Philosophy of

Multicultural Education

Pedro A. Arongat, PhD

Professor
 Multicultural Education
-describes a system of
instruction that attempts to
foster cultural pluralism and
acknowledges the differences
between races and cultures.
 Multicultural Education
-It addresses the educational
needs of a society that contains
more than one set of traditions,
that is a mixture of many
cultures.
 Multicultural Education
-is an educational philosophy that focuses
on celebrating cultural differences while
also recognizing the importance of
challenging all forms of discrimination
based on race, gender, age, religion,
ability or sexual orientation.
 Multicultural Education
- It advocates the belief that students and
their life histories and experiences should
be placed at the center of the teaching
and learning process and that pedagogy
should occur in a context that is familiar to
students and that addresses multiple ways
of thinking.
In addition, teachers and students
must critically analyze oppression
and power relations in their
communities, society and the world.
To accomplish these goals, multicultural education
demands a school staff that is culturally competent,
and to the greatest extent possible racially,
culturally, and linguistically diverse. Staff must be
multiculturally literate and capable of including and
embracing families and communities to create an
environment that is supportive of multiple
perspectives, experiences, and democracy.
Multicultural education requires
comprehensive school reform as
multicultural education must
pervade all aspects of the school
community and organization.
 Characteristics of
Multicultural Education
• Multicultural education is antiracist
education.
• Multicultural education is basic
education.
• Multicultural education is important for
all students.
 Characteristics of
Multicultural Education
• Multicultural education is pervasive.
• Multicultural education is education for
social justice.
• Multicultural education is critical
pedagogy.
 Principles of
Teaching and Learning in
a
Multicultural Society
 Principle 1:
Professional development programs should
help teachers understand the complex
characteristics of different groups of children
in the society and the ways in which race,
ethnicity, language and social class interact
to influence students behavior.
 Principle 2:
Schools should ensure that all
students have equitable
opportunities to learn and to
meet high standards.
 Principle 3:
The curriculum should help students
understand that knowledge is socially
constructed and reflects the social,
political and economic contexts in
which they live and work.
 Principle 4:
Schools should provide all students with
opportunities to participate in extra- and
co-curricular activities that develop
knowledge, skills, and attitudes that
increase academic achievement and
foster positive interracial relationships.
 Principle 5:
Schools should create or make
salient superordinate crosscutting
group memberships in order to
improve intergroup relations.
 Principle 6:
Students should learn about
stereotyping and other related
biases that have negative effects
on racial and ethnic relations.
 Principle 7:
Students should learn about the
values shared by virtually all cultural
groups (e.g., justice, equality,
freedom, peace, compassion, and
charity).
 Principle 8:
Teachers should help students
acquire the social skills needed to
interact effectively with students
from other racial, ethnic, cultural,
and language groups.
 Principle 9:
Schools should provide opportunities
for students from different racial,
ethnic, cultural, and language groups
to interact socially under conditions
designed to reduce fear and anxiety.
 Benefits of
Multicultural Education
1. Helps to eradicate prejudice and racism.
2. Brings different races together in harmony.
3. Builds interaction between diverse
cultures.
4. Creates tolerance between two groups.
 Benefits of
Multicultural Education
5. It eradicates cultural barriers.
6. Helps students develop positive self-
image.
7. Allows multiple perspectives and ways of
thinking.
 The Dimensions of
Multicultural Education
James A. Banks's Dimensions of
Multicultural Education is used widely
by school districts to conceptualize
and develop courses, programs, and
projects in multicultural education.
 The Five Dimensions are:
(1) content integration;
(2) the knowledge construction process;
(3) prejudice reduction;
(4) an equity pedagogy; and
(5) an empowering school culture and social
structure.
 1. Content integration

Content integration focuses on what

information should be included in the
curriculum, how it should be
integrated into the existing
curriculum, and its location within the
curriculum.
 1. Content integration

It deals with the extent to which

teachers use examples and content
from a variety of cultures and
groups.
 1. Content integration
There are frequent and ample
opportunities for teachers to use
ethnic and cultural content to
illustrate concepts, themes, and
principles in the social studies, the
language arts, and in music.
 2. The knowledge construction process

The knowledge construction process describes

teaching activities that help students to
understand, investigate, and determine how
the implicit cultural assumptions, frames of
references, perspectives, and biases of
researchers and textbook writers influence the
ways in which knowledge is constructed.
 2. The knowledge construction process

Multicultural teaching involves not only infusing

ethnic content into the school curriculum, but
changing the structure and organization of school
knowledge. It also includes changing the ways in
which teachers and students view and interact with
knowledge, helping them to become knowledge
producers, not merely the consumers of knowledge
produced by others.
 3. Prejudice reduction
The prejudice reduction dimension
of multicultural education seeks to
help students develop positive and
democratic racial attitudes.
 3. Prejudice Reduction

Focus on building strategies that

can be used to help students
develop more positive racial and
ethnic attitudes.
 3. Prejudice Reduction

It also helps students to

understand how ethnic identity is
influenced by the context of
schooling and the attitudes and
beliefs of dominant social groups.
 4. An equity pedagogy
An equity pedagogy exists when
teachers modify their teaching in ways
that will facilitate the academic
achievement of students from diverse
racial, cultural, socioeconomic, and
language groups.
 4. An equity pedagogy

This includes using a variety of

teaching styles and approaches
that are consistent with the range
of learning styles.
 4. An equity pedagogy
An equity pedagogy assumes that
students from diverse cultures and
groups come to school with many
strengths. Teachers practice culturally
responsive teaching when an equity
pedagogy is implemented.
 4. An equity pedagogy
They use instructional materials and
practices that incorporate important
aspects of the family and community
culture of their students.
 5. An empowering school
culture
This dimension involves restructuring
the culture and organization of the
school so that students from diverse
racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and
language groups experience equality.
 5. An empowering school
culture
Grouping and labeling practices, sports
participation, gaps in achievement among
groups, different rates of enrollment in gifted
and special education programs among groups,
and the interaction of the staff and students
across ethnic and racial lines are important
variables that are examined and reformed.
 5. An empowering school
culture
An empowering school structure facilitates the
practice of multicultural education by providing
teachers with opportunities for collective
planning and instruction, and by creating
democratic structures that give teachers,
parents, and school staff shared responsibility for
school governance.
Thank you!