The process of globalization as the global trend of the development of modern societies leads to active interactions and the integration of national communities, regions, and countries. Globalization is accompanied by an increase in the tension of interethnic conflicts as well as migration processes that affect the ethnocultural and social life of societies. The understanding of these processes and the attempts to solve the interrelated educational and social problems brought plenty of countries to the awareness of the phenomenon of multiculturalism in education.
Various scholars explore the notion of multicultural education from different perspectives. As noted by Banks (2015), the educational process aimed at building a tolerant and inclusive society should go beyond simple transferring of knowledge since it should equip students with cross-cultural competence. In her turn, Turner-Vorbeck (2013) emphasizes the role of multicultural education to include family diversity, pinpointing its “sensitivity to the broader diversity issues of class, race, ethnicity, and language and to further struggle to avoid generalizations” (p. 6). With this in mind, this paper will focus on the specification of the course description, expected outcomes, and curriculum design associated with religious oppression and its elimination.
Body
The name of this course is EDU526 that refers to the special topics in graduate education. Focusing on supervision and leadership, the course offers the fundamentals of curriculum development, inclusion, achievement gap elimination, measurement, and diversity awareness. For the selected curriculum that is presented in Appendix A, the course title can be identified as follows: a religious aspect in diversity promotion: challenges and opportunities. The need for such a curriculum is caused by the current religious conflicts occurring in different countries all over the globe (Connor, 2012; Turner-Vorbeck, 2013).
Therefore, the curriculum covers such essential concepts as religious family background, privileges, oppression, social activism, etc. The closing questions and the follow-up assignment will ensure appropriate learning and measurement. The core goal of this course can be regarded as the promotion of equal learning opportunities through a specific curriculum design construction. More to the point, effective supervision is to be reached through the robust synthesis of knowledge, interpersonal communication, and organizational tasks set by a teacher.
The expected course learning outcomes can be identified through the lenses of the present-day needs in the field of adult education regarding inclusion. In the recent study, Connor (2012) argues that scholars widely explore ableism as a discrimination of people with disabilities, diverse religious beliefs, etc. in favor of able-bodied or those who have another religion. The author reviews the works by Steinberg (2009), Ayres, Quinn, and Stovall (2009), and Chapman and Hobbel (2010), elaborating on the idea of ableism instances and suggesting potential ways to address this challenge. Thus, it becomes evident that ableism study and analysis compose the first learning outcome.
At the same time, the evidence shows the immediate need for the development and implementation of relevant strategies to struggle against ableism as it leads to inequality in all spheres of life and inequitable privileges, while fair and honest nature of the employment relationships, interpersonal communication, and education contribute to the strengthening of people’s self-esteem, morality, and motivation (Adams & Bell, 2016).
The elimination of ableism through the accurate and adequate explanation of its essence and potential negative consequences is the most significant requirement for people to be able to select their professional career, develop their talents and skills, and obtain rewards in accordance with their achievements. In this connection, it is necessary to share and learn the examples of ableism in a real-life setting. Both individual and cultural levels are to be investigated to help students in an in-depth comprehension of the issue.
The next step of the multicultural curriculum is associated with developing critical thinking abilities in adults to increase their awareness and prevent stigmatization. According to Kattari (2015), this information can be utilized to “help able-bodied higher education faculty and staff members to recognize from where unearned able-bodied privilege comes and to support these individuals in examining their behavior through an ally lens” (p. 383). Specifically, the selected curriculum relates to religious discrimination, and there is a need to study the religious and cultural atmosphere in the classroom to determine the level of tolerance. After that, the learning outcome will focus on the creation of an atmosphere of tolerance, acceptance, respect, and approval of religious differences, provoking mutual interest between cultures.
It is expected to measure the accomplishment of course learning outcomes by answers on the closing questions and the group assignment results. Also, one may use interviews and several case studies to check the progress and effects of the course. The detailed learning plan and timeline are presented in Appendix A.
Conclusion
Drawing from the evidence presented in this paper, multiculturalism as one of the forms of liberal ideology is called upon to implement a policy of agreement and stability by promoting cultural pluralism and protecting cultural diversity. The basis of a multicultural worldview is the constantly evolving system of value orientations. A multicultural worldview is emerging in the form of attitudes toward the organization of educational and upbringing activities from the standpoint of multiculturalism. The suggested curriculum presents an essential contribution to the promotion of the mentioned values.
References
Adams, M., & Bell, L. A. (2016). Teaching for diversity and social justice (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Banks, J. (2015). Cultural diversity and education. New York, NY: Routledge.
Connor, D. (2012). Does dis/ability now sit at the table (s) of social justice and multicultural education? A descriptive survey of three recent anthologies. Disability Studies Quarterly, 32(3), 1-17.
Dover, A. (2015). Teaching for social justice and the Common Core. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 59(5), 517-527.
English language arts standards. (2017). Web.
Hollins, E. (2013). Transforming curriculum for a culturally diverse society. New York, NY: Routledge.
Kattari, S. K. (2015). Examining ableism in higher education through social dominance theory and social learning theory. Innovative Higher Education, 40(5), 375-386.
Turner-Vorbeck, T. A. (2013). Expanding multicultural education to include family diversity. Multicultural Education, 20(3), 6-10.
Appendix A
Appendix A. Core details of the curriculum. See above.