Definition
Multicultural education recognises the value and importance of diverse cultures, and aims to treat people from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds equally. Multicultural education is based on the notion that learning and understanding about a range of cultures will reduce prejudice and discrimination towards those from a cultural and ethnic background different to those from the dominant culture and ethnicity.
Commentary
Within the multicultural education discourse there has been a view that black and minority ethnic children have suffered poor self-concept because of the ethnocentric curriculum. This view has tended to lay the blame for the academic underachievement of these young people on themselves. This is one reason for the criticism of multicultural education. Another reason has been that whilst possibly diversifying the curriculum, multicultural education has often been used tokenistically often latching on to cultural festivals and artefacts and exoticising young people from minority ethnic groups (Crozier 1989). In this way the marginalisation and ‘othering’ of young people has been exacerbated. In addition to this multicultural education has been criticised for failing to challenge racism.
Resources
Crozier, G. (1989) `Multicultural Education: Some Unintended Consequences' in Barton, L. and Walker, S. (Eds) Politics and the Process of Schooling, Open University Press, 1989