In pursuit of being Canadian: examining the challenges of culturally relevant education in teacher education programs

Abstract

This article is about an ongoing initiative that addresses the challenges confronted by teacher candidates to whom English is an additional language and whose cultures are considered different from those of the Canadian mainstream. The initiative is a seminar, Language and Cultural Engagement, in which teacher candidates are prepared for practice teaching through discussions and presentations about diversity, language, and culture; video recorded, peer and teacher analyzed ‘rehearsal’ classroom teaching in a partnership school; and Enriched English as a Second Language lessons. The article is based on data collected through surveys at the beginning and end of the seminar, as well as on instructors' reflections working with teacher candidates from diverse cultural backgrounds dealing with the nuances of the Canadian classroom. Three concerns, concern for authority, language, and cultural acceptance, which were identified as impacting teacher candidates' practice are examined. In addition, the degree to which these concerns were reduced through the seminar is presented. Nonetheless, the concern for cultural acceptance remained unchanged and was identified by teacher candidates as fundamentally important to how they were viewed by their host teachers as knowledgeable, qualified professionals.

Notes

1. There are emerging studies constructed within Aboriginal communities, particularly in Australia and New Zealand, on issues of linguistic revitalization that points to the validity of this approach.

2. Following Statistics Canada's (2002) census descriptors, recent immigrant refers to permanent resident people who have been in the country for a period of five years or less.

3. This activity was perceived valuable by all the students regardless of the cultural background. Later on the course became more focused on marginalized cultures as mainstream students faded away.

4. This past year one primary junior candidate in the seminar was invited by her associate teacher to wear a Sari and bindi to her teaching practice as a way of using these and other resources to teach about India. Her appearance was exoticized to the point where a picture of her was featured in the local school board's newsletter as indicative of the changing face of the teaching population. This further indicates that the teaching population in Windsor is still predominately Eurocentric, despite the changes in migration over the past 20 years.

5. Vacancies within the board are widely advertised, and special efforts are made to recruit, train and promote members of Aboriginal and racial and ethno‐cultural minority groups. Support networks exist and are endorsed by the school board to assist Aboriginal and racial and ethno‐cultural minority employees to achieve full participation in employment opportunities. Yet, lack of consistency between official policy and everyday reality of schools affects the way teachers from these groups envision their overall positions in these institutions (Ministry of Education of Ontario, Guidelines for Policy Development and Implementation, 1993; available online at: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/curricul/antiraci/antire.html).