College Classroom Diversity as a Source of Scholarly Learning for Teachers

Abstract

The international college classroom provides a rich setting for inclusive education. And while the vital role of teachers is acknowledged in the literature on inclusive education, most research is focused on student learning and on teacher-training. We reverse this lens and ask what benefits inclusive practices have for the teachers involved. This under-researched impact of inclusive teaching practices points to an untapped potential for academic scholarship. In Study 1, by analyzing their syllabi, we established that the college teachers in this study use inclusive practices. In Study 2, we interviewed these teachers about their teaching practices and show that the diverse classroom is a source of scholarly learning for them. We report differences that depend on the discipline taught: teachers in social sciences and humanities more often than those in sciences utilize and benefit from students’ diverse perspectives in the classroom. Recommendations for research and implications for practice are discussed.

Keywords:

• higher education
• inclusive teaching
• interviews
• scholarship
• syllabi

Inclusive education is teaching and learning “in which pedagogy, curricula and assessment are designed to engage students in learning that is meaningful, relevant, and accessible to all” (Hockings, 2010, p. 1). The literature on diverse and inclusive higher education addresses the benefits for students, as well as the challenges they might face (e.g., De Vita 2002; Jones 2013; Rose-Redwood 2010). And while the vital role of teachers in diverse and inclusive education is acknowledged, most research is student-centered and focuses on strategies teachers can employ to support students with diverse cultural backgrounds (Autar 2017; Lutz, Untaru, and van Goch 2021; Crose 2011; Deakins 2009; Haslerig et al. 2013; Loya 2022; Markey et al. 2021; Teekens 2003) and on ways in which teachers can be supported and trained in inclusive teaching practices (Cabler 2019; Jones 2013). However, what is less known is whether teachers themselves can benefit from engaging in inclusive education practices in a diverse classroom.

We argue that classroom diversity and particularly engagement in inclusive teaching practices – which give a possibility for that diversity to come to the forefront – can be an especially fruitful place for teachers and their own learning because of multiple perspectives offered in the classroom. We do not limit ourselves to the scholarship of teaching and learning, defined by Boyer as the systematic study of the teaching and learning processes in ways that can be shared with other academics (Boyer 1990). Instead, our question is inspired by Anna Neumann’s work showing that academics can meaningfully reflect on the subject-matter related learning they experience as meaningful in the context of their teaching (Neumann 2009). In her work, Neumann refers to this as scholarly learning, in contrast to other forms of professional learning (e.g. learning relevant to carrying out professional tasks, such as the teaching task). However, what teachers learn from teaching, especially with respect to inclusive education, seems to be an understudied topic. But we cannot afford to overlook the learning of teachers: it is valuable because scholarly learning in the context of teaching can spill over into other forms of scholarship, including for example community-engaged research (Lutz 2021; Terosky and Gonzales 2016) and lead to synergy between teaching and research (O’Meara et al. 2011; Welch and Plaxton-Moore 2017). That is why in this study we investigate the research question: what are the benefits for teachers from engaging in inclusive teaching practices in a diverse classroom?

In this report, we approach this topic at three levels of analyses: macro, meso, and micro (Bronfenbrenner 1979). At the macro level we describe the international college at which our studies took place as a context in which teachers encounter cultural diversity. At the meso level, we analyzed course syllabi in order to gain insight into the inclusive teaching practices used by teachers at the college (Study 1). At the micro level, we interviewed individual teachers to contextualize and deepen the insights gained from the syllabi analysis and to study the benefits for teachers themselves from engaging in inclusive teaching practices in a diverse classroom (Study 2). Throughout, we use the word teachers, because we focus on the college classroom, and we study the participating academics (who have many roles) in their role as teachers.

With this study, we contribute to the literature on inclusive education and scholarly learning in two main ways. First, we reverse the predominant lens and investigate the often-overlooked teachers’ perspective in inclusive education, as so far, the focus has been on the students’ perspective and students’ learning. Second, we demonstrate that particularly inclusive education practices in diverse classrooms provide opportunities for the teachers to learn in their own subject matter and raise awareness of one’s own ethnocentricity. The latter, however, was found to be dependent on the discipline.

