This book focuses on student cultural diversity in HE and assesses how cultural difference affects students' education and social experience. The authors use interviews to look at these issues from both the perspective of international students, and culturally diverse home populations.

This book focuses on student cultural diversity in HE and assesses how cultural difference affects students' education and social experience. The authors use interviews to look at these issues from both the perspective of international students, and culturally diverse home populations.

This open access book explores cultural competence in the higher education sector from multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary perspectives. It addresses cultural competence in terms of leadership and the role of the higher education sector in cultural competence policy and practice. Drawing on lessons learned, current research and emerging evidence, the book examines various innovative approaches and strategies that incorporate Indigenous knowledge and practices into the development and implementation of cultural competence, and considers the most effective approaches for supporting cultural competence in the higher education sector. This book will appeal to researchers, scholars, policy-makers, practitioners and general readers interested in cultural competence policy and practice.

Racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversity has become of global importance in places where many never would have imagined. Increasing diversity in the U.S., Europe, Africa, New Zealand, and Asia strongly suggests that a homogeneity-based focus is rapidly becoming an historical artifact. Therefore, culturally responsive evaluation (CRE) should no longer be viewed as a luxury or an option in our work as evaluators. The continued amplification of racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversity and awareness among the populations of the U.S. and other western nations insists that social science researchers and evaluators inextricably engage culturally responsive approaches in their work. It is unacceptable for most mainstream university evaluation programs, philanthropic agencies, training institutes sponsored by federal agencies, professional associations, and other entities to promote professional evaluation practices that do not attend to CRE. Our global demographics are a reality that can be appropriately described and studied within the context of complexity theory and theory of change (e.g., Stewart, 1991; Battram, 1999). And this perspective requires a distinct shift from “simple” linear cause-effect models and reductionist thinking to include more holistic and culturally responsive approaches. The development of policy that is meaningfully responsive to the needs of traditionally disenfranchised stakeholders and that also optimizes the use of limited resources (human, natural, and financial) is an extremely complex process. Fortunately, we are presently witnessing developments in methods, instruments, and statistical techniques that are mixed methods in their paradigm/designs and likely to be more effective in informing policymaking and decision-making. Culturally responsive evaluation is one such phenomenon that positions itself to be relevant in the context of dynamic international and national settings where policy and program decisions take place. One example of a response to address this dynamic and need is the newly established Center for Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment (CREA) in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. CREA is an outgrowth of the collective work and commitments of a global community of scholars and practitioners who have contributed chapters to this edited volume. It is an international and interdisciplinary evaluation center that is grounded in the need for designing and conducting evaluations and assessments that embody cognitive, cultural, and interdisciplinary diversity so as to be actively responsive to culturally diverse communities and their aspirations. The Center’s purpose is to address questions, issues, theories, and practices related to CRE and culturally responsive educational assessment. Therefore, CREA can serve as a vehicle for our continuing discourse on culture and cultural context in evaluation and also as a point of dissemination for not only the work that is included in this edited volume, but for the subsequent work it will encourage.

The ability to recognise and understand your own cultural context is a prerequisite to understanding and interacting with people from different cultural backgrounds. An intercultural learning approach encourages us to develop an understanding of culture and cultural difference, through reflecting on our own context and experience.

Exploring Spirituality and Culture in Adult and Higher Education is written from the unique perspective of teacher, researcher, and author Elizabeth Tisdell who has extensive experience dealing with culture, gender, and educational equity issues in secular adult and higher education classrooms, and formerly in pastoral and religious education settings on college campuses. This important book discusses how spiritual development is informed by culture and how this knowledge is relevant to teaching and learning. For educators, an understanding of how spirituality is informed by culture, and how spirituality assists in meaning-making, can aid in their efforts to help their students' educational experiences become more transformative and culturally relevant.

This book explores the complex dynamics of social relationships to understand who we are and why we behave the way we do. It gives expression to the deep yearnings for inclusion. Dialogue is encouraged across racial barriers. A graphic diagrams the parallel journeys of people of color and white people moving away from dominance and subordination, through a transition to equity and inclusion.

Culturally Responsive Teaching and Reflection in Higher Education explores how postsecondary educators can develop their own cultural awareness and provide inclusive learning environments for all students. Discussing best practices from the Cultural Literacy Curriculum Institute at Lesley University, faculty and administrators who are committed to culturally responsive teaching reflect on how to create an inclusive environment and how educators can cultivate the skills, attitudes, and knowledge necessary for implementing culturally responsive curriculum and pedagogy. Rather than a list of "right answers," essays in this important resource integrate discussion and individual reflection to support educators to enhance skills for responding effectively to racial, cultural, and social difference in their personal and professional contexts. This book is as an excellent starting point or further enrichment resource to accompany program or institutional diversity and inclusion efforts.

To date, scholars in higher education have examined the ways in which students' experiences in the classroom and the human capital they attain impact social class inequalities. In this book, Jenny Stuber argues that the experiential core of college life-the social and extra-curricular worlds of higher education-operates as a setting in which social class inequalities manifest and get reproduced. As college students form friendships and get involved in activities like Greek life, study abroad, and student government, they acquire the social and cultural resources that give them access to valuable social and occupational opportunities beyond the college gates. Yet students' social class backgrounds also impact how they experience the experiential core of college life, structuring their abilities to navigate their campus's social and extra-curricular worlds. Stuber shows that upper-middle-class students typically arrive on campus with sophisticated maps and navigational devices to guide their journeys-while working-class students are typically less well equipped for the journey. She demonstrates, as well, that students' social interactions, friendships, and extra-curricular involvements also shape-and are shaped by-their social class worldviews-the ideas they have about their own and others' class identities and their beliefs about where they and others fit within the class system. By focusing on student' social class worldviews, this book provides insight into how identities and consciousness are shaped within educational settings. Ultimately, this examination of what happens inside the college gates shows how which higher education serves as an avenue for social reproduction, while also providing opportunities for the contestation of class inequalities.

As education continues to take great strides to become more inclusive and understanding of diverse students and cultures, teaching practices and methods for learning are an essential part of the puzzle and must be addressed to create culturally responsive educational experiences. Teachers must make meaningful connections between a student’s culture, language, life experiences, and background to what the student is learning in the classroom. By integrating culture into the classroom, student achievement can be fostered, and students can excel. Underserved populations may face discrimination when it comes to culture, language, or race, and their needs can often be neglected. By implementing culturally responsive teaching, students can feel valued, motivated, understood, and included in their education. The Research Anthology on Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning displays the best practices and lessons learned for culturally responsive teaching and learning across different types of institutions, classroom subjects, and with different types of students from diverse cultural backgrounds. The chapters focus on culturally responsive practices and how these methods for teaching can impact student success, empowerment, and cultural competence. This book is essential in understanding cultural diversity and inequity in education as well as the ways to address it. This book is ideal for faculty, teachers, counselors, administrators, principals, curriculum developers, instructional designers, professionals, researchers, and students seeking to improve their understanding of culturally responsive teaching and learning.