Module 3
Intercultural Skills for
Facilitating Learning
Aims of Module 3
• Explore our Racial Identities & how it may influence how we
work as intercultural educators
• Consider the influence of ‘positioning’ for students &
educators
• Identify inhibitors, strategies & resources for effective student
engagement in the intercultural space
• Consider barriers & facilitators for having effective
intercultural discussions
What practice based learning’s did you take away
from yesterdays session?
Exploring our Racial Identities
• Racial consciousness:
“A process where we seek to explore how we understand
‘race’, how it has featured in our lives and what factors
influenced it, inclusive of broader social narratives and
policies” (Singleton & Linton, 2006, :73).
• For intercultural educators, reflecting on our own racial
identity supports us to be mindful of our position, & how
influences shaping our racial identity may influence how we
engage with students.
Activity 1
• In pairs, discuss your Racial Autobiography homework
experience.
• In the whole group, discuss
1. What did this exercise highlight for you about who YOU
are as an educator in the Intercultural Space?
2. What kind of implications may this have on your
teaching?
Theoretical Models
• Racial identity models:
– Helms White Racial Identity Development Model – talks
about whiteness and systemic privileges
– Fearon’s Model – talks about how social and personal
identity develops and there differences
– Cross’ People of Color Identity Model – talks about social
and personal identity but in context of political & historical
forces
Self Reflexivity
• Having an ongoing conversation with one’s own whole self
about what one is experiencing as one is experiencing it. To be
self-reflexive is to engage in feeling and thought while being in
the moment.
• “If you don’t question yourself and your actions and
assumptions you could well be participating in the continued
disadvantage of others” (ICH Student Reflection, 2011).
Positioning & ‘Lens’
• Positioning & Lens:
- Affected by discourse, individual psychology & the
dynamic social role
- Multiple positions can exist at any one time
- Lens shape how we perceive and interpret the experience
we are having
• Examples of lens we can see through:
- Gender, Cultural, Social justice, Class, Professional, Age.
Dimensions of Diversity
The photo “Dimensions of Diversity” (Loden Associates Inc, n.d.)
Activity 2
• In groups of three, discuss Classroom Scenario 2 or 3.
• In the whole group, discuss
1. How you can draw on your own sense of your Racial
Identity, Positioning & Lens to facilitate safe & effective
intercultural discussion?
2. What other strategies can you use to facilitate effective
discussion in the intercultural space?
Activity 3
• In the whole group, discuss
1. Is the context of the video appropriate for having an
intercultural dialogue? Why/why not?
2. Given Australia’s colonial history, how do present
material & have intercultural discussions that are
productive rather than polarising?
3. How would you facilitate this space to have safe &
effective discussions?
Challenges to Effective Engagement
in Intercultural Space
ICH focus groups feedback:
• Racist students
• Difficult/ defensive
• Anger/ resentment (often
arising from negative past
experiences)
• Denial of racism
• Non-engaging/ silent
• Sense of ‘imposed content’
• Stereotypes
• Feeling that material is not
relevant….
• Different types of ‘colour
commentary’
• Tokenisation
• Political sensitivities
‘walking on eggshells’
• Lack of time to engage
students in genuine ‘shifts’
• External factors (personal/
social etc)
Strategies to Enhance Effective
Engagement in IC Space
ICH tutors feedback:
• Identify/connect with student
• Practice what you preach
• Avoid binary discussions
Asmar’s exemplars…
• Show confidence in your expertise
• Get students to question established assumptions/ myths &
stereotypes
CCAR Strategies for Dealing
with Resistance
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Recognise resistance
Ignore behaviours - (to see where its going…)
Delay/ deflect - (turn issue to group, while composing)
Respond – treat not as an attack but as ‘reasonable question’
Direct confrontation – sometimes necessary
Back door approach – meet individual privately
Regrouping – separate enclave groups into random groups
Team – get support from your colleagues
Evaluation review – feedback to explore how resistance
affects whole group.
CCAR Strategic Principles for
Courageous Conversations
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Remain connected
Honesty is best policy
Discomfort is OK!
It’s a marathon not a sprint
Connect through your story
Make complexity your friend
Key Principles for Effective
IC Teaching & Learning
• Reflexive self practice
• Understanding our various ‘positions’ & how they influence
how we make sense of experiences
• Make the information your discussing connect to the current
Australian context
• Remain empathetic & interactive
• Making connections between the material being learnt & your
own cultural frameworks
• Foster in students - & yourself- a commitment to engage
References
• Asmar, C. (nd). Teaching examplars. Retrieved from
http://www.indigenousteaching.com/html/exemplars_index.h
tml
• Lawrence SM & Tatum BD. White Racial Identity and AntiRacist Education: A Catalyst for Change. Teaching for Change:
Building Social Justice in the Classroom. Retrieved
http://www.teachingforchange.org/node/149.
• Loden Associates, Inc. (2007). Diversity wheel. Retrieved from
http://www.loden.com/Site/Dimensions.html
• Singleton, G., & Linton, C. (2006). Courageous conversations
about race. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.
References
• What I learned in the class today: Aboriginal issues is the
classroom. Tokenization (n.d.).
http://www.intheclass.arts.ubc.ca/discussion-topics/2tokenization.html