Aantekeningen hoorcollege 5 - Cultural Diversity - Universiteit Utrecht (2022/2023)

C O U R S E   5   -   7   M A R C H   2 0 2 3

Inclusion and intercultural competence

Two types of inclusion

  • At the door (acceptability) » who can enter, who can participate?

    • Equal access for everyone
    • Exclusion can be deliberate » it can be a choice. Someone (e.g. the state) can decide for you whether you can participate or not
    • Exclusion as an implicit consequence (e.g. buildings with only stairs or paid access to extracurricular activities)
  • Behind the door (belongingness)
    • Two main elements:
      • Related to diversity (positive attitude towards diversity)
      • Related to well-being (sense of belongingness)
    • Pastori et al. (2019) defines it as a four-step process
      • Inclusion as acknowledging diversity » acknowledging differences
      • Inclusion as valuing diversity » positive attitude towards diversity, viewing it as a good thing
      • Inclusion as accepting diversity » when we acknowledge and value differences, we can accept people for who they are
      • Inclusion as well-being 

What is important to children?

  • Language use
  • Safe spaces for learning
  • Competent professionals

Language use

  • Also called: mother tongue, L1 (first language)
  • In the Netherlands, 1 of 5 children grow up in multilingual households with Dutch as L2
  • Predominant focus on majority language in Europe. Teachers find it very important, they have strong monolingual beliefs (they value the majority language the most)
    • Multilingual beliefs and practices cause shared understanding among teachers (at a local and national level)
    • Multilingual beliefs are stronger for professionals who work with younger children » the professionals who work in e.g. daycare are more positive towards the children’s home language than professionals working with older children
    • Focus on the majority language has led to a devaluation of the home language (teachers say the home language is not as important as the majority language)
      • Use of home language is actively banned in (pre)schools
      • Differences  in appreciation related to cultural-ethnic background and social class
    • Language has a cognitive and social-emotional function
      • Easier to express emotions in L1
      • Language is part of your (social) identity
      • When there are positive multilingual practices and beliefs, it improves children’s well-being
    • Why is inclusion of home languages not common practice in schools?
      • Misconceptions about multilingualism and language development. Teachers believe there are different ‘boxes’ for different languages (parallel monolingualism) and home language portrayed as a barrier to success (deficiency perspective
      • Professionals feel ill-prepared to teach multilingual children. They lack knowledge, skills and tools to effectively support multilingualism.
  • Proficiency in home language of children is related to/has a positive effect on proficiency in majority language

Safe spaces for learning

  • Freedom to determine the time, space and content of activities (e.g. social interaction). (pre)schools are spaces that are co-owned by children » it’s not about us building schools and drop those kids there, it’s about ‘co-owning’ the space to feel safe
  • Bridging between home context and school context
    • Crossing boundaries are harder for children from cultural minority backgrounds
    • Cultural barriers even hinder participation in ECEC
    • We should help children in this bridging process, so they feel represented
    • (Pre)schools should help children in the bridging process, they should represent important parts of children’s identities (themselves and their families and cultural customs)
  • How can we assure all children feel represented in the classroom?
    • Role models » diverse staff in school (teachers, other professionals)
    • Materials
      • Books, stories and instructional materials » diversity in people in the books (gender, skin color, age, ability), also diversity in the heroes/main characters in the book, diversity in families, diversity in stories, stories that talk about valuing/accepting diversity
      • Materials for (role)play » diversity in figures in attributes
      • Materials for realistic crafts » children are often asked to recreate themselves or people close to them, material should give them the same possibilities
      • Decoration that represents different backgrounds » pictures or drawings of (extended) families, attention for children’s backgrounds and art, symbols and materials that they recognize from their homes.
    • Activities that actively teach children to acknowledge, value and accept diverse customs
      • World orientations (differences and similarities)
      • Celebrating (customs, food, holidays)
      • ‘difficult’ topics (starting at a young age)
  • On average a low regard for diversity in Dutch classrooms » that’s problematic for several reasons:
    • Not all children are represented > negative impact on inclusion
    • Segregation: first step inclusion (recognizing diversity)
  • No regard for step 2/3 (valuing and accepting)
    • Telling all children there is just one story

