Multi - Cultural Ed

ucation
A Challenge to Global Teachers
Diversityof Learners and Mu
lticultural Education
• According to James Banks (1975 in Sadker, 1991), a
leading researcher in the area of students, "the maj
or goal of multicultural education, is to transform th
e school so that the male and female students, exe
ptional learners, as well as students coming from di
verse cultural, social-class, racial and ethnic groups
will experience an equal opportunity in school."
Accomodating Cultural Diffe
rences and Commonalities
To assist you in understanding your multi-cultural lea
rners, Fraser-Abner (2001), have the following sugges
tions to offer:
• Learn as much about and become as sensitive to an
d aware of racial, ethnic, cultural and gender group
s other than your own.
• Never make assumptions about an individual based
on their perception of that individual's
race, ethnicity, culture or gender.
• Avoid stereotyping.
• Get to know each student as a unique individual: W
alk in the footsteps of all your students.
Other suggestions include the following:
• Look into your own consciousand sub-conscious bia
ses about the people, who are different from yours
elvesin race, ethnicity, culture, genderor socioecon
omic status.
• Plan your activities within a multicultural framewor
k while making your classroom a safe and secure ha
ven for all the students.
• Infuse multi-cultural instructional materials and stra
tegies in your teaching.

• Foster collaboration and cooperation among your le

arners parents and teachers.
For Teacher Training Instit
utions

• Pre-service teacher education, programs should hel

p prospective teachers understand the complex cha
racteristicsof ethnic groups in ways, race, ethnicity, l
anguage and social class to influence students' beh
avior.
For Pre-Service Teachers
• Teacher should ensure all students have equitable o
pportunities to learn and to perform to a standard.
• Teacher should help students acquire social skills ne
eded to interact from other racial, ethnic, cultural, l
anguage of social groups.
• The school curriculum helps students understand th
at knowledgeis socially
constructed and are reflective of the social, political,
economic context in which they live & work.

• School should provide all students with opportuniti

es to participate in extra and co - curricular activitie
s that develop knowledge and attitude that increas
e academic achievement and foster positive inter c
ultural relations.
• Teachers and students should learn to reduce or eli
minate stereotyping, & other related baises, that ha
ve negative effectsonracial and erhnic relations.
• Schools should provideopportunities to students, fr
om difderent racial, ethnic, cultural and language gr
oups to interact socially under conditions design to
reduce fear and anxiety.
• Teachers should teach, and student ahould learn, a
bout the values shared by virtually all cultural group
s like justice equality, freesom, peace, compassion a
nd charity among others.
• No two learners are exactly the same.
• Children in all classrooms are heterogenous
• Strategies that work with one learner may not work
with the other.
• Student's background and experiences should be co
nsidered when teaching.
• Community members from various ethnic groups ca
n assist teachers in facing issues of ethnic differenc
es and similarities.
"All men are pretty much alike, ot is only by culture
that they are set apart."

-Confucius