Global Teacher

THE GLOBAL TEACHER

The Global TeacherMulticultural Education:A Challenge to Global Teachers

“All men are pretty much alike. It is only by culture that they are set apart.” Confucius

What is Culture? “the values, traditions, social and worldviewshared by a group of people bound together by a combination of factors.” (Derman and Sparks)

Diversity of Learners andMulticultural Education “the major goal of multicultural education 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 receive an equal opportunity to learn in school.” James Banks

Students may differ in:

Race Ethnic or religious groups Economic status Languages spoken Family background

Some could be stricken by poverty, unemployment, relocations, etc.

In the midst of this diversity, students are supposed to receive equal opportunities to education.In order to do this, we need:

• Curricular and instructional modifications

• (Different) Teaching styles

• Re-examination of teachers’ attitudes, beliefs and perception

This movement called MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION enables teachers and educators to give value to the differences in priorknowledge, experiences of learners fromdiverse background and familiarity with students’ histories of diverse cultures. (Haertel, 1998)

Goals of Multicultural Education: Develop and foster a democratic and just society where all groups experience cultural democracy and empowerment Improve academic achievement of all students Help the students to develop the knowledge, attitudes and skills needed to function within their own and other micro cultures, and within global community Provide opportunities to gain cultural competency

How do we achieve these GOALS?

To achieve these goals, it is very important for teachers to be knowledgeable about differences incultures, religion, ethnicity, and even the language spoken by the students....