Interculturally competent professionals

  • Children want competent professionals that make them feel welcome and valued (also their family) » intercultural competences (professionals’ intercultural knowledge, skills, belief systems and actions from a human rights perspective in which diversity is highly valued)
  • Are professionals interculturally competent?
    • Professionals feel ill-prepared in dealing with cultural and linguistic diversity in the classroom
    • Need for professional development to strengthen competences
  • Importance of belief systems (= set of developed assumptions, beliefs, attitudes and values)
  • Beliefs systems and practices/behavior are related. The relationship is complex and often implicit. What you explicitly believe about something does not always align with how you behave
  • Belief systems that play a role in inclusion:
    • Color-blindness
    • Bias
    • Self-efficacy

Color blindness

= Seeing beyond ‘color’ (and cultural differences) when interacting with people from different backgrounds

  • It emphasizes the importance of treating all people equal
  • Dominant perspective in schools across Europe (and other sectors)
  • Color-blind beliefs are problematic (≠ inclusion)
    • Ignorance to oneself
    • Ignorance to the other » equality as sameness

Bias

= Disproportionate weight in favor of or against an idea, thing or person

  • Teacher bias in schools: teachers’ expectations of students that are based on factors other than prior (academic) achievement (e.g., gender, race, SES, info from other teachers/parents)
  • Common biases (implicit)
    • “Boys are better in science and technology”
    • “Ethnic minority children are less intelligent”
    • “Black boys show more problem behavior”
  • Common behaviors and practices
    • Teachers respond more positive to constructions build by boys
    • Less interaction and lower quality feedback
    • More disciplinary referrals for black boys
  • Bias in child welfare systems: professionals’ positive or negative attitude, assumption, or judgment of any particular racial or cultural group that affects child welfare decision-making practices and policies
    • Negative perceptions about persons of color » disproportionate representation (of children of color)
    • Individual bias «» systemic bias
      • Reciprocal relationship between individuals and system policies
      • Similar mechanism in multilingualism
      • The system in itself also has the bias that it favors some people more than others

Self-efficacy

  • Rooted in social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1977)

    • Motivational construct: not how competent you are, but how competent you feel
    • Domain specific: differences in context, subject, populations
  • Cyclic relation with experiences you have and practices you engage in
    • Self-fulfilling prophecies » if you have an experience with success it builds you self-efficacy, which makes you more likely to engage in such experiences again (and vice versa)
  • Self-efficacy in ECEC/PE related to inclusion
    • General (how competent teachers feel about themselves) vs diversity-related (how competent teachers feel while dealing with children from different backgrounds) self-efficacy
    • Classroom diversity (how much experience do teachers on a daily basis have with diverse children) and multicultural practices (e.g. celebrating holidays, adjusting lessons to represent all the children)
  • Direct effects
    • Multicultural practices are more present in diverse classrooms
    • Multicultural practices more used by teachers with high diversity-related self-efficacy (not general self-efficacy)
    • Diversity-related self-efficacy is higher in diverse classrooms (similar results in high schools)
  • Indirect effect through diversity-related self-efficacy
    • Self-fulfilling prophecy (cyclic relation)
    • Raising self-efficacy by creating opportunities to experience diversity

Professional development

  • How do we make professionals better?

    • All actions and activities focused on education, training and development opportunities for professionals with the ultimate goal of improving children’s development and educational outcomes
  • PD can be effective to improve intercultural competences, if…
    • Embedded and contextual approach
      • Not one size fits all
      • Needs assessment on the context
      • Including key persons in the organization (e.g., managers, counselors)
      • Resources (time and materials)
      • Policies can hinder or support (e.g., multilingualism)
    • Guided critical reflection
      • Reflection as intellectual and affective activities in which professionals explore their experiences in order to create new understandings and appreciation (Boud et al., 2013)
      • Not all forms are equally effective
        • Critical reflection (deeper level of understanding) is a skills
        • Not all professionals possess such reflective skills
        • Process should be triggered (e.g., new knowledge/views)
        • Process should be guided
        • Reflecting together in diverse teams seems promising
    • Sustainable enactment
      • Enactment is a mechanism that goes beyond merely ‘acting’, it’s the translation of a belief, knowledge or experience into action (Clark & Hollingsworth, 2002)
      • Important for sustainable change (i.e., impact on child outcomes)
        • Merely changing beliefs is not enough
        • Active process of creating new inclusive practices
        • Both young and experienced professionals find this hard

Summary

  • Inclusion is important for children’s well-being
  • Our (early) childcare and education systems are not that inclusive (yet!)
  • More diversity in teams and materials
  • Organization policies that value and celebrate diversity
    • Not color-blind
    • Positive towards multilingualism
  • Invest in professionals (professional development) by targeting beliefs and practices through reflection and enactment

 

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