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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 1 December 2014

Cathy Downs and LuAnne Ktiri-Idrissi

Emotional and interpretive responses to three short stories were noted in two study populations of similar age: Qatari students in a post-highschool foundation program preparing…

Abstract

Emotional and interpretive responses to three short stories were noted in two study populations of similar age: Qatari students in a post-highschool foundation program preparing to attend branch campuses of western universities located in Qatar, and American students, many of Mexican-American heritage, from a small college in a rural setting in South Texas. It has long been thought that reading literature from a foreign culture confers educational value on the reader; in this investigation the nature of that ‘value’ was placed under study. Written responses to quiz questions or assignments were used as data; responses critical of or affirming of character, setting, plot, and literary tropes were particularly noted. Our data show that readings from an author whose culture was similar to the reader’s created interest and urged both intellectual and affective types of understanding, such as remembering, grieving, healing, forgiving, and feeling pride. Readings from ‘classic’ literature presented in historical context strongly enabled critical discussion among students in a multicultural setting, since the author’s absence from the scene ‘allows’ free conversation about his or her work without fear of insulting the author’s culture. Readings by contemporary writers from outside the reader’s culture, or ‘multicultural literature’, may cause some readers to shy away from the challenge of understanding another culture or to voice stereotypes instead of seeking ideas. Readings from outsider cultures, however, and the affective distancing of ‘othering’, enable the well-prepared educator and student to discuss how culture patterns our lives.

Details

Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives, vol. 11 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2077-5504

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 6 August 2019

Manya C. Whitaker and Kristina M. Valtierra

Abstract

Details

Schooling Multicultural Teachers
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-717-1

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 6 August 2019

Manya C. Whitaker and Kristina M. Valtierra

Abstract

Details

Schooling Multicultural Teachers
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-717-1

Content available
Article
Publication date: 12 November 2018

Loizos Symeou and Yiasemina Karagiorgi

In this paper, the authors focus on a professional development programme in Cyprus aiming to enhance teachers’ intercultural understanding, awareness and competencies. This paper…

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Abstract

Purpose

In this paper, the authors focus on a professional development programme in Cyprus aiming to enhance teachers’ intercultural understanding, awareness and competencies. This paper aims to focus on trainers’ and teacher trainees’ reflections upon a teacher professional development programme in the primary school in Cyprus with the largest number of Roma children.

Design/methodology/approach

The training was provided by a small team of six trainers. Immediately after each training session, each trainer participated in an interview, while three of the trainers participated also in a focus-group interview at the end of the training. The trainers’ data were complemented by semi-structured interviews with a number of trainees either before or after the training. All interviews were transcribed, while interview questions comprised the framework for the qualitative analysis. The findings are presented by means of content analysis which formed the basis for emerging themes.

Findings

The authors claim that trainee teachers appeared culturally aware and sensitive, as well as knowledgeable about intercultural education; furthermore, they seemed to implement different teaching methodologies and curriculum interventions to support Roma children’s inclusion in the local school community. At the same time, they seemed to adopt instrumental approaches towards the content and purpose of the programme, seeking explicit instructional guidelines, plans and heuristics to deal with Roma inclusion. Considering the mis-recognition of teachers’ efforts by stakeholders outside the school and the expectations of the educational authorities – voiced via their school inspectors – teachers desperately asserted the need for tangible strategies to help them cope with difference in their classrooms.

Research limitations/implications

The authors argue that such professional development programmes should aim at facing, deconstructing and bringing to the fore prejudices and discrimination against the Other/s by valuing teachers, first, as reflective individuals and, second, as professionals with their own cultural backgrounds and identities, on which any training programme, of the kind presented in this paper, could start from and build on.

Practical implications

Even though there is no tailored magic recipe to make teachers’ daily professional enterprise in multicultural settings easy, to help teachers master the necessary knowledge, skills and confidence, the authors suggest that training should be directly linked to classroom practice and acknowledge stress and helplessness that accompany work in multicultural school settings.

Social implications

The inclusion strategy in many educational systems needs to become more comprehensive to cope with varying sources of social exclusion, faced by vulnerable groups of a different cultural background, such as Roma. Teacher training thus needs to meet the challenges of working in a diverse and multicultural environment in general and with Roma children in particular. In view of the multicultural character of local societies, a more critically oriented humanistic education is needed based on tolerance and understanding.

