Multicultural Education Theory

Multicultural Education: Theory and Application
For the purpose of this study, Multicultural Education as conceptualized by Banks (1984) and complimented by Campinha-Bacote’s Process of Cultural Competence in the Delivery of Healthcare, partially forms the theoretical framework. Banks identified the following five concepts as dimensions of multicultural education: Content Integration, Knowledge Construction, Equity Pedagogy, Prejudice Reduction, and an Empowering School Culture and Social Structure. According to Banks (1993), the many passionate debates on multicultural education generally obscured the theory, research, and growing consensus among multicultural education specialists about its nature, aims, and scope and a significant gap

Subsequently many prominent pre-service teacher education programs acknowledged the growing importance of multicultural education, and began efforts at preparing both pre-service teachers and future university professors for roles as multicultural educators. Shor (1986) noted that teacher education should be critical, multicultural, student-centered, oriented toward equality, and de-socializing, in order to prepare teachers who can inspire students. Banks (1993) acknowledged the major goals of ME, as reform practices that provided students from diverse racial, ethnic, and social-class groups with educational equality. ME ensured that both male and female students had equal chances to experience educational success and

Ameny-Dixon (2004) discussed the need for Multicultural Education in institutions of higher learning, from the perspective of the increasing interconnections among nations in the world. She derived her conceptual framework for multicultural education from four major interactive principles: multicultural competence, equity pedagogy, curriculum reform, and teaching for social justice. These principles coincided with and reflected the thinking in Banks’ theory, as well as Campinha-Bacote’s model. Advancing the principle of multicultural competence as a process for developing expertise in multiple ways of perceiving, evaluating, believing, and problem-solving Ameny Dixon described ME, as developing, understanding, and learning to negotiate cultural diversity among nations as well as within a single nation. Ameny-Dixon felt that higher education institutions, being models for the nations and communities in which they were located should serve as the place where global perspectives were embraced. She proposed that the scope of education should be broadened to include issues of health, education, and human rights. According to Dixon, this perspective would allow the development of