Teachers’ cultural diversity attitudes: Associations with ethnic minority and majority students’ social relations with and perceived discrimination by teacher and students

Abstract

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.