Teachers’ cultural diversity attitudes: Associations with ethnic minority and majority students’ social relations with and perceived discrimination by teacher and students
Summary
This research aims to investigate how different diversity attitudes of teachers can
affect ethnic minority and majority students’ social relations with and perceived
discrimination by teacher and students in diverse classrooms. In total 78 Grade 4 to 6 teachers
of 33 primary schools and their classes (N= 1513 students) participated in this study.
Students answered questions on perceived peer acceptance, sense of belonging, teacherstudent relationship and perceived ethnic discrimination. Teachers answered questions on the
Cultural Responsive Teaching Attitudes Questionnaire. The results showed that ethnic
minority students continue to have considerably lower peer acceptance, less closeness with
their teacher, more conflict with their teacher and higher discrimination by peers compared to
ethnic majority students. Although it was thought that teachers' diversity attitudes would
affect students’ social relations with and discrimination by peers and teacher, for most
diversity attitudes there was no effect found. Only an interaction effect of national culture and
ethnicity on perceived discrimination by peers and an (interaction) effect of cultural
responsiveness (and ethnicity) on sense of belonging was found. Teachers should take this
knowledge into account while exercising their practice.