Polycultural Education: Overview and Reflection

Polycultural Education: Overview and Reflection The problem of enhancement of education belongs to a number of those pedagogical problems which dont lose the relevance eventually. The modern situation in modern society is characterized by the growth of the local ethnic conflicts. Tasks of preserving safety in modern society require continuous work on studying the nature of the conflicts between representatives of various ethnic groups, their influences on the social and economic life of society, and also search of ways of their overcoming. All this sets serious problems for education which cant but react to the taking place events in society. The experience of foreign countries, in particular, the USA, shows that educational institutions are the main structures where the purposeful uniting and peacekeeping policy is pursued. Therefore, education can help society to bring up youth in the spirit of the humane attitude towards representatives of other cultures and to find effective methods of a decrease in international hostility whi ch can be applicable in a social environment in one hand and in another hand can help to improve students grades. Nowadays, researchers propose a theory of culturally focused pedagogy that might be considered in the reformation of teacher education. According to Lopez, (2016), some researchers assert that culturally responsive teaching (CRT) improves academic achievement because it views students culture and language as strengths. All schools have their ratings, and parents usually want to send their children to that school where the ratings are very high. Also, parents look for schools where their children can feel themselves comfortable in other words, in their plates. As an educational leader, I would like to incorporate cultural pedagogies at my school. According to that place where teachers will work, we should prepare future teachers with following requisite teacher beliefs. They are high expectations, cultural knowledge, cultural content integration, and of course language. Firstly, I would like to speak about high expectations. There are so many cultures, which are mixed in every country during the globalization and the role of all teachers be closer to their students helping them to overcome any academicals issues which they will face. According to Villegas and Lucas (2002) state, Teachers attitudes toward students significantly shape the expectations they hold for student learning, their treatment of students, and what students ultimately learn (p. 23). It means that all teachers are responsible for their students performance. Teachers should make standards-based content and curricula accessible to students and teach in a way that students can understand using aspects of their cultures. Once students feel comfortable with how a teacher talks and discusses academic material, they will feel comfortable enough to focus and try to learn the content. For example, in my country when I became a class teacher, I had a class with bad ratings. There were many children from problematic families. I mean, not full families, where they dont have father or mother or both of them. Children were psychologically closed in their inner world. All teachers didnt want to go and teach them because children didnt take a part in discussion or activities during the lesson. And of course, their marks were really bad. It was for me very hard to understand those children, but I did. I started to spend more time with them, and every time I told them you are the best and you can change the world. I encouraged them with sports and they won sports competition at the school. They were very happy. Next, my step was to improve their knowledge. I told them that they won sports Olympiad at the school and it means they are not bad. If they could do it, they can do the best in their subjects too. And they did. I was very satisfied when all my children started to show good results at school. The second, in my opinion, is much important to have cultural knowledge. To know how to teach them using their cultures, traditions and teaching styles. I mean how to behave yourself. New teachers should know all about students culture and the books which they will use in their classes should have included famous and well-known people from local culture. It will keep students attention during the class in one hand and in another hand they will learn many interesting facts which they didnt know before. The treatment of differences as traits, however, may be in part due to the emphasis on differences in ways students learn, and how these merit considerations by teachers. Gay (2002), for example, states that Culture encompasses many things, some of which are more important to know than others because they have direct implications for teaching and learning. Among these are ethnic groups cultural values, traditions, communication, learning styles, contributions, and relational patterns (p .107). The CRT literature is consistent in the need to validate students cultural experiences as knowledge. Avoiding the reduction of cultural experiences as traits, cultural knowledge is also represented in constructivist views of learning, where