The role of culturally responsive teaching for supporting ethnic diversity in British University Business Schools

Abstract

Diversity in British University Business SchoolsResearch into cultural differences in higher education is a growing phenomenon and there is a need to establish a theoretical framework that supports Business Schools in the personalisation of the pedagogical process. This paper investigates the role of Business School academics in shaping the pedagogical process that is culturally responsive to the unprecedented diversity in higher education. This paper attempts to uncover the pedagogical machinations that govern how academics teach, interact and engage with their culturally and ethnically diverse students. The paper argues that university Business Schools should consider a culturally responsive approach when formulating pedagogy, which takes into account prior student experience as part of the student learning. The notion of culturally responsive teaching that shapes this research is influenced by US research on education and diversity. Such a perspective begins with an acceptance of the rights of teachers but also learners.Keywords: ethnic minorities, culturally responsive teaching, Business education, diversity IntroductionThe aim of this paper is to investigate the role of culturally responsive teaching in UK higher education. We intend to present the findings of our qualitative research of academics in higher education Business Schools. The aim of the research was primarily concerned with investigating the methods and techniques of pedagogy formulation employed by academics, and how these are used to support the learning and educational journey of ethnic minorities.The theoretical underpinnings of this paper draw upon the pedagogy of culturally responsive teaching, represented by prominent US research of Nieto (1999Nieto ( , 2000, Gay (2001) & Villegas & Lucas (2002. They identify a clear link between poor ethnic minority experiences and low ethnic minority achievement. There are various variables that influence the attainment of ethnic minority pupils providing a climate of low achievement and inappropriate experiences (Nieto 1999, 19).Gay (2001) and Ladson-Billings (1995) saw the need to be more responsive to the needs of students in US high school and primary institutions represented by diversity. The need and subsequent research by Gay (2001) and Ladson-Billings (1995) resulted in a theoretical approach defined as culturally responsive teaching. The theoretical approach was an enabler for teaching methods that allows for the use of cultural characteristics, experiences, and perspectives of ethnically diverse students as conduits for teaching them more effectively. When academic knowledge and skills are situated within the lived experiences and frames of reference of students, they are more personally meaningful, have higher interest appeal, and this facilitates the intuitive learning experience (Gay 2001).To provide a theoretical context for this paper we will begin with considering the unprecedented ethnic diversity in British higher education institutions. The discussion will then move onto the adapted ...

Culturally Responsive Teaching Knowledge and Practices of Online Faculty

“…Drivers of culturally responsive education are acknowledging, valuing, and using students' cultural backgrounds and cultural identities as conduits for building environments optimal for learning (Gay, 2010;Nieto, 1999). Research has demonstrated the positive benefits of strengthening connections between diverse communities to foster better teaching and enhance learning (Gurin, Day, Hurtado, & Gurin, 2002;Jabbar & Hardaker, 2013;Villegas & Lucas, 2009). …”

Managing diversity: academic’s perspective on culture and teaching

“…Research (Jabbar and Hardaker 2013;Lumby and Foskett 2015) suggests that culture has the potential to create a student-teacher relationship which is fluid, built on high expectations and innovative classroom experiences. In this context, Piaget (1977) proposes that the onus is on the academic to create these experiences and to support ethnic minority integration into the classroom, helping and supporting them through the process of attaching meaning to new inputs and experiences based on their prior knowledge and beliefs.…”

“…This would go we argue some way in acknowledging the unique needs of ethnically diverse students (Beverly 2003;Rynes and Quinn Trank 1999), and acknowledge an increased awareness of the challenges of integration and adjustment in a technologically international environment. However, any such technological or pedagogical concepts need to be supported by multicultural policies and procedures and culturally relevant content (Jabbar and Hardaker 2013).…”

“…We explore this through the mechanism of cultural branching which we define as helping ethnically diverse students to build bridges between their pre-existing knowledge and what they are expected to learn (Banks and Banks 1995;Jabbar and Hardaker 2013;Villegas and Lucas 2002). The authors view this as an important point of inquiry due to the numerous scholars (Jabbar and Hardaker 2013;Schmeichel 2011;Tomalin 2007) who contend that current educational support structures, university curriculums, policies and procedures place ethnically diverse students at a disadvantage. To combat this situation, we argue that cultural branching as an approach can help to develop academic perceptions that create fair and equal learning opportunities.…”

“…This we propose is made up of three key factors; firstly, understanding ethnically diverse students home culture (Gay 2002;Ladson-Billings 1995a, 1995bNieto 1999;Young 2010) secondly, understanding the role of culture in the classroom (Gay 2000;Villegas and Lucas 2002) and, thirdly, the notion of a cultural competence (Santoro 2013). In helping to develop and structure this paper, we define ethnically diverse students as students whose background, ethnicity and experiences differ from the dominant Western culture (Gay 2002;Jabbar and Hardaker 2013;Nieto 1999). This paper differentiates cultural branching from other similar approaches in the field, such as scaffolding (Houser 2008;Raelin 2007), cultural competence (Young 2010) and bridging (Leese 2010;Villegas and Lucas 2002) by proposing that current theoretical approaches do not go far enough in discussing the practical elements or challenges involved in embedding cultural history in UKHE.…”