Becoming a Culturally Competent Educator
Learning new ways...without forgetting your culture
Educator Canisius T. Filibert likes to tell students relocating to the mainland United States from Pacific Islands in Micronesia that they don't have to forget their island culture to prosper under the public school system.
(Watch him explain the meaning of his name, because there is always a history, a family, a tradition, old or new, reflected in each of our names.)
"Learning new ways doesn't mean forgetting your old culture," says Filibert, speaking to the 1,000-plus attendees of the 2009 NEA Joint Conference on Concerns of Minorities and Women. "It means adding on."
Filibert is the program director of the Pacific Resources for Education and Learning in Honolulu, Hawaii. A native of the Republic of Palau, one of the Freely Associated States of Micronesia, Filibert has developed standards and curriculum materials for educational projects in Hawaii and in the Micronesian Islands.
"There is a cultural mismatch between Micronesians and (some) teachers," he told conferees. "One solution is (developing) an awareness of cultural attitudes."
Some Places To Start
Where can you and your colleagues begin the journey to becoming culturally competent? There is no one place to begin. Individuals and schools start at different points along a cultural competence continuum. To help you get started, we've provided the following guidelines (from "How Do I Start?" on the CECP Web site):
- Determine the diverse groups served by your school. Consider cultural, linguistic, racial, and ethnic diversity. Find out the degree to which families and students in these groups are accessing available school services.
- Assess what your school staff perceive as their staff development needs related to providing services to each group.
- Engage school staff in discussions and activities that offer an opportunity to explore attitudes, beliefs, and values related to cultural diversity and cultural competence.
- Create a cultural competence committee or task force. Include administrators, teachers, education support professionals, students, family, and community representatives. The committee can serve as the primary governing body for planning, implementing, and evaluating organizational cultural competence initiatives.
- Ensure that your school has a mission statement that commits to cultural competence as an integral component of all its activities. The cultural competence committee should be involved in developing this statement.
- Network with other schools that are developing and implementing culturally competent systems. Adapt the processes and information that are consistent with your school's needs and interests.
- Conduct a comprehensive cultural competence school self-assessment. Use the self-assessment results to develop a long-term plan, with measurable goals and objectives. Incorporate culturally competent principles, policies, structures, and practices into all aspects of the school. This may include, but is not limited to, changes in the following: mission statement, policies, procedures, administration, staffing, instructional delivery, outreach, communications and information dissemination, and professional development activities.
- Identify and include budgetary expenditures each fiscal year to facilitate personnel development through their participation in conferences, workshops, and seminars on cultural competence.
- Gather and organize resource materials related to culturally diverse groups for use by school staff.
- Build and use a network of "natural helpers" at school and in the community as well as "experts" who have knowledge of the culturally, linguistically, racially, and ethnically diverse groups served by your school.
- Network with parent, family, minority community, and faith-based organizations concerned with the needs of diverse students. Solicit their involvement and input in the design and implementation of initiatives for culturally, linguistically, racially, and ethnically diverse groups.
Related Content
Diversity Toolkit - Educator's online guide to tools and resources that foster inclusion in the classroom and workplace. (NEA 2008)
Students Affected by Achievement Gaps - Reports on four groups affected by achievement gaps.
How Do I Start? - Guidelines from the Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice Web site.
Promoting Educators' Cultural Competence To Better Serve Culturally Diverse Students - NEA's policy on cultivating the strengths of all students.
