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ABSTRACT
There is an ever-present need to foster and maintain intercultural competence in today’s teaching force. Although much research details how to do this, few studies document how to utilise arts and community-based (ACB) approaches to align with the goals of intercultural education. This qualitative study examines reflections from 61 teacher learners who participated in an ACB intervention with community partners while enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate course focused on serving students with immigrant/refugee backgrounds. The aim of this study was to find out what the characteristics of good intercultural education are, as well as how ACB approaches can provide students with authentic experiences working across difference. Using thematic analysis to examine written reflections on the interventions, the authors found that in various ways and to various degrees, the ACB approach allowed students to find a common language as they grew in their content knowledge, created a sense of vulnerability that led to increased empathy for their students and families, and compelled the students to begin to challenge oppression and work towards social change.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Supplementary material
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.
Notes
1. We coined this term to indicate the use of the arts and/or community-based learning into intercultural education.
2. We use the term ‘teacher learners’ to indicate the mix of preservice and beginning teachers that were the participants.
3. There are two possible spellings of this ethno-religious group- ‘Yazidi’ is the spelling is used by Yazda, another non-profit organisation established in Lincoln, while ‘Yezidi’ is used by Yazidi International, the group with which the class interacted for the project.
4. Some girls came late, and others left early, so there was some confusion as to the number of girls present for the entire workshop.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Theresa Catalano
Theresa Catalano’s research focuses on the connection between language, education and migration, and arts/community-based education. Her book Talking about Global Migration identifies metaphors migrants use to describe their experiences. She publishes across a wide range of journals utilising theoretical tools and perspectives from multimodal critical discourse studies and cognitive linguistics.
Amanda R. Morales
Amanda R. Morales’s research addresses issues of equity & access for minoritised students across the PK-16 education continuum. Her current work focuses on teacher preparation for working with multicultural & multilingual students as well as the experiences of pre-service and in-service teachers of colour in predominately white institutions.