learners use their prior knowledge and beliefs . . . to make sense of the new input (Villegas Lucas, 2002, p. 25). Ladson-Billings (1995a) shares the constructivist view in her conceptions of self and others, where teachers believed in a Freirean notion of teaching as mining or pulling knowledge out (p. 479), as well as the use of student culture as a vehicle for learning (Ladson-Billings, 1995b, p. 161). According to Crystal Kuykendall, a former executive director of the National Alliance of Black School Educators, culture determines how children perceive life and their relationship to the world. Because culture also influences how and what children learn, educators can use culture to improve self-image and achievement. Not only must tea chers show an appreciation of cultural diversity, they must also incorporate teaching strategies that are congruent with the learning styles of their students (1989, pp. 32-33). The ways culture has been represented in practice, however, have proven to be problematic, as reflected by Ladson-Billings (2014) in her statement, Many practitioners, and those who claim to translate research to practice, seem stuck in very limited and superficial notions of culture (p.77). She elaborates, The idea that adding some books about people of color, having a classroom Kwanzaa celebration, or posting diverse images makes one culturally relevant seem to be what the pedagogy has been reduced to (Ladson-Billings, 2014, p.82). The teacher is the person who has to create a bridge between students home and school lives. So, they should learn students culture from them and their families. The third significant role is playing cultural content integration. To represent students culture as a way to create new knowledge, teachers have to add to the educational process cultural information, resources, and materials reflected in all subjects taught in schools. What information should be included in the curriculum, how it should be integrated into the existing curriculum, and its location within the curriculum, this content integration was described by Banks (1993). And the CRT scholars explain that incorporating students culture into the curriculum affirms the legitimacy of cultural heritages of different ethnic groups, both as legacies that affect students dispositions, attitudes, and approaches to learning and as worthy content to be taught in the formal curriculum (Gay, 2000, p. 29). This is also one of the element to increase students cultural attitudes, which also will be positively reflected on their knowledge. The last one and very important is language. It is not enough to be an attractive teacher after the teacher should follow his or her followers. Thats why the teacher should know students native language. Teachers may not know a 100% of that language but should understand and sometimes use it to explain some kind of hard theme in students language. If the teacher will know students language it will give the opportunity to respect him or her. It is always good to understand each other when the student didnt understand some materials from the book. Gonzà ¡lez (2001) states, to speak of language is to speak of our selves. Language is at the heart, literally and metaphorically, of who we are, how we present ourselves, and how others see us. . . . The ineffable link of language to emotion, to the very core of our being, is one of the ties that bind children to a sense of heritage. (p. xix). Look into blends have reliably supported methodologies that support understudies in their local dia lect (e.g., August Shanahan, 2008; Salazar, 1998; Slavin Cheung, 2005), and the advantages of utilizing students non-English local dialects as a part of direction are not restricted to psychological advantages (e.g., Peal Lambert, 1962). The matter of examining language and its role in achievement trajectories, however, is not simply a conceptualization that applies to non-EL students. As described by Garcà ­a (2009): In cases when bilingualism is developed after the language practices of a community have been suppressed, the development of the communitys mother tongue is not a simple addition that starts from a monolingual point. . . . Therefore, bilingualism is not simply additive, but recursive. (p. 52). Consistent with the view of language as not being limited to ELs, Darder (2012) asserts, It is critical that educators recognize the role language plays as one of the most powerful transmitters of culture, and as such, its central role in both intellectual formation and the s urvival of subordinate cultural populations (p. 36). For instance, when I was teaching, in my class were many children from other nationality. There were Uzbeks, Tatar, Turkish, Russian and other. I tried to speak using all these languages. And you know what, my children tried to correct me if I were wrong. In this way, we could be close to each other. When a teacher knows students language, students usually start to respect their teacher. And this is fact. To conclude, polyculture education is the special mentality based on the ideas of freedom, justice, equality; the educational reform aimed at transformation of traditional educational systems so that they corresponded to