Social Inclusion Practices
This post is a summary of an article first published by Flinders University in 2011 called:Designing Culturally Inclusive Classroom Environments. For the full article, click here.
This paper released by Flinders University supplies teachers with tips and techniques they can utilise when creating a culturally inclusive classroom, which is extremely important not only because students learn better when they feel comfortable and accepted, but also for their emotional wellbeing.
The document asks teachers and students to examine their own conceptions of diversity, and also reviewing teachers’ approach to teaching by reflecting on their tone of voice, the curriculum, and their interactions with the classroom. The paper encourages teachers to set clear expectations, and appreciate and understand the struggles of joining a different culture to your own.
There are also other important suggestions such as asking students how they would like to be addressed. Overall, this is an extremely valuable document with some fantastic and necessary tips and guides on creating a culturally inclusive classroom.
The key part of creating a classroom which is as inclusive as possible is breaking down your own assumptions and prejudices as a teacher, this way you can address them and counteract them in your classroom practice.
Attempting the worksheets which are provided on the internet for cultural inclusion will address and make you think about prejudices you may have never thought you had. This is the way in which the classroom can become more culturally inclusive – by breaking down the assumptions of the person who runs it, and those who operate within it.