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Cultural Competence in Academic Advising. What is cultural competence?. The ability to effectively interact with people from different cultural backgrounds. Cultural competence is comprised of four main components : ( a) Awareness of one's own cultural worldview.
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What is cultural competence? • The ability to effectively interact with people from different cultural backgrounds. • Cultural competence is comprised of four main components: • (a) Awareness of one's own cultural worldview. • (b) Attitude towards cultural differences. • (c) Knowledge of different cultural practices and worldviews. • (d) Cross-cultural skills.
Why is cultural competence important? • Increased diversity is already present: • 1/5 of students in the public schooling system are immigrants or children of immigrants. • By the year 2050, European Americans will no longer be the numeric majority. • Colleges today embody a multitude of ages, cultures, races, ethnicities, sexual orientation, languages, nationalities, etc.
New reality for Academic Advisors • Academic Advisors will be working with increasingly diverse student populations. • Advisors need to be able to respond appropriately to their needs. • How can we learn to do this? • Through cultural competence training…
Cultural competence training • Can be used to… • Raise awareness (of self and others). • Gain knowledge about diverse student populations. • Learn skills to adjust/adapt behavior. • For more information about cultural competence training and cross-cultural issues in advising, check out this NACADA webpage
Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity • Denial -- The inability to construe cultural difference. • Defense -- Recognition of cultural difference coupled with negative evaluation of most variations from native culture -- the greater the difference, the more negative the evaluation. • Minimization -- Recognition and acceptance of superficial cultural differences such as eating customs, etc., while holding that all human beings are essentially the same. • Acceptance -- Recognition and appreciation of cultural differences in behavior and values. • Adaptation -- The development of communication skills that enable intercultural communication. • Integration -- The internalization of bicultural or multicultural frames of reference.
References Bennett, M. J. (1993). Towards Ethnorelativism: A developmental model of intercultural sensitivity. In R. M. Paige (Ed.). Education for the intercultural experience. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press. Cardenas, V., Ajinkya, J., & Leger, D. G. (2011). Progress 2050: New ideas for a diverse America. Retrieved from: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/10/ pdf/progress_2050.pdf Martin, M., & Vaughn, B. (2007). Strategic diversity & inclusion management. San Francisco, CA: DTUI Publications Division.