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Down-to-earth religious education.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

Although multicultural education is often misunderstood and feared, it has been embraced by many educators as a necessary approach to preparing the next generation for the complexities of life in the 21st Century. This study describes the work of three Catholic secondary religion teachers who inform their classes with multicultural strategies. Data come from classroom observations in metropolitan schools in the United States, interviews, and personal reflection using Van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenological methodology. This study concludes that when teachers understand and embrace multicultural principles, student benefits increase, especially in terms of self-efficacy and a desire to participate in creating a more just society.

Introduction

Multicultural education is changing the way teachers approach today's diverse students. While secular education is being transformed through a student-centered approach, too many Christian religious educators continue to rely on a traditional didactic, teacher-centered, doctrinal approach. In contrast, multicultural education is an approach that moves the focus from teacher to students. It poses real world problems and asks students to respond in a personally meaningful manner. In a word, it is a new paradigm, a new lens through which to view, interpret, and act in life. Such an approach cannot be brought down from the heavens; it must be down-to-earth.

Purpose of Research

Enticed by the writing of the multiculturalists, Banks (1994), Bennett (2003), Diaz (2001), Nieto (2000), and others, I wanted to experience their theories in a faith formation setting. I searched out Catholic high school religion teachers who implemented multicultural principles in their teaching. Initially, I wrote letters to principals and department chairs of 48 Catholic high schools in a Midwestern metropolitan area, asking for names and contact information of teachers espousing multiculturalism. Receiving seven responses, I interviewed all seven teachers by telephone to learn more about their teaching responsibilities and their students. In phone interviews, two teachers said they were insufficiently familiar with multicultural principles to participate. When I learned that two of the teachers represented almost identical profiles, I chose the earlier dated response. I interviewed each of the remaining four candidates to determine their willingness to participate in my study. They represented each of the four levels of secondary education, two male and two female teachers, two urban and two suburban settings. However, three of the four were all-female schools. I observed each of the four teachers as often as 38 times but no less than 21 times throughout the duration of one course each taught. I also, interviewed each teacher and several students in each class who volunteered to interview with me. One teacher is not described, because his teaching strategies were not clearly representative of the instructional strategies that inform this article.

My guiding question throughout the research was, "What is...

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