Study context

The college

This study took place at a University College in The Netherlands. University Colleges are similar to Liberal Arts Colleges in the United States in terms of educational vision and with respect to organization of education, for example regarding close student-faculty contact and small classroom sizes (Baker, Baldwin, and Makker 2012). The college where this study took place is residential and highly international: approximately 50% of both students and staff are not from the Netherlands (University College Utrecht 2019) and the 700-750 students represent around 70 nationalities at any given time. Faculty members at the college have appointments with a primary focus on teaching and mentoring and can be regarded as teacher-scholars (Ruscio 2013). It is relevant to note that this study took place prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, when all classes and other activities took place in person.

Participating teachers

We used purposive maximum variation sampling with respect to discipline and experience to select 18 of the college’s teachers as participants in this study. We did so because it is known that discipline is influential to teaching style (Neumann, Parry, and Becher 2002) and to teacher perceptions toward internationalization of the curriculum (Clifford 2009), and that years of experience affect teachers’ perspective toward teaching (Robertson 1999). Table 1 shows the composition of the final sample. Of these participants, 8 were female and 10 were male; three came from Southern Europe, one from outside of Europe, and the majority from Northwest Europe. Participants were recruited for a larger research project on teaching and scholarly learning; only the data focusing on diversity and inclusive teaching were used for this study. Ethical approval was obtained from the ethical review board of the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Utrecht University (FETC18-112). Participants gave consent for the use of their quotes.

Study 1: Teachers’ pedagogical approaches to diversity

Syllabi analysis

In Study 1, we reviewed participants’ syllabi, using literature on inclusive pedagogical practices (Crose 2011; Powell, Cantrell, and Rightmyer 2013), to gain insight into these practices used by teachers at the college. Syllabi provide a clear view into teaching practices because the documents outline not only the course and its content, but also other aspects teachers find important and relevant for the context of the course (Palmer, Wheeler, and Aneece 2016). Of the eighteen participating teachers, seventeen provided a total of 31 course syllabi for analysis (some teachers are involved in multiple courses). We combined a model for pedagogical and critical elements of culturally responsive instruction presented by Powell, Cantrell, and Rightmyer (2013) with Crose’s (2011) strategies for facilitating intercultural learning in order to distill 34 criteria across six dimensions relevant to inclusive pedagogical practices. These dimensions were: (i) assessment practices, (ii) course content and planned learning experiences, (iii) instructional practices, (iv) collaboration and conversation, (v) inviting multiple perspectives, and (vi) overcoming language challenges. Using a scoring table, each syllabus was scanned for the presence of specific inclusive pedagogical practices in the design of the course.

Findings: The dimensions of inclusive pedagogical practice at the college

We present our findings per dimension, each time starting with a one-sentence summary of the specific dimension of inclusive practices:

Assessment practices

Inclusive assessment practices are transparently communicated and allow students to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways. While the majority of the syllabi studied did not include a rubric for each assignment of the course, most syllabi contained explicit mention of assessment and included criteria, guidelines and examples for the assignments. Many syllabi showed the use of a variety of assessment techniques and a variety of (written) assignments, such as essays, research papers, presentations, and reflection reports. Some teachers even allow students to choose the assessment method. In one syllabus, the format of assessment was described as follows:

Explore the intersection between knowledge, power, and world politics making use of (…) and other sources used in the classroom. Do this in a reflective way. You can choose a form of your liking (essay, narrative, or a form of art) as long as you are able to meaningfully reference your sources and check with the teacher. (R07, Social Sciences, 10 years of experience)

Course content and planned learning experiences

By integrating (culturally) diverse perspectives on their subject in the course content, inclusive teachers display an open mind and encourage the students to connect the material to their own lives and diverse experiences. The majority of syllabi revealed the use of such practices. In their syllabi, teachers refer to various perspectives on a subject by highlighting different historical perspectives, or by presenting diverse topics and discussion questions. For example:

In this course we take a big-picture look at the nature of mathematics and its role in human thought, emphasizing its interactions with society, history, philosophy, science, and culture. (R03, Science, 12 years of experience)

To a far lesser extent syllabi showed that teachers included various cultural settings in discussing their subject. The intercultural perspective on the subject matter was often not visible in the syllabi. A noticeable difference existed between Social Sciences, Humanities and Sciences fields. Syllabi from the Social Sciences or Humanities were more likely to include diverse cultural settings in presenting the subject, than those from the Sciences. Further, the majority of syllabi did connect the material to student experiences. This was done by linking to urgent topics such as the climate crisis or current debates in international relations, by fostering reflection on one’s responsibility as a citizen, by presenting internet-based resources, and by encouraging students to challenge a particular perspective. However, central figures or key texts challenging a main (cultural) perspective were not often explicitly included in the syllabi.

Instructional practices

Inclusive teachers can contextualize students’ learning in ways that are relevant to individual students, allowing them to build on their experiences, values, and strengths. The syllabi revealed that this was done, for example, by arranging field trips to museums, or to other institutions relevant to the subject matter, or by engaging students in hands-on tasks related to the course material. Moreover, most syllabi reflected students’ freedom in choosing topics and readings based on their own interests. For example:

With a news item you will add an interesting topic to the course. As long as it is a recent news item, you can choose anything related to the course topics (…) which you consider to be worthwhile for presenting in class. (R09, Science, 12 years of experience)

Collaboration and conversation

Inclusive pedagogical practices encourage both collaboration among students in small groups or pairs, as well as opportunities for students to meet with their teachers outside of class. Regarding the first: while group assignments (for presentations or papers) as well as classroom discussions are described in almost every syllabus as important, details about group formation, the division of tasks, or descriptions of how to participate in classroom discussions were rarely provided. Regarding the second: the syllabi reflected that the majority of teachers were available to students outside of the classroom setting. This was made clear by including office hours and contact information in the syllabus, and by explicitly encouraging students to come by or make an appointment.

Inviting multiple perspectives

By encouraging students to connect course material to real-world issues, inclusive pedagogy can encourage students to investigate social issues from multiple perspectives and challenge the status quo in a field. While most syllabi connected course material to current debates and real-world issues (e.g. critical challenges facing certain regions, or environmental issues), in less than half of the syllabi the connection to real-world issues clearly extended to the student assignments and authentic tasks. Some teachers did explicitly encourage students to investigate current debates in the field in their research papers and presentations. For instance, for one assignment students were required to select a specific city and focus on one aspect of its urban social life.

Overcoming language challenges

In order to ease students’ adaptation to instruction in a foreign language, certain student-centered approaches can be used. The majority of syllabi revealed emphasis on classroom activities (e.g. inquiry-based activities), student-led presentations, and classroom discussions so that lectures were interspersed with application and student engagement with the material. In approximately half of the syllabi, students were provided with the key concepts, which can further reduce language challenges. Only a minority of syllabi referred to the use of video or audio recordings. (NB: This study took place prior to COVID-19.)

Discussion study 1

The analysis of syllabi used by teachers at the college generally revealed the use of inclusive pedagogical practices as well as a student-centered approach, encouraging students to bring in their own experiences and perspectives and to develop an open mind toward the taught subjects. Such practices are known to promote student learning (Crose 2011).

The teachers at the college can be regarded as a community of practice, a group of people mutually engaged in a joint enterprise, with a shared repertoire (Wenger 1998). We regard course syllabi to be clear expressions of the community’s approaches to teaching, as each syllabus is developed by the teachers in collaboration with direct colleagues and supervisors. Similar to other teaching communities, this college’s teachers have discussed and centralized the importance of diversity and of inclusive practices in recent years, both as a result of international and nation-wide discussions (e.g. Wekker et al. 2016) and because of the active contributions of a number of faculty members who can be considered frontrunners on inclusive pedagogy (see Lutz, Untaru, and van Goch (2021) for a presentation of the teaching practices of these frontrunners). Study 1 shows that the participants in the current study, who were randomly selected from the larger teaching community, also engage in inclusive teaching practices.

