Culturally relevant teaching, also known as culturally appropriate, culturally congruent, culturally responsive, or culturally compatible teaching, is instruction that uses student culture to aid instruction. Rather than expecting to African-American students to assimilate to a school culture, it treats student culture as a strength that can help them succeed in critical thinking and work for social change.
Culturally responsive teaching was initially discussed for African American students in the United States in primary and secondary school. However, further research has focused on other racial and ethnic backgrounds, other countries, and other age groups.
Culturally relevant teaching was made popular by Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings in the early 1990s. She based her theories on observing students who were particularly effective at teaching African-American students, identified by parents and teachers based both on student achievement and on attitudinal measures. It urges collective action grounded in cultural understanding, experiences, and ways of knowing the world.
Her work was built on a larger body of knowledge on multicultural education and helping culturally diverse students excel in education. Researchers argue that there are gaps in academic achievement between mainstream culture and immigrants or ethnic cultural groups. Early theories suggested that the disconnect between these groups were due to student/teacher language difficulties or that ethnic cultures did not value education as heavily as the Western culture does. This often led to educators unnecessarily placing culturally diverse students in special education classes because of linguistic and cultural differences. In response to these challenges, researchers and teachers began to argue that education should be adapted to "match the cultures students bring with them from home".
Many of these researchers and educators support the constructivist theories of education because such perspectives recognize the value of multiple cultural viewpoints. In constructivism, learners are taught to question, challenge, and critically analyze information rather than blindly accept what it taught; which leads to exactly the type of teaching advocated by the originators of culturally relevant teaching.
Geneva Gay contributed significantly to the progression of culturally relevant teaching in her landmark book, Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research, and Practice. She wrote about the ways in which culture contributed to students' thoughts, beliefs, and behavior.
Django Paris furthered this work in 2012 by introducing the term "culturally sustaining pedagogy". He proposed that not only do educators need to teach course content in a way that is relevant to students cultural context, educators need to sustain the cultures of their student's communities.ÃÂ His aim was for educators to see diverse languages and cultures as an asset in the classroom instead of an obstacle that students needed to overcome to be successful. In subsequent essays, Paris along with H. Samy Alim, acknowledge the groundbreaking work of Ladson-Billings while outlining the need to continue to develop her work. They propose it is insufficient to incorporate diverse cultures into classrooms while assuming current dominant cultures will remain the same. Ladson-Billings agreed with this direction and deemed it necessary to continue to expand on her original works. Since culture is constantly changing and evolving, research and best practices will continue to change and build upon previous work as well.
A number of authors, including Gay and Lipman, have identified characteristics of culturally responsive teaching. These characteristics are:
In the context of British university business schools, in 2013, Jabbar and Hardaker proposed a five-pillar framework that is designed to support academics in understanding the pertinent aspects of developing pedagogy for students from culturally and ethnically diverse backgrounds in UK higher education.
Gloria Ladson-Billings has several research projects and articles where she interviewed educators at diverse schools. She mainly focused on low socioeconomic schools. After identifying several exceptional teachers in public schools in low-socioeconomic, mostly African American school districts, Ladson-Billings spent time observing and trying to explain their success with students who are typically pushed to the margins by public education, finding that all of the teachers shared pride in and commitment to their profession and had an underlying belief that all children could be successful. The participating teachers maintained relationships with their students that were "fluid and equitable" and often attended community events in order to demonstrate support for their students. These teachers also believed in creating bonds with students and developing a "community of learners," which means that all students worked collaboratively to become responsible for each other's learning. Ladson-Billings maintains that in order for teachers to use culturally relevant pedagogy successfully, they must also show respect for students and "understand the need for the students to operate in the dual worlds of their home community and the white community".
There have been many studies done in response to how students respond to teachers that exhibit the above characteristics, incorporating the principles and use of these strategies within the classroom. For instance, Tyrone C. Howard looked at the "perceptions and interpretations" of students who have experienced this type of learning environment. The qualitative data which included students response, is evidence that this is a positive and effective form of pedagogy.
Optimistically, technology offers the unique chance for educators to bridge the curriculum of school to the 21st century learner, as culturally relevant teaching intends. The most significant barrier to the implementation of culturally relevant teaching has been the prevailing disconnect between school learning and the real-world needs of students particularly minority students. Yet, when used correctly, "computer technology can provide students with an excellent tool for applying concepts in a variety of contexts, thereby breaking the artificial isolation of school subject matter from the real-world situations". Technology permeates the real-world environment of the 21st century student. It is integral in the culture of the digital native learner. According to their literature review, Conole et al. found that for today's students, technology is transferable, integrated, personalized, organized, adaptive, and pervasive. Today's student is continuously connected and in many cases far more of an expert than their teacher. Thus, if schools utilize technology, the curriculum becomes truly relevant and responsive to the learner of the 21st century. In school learning mirrors the learning they engage in outside of school.
