Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities
Presents:
Cultural Competency
Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities
450 Columbus Boulevard, Hartford, 06103 | www.ct.gov/CHRO | (860) 541-3400
What is Cultural Competency?
Understanding and valuing diversity while managing the dynamics of cultural
differences.
Why is Cultural Competency Important?
 IMPROVING STUDENT
OUTCOMES
 SUCCESSFUL
EDUCATIONAL
EXPERIENCES
 RESPECT
 INCLUSIVE EXPERIENCE
 VALUES THE STUDENT
 MOTIVATION
 FAIRNESS
 RELATIONSHIP
BUILDING BETWEEN
STUDENTS/FAMILIES/
SCHOOLS/SUBJECT
MATTER
 SENSE OF SELF
Facts and Statistics
 1 OF 9 STUDENTS IS ESL (English is a second
language) or ELL
 5.9 MILLION CHILDREN
 DIFFERENT CULTURES
– LEARNING STYLES
– INFORMATION SHARING STYLES
– WAYS OF SOLVING PROBLEMS/DEALING WITH CONFLICT
– ie: teacher focused v. collaborative; memorization v.
experiment
Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities
450 Columbus Boulevard, Hartford, 06103 | www.ct.gov/CHRO | (860) 541-3400
Definitions:
 Culture: An integrated pattern of human behavior that includes thoughts, communications,
languages, practices, beliefs, values, customs, courtesies, rituals, manners of interacting,
roles, relationships, and expected behaviors of a racial, ethnic, religious or social group; the
ability to transmit the above to succeeding generations; is dynamic in nature. (National
Center for Cultural Competency, 2004)
 Ethnicity: Of or relating to large groups of people classed according to common racial,
national, tribal, religious, linguistic, or cultural origin or background. (National Center for
Cultural Competency, 2004)
 Race: a “construct of human variability based on perceived differences in biology, physical
appearance, and behavior.” (Haynes & Smedley, Eds., 1999)
 Gender Identity: A person’s internal sense of being male, female, or something else. Since
gender identity is internal, one’s gender identity is not necessarily visible to others.
 Sexual Orientation: A person’s emotional, sexual, and/or relational attraction to others.
Culture is a continual construction
 Each person has many cultures
– Ethnicity or ancestry
– Business or industry
– City or town
– Religion
– Generation
 An individual’s culture changes
over time based on many
influences they encounter
 While it changes, culture is
central to one’s own self-
definition
Gender vs. Sex
Gender
 Based on self-identification,
external expression and
cultural norms
 Is fluid and can change
throughout life
Sex
 Based on physical and
genetic properties
 Determined at birth
Racial/Ethnic/Religious/Economic Differences
 Not only African-
American/Hispanic/Cauca
sian/Asian
• U.S. Born, foreign born
• Differences between
countries
 Native English
Speaker/non native
 Holidays – religious and
cultural
 Live with
Parents/grandparents
 Working/non-working
 Home
owners/renters/shelters
 Other differences?
Cultural Blindness vs. Cultural Competency
 Cultural Competency
appreciates differences
and values them.
– Tries to integrate
differences into
interactions
– Seeks to look at things
through the eyes of
others
 Cultural blindness is
when you believe
cultural differences
don’t matter.
– Overlooks the
importance of culture
– Tends to result in looking
at people through the
lens of the viewer
Mason et al.’s Cultural Competence Model (1996)
Understanding Implicit bias
We all have our own
biases
 Unconscious
 Come out during stress
or times we don’t have
a “script”
Self-Awareness
 Recognize that your
own values,
assumptions and biases
may not be shared by
everyone
 TEST: Do you see a
rabbit or a duck in the
picture to the right?
Attitudes
 An attitude is your
evaluation of some concept
(person, place, thing, or
idea).
 Explicit attitudes are those
you deliberately think about
and report
 Implicit attitudes are
positive and negative
evaluations that occur
outside your conscious
awareness and control
Information taken from the Harvard Project Implicit at
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/faqs.html
Stereotypes
 Stereotypes are the belief
that most members of a
group have some
characteristic
– Women are nurturing
– Police officers like donuts
 Like attitudes,
stereotypes can be
explicit (thought about
and reported) or implicit
(beyond conscious
thought)
Information taken from the Harvard Project Implicit at
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/faqs.html
Example: The Doctor Riddle
A father and son have a car accident
and are both badly hurt. They are
both taken to separate hospitals.
When the boy is taken in for an
operation, the surgeon (doctor) says
'I can not do the surgery because
this is my son'.
How is this possible?
