Valda Kaikai
June 2021

Inclusive, Decolonized and Diverse Schools and Classrooms: An Architectural Model

     Inclusive, decolonized and diverse schools are the ideal being touted by numerous researchers as a result of increasing global travel and diversity in once almost homogenous societies. Indeed, one only has to lookup photos of classrooms twenty years ago versus classrooms today to see evidence of this assertion. With racial and social issues coming to the forefront of the Trump presidency, I believe there is little doubt in education circles today that diversity and inclusion are critical for schools to address, if they are serious about producing the kind of global citizen that will succeed in this 21st century work and life environment.

Hockings (in Hanesworth, 2015) describes inclusivity as “the ways in which pedagogy, curricula and assessment are designed and delivered to engage students in learning that is meaningful, relevant and accessible to all. It embraces a view of the individual and individual difference as the source of diversity that can enrich the lives and learning of others.” Diversity inclusivity refers to the creation of an inclusive classroom in which every student is offered individualized support to address barriers (Waterford, 2020), not only students with presenting challenges. Inclusion Classroom (n.d.) states that inclusion education systems are those which are open to all children and which work to ensure that all children learn and participate.

Anderson (2018) and University of Arizona Creating inclusive learning environments. (n.d.) identify several methods and principles that help teachers create inclusive and diverse classrooms as discussed below:

Understand and Develop Characteristics that Constitute an Inclusive Classroom: Classroom must be accessible and usable by all students, must have a respectful atmosphere with clear rules for behaviour and clear procedures for required work. Differentiation teaching techniques are key in ensuring all students have opportunities to learn. Finally, recognizing, embracing and appreciating differences by demonstrating respectful ways of addressing them welcomes students.

Prepare Classroom to be Inclusive: The main aims are to create a syllabus that incorporates diverse perspectives and incorporate diversity into pedagogy. Establish clear expectations and goals for students in a democratic manner. Ensure working groups are diverse and encourage diverse points of view as topics are discussed. Make strong effort to integrate diverse speakers and material in the syllabus and encourage diverse examples. Prepare syllabus early to give students the opportunity to read ahead and prepare for class.

Create Inclusive discussions to Maximize Learning: Establish and create a class agreement with respect to ground rules for discussions. Encourage healthy, respectful disagreement and diverse perspectives. Promote politeness and kindness in airing perspectives while highlighting diverse perspectives to facilitate productive discussion. Increase discussion participation by encouraging all students to participate through think-pair-share, relating discussions to relevant life events, and allowing multiple methods of participation like skits, question cards and small group sharing.

Use Difficult Classroom Moments as Learning Opportunities: It is crucial that teachers are comfortable in their own skin around issues of diversity because it will enable them to confidently speak to difficult moments and turn them into learning opportunities, while defending the right of the speaker to hold their opinion and creating constructive discussions around the topic. It is also important for teachers to be cognisant of and address classroom dynamics. I once had a Kurdish man express an unpopular opinion about Turkey and Kurdish struggle. The tension in the class changed visibly and I had to step in by getting the class to watch the news about the incident in question from BBC, Al-Jazeera, Kurd TV and Turkey TV and discuss. I also gave a demonstration of perspectives by highlighting that although the USA deems Muammar Gaddafi a terrorist, Nelson Mandela was proud to be photographed with him because he explained that from his perspective Gaddafi was a helper to his country. This is a typical example of decolonization.

Provide Academic support: All students need to have access to academic support to enable them to thrive. Using strategies like flexible pacing, scaffolding and providing opportunities for review through summative assessments also help students succeed.

Prepare teachers: As an activist for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) at work as well as in my Union, the BC Government Employees Union, I am aware that teachers are unprepared for leading a diverse class or discussion. To lead a diverse class, teachers need to be confident and comfortable around issues that may trigger them and learn how to respond appropriately. Providing resource lists will not meet the mark, preparation must include pointed, practical and applicable remedies that allow room for practice. Simple things like learning the correct pronunciation of students’ names, learning a greeting in students’ languages can mean so much to the students and help foster belonging.

Diversify Curriculum and Connect Learning to Real World: The skills demanded of workers in the 21st century require students to have an array of learning, literacy and life skills to be successful. Students who grow up looking at the status quo of privilege, oppression, global power structures and racism as the norm, without ever having their views challenged, are ill prepared to face the current mosaic of cultures and backgrounds.

Integrate Student Bodies: The article suggests student transfers and redefining neighborhood boundaries as ways to accomplish this. I think another method is to redefine and synchronize learning blocks to enable classes from different schools to visit each other for certain lectures. When I was in sixth form, my school practiced this by necessity. My school had a great Chemistry teacher but no Physics teacher, while another school had a superb Physics teacher but no Chemistry teacher. Our learning blocks were re-organized and synchronized so that they would join us in class on Mondays and Wednesdays for Chemistry and we would attend at their school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for Physics. As a young teenager, our segregated schools now having an opportunity to work together, gave an extra impetus to work hard and be smart. In my current school, the curriculum has such integration written into it and as teachers we find it is a fun way for higher level students to demonstrate their knowledge and help other students when we have “Class Mingles”.

Adjust Ranking Calculations: In my milieu, the curriculum gives much latitude to instructors to adjust ranking calculation with a policy called The Fifty Hours Rule. It states that if a student has been assessed at a certain level but as a teacher you find that this student is functioning higher or lower than that level in class, you can move them up or down as the case may be. Students usually find that they are more comfortable and confident whenever the Fifty Hours rule has been applied.

Create Respectful School Community: Administrators have a duty to ensure that the staff is a reflection of the demographics of the neighbourhood and thus the students. This will help students see themselves in authority figures and possibly adopt them as role models and resource persons.

Create a space for discussion: Make the classroom a place where students feel comfortable to discuss their feelings, thoughts and ideas around privilege, prejudice, power, oppression and racism. Provide appropriate vocabulary through modeling and helping students construct their thoughts into words.

Inconclusion, schools and teachers that practice the guidelines mentioned above will achieve inclusivity and decolonization of the curriculum to a certain extent.

References

Anderson, A. (2018, January 18). 7 ways to create an inclusive classroom environment. ASCD IN Service. http://inservice.ascd.org/7-ways-to-create-an-inclusive-classroom-environment/

 

Hanesworth, P. (2015). Embedding equality and diversity in the curriculum [PDF]. Retrieved May 24, 2021, from https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/resources/EEDC Model for Learning and Teaching Practitioners_1.pdf

 

Hill, M. (2017, July 21). Creating the culturally diverse classroom. ASCD IN Service. http://inservice.ascd.org/creating-the-culturally-diverse-classroom/

 

Hockings, C. (2010) Inclusive learning and teaching in higher education: a synthesis of research. Higher Education Academy.

 

Creating inclusive learning environments. (n.d.). Uarizona-diversity.pantheonsite. http://live-uarizona-diversity.pantheon.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/creating_inclusive_learning_environments._a_project_of_sap_di_and_oie.pdf


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