Citizenship Education and Multiculturalism: The Needs of Educators within the Contemporary Multicultural Context

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Citizenship Education and Multiculturalism The
Needs of Educators within the Contemporary
Multicultural Context Amanda Simon Newman
College of Higher Education Birmingham
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PROJECT OVERVIEW Title Citizenship and
Multiculturalism A Critical Perspective Key
Aim To contribute to the development of
citizenship educators so that they might
adequately meet the needs of BME pupils. Key
Objective The investigation of the preparedness
of citizenship educators to meet the needs and
aspirations of pupils from BME communities. Metho
dology Research incorporated a series of
semi-structured interviews with citizenship
educators in which these key issues were explored
in relation to citizenship education.
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• Citizenship Education
• Implemented in 2002
• Implementation based on The Final Report of the
  Advisory Group on Citizenship (Crick Report)
• Citizenship education encompasses race and
  identity topics

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Why the Topic of Citizenship Education and
Multiculturalism is Relevant to This
Conference Although multiculturalism is a long
established phenomenon within contemporary
societies, there is still much debate regarding
how this social reality can be most effectively
approached. These debates are especially
poignant within education. This presentation
will focus on the changed and changing cultural
and ethnic nature of the societal environment and
the consequent implications for the delivery of
citizenship education, especially in relation to
the tackling of race, diversity and identity
issues.
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• Perceptions and Needs of Educators
• Educators had ambivalent view of citizenship
  education. On one hand there was a general
  enthusiasm for the subject whilst on the other,
  responses suggested that there were some
  hindrances to its successful delivery.
• Problematic Areas
• General uncertainty surrounding teaching of race
  and Identity issues
• Perceived neutrality of citizenship education
• The notion of equality

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General Apprehension Surrounding the Teaching of
Race and Identity Responses revealed that there
was some uncertainty and apprehension surrounding
the teaching of race and identity issues.
There's always a feeling isnt there, that if
Im white and Im teaching to a group of mixed
white, black Asian, other minorities I sometimes
would feel conscious, do they think Im siding,
am I siding with the other white people in this
room or, if Im teaching a group of only black
girls would I feel like I knew what Im talking
about or if they would feel how come Miss knows
about this all of a sudden?. That worries me a
bit that the other minorities might feel that I
was siding.
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• General Apprehension Surrounding the Teaching of
  Race and Identity
• As I said before I think some teachers are
  frightened to even get into issues, or they are
  worried that if they talk about a race issue they
  are not being politically correct. I think they
  are so worried about saying something wrong or
  saying something I think its to do with
  training really, and not having that fear of is
  this something I should be talking about, will I
  get into trouble?, or should I be encouraging
  pupils to speak up like this?.
• Problematic Suggestions
• Distinct lack of confidence amongst educators in
  the addressing race and ethnicity issues
• Lack of confidence caused by uncertainty and lack
  of knowledge

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• Perceived Neutrality and Universality of
  Citizenship Education
• I mean citizenship really, as far as I can tell,
  is about how to be a responsible, good citizen
  isnt it, and how the country and the wider
  politics work, so that doesnt really, thats
  just the way it is, I dont think its really
  that bad for different cultures.
• I think here, all groups respond to it whether
  they are white, black or Asian, I cant see any
  great differences between how they understand
  generally all groups of people respond in the
  same way, from my experience of teaching groups
  of people. Generally they are all relatively the
  same I think, I cant see ant great differences.
• Problematic suggestions
• Citizenship is a universal subject in and of
  itself
• The concept of Citizenship is standard given

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The Notion of Equality The key to me is once we
come to school we are on a level platform and I
dont think we should necessarily be starting to
do too much focussing on this group and focussing
on that group and making it that its a big issue
and big problems with certain groups of people in
this area. For me it would be much better to
deliver that this is how it is. there are no
particular needs here we can observe, because
theyre not in any way differentiated here, and
do not appear to be differentiated by ethnic
origin. Its something that we dont even
consider because our assumption is that theyre
all human beings who are able to express and
share and are accepted by everybody else in the
community. I dont think they need to be told
any more or any less than any other pupil in the
classroom, because they should technically all be
equal. So no I think the needs would be the
same.
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• Problematic Suggestions
• Equality is synonymous with sameness
• Equality is seen to be limited and inflexible

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• CONCLUSIONS
• In Light of the changed and changing cultural and
  ethnic make-up of contemporary society, it is
  vital that citizenship educators
• are competent and confident in the tackling of
  race and diversity related issues within
  citizenship as there is a real danger that pupils
  who sense a lacking in these areas will become
  disillusioned and disengaged.
• develop more complex conceptions of foundational
  notions such as equality and inclusion as this
  will inevitably effect the manner in which
  citizenship education is delivered and thus its
  appropriateness for certain pupil groups.
• realise the complex, multilayered nature of
  citizenship and endeavour to deliver citizenship
  education in a way that reflects these
  attributes.
• develop sufficient sensitivity towards the
  differences between pupils from differing ethnic
  communities and the implications of these
  differences.

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• RECOMMENDATIONS
• General training for teachers on meeting pupils
  needs within the multicultural classroom
• The development of clear and appropriate
  understandings of baseline terms and concepts
  such as inclusion and equality, amongst educators
  to enable them to deliver citizenship education
  that is comprehensive and meets the needs of all
  pupils.
• The establishment specialised training for
  citizenship educators on the handling of issues
  such as race and ethnicity and identity within
  the multicultural classroom.
• The implementation of active measures to increase
  the confidence of citizenship educators in the
  teaching of sensitive topics such as race,
  diversity and identity.
• The establishment of a collaborative forum for
  citizenship educators where they can share and
  evaluate ideas.
• Further research into the teaching of race and
  diversity specifically, mapping teachers handling
  of such issues and the responses of pupils.

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Research Project Citizenship and
Multiculturalism A Critical Perspective Amanda
Simon Researcher a.simon_at_newman.ac.uk Newman
College of Higher Education Genners Lane, Bartley
Green Birmingham B32 3NT