Cultural Diversity

What is cultural Diversity?

Adrienne Alton Lee in “Quality Teaching for Diverse Students in Schools (BES 2013) recommends that teachers be responsive to diversity within ethnic groups. She acknowledges that ethnicity is just one characteristic that contributes to diversity: we also need to recognise differences in “gender, cultural heritage, socio-economic background and talent.”

To what extent is New Zealand a culturally diverse nation?

· New Zealand ranks third among OECD countries for the highest proportion of overseas born residents (OECD, 2017)

· Auckland city now has one of the highest proportions of immigrants of any city in the OECD.

Why is this important to us as educators?

The eight principles of The New Zealand Curriculum are the foundations of curriculum review, design and practice in schools. The principles apply equally to all schools and to every aspect of the curriculum. The eight principles are as follows:

High expectations: The curriculum supports and empowers all students to learn and achieve personal excellence, regardless of their circumstances.

Treaty of Waitangi: The curriculum acknowledges the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and the bicultural foundations of Aotearoa New Zealand. All students have the opportunity to acquire knowledge of te reo me ōna tikanga.

Cultural diversity: The curriculum reflects New Zealand’s cultural diversity and values the histories and traditions of all its people.

Inclusion: The curriculum is non-sexist, non-racist, and non-discriminatory; it ensures that students’ identities, languages, abilities and talents are recognised and affirmed, and that their learning needs are addressed.

Learning to learn: The curriculum encourages all students to reflect on their own learning processes and to learn how to learn.

Community engagement: The curriculum has meaning for students, connects with their wider lives, and engages the support of their families, whānau and communities.

Coherence: The curriculum offers all students a broad education that makes links within and across learning areas, provides for coherent transitions, and opens up pathways to future learning.

Future focus: The curriculum encourages students to look to the future by exploring such significant future-focused issues as sustainability, citizenship, enterprise and globalisation.

What do the experts tell us?

What I found was a remarkable similarity across each of these reports.

(a) Education Review Office, New Zealand. (2018). “Responding to Language Diversity in Auckland.”

ERO identified the following is needed for culturally and linguistic diverse (CLD) learners:

· Not just knowing the learner, their background, experiences, and interests, but also knowing their parents and whänau, and learning about their cultural community

· developing genuine, respectful and trusting relationships with CLD learners, their parents and whanau

· planning and implementing effective strategies of teaching English as a second language

· Supporting all teaching staff to obtain a relevant qualification such as the TESSOL and recognising the benefits for all learners

· Using evidence and research to do better through inquiry and continual improvement of approaches, tools and programmes.

(b) Odora-Hopper, A. (2007). Investing in cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue. UNESCO World Report

There are three basic principles:

Principle 1: Intercultural education respects the cultural identity of the learner through the provision of culturally appropriate and responsive quality education for all.

· Utilise teaching and learning materials that are respectful and culturally appropriate so that learners gain an understanding and an appreciation of their cultural heritage.

· Assessment methods, too, need to be appropriate.

· Teacher training needs to make the teacher aware of the need to adapt educational content to the needs of groups whose cultures diverge from the majority.

· In addition, the learning environment needs to be respectful of cultural diversity e.g. awareness of dietary requirements; respect for dress codes; and the designation of areas for prayer or meditation.

· Interaction between the school and the community is not just about education. The school should also function as a centre of social and cultural activities.

· Learners, parents and other community members from different cultural backgrounds should be involved in school management, supervision and control, decision-making, planning and the implementation of education programmes, and the development of curricula and learning and teaching materials in order to feel part of the school community.

Principle 2: Intercultural education provides every learner with the cultural knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to achieve active and full participation in society.

· By guaranteeing equal and equitable opportunities for all cultural groups, all learners will have the right to actively participate in the learning process without fear of discrimination.

· Learning materials will look at different cultural perspectives in order to help majority groups understand the history, traditions, language and culture of existing minorities.

· All learners have the right to thorough instruction in reading, writing and the spoken word, enabling all learners to gain access to information, to understand clearly the situation in which they are living, to express their needs, and to take part in social activities.

· Appropriate teaching methods will integrate formal and non-formal, traditional and modern teaching methods to promote the learners’ active participation in the education process, while learning outcomes, including knowledge, skills, attitudes and values will be clearly signalled.

· Teacher training should provide teachers with the competencies to design, implement and evaluate locally determined school curricula based on the needs and aspirations of learners and the communities to which they belong.

Principle 3: Intercultural education provides all learners with cultural knowledge, attitudes and skills that enable them to contribute to respect, understanding and solidarity among individuals, ethnic, social, cultural and religious groups and nations.

· This principle can be achieved through acknowledging cultural diversity; the teacher can be a positive role model in the struggle against racism and discrimination. By understanding and respecting all people, that knowledge informs teaching, through the disciplines of history, geography, literature, languages, artistic and aesthetic disciplines, scientific and technological subjects.

· Through an egalitarian approach, teachers become a vehicle for respecting the rights and contributions of different ethnic groups and their right to adopt a different viewpoint.

· Teachers need to think beyond the classroom; beyond the local area and to start to forge contacts with international networks between students, teachers and other educators in different countries or cultural environments who are working towards similar goals.

· Both teacher training and ongoing professional development should aim to create an awareness of the positive value of cultural diversity and of the right of the individual to be different.

(c) https://tewhariki.tki.org.nz/en/weaving-te-whariki/identity-language-and-culture/

(for the early childhood sector)

It contains some great reflection questions for teachers and leaders.

Identity, language, and culture

Te Whāriki affirms the identities, languages and cultures of all children.

All children are given the opportunity to develop knowledge and understanding of the cultural heritages of the partners to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

There are an increasing number of migrants in New Zealand, and, as in any country with a multicultural heritage, there is a diversity of beliefs about child-rearing practices, kinship roles, obligations, codes of behaviour, and the kinds of knowledge that are valuable.

The integration of kaupapa Māori concepts (Māori values and philosophy) and te reo Māori (Māori language) supports cultural, linguistic, social, and environmental diversity and enables all peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand to weave their perspectives, values, cultures, and languages into the early learning setting.

(d) 2012 report by the Education Review Office

https://www.ero.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/ERO-Pacific-Learners-leaflet.pdf

Again, there are some great self-reflection questions for educators.

“Improving Education Outcomes for Pacific Learners” (May 2012)

was ERO’s third report on this issue. It found the despite initiatives being put in place to improve the educational outcomes for Pacific learners, little had changed over the previous three years. Although there were pockets of excellence, there were no significant system-wide changes to accelerate the progress of individual Pacific learners. Why is this an issue? In 2009, New Zealand was ranked 7th in the OECD for its reading literacy proficiency levels (PISA). If we only take into account the results of our Pacific learners, our ranking drops to 44th.

Key elements for improving Pacific learner engagement:

Identity, language and culture – different needs for different learners: Pacific learners are not a homogeneous group – they have different cultures, language and experience. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to improving outcomes for Pacific learners. Teachers and programmes need to be flexible enough to address individual needs and to make the learning meaningful and specific to that student.

Leadership – knowing how to drive change: Effective school leadership focuses on improving educational outcomes for all learners. Effective leaders drive Pacific learners’ achievement and change through setting clear expectations, building relationships and using assessment data to inform resource allocation.

Partnership – connecting with the right people on the right level: While teachers hold the key to getting the Pacific learner engaged in the classroom, they need to work in partnership with the families of Pacific learners to ensure that the learner has the support at home to succeed.

Assessment information – understanding and using data to make a difference: A strong assessment process will ensure you use the information you collect to decide what individual students need, what you need to focus on across the school and whether or not what you are doing is making a difference.

A relevant and responsive curriculum – keeping things in context: By including Pacific perspectives in the curriculum, you are giving Pacific learners the opportunity to draw on their own knowledge of the world. The more relevant the context, the more likely you are to engage and motivate the learner.

(e) Tapasa – how do we exhibit cultural competency?

Teaching Council has done is all for us with providing a Quality Practice Template (QPT)!

file:///C:/Users/Owner/Desktop/Quality_Practise_Templat_Tapasa_22_07_2019.pdf

Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership: Demonstrate commitment to tangata whenuatanga and Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership in Aotearoa New Zealand.

· Diversity is reflected in the physical environment and classroom routines

· Analysed self-reflections (teacher and learner) at regular intervals to inform teachers of their efficacy.

· Respectful and meaningful conversations.

· Co-constructed conversations based on new learning occur regularly.

· Learners and families participate in events outside the classroom.

Professional Learning: Use inquiry, collaborative problem-solving and professional learning to improve professional capability to impact on the learning and achievement of all learners.

· Document stories and use learning experiences in the classroom.

· Learners are happy and engaged in learning.

· Planning shows documented stories and use of learning experiences in classrooms.

Professional relationships: Establish and maintain professional relationships and behaviours focused on the learning and well-being of each learner.

· Communication shows you who/what Pacific resources are in the community.

· Pacific ways of being, doing, and knowing is evident in documentation and in practice.

· Engagement of Pacific parents in all areas of school.

· You can hear different languages being spoken.

Learning-focused culture: Develop a culture which is focused on learning, and is characterised by respect, inclusion, empathy, collaboration and safety.

Design for learning: Design learning based on curriculum and pedagogical knowledge, assessment information and an understanding of each learner’s strengths, interests, needs, identities, languages and cultures.

· Planning which starts with learner and community experiences and knowledge.

· Learners’ responses demonstrate emotional engagement.

· Learner blogs, self-reflection classroom environment show the impact of learning and inform next steps.

Teaching: Teach and respond to learners in a knowledgeable and adaptive way to progress their learning at an appropriate depth and pace.

· Respectful and meaningful reciprocal relationships.

· Cultures are represented visually/verbally. The learning environment reflects the learners as well as the teacher.

· Learners are proud, confident and willing to share themselves with you.

· Impact of time spent on learners evidenced in organised, focused and sustained learning activity.

· Classwork reflects student choice, interest, background etc.

What should schools have in place in order to celebrate cultural diversity? The ERO report from 2012 provided a succinct list gleaned from the successful schools in its study:

· Teachers were aware of students’ different cultural identities.

· Students’ cultural contexts were incorporated into teaching and learning programmes and into the classroom environment.

· Teachers provided practical opportunities for all

· Students were proud to share their languages and cultures through cultural groups, special events, and school festivals that celebrated cultural difference.

· All students experienced learning contexts from multiple cultures.

· There were clear expectations in schools’ charters for celebration of diversity, stating the right of all children to feel culturally safe.

· Boards that had developed such charters sought representation from all the cultures of their school community, and staff were representative of many cultures.