Island-Centered Pedagogy

In this chapter, the authors explore and reflect on the pedagogy of higher learning within the cultural context of Micronesian society. Islanders are raised with strong cultural values that often come into conflict as they enter the environment of higher education. They find themselves trying to balance the cultural values, responsibilities, and practices while meeting the demands of university norms and values that are often very counter-cultural in nature. The authors discuss four essential elements educators of Micronesian university students must consider as they endeavor to provide a culturally relevant curriculum centered on what is called island pedagogy. These four elements focus on the concepts of collectivism, cultural understanding, regional advocacy, and empathy. It is through a commitment to building the foundation for a truly islander-centered environment in higher education that teachers empower students of these small islands with every possible chance to succeed in their field of study.

Pigiasilluta oKalagiamik: Culturally Relevant Assessment in Nunatsiavut

Beginning with a story of travelling between northern communities and the shared experiences of the researchers, the environment, and the animals, this research reports the perspectives of teachers, administrators, and parents on how school-based assessment practices impact Inuit learners in Nunatsiavut, the Labrador Inuit Settlement Area. To adjust to current global social, economic, and environmental challenges (Council of Ministers of Education 2018; OECD 2018; United Nations 2010), mainstream jurisdictions are centering their curricular content and assessment measures on competencies (Alberta 2018; British Columbia 2018; Council of Ministers of Education 2018; OECD 2018; Ontario 2016). Our results show that many of these values are already imbedded in community- and land-based experiences in Nunatsiavut and we argue that the development of assessment practices to capture competencies can help reveal the strengths in culturally relevant curriculum and instruction in Nunatsiavut.

Culturally Relevant Health Education: A Foundation for Building Cultural Competence of Health Professionals

Background: Professionals educating ethnic minority populations should employ a cultural focus during development, training, refinement and implementation stages of an intervention. Purpose: This manuscript posits that the skill of developing a culturally relevant curriculum supports the increase of cultural competence proficiency of professionals, while promoting health equity. Methods: A community-based participatory research-trained staff, recruited 378 families with 2 to 8-year-old children. Eight intergenerational focus groups were conducted at neighborhood facilities. Graduate fellows conducted reviews of literature and health directives to conceptualize the curriculum. Spanish-speaking students and promotoras (community health workers) having participants’ confidence, presented healthy lifestyle information and taught practical skills to each group of 12-16 low-income Latino families from Long Beach, CA. With attention to participants’ preferred language, educational level, cultural beliefs, practices and food preferences, the intervention demonstrates a culturally relevant curriculum. Hands-on activities and motivational interviewing questions enriched the 4-hour intervention delivered in Spanish. Results: Graduate fellows’ cultural competence increased. More than 97% of participants reported sessions beneficial to their families’ health with 84% attending all sessions/assessments. Participants found the content easy to understand and helpful to eat healthier and be more active. Conclusion: Sanos y Fuertes is a model for developing a culturally relevant, family-based healthy lifestyle educational curriculum and building culturally competent health professionals.

Searching for Amistad in Two School Districts: A Case Study of Black History Curriculum Implementation in New Jersey

Background: Over the past 30 years, much debate has been produced about improving the quality and caliber of curriculum taught to public school students. Less prominent in these discussions has been the content of Black history and culturally relevant curriculum. Many states and districts assume they are adequately including these experiences through theme months (i.e., Black History Month) or single school days dedicated to workshops on diversity and equity. Unlike most states, the State of New Jersey has legislated the inclusion of Black history education through the enactment of the Amistad Legislation. In doing so it stands out among its peers, but has this legislation actually enacted curricular change? Research Design: We engage a decoloniality framework in this exploratory case study of two districts, describing how each is interpreting Amistad, the processes they subsequently implement, the curricular results, and if/how these attempts address dominant Eurocentric frames essential to the project of coloniality. Findings: We find that simply following the legislation itself does not result in a great deal of reform. The districts we profile, rather than follow the vague dictum of Amistad, opt to follow the “spirit” of the law. The result is clear curricular reform and district-level changes. Our cases present interesting points of discussion as they are at two distinct points on the spectrum of implementation—one having already established a well-regarded curriculum, the other in the early stages of reform. Despite this, administrators in each express the value of Amistad for their students, faculty, and communities.

Dancing into Ubuntu:

This inquiry describes the lived experiences of five Bachelor of Education students learning and teaching Kpanlogo, a West African dance. Each experience was conceptually analyzed with the Sankofa bird, depicted with its beak reaching back to retrieve a golden egg on its back. This symbol embodies the Ghanaian proverb, to go back, physically or spiritually, to retrieve what was once lost or forgotten. Such a framework orients us to the philosophy of Ubuntu, which posits that humanness is found and cultivated within community. What this inquiry reveals is that while it was awkward for some, it was possible for others to dance toward Ubuntu. In sharing these experiences, an example is provided for how we might introduce culturally relevant curriculum in teacher education programs. This inquiry thus describes what it was like to connect a learning experience, in this case the Kpanlogo dance, to the community in which it is situated.