Having established that they actively engage in inclusive practices, in Study 2 we turn our focus to the individual participants to ask what their inclusive practices bring to these teachers themselves.

Study 2: Inclusive practices and the learning of teachers

The interviews

The participating teachers were interviewed about the impact of classroom diversity on their teaching practice and on their own learning. The interview questions concerned their use of inclusive pedagogical practices and opportunities the diverse classroom posed (see Appendix). Interviews were conducted by the second author and a research assistant.

All interviews were transcribed verbatim and the sub-sections devoted to diversity were analyzed using thematic analysis, following the steps proposed by Braun and Clarke (2006): familiarizing with the data; generating initial codes; searching for themes; reviewing themes; defining and naming themes; and producing the report. The analysis was conducted by the second author and a research assistant. The coding procedure was iterative and reflective, as the two coders engaged in discussions on what they heard teachers tell and how their experiences should be coded, until an agreement was reached. After that, similar codes were grouped into themes representing benefits from engaging in inclusive teaching practices in a diverse classroom that teachers explained. At this stage we also relied on the extant literature in labeling our themes, as what the teachers described fitted the definition of scholarly learning proposed by Neumann (2009) as subject-matter related learning that is experienced as meaningful. By comparing the different themes that we labeled, we also observed that teachers’ engagement in scholarly learning partially depended on their discipline, which we explain further in the findings section. An audit trail procedure was used to ensure the quality of qualitative research regarding the visibility of the decision-making process, comprehensibility of the decisions made and the acceptability of those decisions (Akkerman et al. 2008). The first author served as auditor.

Findings

Interview analysis revealed that teachers experience several opportunities for their own learning as a result of engaging in inclusive education practices in a diverse classroom. In particular, teachers explained that teaching in a diverse classroom provides them with a possibility to become more aware of their own ethnocentricity as well as learn about their own subject matter. However, the benefits depended on the discipline taught. We explain each of the findings in detail below.

Increased awareness of one’s own ethnocentricity

For nine out of the 18 participating teachers, it emerged that the diverse and international background of their students seems to have stimulated an increased awareness of their own ethnocentricity. These participants mentioned that because of the cultural diversity in their classrooms, they became more conscious about their own cultural assumptions and preconceived ideas. For example, one teacher noted that:

I have had a situation, for instance, that I teach postcolonial theory about how the relationship of Western and non-Western is, and there is an African student in the class, and she says “you know, the way you talk about it is pretty white.” (R07, Social Sciences, 10 years of experience)

This increased awareness also changed the teaching approach. In particular, participants described having become more aware of specific sensitivities, such as how a particular student may relate to a topic depending on their cultural background. One teacher provided an example of being called out by a student about assuming a shared perspective:

“You keep focusing on that, but that doesn’t relate to me”, as in this case the student was from Mongolia and it was interesting me realizing that I need to be cautious and not assume that everyone relates to this white privilege. (R05, Social Sciences, 8 years of experience)

Multiple participants describe adjusting their teaching approach as a result of their own reflections and learning process in encounters with diverse students. In the words of one of them:

It is enriching in the first place, it is challenging in a sense, that you have to be aware of the differences, and you might as a teacher not be in the position to perceive everything, but it is a way of learning. So, I think teaching is also learning, it is continuous education. (R12, Science, 34 years of experience)

Learning about one’s subject matter

In the context of their reflections on the impact of international and diverse student communities on their teaching practice, our participants were encouraged to reflect on whether or not they found this setting to be of value to themselves and for their own learning about their subject matter. The majority of participants felt enriched by students providing diverse perspectives and examples from their (cultural) backgrounds related to their subjects, as described by several of them:

What is nice about teaching anthropology in a liberal arts and science college is that, of course, students come from different backgrounds (…), so the examples you get in discussions can be very interesting indeed. (R04, Social Sciences, 11 years of experience)

I must say that definitely when reading their essays, when having class discussions for a thing like history it is very relevant, so it is very enriching too, when we talk about the Russian revolution, to have a Russian student who has a story to tell about that related to their own family, or now in my current class one student is writing about the Gulf war, and his father had served in the Gulf war. (R11, Humanities, 12 years of experience)

For the energy systems and sustainability course, it is particularly that I have a mixed group of students, coming from all kind of nationalities, backgrounds, different countries, experiences. Especially in the topic of sustainability and energy it is very important to see all the different perspectives. So, I actually enlarge my own view. (R12, Science, 34 years of experience)

Moreover, they actively work to include diverse backgrounds into the classroom discussion and consciously develop strategies to make use of that: “Just by asking questions, by being open, let them tell their stories, let other students be engaged in discussions, so to not just bring my perspective.” (R12, Sciences, 34 years of experience)

Even as the majority of participants describe the diverse classroom as enriching for themselves, when explicitly asked about the impact of diversity on their own learning about the subject matter, a different picture emerges. Only a few respondents in the humanities and social sciences (like R04, quoted above) mentioned engaging in subject-matter learning themselves as a direct consequence of classroom diversity. Other participants explained a lack of subject-matter learning by reflecting on a lack of connection between the course and their own research or by describing a high familiarity with the material and the topics covered, especially in introduction-level courses: “So, I mean how could [the students] think of new things [for me], I know these materials inside and out. There is not a lot of room for that to change.” (R03, Sciences, 12 years of experience).

Finally, diversity seems to be regarded as particularly enriching in certain fields. Besides the one participant quoted above (R12), no one from the sciences referred to cultural diversity as enriching to their own understanding of their subject matter. And while they did not speak about this with one another in the context of our study, our participants appear to mutually agree on this contrast across fields. For example, a social scientist notes: “For an anthropology teacher, that [diversity] is, of course, nice because you are talking about intercultural differences and you get different viewpoints.” (R04, Social Sciences, 11 years of experience), whereas a statistics teacher reflects quite differently: “Math is culturally independent”, continuing:

We teach research methods. We teach how to do, how to report research and that is culturally independent. If you teach a course on history, or sociology or human geography or human relations, of course, that is culturally dependent. (R17, Sciences, 24 years of experience)

Discussion study 2

The thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with University College teachers revealed diverse, and yet coinciding opinions of teachers on whether and how cultural diversity is enriching to them. Cultural diversity was perceived to be beneficial by a significant number of participants for enhancing awareness of their own ethnocentricity. Many teachers reported that their teaching benefited from the diverse perspectives introduced by culturally diverse students on the subject. In line with inclusive teaching practices, they actively aimed to foster these diverse perspectives in their classrooms. This appeared to be especially so in Humanities and Social Sciences subjects.

Upon reflecting on our findings, including the accompanying field notes describing the setting, circumstances, and impressions of each interview, it struck us that our participants found it relatively difficult to reflect on their own scholarly learning in the context of a conversation about their teaching. Not only does it appear to be easier to identify challenges rather than benefits, their reflections on consequences for student learning seemed most sophisticated. This may well reflect the professional focus of the participants: teachers naturally reflect on student learning, but appear to require extra encouragement to reflect on their own scholarly learning.

General discussion

We asked ourselves what being involved in diverse and inclusive higher education brings to teachers. By studying their professional practices (study 1) as well as their experiences thereof (study 2), we were able to show that this group of teachers actively engages in inclusive educational practices, while themselves also benefiting from the diverse perspectives introduced by culturally diverse students. With these findings we contribute to the literature on inclusive education and scholarly learning.

