Multicultural

Education
By: Alyssa B. Villaluz
 Objectives
• To understand Multicultural Education
• To enumerate the advantages of multicultural education
• To know the Five Specific Dimensions of Multicultural Education according
to James Banks
• To know the Levels of Multicultural Education
• To explain how to apply multicultural education in different subjects
 What is
MULTICULTURAL?
Multicultural (Merriam Webster)

: of, relating to, reflecting, or adapted to

diverse cultures
Multicultural Education refers to any form of
education or teaching that incorporates the
histories, texts, values, beliefs, and perspectives of
people from different cultural backgrounds.
James A. Banks (1995) define multicultural education as
educational opportunities for students from diverse racial,
ethnic, social class, and cultural groups.
Advantages of Multicultural
Education
According to the National Association for Multicultural
Education (NAME) multicultural education:

• Helps students develop positive self – image

• Offers students on equitable educational opportunity
• Allows multiple perspectives and ways of thinking
• Combats stereotype and prejudicial behaviour
• Teaches students to critique society in the interest of social justice
 James A. Banks (1979) Five Specific
Dimensions of Multicultural Education
Content Integration

Deals with the infusion of various cultures,

ethnicities, and other identities to be represented in
the curriculum
Knowledge Construction Process
Involves student in critiquing the social positioning
of groups through the ways that knowledge is
presented.
Recalling some activities done in the classroom
during the basic education years may be classified
under this.
Prejudice Reduction
Describes lessons and activities the teachers
implement to assert positive images of ethnic groups
and to improve intergroup relations
Equity Pedagogy
Modifying teaching styles and approaches with
facilitate the intent of facilitating academic
achievement for all students.
Empowering School Cultures
Describe the examination of the school culture and
organization by all members of school staff with the
intent to restructure institutional practice to create
access for all groups. (Banks, 2004)
Four Levels of Multicultural
Education
Contribution Approach
Deals with heroes, holidays and discrete cultural
elements. Teachers conveniently infuse cultural
themes like holidays and heroes into the curriculum.
Additive Approach
Teachers add content, concepts, themes, and
perspectives that are multicultural without changing
the structure of their instructional materials.
Teachers work hard to infuse multicultural themes,
content, and perspective into the main curriculum.
Transformative Approach
Requires teachers to change the structure of their
curriculum to enable students to engage concepts,
issues, events, and themes from a multicultural
perspective
Social Action Approach
Allows the students to make decisions on important
issues and take actions to help solve them