interests, educational needs and opportunities of pupils irrespective of racial, ethnic, language, social, gender, religious, cultural origin; the cross-disciplinary process penetrating the content of all disciplines of the training program, but not separate courses, methods and the strategy of training, relationship between all participants of the teaching and educational environment; process of familiarizing of pupils with richness of world culture through consecutive assimilation of knowledge of native and national cultures, arms of pupils ability to critically analyze any information in order to avoid fallacies, and also formations of the tolerant attitude towards cultural distinctions the qualities necessary for life in the multicultural world. References: Anderson, L. M., Stillman, J. A. (2013). Student teachings contribution to preservice  teacher development: A review of research focused on the preparation of teachers for  urban and high-needs contexts. Review of Educational Research, 83(1), 3-69. Antrop-Gonzà ¡lez, R., Và ©lez, W., Garrett, T. (2004). Challenging the academic (MIS) categorization  of urban youth: Building a case for Puerto Rican high achievers. Multiple Voices for  Ethnically Diverse Exceptional Learners, 7(2), 16-32. Antrop-Gonzà ¡lez, R., Và ©lez, W., Garrett, T. (2008). Examining familial-based academic success  factors in urban high school students: The case of Puerto Rican female high achievers.  Marriage Family Review, 43(1-2), 140-163.   Banks, J. A. (1993). Multicultural education: Historical development, dimensions, and practice.  Review of Research in Education, 19(1), 3-49.   Darder, A. (2012). Culture and power in the classroom: A critical foundation for the education of  bicultural students. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Press.   Gay, G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education,  53(2), 106-116.   Gay, G. (2000). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice. New York,  NY: Teachers College Press.   Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice (2nd ed.). New York,  NY: Teachers College Press.   Ladson-Billings, G. (1995a). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American  Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465-491.   Ladson-Billings, G. (1995b). But thats just good teaching! The case for culturally relevant  pedagogy. Theory Into Practice 34(3), 159-165.   Ladson-Billings, G. (2014). Culturally relevant pedagogy 2.0: aka the remix. Harvard  Educational Review, 84(1), 74-84. Research: Prevalence of Induced Abortions Research: Prevalence of Induced Abortions Shahida Abbasi Literature Review: Prevalence of induced abortion Prevalence of inducedd Abortion in KP, Pakistan Introduction: Maternal morbidity and mortality (MMR) due to complication of unsafe inducedd abortion constitute a major public health concern in many countries. It is assumed that most of the induced abortions are performed by unskilled personnel. Opting unsafe abortion may lead to severe morbidity and infection which results in affecting quality of life. The ultimate result of unsafe abortion is death, which is one of the contributing factors to increase MMR. Low literacy levels, ineffective use of contraceptive and high unmet need are major contributing factors for unintended pregnancies. World Health Organization (2008) most recent report estimated that each year 80 million unintended pregnancies occurs, of these 33 million are caused by ineffective use of a contraceptive methods. The World Health Organization defines† unsafe abortion as a procedure for terminating an unintended pregnancy carried out either by persons lacking the necessary skills or in an environment that do es not conform to minimal medical standards, or both†(p.1). Nearly all unsafe abortions (97%) are in developing countries. Grimes, et.al. (2006) estimated that 68 000 women die worldwide as a result of complications due to unsafe abortion. In addition, it is estimated that in 2008, in developing countries the rate of inducedd abortion has been increased from 78% to 86% in 1985. South-Central Asia accounts for 200 deaths per 100,000 abortions. In our country the actual data related to induced abortion are scarce due to under reported cases because of legal implications. Naqvi and Edhi (2013) revealed that Pakistan is among the top six countries where atmost half of the world’s all maternal deaths occur. Grimes, et.al. (2006) reported that in Pakistan, abortion rate was estimated 29 per 1000 women per yea. Unlike other causes of MMR, death due to induced abortion is absolutely preventable. It is hypothesized that abortion rate is to be higher in the communities with poor socioeconomic status where contraceptive use is lower and rate of unwanted pregnancies is higher. Significance of the study: There is scarcity of community base studies of induced abortions, especially in KP. Most of the studies on prevalence of induced abortion have been conducted in hospital setting. Only women, who develop complications after induction, visit for treatment. Consequently the hospital studies do not represent the true profile of the abortion seekers living in community level. Moreover, findings of this study will purely represent the profile abortion seeker and determinants which will enable the health professionals to plan safe and better care for them. Finally, findings of this study will be used to improve the standards of care in terms of knowledge and practice for induced abortion. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to determine the profile of abortion seeker, prevalence of inducedd abortion, determinants, complication in the community level. In addition, this study also aims to identify standards of safe abortion care provided in the clinic in community level. Study Question: To explore the prevalence and determinants of induced abortion in the community level in the Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa Pakistan. What is the prevalence rate of induced abortion in the community level? What is the level of knowledge of the women who seeks induced abortion? What are the standards of safe abortion care in the abortion clinic? Search Strategies: Pub Med, CINAHL and Mosbys Nursing Consult used as data source for this paper. Studies published between February 2000 and February 2014 on the topic â€Å"induceds abortion† were included. To retrieve relevant literature, electronic databases were searched using a combination of the key terms, namely: (MMR), inducedd abortion, unsafe abortion, causes and complication. Net search was also extended to Google scholar, Population Council of Pakistan and WHO web search to capture the relevant studies. Search generated 150 articles, and through a selection process, 100 were rejected after reading the title and abstract of the article. Inclusion Criteria: Articles with the same key words published after 2000. Exclusion Criteria: Articles were excluded if the study explored: (1) Abortion due to fetal anomalies (2) Illegal abortion (3) Abortion when the mother health is in danger Critical Review Analysis/ Synthesis Determinants of inducedd abortion: Rehan, Inayatullah, and Chaudhary, (2001) and Shah, Hossain, Noonari, and Khan,(2011) Study conducted in 32 clinics 452 women were interviewed to find out characteristics of Pakistani women seeking abortion. A majority of the women (36.6%) were aged 35 years, 61.0% had given birth to 5 children, among them only 40.2% were illiterate. among them (62.8%) were illiterate. The major cause for abortion were â€Å"multi-gravidity† (64.4%), contraceptive failure was the second highest cause (20.3%). Most of the abortions were performed by incompetently trained persons. Saleem and Fikree (2005) study also substantiate these findings (e.g., example multiparous). Most of the women irrespective of their education who undergone for induced abortion wanted a small family. Similar study conducted by Shah, Hossain, Noonari, and Khan,(2011) reported that n= 43 women who were admitted for treatment of induced abortion related complications. Of these (35%) die d due to abortion related complications which accounts for 9.7% of total MMR. DC is the most preferred method used for unsafe abortion (68.4%) despite the fact that manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) is safest technique for induced abortion. Most of the inducedd abortions were performed by untrained abortion providers (84.6%). It is assumed by the researcher that most of the doctors refuse to perform abortion because of having inadequate knowledge. On the contrary Rehan, (2003) reported that among 114 health professionals all of them were aware of the country abortion law. Of these 67.3% have negative attitude towards the induced abortion. One study conducted in field sites by Saleem and Fikree (2005) reported that the causes for unplanned pregnancies were ineffective use of contraceptive and desire to have small family size. The profile of abortion seeker is similar to reports from Rehan, et.al. (2001). Complication of unsafe abortion: A case study of a 29-year old woman who underwent for an unsafe abortion for  unintended pregnancy reported by Naqvi and Edhi, (2013) that the unskilled person perforated the uterus during DC and pulled out the intestine through vagina. Another study conducted by Shah, Hossain, Noonari, and Khan(2011) identified that septicemia was the most common complication (79%) followed by uterine perforation or bowel perforation (30.2%). Hemorrhage accounts for third frequent complication (20.9%). Shaikh, Abbassi , Rizwan, and Abbasi (2010) conducted a study n=230 on admitted patients with complication due to unsafe abortion. induced abortion for 80% of the women were performed by the trained health professionals while for 20% abortion performed by Traditional Birth Attendant (TBA). Major complications included uterine perforation and gastrointestinal injury, observed in (54.0%) women. Hemorrhage was observed in (26.0%) women. Of these 50 women, (12.0%) women died due to septicemia developed because of delay to avail health services after having unsafe abortion and related complications. Saleem and Fikree (2005) study findings shows that 61% of the women reported heavy vaginal bleeding and fever. 