Diverse Teachers for Diverse

Learners: Changing the School

Experience

Professor Geri Smyth

University of Strathclyde

Aim of talk

When the pupil population of schools in the

UK and across the Western world is

becoming increasingly heterogeneous why

is the teaching population remaining

Relatively homogeneous?

Why does homogeneity in the teaching

profession matter?

Overview

Context of research

Who are learners? / Who are teachers?

What is ‘diverse’ in this context?

Diversity in UK, Canada, Australia and Nordic

countries

Why is diversification an issue?

Case Study of Diversifying the Profession: RITeS

Linguistic and Human capital

Change for the better

Acknowledgements

ESRC

Canadian SSHRC British Academy

NordForsk

General Teaching Council for Scotland

Individuals

Schools for the 21st Century

Every classroom is a place of diversity: of gender, socioeconomic

groups, ability or disability, mother tongues and learning styles.

Improving competences means teaching learners in a more

personalised way. Better tailoring teaching to each child’s needs

can increase student interest and engagement in learning activities

and improve their results, but its benefits should reach all students

equitably. ---- Teachers require specific training to work effectively

in diverse classrooms.

EU (2008)

Who are Learners?

Diverse

culturababackgrounds

Multiracial,

multilingual,

multi-ethnic

Who are Teachers?

What do we mean by diverse?

SL: Diverse in terms of outer markers like ethnicity or language,

but it can be in terms of many other social factors, and to me it’s

not just about including ethnically diverse teachers but as well

training teachers to become linguistically and culturally affirmative

and sensitive

GS:The teaching population doesn’t mirror the population of the

State and I do think that it is important to educate teachers to be

themselves culturally affirmative but also to increase the

recruitment of teachers from populations that are not traditionally

represented within the profession. I think until we can do that, it’s

going to be a continuing battle to get teachers to be more culturally

responsive to diversity

DIVERSITY IN A RANGE OF

NATIONAL CONTEXTS

Scotland, England, Ontario, Manitoba, Australia, Norway, Iceland

Briefing Notes for ESRC Seminars

Scotland

2009: 7.5% pupils from minority ethnic groups

2009: 1.5 % teachers from minority ethnic groups

0.6% in promoted posts

138 languages currently used by learners in Scottish schools in

their daily lives

The scale of the linguistic diversity in the country goes largely

unrecognised in the school system

So what?

A large proportion of participants lived in communities in which various heritage languages were used in daily cultural life. Those who described themselves as 'bilingual' felt that there was no real value given to their bilingualism. On the contrary, they were made to feel 'exotic', asked in front of the whole class to 'say a few words in your language'. It was extremely rare to find a pupil who was being supported in studying their home language for examination. Indeed, many resented the fact that they were required to learn French when they would rather give the time to studying their own home language. This was especially so if, as a result, it meant that they were required to study their language in supplementary classes after school or at weekends. MEPESS Report

England

Data for 2010 show:

16.0% (518,020) of all Local Authority maintained primary school

children have a first language known to or believed to be a

language other than English.

11.6% (378,200) of all state-funded secondary school children

have a first language known to or believed to be a language other

than English.

The number of bilingual teachers in schools in England is currently

estimated to be 4% (Conteh et al 2007)

Bhatti & Creese

What’s the Problem?

Attainment indicators in English, mathematics and science at Key

Stage 1, 2 and 3 over period 2004 – 2009 show that pupils for

whom English is a first language consistently outperform their

peers for whom English is an additional language in all three core

subjects in these Key Stages.

Conteh argues that ‘if we genuinely do want to help raise the

achievements of ethnic minority bilingual learners in our schools,

we need to recognise the distinctive skills and knowledge of

bilingual teachers’ (2007:469).

Canada

Ontario

The Ontario College of Teacher licenses 1,500 to 1,700 internationally educated teachers annually Transition to Teaching research: Only 3% of immigrant teachers successful in finding regular teaching jobs in publicly funded Ontario school boards in the 2008-2009 school year compared with 15% for the Ontario faculty of education graduates of 2008. Gagné

Manitoba

In 2008, nearly 10,000 (5.5%) students eligible for EAL support Approximately 225 internationally educated teachers apply for teaching certification in Manitoba each year; on average half are denied certification outright Bridging Programs for IETs Non-credit Mentorship Initiative for IETs Strategic hiring practices for IETs by school divisions Schmidt

Australia

Educational outcomes for Indigenous students are generally well

below those of non-Indigenous students

1-2% of primary teachers and less than 1% of secondary teachers

and school leaders are Indigenous.