Using Postmodernism to Effectively Teach in Diverse Settings

The challenges brought to classrooms are often exacerbated by a mismatch between teachers' cultural backgrounds and those of their students. This incongruity can be overcome through the use of culturally responsive teaching practices and the integration of culturally relevant curriculum. This chapter suggest the adoption of a postmodern mindset can also aid teachers in meeting the needs of all their students, particularly those with differing life experiences from their own. The author uses a postmodern framework for education that is adopted from Finland and aligns this with the tenets of culturally responsive teaching and also suggests the framework's alignment to culturally relevant curriculum.

Culturally Sustaining Leadership: Supporting the Resilience of Indigenous Students in the United States and Australia

The purpose of this qualitative study was to gather the perspectives of educational leaders in the United States and Australia on strategies for transforming an almost exclusively Westernized curriculum into a curriculum that honors Indigenous worldviews. The research design was exploratory in nature and involved an examination of the ways in which culturally sustaining leadership may be employed to support the resilience of Indigenous students across borders. The methodologies of dialogue and reflection provided a way to engage participants in an international exchange. Participants were 11 aspiring administrators enrolled in an educational leadership program in the United States and five visiting educators from Australia. Participants pre-assessed their understandings about culturally relevant curriculum, engaged in dialogue, submitted journal reflections, and presented final testimonies. Findings from the thematic analysis revealed the value of designing curriculum grounded in cultural humility and a holistic worldview. Respondents concluded curriculum must be linked to the resiliency of Indigenous students and focused on the interconnected relationships of country, place, culture, and people. The implications suggest there is an opportunity for systemic change when networks of Indigenous leaders and allies come together in a global exchange of ideas. These findings may be important for other collaborators who aim to draw upon the knowledge traditions of Indigenous communities across borders. Additional multicountry study is needed to expand the knowledge base and make Indigenous worldviews central to the mission of schools and communities in the United States and across borders.

African Psychology or Psychology in Africa: Conceptualising Education and African Cultural Imperialism, Implications for Emerging African Psychologists

The debates and anguish expressed by emerging Africentric thoughts such as (Tani, 2015), indicates the continuous negligence of culturally relevant curriculum which meets and fits the contextual needs of Africans. The spat in this conceptual yet analytical paper is that the advent of modern type western education has resulted in the drought of the importance of indigenous forms of knowledge in Cameroon in particular and Africa in general. The paper unfolds by highlighting some of the areas in which the modern Eurocentric philosophy of education has alienated and affected some of Africa’s indigenous education systems. Using the modernization paradigm as the framework, the paper’s contention is that following missionary excursions in Africa and the subsequent colonisation, modern forms of schooling were introduced and expanded phenomenally and with it came notions of cultural imperialism, which tended to denigrate many if not all forms of indigenous knowledge education systems. Some indigenous knowledge systems were regarded as primitive, pagan and heathenish. Some forms of such indigenous knowledge were even de-campaigned as non-knowledge. The research question the paper seeks to address is how can indigenous knowledge education systems be used to foster an Afro centric philosophy of Education? Pursuant to this question, the modernization theory is examined, unpacked and critiqued for equating modernisation with Westernization culminating in the promotion of cultural imperialist sentiments that had an alienating effect on some African institutions and practices. This article Situates views of European enlightenment and epistemic solipsism, ignite and sustained debates of globalizing African thoughts into mainstream psychological inquiry, negotiate the incompatible murky particularism of some African psychologists, and also disabuse modernist psychology of its false spectra.

Using Postmodernism to Effectively Teach in Diverse Settings

The challenges brought to classrooms are often exacerbated by a mismatch between teachers' cultural backgrounds and those of their students. This incongruity can be overcome through the use of culturally responsive teaching practices and the integration of culturally relevant curriculum. This chapter suggest the adoption of a postmodern mindset can also aid teachers in meeting the needs of all their students, particularly those with differing life experiences from their own. The author uses a postmodern framework for education that is adopted from Finland and aligns this with the tenets of culturally responsive teaching and also suggests the framework's alignment to culturally relevant curriculum.

Culturally Relevant Curriculum Materials in the Age of Social Media and Curation

Social media and other virtual resource pools (VRPs) have emerged as spaces wherein teachers can connect with other educators and acquire curriculum materials. Though teachers actively engage online, seeking and accessing alternative curriculum materials, little is known about how these efforts may impact culturally relevant education for students with diverse languages, literacies, and cultural practices in the classrooms. Situated in Ladson-Billings's work on culturally relevant pedagogy, this chapter outlines a framework for selecting and evaluating culturally relevant curriculum materials and applies it in a prominent virtual space: Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT). We find that there is a lack of opportunity for deep engagement in culturally relevant education as evidenced in resources found on TpT. This finding suggests unique challenges as well as opportunities for educators and researchers to leverage resources and knowledge from the cloud to the classroom. We conclude with a discussion of these challenges and opportunities from the perspectives of four groups of actors: (1) the creators and curators of curriculum materials, (2) the prosumers who proactively seek out resources and leverage VRPs, (3) the educators who commit to preparing or guiding teachers using VRPs, and (4) the researchers who study the virtual space for education quality and equity.