Originality/value

The limited participation of Roma in the school system could be related to teachers’ (mis)conceptions about the Roma culture and that the widely different ways in which Roma relate to schooling are often disregarded by the school.

Details

Journal for Multicultural Education, vol. 12 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2053-535X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 18 October 2022

Eseta Tualaulelei and Nicole Catherine Green

In the research literature relevant to open educational practices (OEP), the terms “students” or “learners” often refer to individuals engaging in formal study. This study aims to…

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Abstract

Purpose

In the research literature relevant to open educational practices (OEP), the terms “students” or “learners” often refer to individuals engaging in formal study. This study aims to broaden the conception of learners to include those who engage with continuing professional development or professional learning. The study focussed on one intersection of OEP with equity pedagogy for these learners.

Design/methodology/approach

Guided by transformative approaches to knowledge, the research is qualitative and draws upon nine focus group interviews about multicultural education professional learning needs conducted in November 2019 and July 2020 with 74 early years educators and staff. Data were analysed with theoretical thematic analysis to provide a rich overall description of the data set.

Findings

Early years educators and teachers aim to centre equity pedagogy in their practices but are constrained by a lack of opportunity to engage in professional development, and fragmented approaches to professional learning, issues which may potentially be addressed through OEP.

Originality/value

This paper extends understandings of OEP as a means of helping learners, broadly interpreted, to promote equity pedagogy. Specifically, it highlights the promise of OEP for addressing early years educators’ professional development and learning about reconciliation and multicultural education.

Details

Journal for Multicultural Education, vol. 16 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2053-535X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 20 October 2022

Stacy Katz and Jennifer Van Allen

This paper is intended to contextualize the major themes of the special issue, “The Intersections of Open Education and Equity Pedagogy” in the Journal for Multicultural Education

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper is intended to contextualize the major themes of the special issue, “The Intersections of Open Education and Equity Pedagogy” in the Journal for Multicultural Education, by providing a brief history of open educational resources (OER) and open educational practices (OEP) and highlighting the growing focus on social justice within the field. The purpose of this paper is to generate discussions around the potential of OER and OEP to increase equity within education.

Design/methodology/approach

This featured paper summarizes and reviews a brief history of OER and OEP, discusses the integration of equity pedagogy within open education, elaborates on the rationale and process for developing the special issue and concludes by identifying challenges and ongoing conversations for the field as a response to the need for social justice action.

Findings

Despite increasing acceptance of OER, educators are not aware of how to implement OER and OEP with equity in mind. As OER and OEP continue to expand, teachers across all educational sectors need examples of how to teach effectively with these resources and practices. There is also a rising focus on culturally relevant and sustaining teaching practices, which OEP can complement.

Practical implications

The authors provide this featured piece to contextualize the special issue for those new to open education. The authors hope to further the discussion of social justice and equity pedagogy within open education.

Originality/value

This paper provides background for the special issue, to orient readers to the field of open education.

Details

Journal for Multicultural Education, vol. 16 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2053-535X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 1 December 2004

Dawn McBride

This article will outline my experiences and offer practical recommendations when teaching in a university classroom when the professor and the students come from vastly different…

Abstract

This article will outline my experiences and offer practical recommendations when teaching in a university classroom when the professor and the students come from vastly different cultural backgrounds. I recently relocated from Canada to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to teach female Muslim post secondary students - many of whom are the first in their family to receive higher education. Since it was difficult to find material on how to adapt one’s teaching style to be more culturally sensitive in the university classroom, the intention of this article is to provide specific tips and strategies on how to adapt one’s teaching style when immersed in an unfamiliar culture.

Details

Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives, vol. 1 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2077-5504

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 23 August 2022

Abstract

Details

Global Meaning Making
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80117-933-1

Content available

Abstract

Details

Journal for Multicultural Education, vol. 10 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2053-535X

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 23 June 2022

Kelly Kolodny and Mary-Lou Breitborde

Abstract

Details

Teacher Preparation in the United States
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-688-9

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