Teacher experiences of culture in the curriculum

Abstract

This study examines the experiences of two middle‐school teachers as they attempt to acknowledge the ethnic, linguistic, and religious diversity of their students in their curriculum and teaching practices. It identifies the complications and challenges they encountered in the process. It presents one curriculum event to explore the ways in which diverse beliefs and values intersected as the teachers implemented the event. It employs a narrative inquiry approach with an emphasis on stories to learn about the experiences of the participants.

Keywords:

• curriculum
• ethnic identity
• multicultural education
• narrative enquiry
• teacher knowledge

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to F. Michael Connelly of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, the University of Toronto and to D. Jean Clandinin of the University of Alberta for their contribution to my research and graduate student experience.

This study was generously supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada Doctoral Fellowship.

Notes

1. This research was part of a larger study examining the ethnic identity of first generation Canadians in a multi‐cultural school context (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship 752‐2001‐1769), which was in turn embedded in F. M. Connelly and D. J. Clandinin’s long‐term SSHRC‐supported programme of research examining the diverse cultural landscapes of experience that students, parents, and educators bring to the professional knowledge landscape of an elementary school (Standard Research Grants—‘Landscapes in Motion; Landscapes in Transition’; ‘Landscapes in Transition; Negotiating Diverse Narratives of Experience’; and ‘Intersecting Narratives: Cultural Harmonies and Tensions in Inner‐City Canadian Schools’). As I worked at Bay Street School, my observations and interactions with the teachers were guided by the following kinds of questions: What kinds of curriculum events and activities did the teachers plan? How do the teachers understand the home cultures of the students? How do they accommodate for the diversity of their students in their everyday interactions?

2. To learn about William and Dave’s experiences of culture in the curriculum on this multi‐cultural school landscape, I interacted with them over the course of hundreds of hours of school visits. I began observations at the school during the spring of 2000, and continued until the spring of 2003 for the larger project of which this study is part. Field notes for this study were written during the 2000–2001 school year I spent with William and his teaching colleague, Dave, and their combined classes of 71 grade‐8 students at Bay Street School. I wrote field notes following school visits, staff meetings, field trips, classroom observations, school assemblies, and interaction with members of the school community at events such as Multi‐cultural Night, Curriculum Night and School Council meetings. These field notes, along with interview transcripts, researcher journals, and theoretical memos, were filed in an existing project archival system. I also collected documents such as school notices, announcements of community and school events, notices posted on bulletin boards and classroom walls, agendas and minutes from School Council meetings, newspaper clippings of local media coverage, and samples of student work to learn about ways in which the interaction of diverse cultures played out in the school context.

3. The neighbourhood community from which the student population is drawn reflects immigration patterns of recent immigrants into Toronto. Families who have recently immigrated to Canada settle in the community (Makhoul 2000) before moving to suburban communities as they become more established.

4. He was just a few months into his first year of teaching at the time.

5. School Councils were established by the provincial ministry and local school boards, in part, to facilitate the process of parents and teachers working together (Ministry of Education and Training 2004a, b).

6. Although teachers may not have much choice in this matter, since teachers at Bay Street School seem to accept parent decisions about whether their children are permitted to participate in specific curriculum activities or not, the students whose parents did not grant them permission were deprived of the enjoyment and educational value of the activity.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elaine Chan

She has research interests in the ethnic identities of first and second‐generation Canadians, the interaction of culture and curriculum in school contexts, and student and teacher experiences of educational equity policies on multicultural school landscapes.