Time and again, research has been showing that academic knowledge and skills connecting to students’ personal experiences and cultural references, and good relationships with peers and teachers help make learning more meaningful and engaging. Through making education more relevant and the learning environment more inclusive, students’ well-being, motivation, and academic achievement show significant improvements.
Yet, we cannot expect teachers to effectively accommodate needs of a diverse student body without being professionally prepared for it. Surprisingly, teachers do not receive a comprehensive formal education as to how to effectively respond to diversity in the classroom.
As such, teachers continue to report a lack of professional confidence in responding to diversity, and to show diversity-related burnout due to a lack of information, skills, and motivation necessary to cope successfully with the challenges of multicultural classrooms.
We provide educational tools to empower teachers to effectively respond to diversity.
Introduction
In this introductory module to diversity pedagogies and science behind intergroup relationships and and biases, we invite teachers to take a critical approach towards their own positioning regarding diversity and inclusion.
intercultural education
In a series of modules, we focus on formal aspects of education and provide concrete tools on inclusive curriculum formation, discourse analysis, prejudice reduction, and modifying instruction to facilitate learning and academic achievement of all students.
effective professionalization
Effective professionalization needs to be contextualised, sustained, and supported. We offer follow-up intervision sessions during which we discuss challenges that teachers experience in applying the strategies discussed during our educational modules and identify aspects teachers need further support.