multicultural education

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

Chapter 2Defining Multicultural Education for School Reform

Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education, 6th edition

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• Multicultural education as broad-based school reform= real change.

• Not just lessons on getting along or units on ethnic festivals.• Focus on major conditions contributing to underachievement• Explore alternatives to a system that promotes failure for

too many students.• Creates a more productive school climate and a deeper

awareness of the role of culture, language, and power in learning.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved 2-2

is a process of comprehensive school reform and basic education for all students.

challenges and rejects racism and other forms of discrimination in schools and society, and accepts and affirms the pluralism (ethnic, racial, linguistic, religious, economic, and gender, among others) that students, their communities, and teachers reflect.

permeates the schools’ curriculum and instructional strategies, as well as the interactions among teachers, students, and families, and the very way that schools conceptualize the nature of teaching and learning.


The authors specifically printed Sonia Nieto’s name on this chapter. Please note recommended citation:Nieto, S. (2012). Defining Multicultural Education for School Reform. In S. Nieto & P. Bode, Affirming Diversity:

The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education, (6th ed., pp. 40-59). Boston: Pearson.

Take a moment to jot down your ideas/priorities for a definition for multicultural ed. (keep in mind this may be different for

different people) Meet with your peers to discuss your key ideas…what

similarities and differences did you identify?



Sonia Nieto describes seven characteristics of of Multicultural Education:

• Multicultural Education is antiracist education.

• Multicultural Education is basic education.

• Multicultural Education is important for all students.

• Multicultural Education is pervasive.

• Multicultural Education is education for social justice.

• Multicultural Education is a process.

• Multicultural Education is critical pedagogy.The authors specifically printed Sonia Nieto’s name on this chapter. Please note recommended citation:Nieto, S. (2012). Defining Multicultural Education for School Reform. In S. Nieto & P. Bode, Affirming Diversity:

The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education, (6th ed., pp. 40-59). Boston: Pearson.


Group Activity

Meet with your group to develop a poster that focuses on 1 aspect of Nieto & Bode’s definition of Multicultural Education. Include pictures or Symbols to represent your ideas as well.


Multicultural Education is antiracist education.

Multicultural Education is antiracist education.

Antiracist = being able to work positively

against racism. Antiracist = being able to work positively

against racism. Teaching students antiracism includes teaching: confronting racism, respecting students for naming racism.

Teaching students antiracism includes teaching: confronting racism, respecting students for naming racism.

Many teachers are in denial about racism and its effects in schools.Many teachers are in denial about racism and its effects in schools.

Not everyone is directly guilty of discrimination, we are allresponsible for combating it.

Not everyone is directly guilty of discrimination, we are allresponsible for combating it.


Multicultural Education is basic education.

•Multicultural education must be understood as basic to an excellent education. That is, multicultural literacy is just as indispensable for living in today’s world as reading, writing, arithmetic, and computer literacy. •The “canon” assumes that the knowledge that is most worthwhile is already in place. •All students deserve a chance at an equitable and high-quality education, and this is what it means when multicultural education is “basic education.”


Multicultural Education is important for all students.

•There is a widespread misperception that multicultural education is only for students of color, or for urban students, or for disadvantaged or “at risk” students.

•All students are miseducated to the extent that they receive only a partial and biased education. Although it is true that the primary victims of biased education are those who are invisible in the curriculum and whose schooling experiences are inequitable, everyone loses when education is biased.


Multicultural Education is important for all students.

•Students from dominated groups may develop feelings of inferiority based on their schooling.

•Dominant group children may develop feelings of superiority.


Multicultural education is neither an activity that happens at a set period of the day nor another subject area to be “covered.”

It is included in every lesson, curriculum guide, unit, bulletin board, and letter that is sent home.

Multicultural Education is pervasive.

True Multicultural education permeates everything: the school climate, physical environment, curriculum and relationships among teachers and students and community.


Multicultural education invites students and teachers to put their learning into action for social justice.

Multicultural education with a social justice perspective also means learning to question power structures and the status quo.

Ethics and the distribution of power, status, and rewards are basic societal concerns; education must address them.

A multicultural perspective presumes that classrooms should not simplyallow discussions that focus on social justice but also welcome them and even plan actively for such discussions.

Multicultural Education is education for social justice.


Multicultural Education is a process.

It is ongoing and dynamic because no one ever stops becoming a multicultural person and knowledge is never complete.

Multicultural education is a process because it primarily involves relationships among people.


Multicultural Education is critical pedagogy


According to Paulo Freire, education for domestication is a process of “transferring knowledge,” whereas education for liberation is one of “transforming action.” (Freire, 2000).

According to Paulo Freire, education for domestication is a process of “transferring knowledge,” whereas education for liberation is one of “transforming action.” (Freire, 2000).

Education that is liberating encourages students to take risks, to be curious, and to question. Education that is liberating encourages students to take risks, to be curious, and to question.

A multicultural approach values diversity and encourages critical thinking, reflection, and action. Through this process, students are empowered both individually and collectively to become active learners.

A multicultural approach values diversity and encourages critical thinking, reflection, and action. Through this process, students are empowered both individually and collectively to become active learners.




•Critical Pedagogy in Action•Critical pedagogy takes courage. See the work of •Vivian Vasquez, •Mary Cowhey,•Cheryl Dozier, Peter Johnston, and Rebecca Rogers,•Linda Christensen,•Louise Derman-Sparks,•Catherine Compton-Lilly.

•Critical Pedagogy in Action•Critical pedagogy takes courage. See the work of •Vivian Vasquez, •Mary Cowhey,•Cheryl Dozier, Peter Johnston, and Rebecca Rogers,•Linda Christensen,•Louise Derman-Sparks,•Catherine Compton-Lilly.

The Content of the Curriculum:

A multicultural perspective does not simply operate on the principle of substitutingone “truth” or perspective for another. Rather, it reflects on multiple and contradictoryperspectives to understand reality more fully.

The Content of the Curriculum:

A multicultural perspective does not simply operate on the principle of substitutingone “truth” or perspective for another. Rather, it reflects on multiple and contradictoryperspectives to understand reality more fully.

multicultural education

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basic education

antiracist education

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broadbased school reform

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