We contribute to the literature on inclusive education by showing that engaging in inclusive teaching practices in a culturally diverse classroom can be a source of scholarly learning for higher education teachers. Most of the literature on inclusive education is focused on student learning and on ways in which teachers can be trained in inclusive teaching practices. The syllabi analysis we developed, for which we distilled criteria from the literature on inclusive pedagogy (Crose 2011; Powell, Cantrell, and Rightmyer 2013), provided us with a useful method to produce an overview of inclusive teaching practices used in a specific teaching community, and our interview findings offer first grounding knowledge that engaging in these inclusive teaching practices can be beneficial for teachers’ own learning too. We conclude that specifically the diverse college classroom can be a space “in which thoughts and thinkers shift and connect in unexpected forms, crystallizing meanings previously unthought, unrealized, or untried.” (Neumann 2009, p.128). The teachers participating in our study form a diverse group, not only with respect to their academic disciplines and countries of origin, but also in the amount of experience teaching in a diverse and liberal arts college setting. We therefore believe that our findings may describe the experiences of many teachers in higher education who engage with diverse classrooms.

We extend the scholarly learning literature by showing that teachers’ scholarly learning in a culturally diverse classroom depends on the discipline. It is worth noting that the convergence of our analyses revealed an apparent alignment of findings at the individual and at the group level. At the individual level the alignment was between teachers’ use of cultural diversity in their classrooms based on their syllabi analysis and their perceptions about how enriching diversity was for themselves based on the interviews. The majority of teachers who used cultural diversity also reported it as enriching, and vice versa. At the group level the alignment was between the disciplinary differences in using cultural diversity and perceiving it as enriching. Teachers from Social Sciences and Humanities more often reported benefiting from students’ perspectives from diverse cultural backgrounds than teachers from Sciences. The same disciplinary differences were found in the way teachers utilize cultural diversity in classrooms. Teachers from Social Sciences and Humanities more often reported encouraging students to share perspectives from their own cultural backgrounds. The syllabi analysis complemented these insights, showing that teachers from Social Sciences and Humanities included diverse cultural backgrounds more in discussing their subjects than teachers from Sciences. Thus, the apparent convergence of both analyses showed that there was a difference across disciplines in how enriching teachers perceive diversity to be and, in alignment, how they utilized it. Such differences across disciplines were not reported by Neumann (2009), nor by other researchers who extended her work – for example, Terosky & Gonzalez, who studied the impact community-engaged teaching settings on teachers’ scholarly learning (Terosky and Gonzales 2016). This suggests that the differences across disciplines are the result of our focus on the culturally diverse classroom.

Recommendations for future research

The particular University College that provided the context for our current study is highly international, but it is less diverse in other ways, for example in terms of socio-economic background, physical ability, or neurodivergence. This has limited our findings to insights resulting mainly from the extensive diversity in countries of origin. The disciplinary differences found in our research are worth exploring further, as it connects what teachers know and learn to what they do. Others have argued the importance of teachers’ content knowledge (knowledge of discipline), and of the related knowledge about teaching it, pedagogical content knowledge (Fernández-Balboa and Stiehl 1995). In light of this literature, the group differences that we found regarding inclusive teaching practices, i.e. those that appear to be related to the disciplines taught, should be explored in future research. In order to verify our findings and possibly extend them to other forms of diversity, it becomes relevant to ask whether the type of setting that inspires scholarly learning perhaps intersects not only with discipline, but also with the type or level of the educational program, as well as with the type of classroom diversity that is actually present in the student- and teacher community.

In the context of educational research which focusses on the learning of students in inclusive settings, as well as in the context of growing attention for diversity training in higher education (Cabler 2019; Jones 2013), we find little research into the potential benefit such settings provide for academic scholarship. Our work provides a first step in showing that reflections on their own scholarly learning in the context of inclusive teaching practices are regarded as valuable by teachers. It also shows that such reflections seem to require explicit encouragement, which may (as we argue above) reflect the professional focus of teachers’ focus on student learning, rather than on their own. It is also possible that other methods (e.g. in-class observations or group-level interviews) would more clearly reveal the type of scholarly learning teachers experience. Finally, an important related question is whether encouraging teachers to reflect on their own scholarly learning in a diverse classroom improves their use of inclusive teaching practices.