19 of these admitted for treatment due to complication of unsafe abortion. (7/19) received blood transfusion. DC was the most frequent method for induction. This report indicates that induced abortion is a significant reproductive health problem causing morbidity and fatality, which needs special attention of the policy makers. Moreover, Rahim, Shafqat, and Faiz, (2011) study findings revealed that 9 women out of 268 died due to unsafe abortion in Peshawar, Pakistan, which accounts for 3.4% MMR. Gap analysis: Despite the fact that induceds abortion is prohibited by the law and religion findings of the studies suggest that it fairly prevalent in the country. Majority of women, who develop complications, seek treatment from public hospital. Consequently the hospital studies do not represent the true profile of the abortion seekers living in community level. Moreover, findings of this study will purely depict profile abortion seeker and their problems which will enable the health professionals to plan safe and better care for them. Emphasis should be placed on improving the technical expertise of the health professionals in order to enable them to provide safe abortion care and treat unsafe abortion related complication. All those facilities which provide abortion care should be monitored against the WHO standards. Post abortion family planning counseling should be the part of the service. By preventing abortions related complications and deaths we can save our children from becoming motherless. References Grimes, D. A., Benson, J., Singh, S., Romero, M., Ganatra, B., Okonofua, F. E., Shah, I. H. (2006). Unsafe abortion: the preventable pandemic.The Lancet,368(9550), 1908-1919. Khan, A. (2013). inducedd Abortion in Pakistan: Community Based Research.JPMA. The Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association,63(4 Suppl 3), S27-32. Korejo, R., Noorani, K. J., Bhutta, S. (2003). Sociocultural determinants of inducedd abortion. Journal of the College of Physicians and SurgeonsPakistan: JCPSP, 13(5), 260. Ç ºhman, E., Shah, I. H. (2011). New estimates and trends regarding unsafe abortion mortality.International Journal of Gynecology Obstetrics,115(2), 121-126. Naqvi, K. Z., Edhi, M. M. (2013). The horror of unsafe abortion: case report of a life threatening complication in a 29-year old woman.Patient safety in surgery,7(1), 1-4. Rahim, R., Shafqat, T., Faiz, N. R. (2011). An analysis of direct causes of maternal mortality.Journal of Postgraduate Medical Institute (Peshawar-Pakistan),20(1). Rehan, N. (2003). Attitudes of health care providers to inducedd abortion in Pakistan. J Pak Med Assoc, 53(7), 293-6. Rehan, N., Inayatullah, A., Chaudhary, I. (2001). Characteristics of Pakistani women seeking abortion and a profile of abortion clinics. Journal of womens health gender-based medicine, 10(8), 805-810. Saleem, S., Fikree, F. F. (2005). The quest for small family size among Pakistani women-is voluntary termination of pregnancy a matter of choice or necessity?. quest. Sathar, Z. A., Singh, S., Fikree, F. F. (2007). Estimating the incidence of abortion in Pakistan.Studies in Family Planning,38(1), 11-22. Shah, N., Hossain, N., Noonari, M., Khan, N. H. (2011). Maternal mortality and morbidity of unsafe abortion in a university teaching hospital of Karachi, Pakistan.JPMA-Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association,61(6), 582. Shaikh, Z., Abbassi, R. M., Rizwan, N., Abbasi, S. (2010). Morbidity and mortality due to unsafe abortion in Pakistan. International Journal of Gynecology Obstetrics, 110(1), 47-49. WHO, Unsafe abortion: Global and regional estimates of the 2011. 22 Feb. 2014 http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2011/9789241501118_eng.pdf> World Health Organization. Unsafe abortion incidence and mortality World Health Organization. 2012. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/75173/1/WHO_RHR_12.01_eng.pdf> Unsafe Abortion: Unnecessary Maternal Mortality. 2009. 22 Feb. 2014 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2709326/> Safe and unsafe inducedd abortion World Health Organization. 2014. 22 Feb. 2014 http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/75174/1/WHO_RHR_12.02_eng.pdf?ua=1> Newhouse, RP. Advanced Practice Nurse Outcomes 1990-2008: A Systematic Review. 2011. https://www.nursingeconomics.net/ce/2013/article3001021.pdf> Rehan, N, Attiya Inayatullah, and Iffat Chaudhary. Characteristics of Pakistani women seeking abortion and a profile of abortion clinics. Journal of womens health gender-based medicine 10.8 (2001): 805-810. Shah, Nusrat et al. Maternal mortality and morbidity of unsafe abortion in a university teaching hospital of Karachi, Pakistan. JPMA-Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association 61.6 (2011): 582. Shah, Nusrat et al. Maternal mortality and morbidity of unsafe abortion in a university teaching hospital of Karachi, Pakistan. JPMA-Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association 61.6 (2011): 582. Rahim, Rehana, Tanveer Shafqat, and Nasreen Ruby Faiz. An analysis of direct causes of maternal mortality. Journal of Postgraduate Medical Institute (Peshawar-Pakistan) 20.1 (2011). Maternal and Perinatal Health in Developing Countries. 22 Feb. 2014 http://books.google.com/books?id=tPi0-hLbTtECpg=PA112lpg=PA112dq=Shaikh,+Abbassi+,+Rizwan,+and+Abbasi+(2010)source=blots=crdQlY4AHgsig=1ZNnZdi8q-99Pg7_vd1BOC0Gock>