Doctor’s Riddle Examined
 Solution: The doctor was the boy’s
mother
 Recent research shows that older
generations tend not to get the right
answer
 Younger generations still show a bias
with about 15% of college students
able to get the right answer
 When children under 10 were given
the riddle in 2014, some students
answered “the boy has two fathers,”
showing an increased normalization
of LGBT parents but the same sex-
stereotyping
Richard Barlow, “BU Research: A Riddle Reveals Depth of Gender Bias,”
https://www.bu.edu/today/2014/bu-research-riddle-reveals-the-depth-of-gender-bias/
Institutional Bias
“Those established laws, customs, and practices
which systematically reflect and produce group-
based inequities in any society. An institution
may be biased whether or not the individuals
maintaining those practices have biased
intentions”
Henry, P.J. (2010). Institutional bias. In: J. F. Dovidio, M. Hewstone, P. Glick, & V. M. Esses
(Eds.), The Sage Handbook of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination (427). Sage;
Newburg Park, CA.
Examples of Institutional Bias
 Hiring choices based off
of networking
 Police racial profiling in
traffic stops
 Wage gap between men
and women
 School
meetings/activities
during the day
What are “Micro-Aggressions”
Brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages
to certain individuals because of their group membership.
 Assuming minorities are foreigners or from a different
country
– “But where are you originally from?”
 Clutching your purse when walking past young men of
color
 Making sexist or racist jokes because they are “all in
good fun”
Paludi, Michele A. (2012). Managing Diversity in Today's
Workplace: Strategies for Employees and Employers. Praeger.
What Message Is Sent by Micro-Aggressions
 Assumption of
Intellectual Inferiority
 Second-Class Citizenship
 Assumption of Criminality
 Assumption of Inferiority
 Assumed Universality of
the Minority Experience
 Assumed Superiority of
Majority Cultural Values
Derald Wing Sue; et al. (Summer 2008). "Racial Microaggressions Against Black Americans: Implications for
Counseling" (PDF). Journal of Counseling & Development. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
Influence of Stereotypes and Micro-Aggressions
Stereotype:
Women aren’t
as good as
men at math.
 In a controlled study, young girls who are
reminded about negative stereotypes
concerning math skills tend to
underperform.
 Boys tend to rate their math skills higher
than girls of equal measured ability. This
leads to more boys self-selecting STEM
majors in college which leads to more
men in those fields.
 This leads to stereotypes in that field. For
example, male associate professors are
2.5X more likely than women to be
promoted to full professors controlling
for age, seniority, field, and academic
productivity.
https://genderedinnovations.stanford.edu/institutions/bias.html
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO BE MORE
CULTURALLY COMPETENT
Most Important Thing: Recognize Your Implicit Biases
 Recognize that implicit
bias is natural and can
never be fully
eliminated
 Try to recognize your
own biases and
compensate for them
Information taken from the Harvard Project Implicit at
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/faqs.html
Take On a Mindset of Openness
 Be open to change and
encountering new things
 Understand that cultural
differences do not have to
get in the way of
meaningful relationships
 Don’t react negatively
when someone brings up
something against your
own belief system
Remember That Individuality is Key
Recognize that you may
have stereotypes about
other races but that
individuals need to be
respected and treated as
their own persons
Recognize Institutional Discrimination
Recognizing the power dynamics
of institutional bias and
discrimination and how they
affect disadvantaged groups can
help overcome differences
 Be aware that a person may
view certain institutions
differently
 Also be aware that what may
have been easier for you may
not be so easy for someone
else
 Color-blindness does
not work
 Be aware of individual
and group differences
and incorporate them
STRATEGIES con’t
Don’t Be Afraid of Language Differences
 If you meet someone who does not speak the same language
as you, it is okay to ask for help
 If you hear a word you are unfamiliar with, ask them what it
means. If you use a word they don’t understand, explain it to
them.
 Recognize the differences in language within a cultural group,
that there can be cultural variation within a language group,
and that there is variation in literacy levels across all language
groups.
Involve Those You’re Working With in What You’re Doing
 Be prepared to change what you’re doing and
how you’re doing it based on those you’re
working with
 For example, if you are a teacher teaching
students about history, listen to feedback from
students about what topics to go over or
about what kind of projects to do
Provide Positive Counter-Stereotype Role Models
 If you are having
speakers present, try to
get speakers that don’t
fit stereotypes.
 In a teaching
environment, include
modules on non-white
historical figures (and
not just in Black History
Month).
Students and Teachers are Individuals
 Get to know students/families
 Share cultures as part of lessons
– Avoid singling out/speak for the group
 Some parents have negative associations with
school
 There may be language/child care/other
issues
QUESTIONS

cultural competency training for schools.ppsx

  • 1.
    Commission on HumanRights and Opportunities Presents: Cultural Competency
  • 2.
