousness studies and may serve as a reflective tool for educators to self-evaluate their pedagogical proclivities. Second, the implications of this informal action research project for White pre-service educators and research in theorizing whiteness are developed.     

Does normative multiculturalism foster or threaten social cohesion?

The study advances a tri-dimensional model of multiculturalism that highlights the importance of perceived societal norms, i.e., the extent to which one’s society is perceived as characterized by culturally diverse groups in contact with one another (Multicultural Contact, MC), a widespread appreciation of cultural diversity (Multicultural Ideology, MI), and multicultural policies and practices (MPP) to support and accommodate that diversity. A community sample of 143 Hispanics and 141 non-Hispanic Whites in the United States completed an online survey that examined perceptions of normative MC, MI and MPP as predictors of trust and national attachment, key indicators of social cohesion. The results indicated that MI, MC and MPP predict greater national attachment and that MI predicts greater trust; however, the positive effects of MI are limited to Hispanics and not found for Whites. The findings point to the conclusion that normative multiculturalism is more likely to foster than to threaten social cohesion.     

Broadening the mind: Beneficial effects of sojourn experiences and contact with visiting international students on prospective teachers’ motivation to avoid prejudiced behavior

Opportunities for intergroup contact are particularly important for prospective teachers because they bear responsibility for an ethnically diverse student population. Using data from a sample of 330 students inscribed in Austrian university colleges of teacher education, we investigated the long-term effects of international student exchange on prospective teachers’ motivation to avoid prejudiced behavior (MAPB). Both sojourning and domestic students’ friendships with visiting international students (VIS) were evaluated as potential instances of naturally occurring intergroup contact that can affect students’ MAPB. Sojourning students had an increased MAPB even nine months after returning to their home country. No effect was found for domestic students’ friendships with VIS. Possibly, the quality of these friendships was insufficient to result in long-term prejudice reduction. Implications of these results are discussed, and the need to advance interventions that are appropriate to improve domestic students’ contact with VIS is ascertained.     

Teaching Mathematics Education with Cultural Competency

Students learn through connections when understanding is enhanced by a more holistic view of the content. When mathematics is presented from diverse perspectives, students with diverse backgrounds, expectations, histories, and experiences benefit greatly. In this article the author addresses the need to teach mathematics with cultural competency that meets the needs of all diverse learners.