Becoming a Culturally Competent Educator
Training Description
Educators in most school districts find themselves working with students and families from very diverse backgrounds. Cultural competence is essential to be an effective educator. This multi-session training course is designed to enable educators to better understand three fundamental questions:
- Why is it important to become more culturally competent?
- What do I, as an individual, and we, as a staff, need to do to become more culturally competent?
- How can I/we use my/our developing cultural competency to enhance the academic achievement and social-emotional learning of all students?
This introductory training module conceptualizes cultural competency in broad terms, including gender, race, national origin, and socioeconomic status. While we do not believe that lists of cultural characteristics are generally useful, we do offer resources to help participants gain knowledge about specific cultural groups.
Class discussion, video selections, exercises, and brief reading assignments will be used. In most cases, a course project will be required.
Identification of Staff for Training
Any staff members are welcome to participate, including teachers, administrators, counselors, and support staff. The training can be designed for a specific school within a district or for multiple schools. The number of participants is capped at 25. Participants are expected to attend all sessions.
Format
A total of 12 – 15 hours minimum is required. Different formats are possible. Two possible formats are:
- Six 2 or 2.5 hour sessions after school (time can be arranged to suit release times)
- One full day plus three 2.5 hour sessions after school
- Full day session should be at beginning or end of series, not in the middle
- Full day session can be scheduled for an in-service day; Saturdays are occasionally acceptable
Note: The sessions should be scheduled two weeks apart.
