Teachers, Perceptions, and Diversity

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear diversity in schools?

Physical diversity: Skin color, languages or accents, clothing fashion, talents or gifts, ability or disability, etc.

Cultural diversity: cultural practises, what is taught in schools, food, etc.

Emotional diversity: various emotional states and biological makeups of staff and children

I plead guilty, physical diversity is often recognized or discussed first in most communities including our school communities. I am not conveying that recognizing physical diversity first is a problem, merely revealing that diversity is complex and multifaceted. What this means for me, a first year teacher education student, is that diversity can never be “boxed up” and sold as the same item a year or ten from today. Diversity changes with time and the humans that make it so. As a teacher I must commit to a lifelong learning process for all areas of teaching including diversity.

In my research I wanted to uncover different perceptions of diversity found in schools. There are several view-points from which to interpret diversity in schools. Most prominent are the teacher and student perceptions. Other view-points include government departments, school administrations, and parents. All of these view-points make up the school community outlook. In this blog post I will briefly just explore the teacher’s view-point.   

Inclusion of diversity in schools, particularly in relation to Saskatchewan schools, rests largely on teachers. While there are additional aspects to the inclusion of diversity in schools such as policies, and legislation, a teacher has the greatest potential to let diversity grow and be evident in classrooms. Teachers are one of the greatest avenues by which children will learn diversity. A teacher realizes the potential of diversity in his or her class when self-examination occurs relating to diversity. “It [critical self-reflection] is important because educators set the tone and the direction of any schools program regardless of the formal curriculum based on their own beliefs” (Egbo, 2009). Critical self-reflection is beneficial to start early in a teaching career. It is beneficial to the school community, students, and self.

According to several references in the resource list, critical reflection on one’s own beliefs, culture, religion, and ethnic background in relationship to understanding diversity in schools should begin at the teacher candidate stage. Essentially there are two ways to filter ones misconceptions and stereotypes of what diversity is in schools when working towards a teaching degree: institutional, academic, or book knowledge and field experience or student practicums. Often the academic side helps a student become aware of our misconceptions, while the field based experience gives the student tools to use in a teaching career. Duarte and Reed discovered that all of the teacher candidates held stereotypical attitudes regarding minority children and minority neighbourhoods prior to their field placement and had very few strategies on how to address the needs of diverse learners. At the end of the field-base experience, the experimental group "offered clearly defined ideas, utilized real-life scenarios that would make learning experiences more meaningful; presented materials to accommodate different learning styles; utilized multicultural and diverse literature to focus on issues supporting the minority experience, and facilitated learning that included students' cultural background.”

Teachers are as diverse as their students. Students are wise enough to know and watch our differences as co-workers. The real impact teachers and staff can have on students in school communities is the chance to model healthy diversity. No two teachers are exactly alike and when conflict arises in teachers differences, throughout the school environment, are we wise enough to find common ground? Common ground accepts fairness not sameness (Lyons, 2010). When students see teachers respecting each other’s differences and moving forward on common ground, then a child will begin to grasp the meaning of diversity and its role in schools.

Wally