Introduction
The school that was observed revealed several things concerning overall performance, progress, and multicultural education. A look at the school report card reveals that the institution as compared to similar institutions has been experiencing progress in several aspects. The various aspects of accountability in the school are mentioned in the report and it is on their basis that one can indicate that the school has been achieving some improvements in a general view. According to the report students from grade 9 to secondary go to school. The number of students attending this school has been on the increase as indicated in the report from the past three academic years. This shows that enrollment in the school is expected to increase further in the current academic year.
School’s teachers
The teachers in this school are qualified. Most of the students are taught by teachers with valid teaching certificates. This is because there are only a smaller proportion of teachers with an inappropriate teaching certificate. The teachers reside in the community of the school. They are therefore more familiar with the students they encounter in class. The students who attend the school come to form the surrounding community.
The students are from different ethnic backgrounds. They have therefore received different preparations before joining this particular institution. The surrounding community has people from different cultural backgrounds. The community also has a mixture of people from different social classes. Some people belong to the rich families’ class. There are also those from the middle economic class. The community also has people in the low economic class.
All these categories of people make up the community surrounding the school and they all seek education in the school. This diversity in the community is quite essential for multicultural education in the institution. The atmosphere in the school is quite conducive to learning. There is peace and the environment is not polluted with noise and other disturbances that can be found in cities.
School curriculum
At this juncture, the school is doing well as all the programs are running as scheduled. There are no shortages in supplies and other resources that are used to support learning. The teachers are attending to their duties and the students are taking their studies seriously are expected. The school report reveals that the performance of the school has been improving in the last three academic years.
This is an indicator that the objectives of learning are being achieved and the teachers are doing a good job. The current situation of the school reveals a diversity of cultures in terms of student’s enrollment and the teachers. This might require multicultural education but it is vital to underscore the fact that this might not yield much if adequate resources and preparations are not initiated by the stakeholders.
This is simply because not all the interests of the individual cultural groups can be satisfied at once. Besides this might be a threat to the existing unity of purpose that is prevailing in the institution. The way forward to multicultural education would require efforts from all directions. Multicultural education has to begin at the policy and curriculum formulation level. The teachers would only play the role of implementation of this curriculum.
Multicultural education has been planned in such a way that it would be integrated into the curriculum in specific syllabus areas. This has the implication that education concerning different cultures would be incorporated in subject areas such as history whereby students would have to learn about the cultures of other people and learn to appreciate them. Extra-curricular activities would also be useful in facilitating multicultural education.
Things like songs, drama, and art would be very essential in highlighting cultures from which the students come. Through such activities and arrangements, students would be able to learn about the aspects of culture from other ethnic groups than focusing on their cultural aspects only. In the planning of the curricular, all the stakeholders would be involved. The teachers would play their role in identifying the content areas. The students would give their contribution by giving opinions on their preferred areas of culture that should be included in the curricular. The district menu is in existence and the school has to follow the guidelines for successful implementation of the curriculum.
This is indeed a democratic process of management of educational resources. All the stakeholders participate by giving their opinions before the full implementation of the curriculum. In this course, the parents are amongst the stakeholders and have a significant contribution. The parents act as mentors in various fields to the students. In terms of cultural aspects, parents have a lot of information that is vital for the implementation of multicultural education. Parents also contribute by speaking to their children about the importance of other cultures in the neighborhood. From this point, students come from their homes with different views that contribute to multicultural education.
The role of the teacher
Moving to the classroom, the teachers in the school have a very important role to play. The teachers have full control over the content covered in the classroom environment. The management of content and the classroom environment is the responsibility of the teacher in the course of implementing the curriculum. The school has a library that can be said to be well equipped with a variety of books.
The students have the opportunity to make good use of the library resources. However, it is vital to mention that the library lacks adequate books and resources on the different ethnic groups. This is an obstacle to discovering other cultural dimensions that are fundamental for multicultural education. This implies that for the multicultural education curriculum to be fully implemented, considerations have to be made as far as equipping the library with the necessary books and resources is concerned. Books on ethnic minorities are very useful for an education that is all-inclusive and aims to achieve social integration for future citizens.
Parents’ involvement
Parents’ involvement in school activities has been demonstrated in several ways. Students understand the involvement of their parents in school matters. According to the questionnaire administered to a selected sample of students, their responses revealed a lot concerning their parent’s involvement. A good proportion of the respondents are aware that their parent’s contribution towards education is necessary especially for multicultural education.
Parents of the students come from different minority ethnic groups and hold important information that can be included in the curriculum content. Most parents have little influence on their children. This is because of the rights of the children. This makes children have a lot of freedom in their school activities. This is a democratic parenting style. The parents are not authoritative to their children leaving them to be exposed to different content and ethnic studies in the school curricular.
Most of the parents are preoccupied with their jobs and occupations. This limits their participation and involvement in school activities. Most of the things that happen to the students pass the parents because of their busy nature. Very few students believe that the involvement of the parents can result in better achievements in the future. This can be attributed to the gap existing between the students and their parents in terms of knowledge and other related aspects of life. This can also be blamed on the existing freedom that the learners have especially on choosing what they should study.
Parents cannot impose on the students to study cultural studies, especially of the minority ethnic groups. Most of the students who participated in the interview mentioned that parental involvement is not related to their achievements in academics. This was an indication that they did not like the idea of parents being involved in their matters at school. This is contrary to the findings from other studies that mention that parents play a very crucial role in the achievement of their children. This is through the support and information they possess especially on matters of ethnic groups. Despite this kind of feeling from the students, the participation of parents must be encouraged in future multicultural education because of their resourcefulness. This would lead to better performance of the students in this particular area.
Reference
National Research Council (2000) How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School. J. Bransford etal. (Eds.) Expanded Edition. National Academy Press: Vygotsky’s Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes.