Diversity and Multicultural Pedagogy

Abstract

This article explores the practice of multicultural education within a Pacific Island university with a majority of faculty from Caucasian background and over 90 percent of students from Asian/Pacific Island ethnicities. This article is Phase II of a research project that began in 1999 with the goal to further understand the practice of multicultural pedagogy in higher education. Phase I measured the attitudes of faculty toward diversity and multiculturalism in general while this article attempts to narrow the focus to their perceptions of their actual practice of multicultural pedagogy in the classroom and in curriculum development. Through survey methodology and descriptive analysis, a picture emerges of the link between attitudes and practice. It was found that faculty ranked high on their willingness to engage and incorporate multicultural strategies in their teaching. Many often did not feel, however, that they had the skills or knowledge to do so. Many also felt that they were not well equipped to deal with a multicultural environment. While the data suggest that many are willing and open to diversity and multiculturalism, they struggle with strategies to incorporate those attitudes in their teaching. In comparing some of the data from the two phases of the research we argue that a culture of political correctness seems to mask certain ethnocentric beliefs that may then be reflected in classroom teaching and curriculum development.