All classrooms need to learn how to increase the schools’ cultural experience. Cultural competence is not about teaching tolerance of the thoughts and beliefs of other people. It’s about helping children learn to navigate between their beliefs and others in order to overcome hate.
In order to accomplish cultural competence, educational leaders must first understand that we arrive at school with a certain sense of identity. And unless we are reflective about our own identity and how it produces a lens through which everyone views the world, we won’t be able to honor the identities of the students and faculty we work with.
Are you looking out for a diverse group of voices when you’re making decisions about your school?
Building cultural competence is an evolutionary process. Leaders must seek out the voices of a variety of groups when making choices and make sure that policy changes will not negatively impact groups that have been historically excluded in the past.
Leaders must also consider the diversity of the schools staff and surrounding community as well as their vulnerabilities. One of the primary concerns of educational leaders is ensuring that there are many pathways for students to be successful and that there is no one standard of excellence that would show a lack of cultural competence.
To learn more about how to increase your schools’ cultural experience, read the original article here:
How Leaders Can Improve Their Schools’ Cultural Competence
