Role and Responsibility of Teachers in Multiculturalism
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Role and Responsibility of Teachers in Multiculturalism
The goal of this research is to investigate, evaluate and analyse extensively the role and the responsibility of teachers in a multi cultural environment. The research work will be to determine the part and duties played by teachers in the multiculturalism. Teachers are usually the role model and the modelers of characters in children (Goldberg 1994, p.190). "They are the ethical templates, men and women whose conduct set standards for the exercise of responsibilities" (Goldberg 1994, p.190). In schools, teachers have students from all cultures and they play a great part in how the students will relate to each other. (Green (Ed), 1989) asserts that teachers are the cultural mediators, cultural organizers and orchestrators of social contexts. The role they play influences the perception the students will have on the cultural basis.
During the research work, various strategies will be used where the plan for this research will be to first identify the schools located in areas where we have people from multiple cultures. This is aimed at achieving a good data from the students of different cultures as well as the teachers. Similarly, our public and private universities comprise of students from all cultures and tribes, thus they it be an essential place of data collection (NSTA press journal collection, 2010).
The methodologies that will be applicable in this research are use of questionnaire, peer evaluation, formal teaching observations (Keys 1994, p.1) and use of conceptualizing teacher action research (Gorski, 1995-2010). On other hand, there will be review of the curriculum design and the faculty development. "The design of the curriculum used and the development in the faculties influences the teachers' role in multiculturalism" (Gillespie and Robertson, 2010). The questionnaire will have brief and concise questions that are easy to answer and the target data source for this will be from students as well as teacher. The questions will require yes or no answer while other questions will have scores that will help us analyse the dissatisfaction or satisfaction of the person involved (Borton, 1970). The names of the people answering the question will not be required but the culture from which they belong will be essential for the analysis. The other method is peer evaluation where during the research several visits will be conducted to school during students' free time, interact, and ask questions in the course of our discussion which will help in data collection. The mode and means of asking the questions will depend on the various aspects such as the kind of interaction, the mood of the students and the zeal of the students to respond to questions (Banks, 1995).
The other method is attending class sessions during the lessons in order to evaluate the competence of teachers during class time. Among the things to focus on in the formal teaching observations are how the teachers handle the students, the response of the teachers to questions from different students and how the teachers handle conflicts from students of different cultures (Adams, Bell and Griffin Eds, 1997). The eother method to focus on is conceptualizing teacher action research, which is a method used in assessment and improvement of the teaching practice by educational practitioners. The research will focus on how often the teachers use the method and their response towards the method. Finally, the research will focus on the curriculum used in the schools as well as the faculty development. The focus for the research here is to establish how curriculum and faculty development favor and influence multiculturalism (Adam, Bell and Griffin Eds. 2007). The research will further have an analysis of any ethical consideration that will rise during the research process.
References
Adams, M, Bell & Griffin, P (Eds), 1997), Teaching for diversity and social justice, Routledge, New York.
Adams, M, Bell, L & Griffin, P (Eds), 2007, Teaching for diversity and social justice (2nd Ed.), Routledge, New York.
Banks, J, 1995, Multicultural education: Historical development, dimensions, and Practice, In Banks and C.A.M Banks (Eds), Handbook of research on multicultural education, Macmillan, New York.
Borton, T, 1970, Reach, touch, and Teach, McGrawHill, New York.
Gillespie, K, Robertson, D,2010, A Guide to faculty development, John Wiley $ Sons. San Francisco, USA.
Goldberg, D, 1994, Multiculturalism: a Critical reader, Blackwell Publishers, Cambridge, USA.
Green, M. (Ed), 1989, Minorities on compass: A handbook for enhancing diversity, American Council on Education, Washington DC.
Gorski, P, 1995-2010, 'Critical Multicultural Pavilion, 'Teacher action research, an edchange project [online] from: http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/tar.html.
Keys, P, 1994, School social workers in the multicultural environment: New roles, responsibilities and educational enrichment, Haworth Press, USA.
NSTA Press Journals Collection, 2010, Science learning for all, Celebrating cultural diversity, NSTA Press, Virginia.