With technology, students possess the ability to connect and interact with colleagues, across the globe, who share their views and beliefs. In interviews, digital natives report that, "lost cost communication technologies such as Skype, MSN chat, and email were considered invaluable forms of communication". With technology, learners are able to form social groups and engage in cross-cultural interactions that provide instant feedback and learning challenges beyond the capacity of a single textbook, classroom, or neighborhood. These cross-cultural interactions, nearly impossible before global technologies, lead to the depth of questioning and critical thought needed to be successful in the 21st century, global society. In short, students use social networking and technological connections to connect with social and cultural peers but ultimately engage in interactions with members of a variety of cultural groups. These interactions can be quite empowering for modern learners.
It can be argued that digital technologies allow learners to be no longer held hostage to the culturally insensitive curriculum of public schools. In contrast, they are proficient at using technology to tailor their own learning. Within seconds, learners can access a wealth of information and knowledge and no longer must trust solely the limited perspective presented in their textbook. The 21st century learner is accustomed to using technology to challenge preconceived information. "Research indicates that computer technology can help support learning, and that it is especially useful in developing the higher-order skills of critical thinking analysis, and scientific inquiry" Clearly, technology offers the potential of helping students achieve and benefit from culturally relevant teaching.
Despite the evidence supporting the use of technology, educators should be cautious of assuming technology will be a relevant vehicle for learning to all students alike. For instance, in lower income areas, such as rural America, an emphasis on high technology may be misguided. As a counterexample, a program in rural Virginia engages in culturally relevant teaching by explicitly avoiding high technology solutions and using locally relevant activities to guide learning. Specifically, fixing and using tools was used to teach engineering to rural middle school youth.
Culturally relevant teaching (CRT) has become a growing area of focus in education, but its implementation faces challenges. Indeed, there are many practical challenges to implementing culturally relevant pedagogy including a lack of enforcement of culturally relevant teaching methods, and the tendency to view students as individual units only, rather than seeing them as linked inseparably with their cultural groups. In culturally relevant pedagogy, new teachers must be taught how to adapt their curriculum, methodology, teaching methods, and instructional materials to connect with students' values and cultural norms. Therefore, another challenge for educators is to prepare reflective practitioners who can connect with diverse students and their families. Even though some schools of education acknowledge credibility in training culturally relevant educators, many wrestle with how fit such training into their program and "grudgingly add a diversity course to their curriculum". One contributor to this reluctance comes from the education professors' discomfort with or fear of addressing issues such as racism in their courses. The student population of America's classrooms has changed. Based on data from the National Center for Education Statistics in 2021, 54% of students enrolled in prekindergarten through grade 12 come from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds. Hispanic students account for 28% of the students enrolled and 45% of students enrolled in prekindergarten through grade 12 are white, falling from 61% in the 1993âÂÂ94 school year. Given these demographics, Kenneth Fasching-Varner and Vanessa Dodo-Seriki have suggested that disconnects in teacher and student identity lead to "Free and Reduced Pedagogy", or a non-student first approach that reduces students to cultural differences, discrediting students based on their identities and differences in identities between teachers and students. In the largest school districts, half or more of the students are non-white. Demographic projections predict that cultural and ethnic diversity will increase.
One of the early challenges to CRP was that the lack of recognition for a distinct African-American culture.
Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) is a program from the San Diego (California) public schools that helps under-represented students (including those from different cultural groups) by mixing low-achieving students with high-achieving students in college preparation programs. "AVID employs many principles of cooperative learning in its 'writing, inquiry, and collaboration' approach to curriculum and instruction".
The Umoja Community is a California-based group that roots itself in the principles and practices of culturally relevant teaching. Umoja works with students, colleges and the community to promote awareness, instill values and provide the foundations needed to achieve success, particularly for African American students, although it is committed to helping all students. The Umoja Community is recognized by the California Community Colleges System Board of Directors and helps serve over 2,000 students a year.
The Russian Mission School in Alaska incorporates Native American culture with the standard curriculum and emphasizes hands-on activities that are relevant to their local lifestyle.
In The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children, Gloria Ladson-Billings presents several examples of excellent culturally relevant teaching in African American classrooms.