M3L3

• Confucius: 'All men are pretty much alike. It is only by culture that they are set apart.'
• Multicultural education


  The major goal is to transform the school so that the male and female students, exceptional learners, as well as students coming from diverse cultural, social-class, racial and ethnic groups will experience an equal opportunity to learn in school
• Diversity of learners in multicultural classrooms
• Diversity among students


  • Differences in race, ethnic or religious groups, languages, socio-economic backgrounds
  • Increasing number of students from families plagued with poverty, unemployment, frequent relocations, limited access to services, crime-ridden neighborhoods
• In the midst of this diversity, students are supposed to be given equal opportunities to education
• Responses of multicultural education


  • Curricular and instructional modifications
  • Teaching style changes
  • Re-examination of teachers' attitudes, beliefs and perceptions
  • Valuing differences in prior knowledge and experiences of diverse learners
  • Environmental adaptation of classrooms
  • Behavior support plans
  • Cooperative learning
  • Peer tutoring
  • Team teaching
• Focusing on group differences may lead to stereotyping which multicultural teachers have to avoid
• Culture


  Beliefs and practices that help us adapt to persistent and changing circumstances, organized as models or schema about how things work
• Cultural majority-minority in the classroom poses a challenge to teachers where there are differences in gender, native vs immigrant status, socioeconomic status, and the teacher's culture being different from the students
• Suggestions for teachers to understand multicultural learners


  • Learn about and be sensitive to racial, ethnic, cultural and gender groups other than your own
  • Avoid making assumptions or stereotyping based on race, ethnicity, culture or gender
  • Get to know each student as a unique individual
  • Examine your own conscious and subconscious biases
  • Plan activities within a multicultural framework and make the classroom a safe and secure haven
  • Infuse multicultural instructional materials and strategies
  • Foster collaboration and cooperation among learners, parents and teachers
• Diversity in schools is an opportunity to help unify individuals and citizens as a contribution to a democratic and pluralistic society
• Guiding principles for multicultural education


  • Pre-service teacher education programs should help prospective teachers understand the complex characteristics of ethnic groups
  • Teachers should ensure all students have equitable learning opportunities
  • Teachers should help students acquire social skills to interact effectively across groups
  • The curriculum should help students understand knowledge is socially constructed
  • Schools should provide opportunities for students from different groups to interact socially under conditions to reduce fear and anxiety
  • Teachers and students should learn to reduce stereotyping and biases
  • Schools should provide opportunities for students to learn about shared cultural values like justice, equality, freedom, peace, compassion and charity
• No two learners are exactly the same
• Children in all classrooms are heterogeneous
• Strategies that work with one learner may not work with another
• Student's background and experiences should be considered when teaching
• Community members from various ethnic groups can assist teachers in facing issues of ethnic differences and similarities
• Differences in race, ethnic and religious groups, languages, economic status, and family background require multiple approaches in teaching
• With regional, national and international boundaries opened to education, a greater demand for understanding of learners has come to the fore