Working towards cultural competency

Cultural competence is the ability to effectively and respectfully communicate, interact, and work with people from different cultural backgrounds by understanding, appreciating, and adapting to diverse beliefs, values, behaviours, and practices.

Review the table below to explore the different steps towards cultural competency.

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Cultural disruptiveness. Forced assimilation. People are forced to assimilate into the dominant culture in the school. Rights and privileges are for the dominant group only. Attitudes and policies are harmful to other cultural groups. Cultural incapacity. Racism. Stereotypes are embedded into school’s culture and treatment of cultural groups. School does not respond to needs of diverse groups. Cultural blindness. Differences are ignored. School treats everyone the same regardless of needs of individuals. Policies and procedures made for the needs of the dominant group as organisation sees every student as the same. Cultural pre-competence. Explore cultural issues. School reviews policies to find any gaps. Awareness of gaps and awareness of how to fill them grows. School responds effectively to culturally and linguistically diverse groups. Cultural competence. Recognise individual and cultural difference. School seeks advice from diverse groups about how to improve. Hires culturally competent staff and culturally diverse staff. Demonstrates an acceptance of diverse communities and respect for cultural differences.

Take a moment to reflect where your school, the staff and the students may fit on this scale. Reflect on any areas for improvement you may notice and any areas where your school is doing well. It is important that schools seek to understand the basics of new students’ cultures and religions so their basic needs can be met.

Click on each number to reveal some examples.

The table above on the different steps towards cultural competency may make it appear as if cultural competency is an aim that can be completely fulfilled where a person can become a so-called expert in another’s culture.

Cultural humility is the overarching understanding that as we seek knowledge and understanding about each other’s cultures, to ensure we can work together in respectful ways, we will never truly be an expert in a culture other than our own.

Cultural humility helps us to move away from an expert-subject relationship which may include a certain power dynamic. It is a lifelong process of self-reflection and critique to understand different perspectives, a commitment to addressing power imbalances and promoting justice, and a willingness to develop partnerships with others based on mutual respect.

To understand the difference between the two:

Cultural humility can help you to avoid making assumptions based on your knowledge of a culture and see the individual in front of you and their specific needs whilst being respectful of their culture.

Watch the following video to learn more.

An excellent activity to get to better know your students, their cultures and them as individuals is by making Identity Mirrors.

These are display boards made by and for your students and can include a variety of things:

• I Am From poems
• Self-drawn portraits
• Handprint from building a unified class activity
• Cultural items (or photos of cultural items) important to student
• Student work that links to culture
• Letters written to past/future selves
• Languages they speak
• Photos or items from celebrations important to them