Santoro

Nordic countries

Norway

Migrant population 2010:

11.4%

Pupils receiving differentiated

Norwegian education: 6.45%

Bilingual teachers: 4% of the

total teaching force

Since 1997 Educational Model:

transitional education

2004 BA for Bilingual Teachers

De Wilde

Iceland

Non-Icelandic citizens

1995 1.8%: 2010 6.8%

8.2% immigrants; majority

European

5.4% pupils with mother tongue

other than Icelandic

Lassen, 2007 reported 84

internationally educated teachers

in Icelandic compulsory schools

(2% of the teacher population)

Ragnarsdóttir

Under recruitment and under

employment Across the countries involved:

• Low recruitment of linguistic and ethnic minorities to teaching,

whether native or migrant

• Lower levels of employment for linguistic and ethnic minorities

• Under utilisation of linguistic capital of linguistic and ethnic

minorities

• Under representation of linguistic and ethnic minorities in

promoted posts

DISCUSSING DIVERSITY IN

THE TEACHING PROFESSION

Listening to teachers and pupils

Minority teachers speak

• Why should I be treated differently? I was born and brought up

in this country.

• You are constantly asked “where do you come from?”

• What I have found that really surprises me is the lack of

understanding of the Asian and minority ethnic cultures within

my colleagues

• This is me. I might not be able to fit into your pre-conceived

ideas of what I should be but I am me.

Minority teachers speak

• In my job at the primary school, I feel very positive to be there

as a primary school teacher, as a role model and as someone

who they can say “Oh well, there’s somebody who is a teacher,

who doesn’t necessarily look like me, or someone who does

look like me or looks a bit like me”.

• The pupils were racist, they were abusive, there was racist

graffiti on my wall, on my door and my supervising teacher was

at the back, making her notes, and I just couldn’t believe it.

Anyway, she finally approached me at the end of the lesson and

she said “just ignore it”.,

• I left my culture and language at the school front door when I

came in and I played white and I fitted in with my colleagues

Pupils speak

There shouldn’t be schools where you’re only allowed one race of

children or one religion ---

But if you go to a Jewish or Muslim school then you know that

everyone knows what you’re talking about

Discussion of place of RME in education

I don’t know why you can’t have more teachers that speak other

languages

Well some people make fun of your accent if you speak another

language

And it’s good if you get people who know what they’re talking

about when they tell you about other religions and places.

REFUGEES INTO TEACHING IN

SCOTLAND (RITES)

Case Study of Diversifying the Teaching Profession

RITeS: a case study from Scotland

Refugees Into Teaching in Scotland

Funded by the Scottish Government 2005-2011

370 teachers from across Asia and Africa who had arrived in

Scotland as asylum seekers and wished to recover their

professional identity by teaching in Scotland

Research funded by West of Scotland Wider Access Programme

Specific Barriers and Challenges

RITeS clients Immigration issues Long route to re-qualification Disclosure Scotland and Police checks Assessment of foreign certificates Obtaining GTCS registration Language difficulties

Stress Labelling Childcare needs Scottish education practice Obtaining the right information Support after asylum decision Financial pressure

Multiple Layers of Discrimination

Structural: UK Immigration and Asylum Legislation

Institutional: Requirements of Registration Cultural: -View of teaching and teachers among profession -Differing pedagogies and practices Personal: Attitudes from individuals –

‘colleagues’; parents, pupils

Discrimination in Practice

You are not approached from your profession(al) point of view. It (the

system) doesn’t target your profession. The target is your paper. If you

are given leave you will be given the chance to teach. Unless, you are

given paper there is no chance for you --- Male, Ethiopia, Secondary

The system ---, needs to be a little bit more welcoming to international

teachers and show them that they are trusted and they are valued and

they know what they are doing. --- The whole system seems to be like

(saying) ‘You are not good enough. We are not sure that you can deliver’.

Female Uganda Secondary

When you have been told by GTCS that you are not qualified enough to

teach in Scotland it destroys confidence and generates anxiety and you

want to get there and prove them wrong. It is the same as sending a

suspect to jail before a court hearing. I only needed confidence in a new

environment, Scottish systems/ways and context.

Male, Zimbabwe, Primary

Why is this an issue for concern?

When the dominant ethnicity of the teaching workforce is white, it is difficult for cultural difference to be truly recognised, represented and respected in school (Lynch and Lodge, 2002)

When the tools of instruction are incompatible with, or worse, marginalise, the student’s cultural experiences, a disconnect with school is likely (Irvine, 1992)

As long as the socioculturally marginalised are identified as ‘the other’ by the dominant group in society, then they will be subjected to cultural imperialism (Cummins, 1996)

Conversations of respect between diverse communities are characterized by intellectual reciprocity. They are the ones in which the participants expect to learn from each other, expect to learn non-incidental things, expect to change at least intellectually as a result of the encounter. (Wlodkowski & Ginsberg, 1995)

Diverse Teaching in Action

She doesn’t know

English yet but she

knows French.

She doesn’t know

English yet but she

knows French.

I did Lingala

because it’s her

best language.

