Challenges of Education in a Multicultural Environment

1. Challenges of Education in a Multicultural Environment Bela Stantic Dept of Mathematics and Informatics, Faculty of Science University of Novi SadEmail: bela@dmi.uns.ac.rs Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia Email: B.Stantic@griffith.edu.au

2. Globalization • The globalization process refers not only to typical consumer markets, but also to educational market, which has become more and more international. • Therefore, many lecturers teach partially in their native and English language and students also use foreign language while learning. • Therefore we are entering into real multicultural education. • However, intercultural communication and understanding is not only restricted with the language. • Teaching in multicultural Australia where academics and students are from diversity of countries and cultures is a real challenge. • The way people view the world is determined wholly or partly by the structure of their native language. "culture" refers to a group or community which share common experiences that shape the way they understand the world.

3. Multicultural environment • Teaching and learning in a multicultural environment has, undoubtedly, advantages and disadvantages. • Students enrolled in courses taught by professors coming from different ethnic or linguistic backgrounds experience discomfort, tension and conflict. • There are students who do not appreciate opportunities created by interaction with culturally diversified people and who have biased opinions of minority professors even before coming into contact with them. • Students avoid enrolling in particular courses after seeing foreign names of instructors listed in a course schedule.

4. Multicultural Education • The problems often encountered by teachers and students are: • Problems of communication breakdowns between staff and students because of poor foreign language abilities and English pronunciation, • Culture shock (what is common and normal in one culture it is not acceptable in another) • The lack of knowledge of different cultures, which leads to misunderstandings concerning students’ manners. • Respect, addressing, interrupting, participation, dress style, hygiene, etc.

5. Challenges • If the students do not respect the professor they do not learn effectively and they do not benefit from the class. • Lecturer needs to be open to other cultures and to try to familiarize the students with the differences between the patterns of behavior of the representatives of various nationalities, sub-cultures, etc. • The role of the teacher is vital because the teacher is the person who builds the atmosphere during the class and through equal treatment he/she can make it easier for the students coming from different backgrounds to feel good in the group. • Teachers must be prepared to effectively facilitate learning for every individual student, no matter how culturally similar or different from her- or himself.

6. Advantages • It helps to develop students’ intellectual, social, and personal abilities. • It creates professionals with abilities to be employable on Global market.

7. Reexamining all Educational Practices • Learning and teaching in multicultural settings is inevitable due to the globalization. • Therefore, we should take into consideration all aspects and challenges of multicultural education and learn how to teach in multicultural environment and overcome problems often encountered by teachers and students. • Educators must take more active role in reexamining all educational practices: assessment methods, delivery forms, school psychology and counseling practices, educational materials and textbooks, and so on.

8. Required Changes • The transformation of self: • understand the people and happenings around you, • examining who is (and who is not) being reached by your teaching, • relearning how your identity affects students’ learning experiences. • To be an effective multicultural educator you must be in a constant process of self-examination and transformation. • The transformation of schools and schooling; • Multicultural Curriculum, • Supportive School and Classroom Climate. • The transformation of society

9. References • Lustig, M. W. and Koester, J. (2006). Intercultural competence: Interpersonal communication across cultures. Boston MA: Pearson Education. • Marshall, P.L. (2002). Cultural diversity in our schools. Belmont: Wadsworth. • Martin, J.N. and Nakayama, T. K. (2000). Intercultural Communication in Contexts, 2nd ed. California. Mayfield Publishing Company. • Meier, C. (2007). Enhancing intercultural understanding using e-learning strategies, South African Journal of Education, 27, 655-671. • A. Wieczorek, A. Wieczorek, (2009). Problems of teaching in a Multicultural Environment – Some insight from Poland, Proceedings of the 2009 EMUNI Conference on Higher Education and Research • Paul C. Gorski, (2010). The Challenge of Defining "Multicultural Education“, http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/initial.html

10. Thank you for your Attention!