Professional development for intercultural education: learning on the run

ABSTRACT

In many parts of the world, there is a visible increase in the numbers of culturally and linguistically diverse students entering compulsory education. To explore the preparedness of teachers for responding to this diversity, this article reports the findings of an ethnographic study which had a specific focus on Samoan students. In semi-structured interviews, teachers of a south-east Queensland primary school described initial challenges they encountered, as well as their opinions about the professional development they had received for intercultural education. In talanoa (Pacific Island-style discussions), parents in the school community shared their concerns about the cultural and linguistic responsiveness of the teachers compared to their previous experiences. Analysis of the findings revealed that teachers experienced “culture shock” in highly multicultural classrooms perhaps related to the lack of opportunities for professional learning about teaching culturally and linguistically diverse students. Too few opportunities for teachers to develop and sustain positive dispositions towards intercultural education may have factored into the school staff’s focus on the “how” of intercultural education, rather than the “why”. A scarcity of professional and human resources in this area was also identified. The article concludes with ideas for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Multicultural learners
• intercultural education
• culturally and linguistically diverse learners
• Pasifika (Pacific Islander) learners
• professional development

Acknowledgments

The author acknowledges the valuable feedback received by two anonymous reviewers.

Ethics statement

Ethical approval was gained from the university ethics committee prior to entering the site for research.

Notes

1. In Australia and New Zealand, Pasifika are people or descendants of people originally from the Pacific Islands (McGavin, 2014; Samu, 2010).

2. In Australia, the term English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) is interchangeable with English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as an Additional Language (EAL). Framing English as an “additional” language, rather than as a “second” language, acknowledges the linguistic and dialectal capabilities of Australian Indigenous and migrant learners (de Courcy, Dooley, Jackson, Miller, & Rushton, 2012).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Eseta Tualaulelei

Dr Eseta Tualaulelei is a lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland specialising in intercultural communication, language and literacy.