Multilingual Classrooms

‘Exert educational effort that takes into account

and builds on the diversity of languages and

literacy practices that children and youth bring

to school’

(Garcia, Skutnabb-Kangas and Torres Guzman)

The Face of Teaching?

We see that the face of Scotland is changing. We can see a lot of

children in primary schools from different countries, from different

cultures. I think we have to get all the teachers, especially from

other countries, to get involved with these children because they

know them well, they know how the system has been working in

their country and they give a lot of positive support for these

children to grow up and succeed in this society.

(Primary Female Teacher, Burundi)

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

Culturally responsive pedagogy facilitates and supports

the achievement of all students. In a culturally

responsive classroom, effective teaching and learning

occur in a culturally supported, learner-centered

context, whereby the strengths students bring to school

are identified, nurtured, and utilized to promote student

achievement. (Richards, Brown and Forde)

Educational practices that build upon and are

responsive to the linguistic, interactional, cognitive and

learning patterns of diverse families. (Perry)

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

Using the cultural characteristics, experiences, and perspectives of ethnically diverse students as conduits for teaching them more effectively.

Gay (2000) If teaching reflects the cultural and linguistic practices and values

of only one group of students, then the other students are denied an equal opportunity to learn. Richards et al (2006)

Academic achievement of ethnically diverse students will improve when they are taught through their own cultural and experiential filters

(Au & Kawakami,1994; Foster, 1995; Hollins, 1996; Ladson-Billings, 1994)

Untapped Potential for CRP

When teachers hear you are a refugee, a black for that matter, it

looks like they want you to go for cleaning jobs. That is where they

think you belong. They see your efforts to teach as straying into an

area that is their domain and where you do not belong to. It is

ignorance, it is racism and it is not healthy for a multicultural

community where my children belong.

(Female Secondary teacher, Burundi).

Language

No. of

speakers Language No. of

speakers Language

No. of

speakers Language

No. of

speakers

Albanian 3 Hebrew 1 Persian 1 Shona 13

Arabic 23 Hindi 1 Polish 1 Singhala 1

Beri 1 Italian 4 Portugese 1 Somalian 4

Chichewa 1 Kikongo 2 Punjabi 1 Spanish 1

Croatian 1 Kinyarwanda 1 Pushtu 1 Suahili 5

Dutch 1 Kirundi 2 Romanian 1 Tamil 2

English 83 Kurdish 5 Rugandan 1 Turkish 3

Farsi 3 Lingala 4 Rukiga 1 Ukrainian 2

French 17 Luba 1 Runyankore 1 Urdu 9

Georgian 1 Magyar 1 Russian 6 Xhosa 1

German 2 Ndebele 4 Serbian 2 Yoruba 2

Languages spoken by RITeS clients,

Human Capital

--- many adults before coming in UK -- are well educated in some

other field. They can’t get back in their professions because they

don’t know where to start. Many of my fellows from (Africa) lost

that motivation and end up in factories to make their living. --- I

have seen many(refugee professionals). After five to seven years

of long (process of asylum) and with all the costs involved when

they come here they end up in factories. When they don’t use it

they will lose it.

Male, Congo DRC, Secondary

Human Capital

I am currently working as an administrator in the (local Scottish

hospital). --- but it is very difficult when you are a teacher and

decide just to drop (it) like that. You always have a feeling that

there is something which is missing in you and even if you have

another job they do not value you as a teacher. You always feel

that you are reduced to a very low level and you don’t fulfil your

potential. --- I am not going to carry on like this doing a job, a

work that I am not happy to do and where they undervalue me.

So, I say, let’s go back to my roots, and that is what I am planning

to do.

Male, Burundi, Secondary

Taking on the Challenge

I have made up my mind --- to face this challenge. --- I am ready

for going back into teaching and no matter how the challenge is

going to be, I am going to face them and I will try my best to stick

in the profession that I love and the profession that I am devoted

to. Male, Burundi, Secondary

Where to Now? Recommendations

• Recruitment of teachers who have access to teaching in more than the majority language is essential to ensure that the linguistic capital of pupils n Scotland is built on and given status.

• Bilingual skills of such teachers must be recognised.

• Figures must be collected regarding teachers’ knowledge and use of the other languages spoken on a daily basis.

• Efficient and effective systems must be in place to provide immediate support in the event of any racial harassment

• Provision of CPD designed to enable bilingual teachers to use their skills to support the growing numbers of bilingual pupils.

Meeting the Challenge of ‘Schools for the

21st Century’

Much greater exposure to and understanding of,

diversity throughout the pre service and in-service

education of teachers

– University teaching and diverse placements

Enabling internationally educated teachers to bring

diverse linguistic and cultural lenses into schools

Recognise, value, celebrate and utilise difference in the

classroom.

Teachers Learning from Diverse

Learners

Diverse Teachers Celebrate