Implications for practice

Researchers in inclusive education have made clear that a whole-institution approach is required (Jones 2013; Lawrie et al. 2017). Inclusive practices in teaching and learning involve faculty members, students, academic developers, and management, and the successful implementation of best practices and policy requires their collaboration. The quality of this process depends on how diverse the community is to begin with, and on the quality of the conversations this community engages in. Our participants experienced the interview as an intervention of sorts, as it brought to the surface an awareness not only of the challenges but also of the benefits of the diverse classroom. These insights were the result of an interview which encouraged the teachers to reflect not only on their students’ learning, but also on their own. This under-researched impact of inclusive educational practices is one we believe deserves note, as it points to an untapped potential for academic scholarship with consequences for teacher-training and faculty development programming. Academics require institutional support, ideally including programs that support them in communicating about the impact of their work (Baker 2022). An awareness of the potential for teachers’ scholarly learning to spill over to other forms of scholarship has consequences for the way in which such programs are organized.

We recommend stimulating practices, individual as well as shared, which invite teachers to reflect on their practice and in particular on their own scholarly learning. The educational context is incredibly rich and provides ample opportunity for this type of reflection and learning, but this does not happen automatically. Teachers, like students, can benefit from regular reflection on their academic and personal life (Beer et al. 2015; Greenberger 2020; Rodgers 2002). Especially with regard to inclusive education, this might combat the insecurities experienced by even the most experienced teachers as they face a diverse classroom (Lutz, Untaru, and van Goch 2021). The potential for shifts in their own thinking might motivate teachers to engage with more inclusive practices.

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Lucía Chisari who contributed to the work as research intern (interviewer and coder).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christel Lutz

Akvilė Bouwens conducted the research (incl. interviewing) in partial fulfillment of her master degree program in educational sciences. Christel Lutz supervised her work and was a member of faculty at the college at the time this study took place; her research program on faculty development and scholarly learning led to the research questions in this study. After the conclusion of the work Christel Lutz became a member of the management of the college. For this reason, she invited Merel van Goch (who has no affiliation to the college) to join the research team as a coauthor and bring an external perspective.

Akvilė Bouwens

Akvilė Bouwens conducted the research (incl. interviewing) in partial fulfillment of her master degree program in educational sciences. Christel Lutz supervised her work and was a member of faculty at the college at the time this study took place; her research program on faculty development and scholarly learning led to the research questions in this study. After the conclusion of the work Christel Lutz became a member of the management of the college. For this reason, she invited Merel van Goch (who has no affiliation to the college) to join the research team as a coauthor and bring an external perspective.

Merel M. van Goch

Akvilė Bouwens conducted the research (incl. interviewing) in partial fulfillment of her master degree program in educational sciences. Christel Lutz supervised her work and was a member of faculty at the college at the time this study took place; her research program on faculty development and scholarly learning led to the research questions in this study. After the conclusion of the work Christel Lutz became a member of the management of the college. For this reason, she invited Merel van Goch (who has no affiliation to the college) to join the research team as a coauthor and bring an external perspective.

Appendix 1

Interview questions related to diversity and teachers’ learning

The teaching environment at University College Utrecht is considered to be highly culturally diverse, therefore, I would like to know more about your experiences with it.

Would you describe your classroom as culturally diverse?

What kind of experiences do you have with culturally diverse classroom?

Do you encounter any struggles related to cultural diversity in your classroom?

Do you perceive culturally diverse classroom to be rather challenging or enriching? How, why?

What kind of responsibilities are associated to teaching in a culturally-diverse environment?

Do you adapt your teaching according to your students’ cultural backgrounds?

If so, how?

Table 1. Participant composition (N = 18).

Teaching Experience	Humanities	Sciences	Social Sciences
<5 years	1	1	2
5-10 years	3	2	1
>10 years	2	3	3