    Commission on HumanRights and Opportunities 450 Columbus Boulevard, Hartford, 06103 | www.ct.gov/CHRO | (860) 541-3400 What is Cultural Competency? Understanding and valuing diversity while managing the dynamics of cultural differences.
  • 3.
    Why is CulturalCompetency Important?  IMPROVING STUDENT OUTCOMES  SUCCESSFUL EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES  RESPECT  INCLUSIVE EXPERIENCE  VALUES THE STUDENT  MOTIVATION  FAIRNESS  RELATIONSHIP BUILDING BETWEEN STUDENTS/FAMILIES/ SCHOOLS/SUBJECT MATTER  SENSE OF SELF
  • 4.
    Facts and Statistics 1 OF 9 STUDENTS IS ESL (English is a second language) or ELL  5.9 MILLION CHILDREN  DIFFERENT CULTURES – LEARNING STYLES – INFORMATION SHARING STYLES – WAYS OF SOLVING PROBLEMS/DEALING WITH CONFLICT – ie: teacher focused v. collaborative; memorization v. experiment
  • 5.
    Commission on HumanRights and Opportunities 450 Columbus Boulevard, Hartford, 06103 | www.ct.gov/CHRO | (860) 541-3400 Definitions:  Culture: An integrated pattern of human behavior that includes thoughts, communications, languages, practices, beliefs, values, customs, courtesies, rituals, manners of interacting, roles, relationships, and expected behaviors of a racial, ethnic, religious or social group; the ability to transmit the above to succeeding generations; is dynamic in nature. (National Center for Cultural Competency, 2004)  Ethnicity: Of or relating to large groups of people classed according to common racial, national, tribal, religious, linguistic, or cultural origin or background. (National Center for Cultural Competency, 2004)  Race: a “construct of human variability based on perceived differences in biology, physical appearance, and behavior.” (Haynes & Smedley, Eds., 1999)  Gender Identity: A person’s internal sense of being male, female, or something else. Since gender identity is internal, one’s gender identity is not necessarily visible to others.  Sexual Orientation: A person’s emotional, sexual, and/or relational attraction to others.
  • 6.
    Culture is acontinual construction  Each person has many cultures – Ethnicity or ancestry – Business or industry – City or town – Religion – Generation  An individual’s culture changes over time based on many influences they encounter  While it changes, culture is central to one’s own self- definition
  • 7.
    Gender vs. Sex Gender Based on self-identification, external expression and cultural norms  Is fluid and can change throughout life Sex  Based on physical and genetic properties  Determined at birth
  • 8.
    Racial/Ethnic/Religious/Economic Differences  Notonly African- American/Hispanic/Cauca sian/Asian • U.S. Born, foreign born • Differences between countries  Native English Speaker/non native  Holidays – religious and cultural  Live with Parents/grandparents  Working/non-working  Home owners/renters/shelters  Other differences?
  • 9.
    Cultural Blindness vs.Cultural Competency  Cultural Competency appreciates differences and values them. – Tries to integrate differences into interactions – Seeks to look at things through the eyes of others  Cultural blindness is when you believe cultural differences don’t matter. – Overlooks the importance of culture – Tends to result in looking at people through the lens of the viewer Mason et al.’s Cultural Competence Model (1996)
  • 10.
    Understanding Implicit bias Weall have our own biases  Unconscious  Come out during stress or times we don’t have a “script”
  • 11.
    Self-Awareness  Recognize thatyour own values, assumptions and biases may not be shared by everyone  TEST: Do you see a rabbit or a duck in the picture to the right?
  • 12.
    Attitudes  An attitudeis your evaluation of some concept (person, place, thing, or idea).  Explicit attitudes are those you deliberately think about and report  Implicit attitudes are positive and negative evaluations that occur outside your conscious awareness and control Information taken from the Harvard Project Implicit at https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/faqs.html
  • 13.
    Stereotypes  Stereotypes arethe belief that most members of a group have some characteristic – Women are nurturing – Police officers like donuts  Like attitudes, stereotypes can be explicit (thought about and reported) or implicit (beyond conscious thought) Information taken from the Harvard Project Implicit at https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/faqs.html
  • 14.
    Example: The DoctorRiddle A father and son have a car accident and are both badly hurt. They are both taken to separate hospitals. When the boy is taken in for an operation, the surgeon (doctor) says 'I can not do the surgery because this is my son'. How is this possible?
  • 15.
    Doctor’s Riddle Examined Solution: The doctor was the boy’s mother  Recent research shows that older generations tend not to get the right answer  Younger generations still show a bias with about 15% of college students able to get the right answer  When children under 10 were given the riddle in 2014, some students answered “the boy has two fathers,” showing an increased normalization of LGBT parents but the same sex- stereotyping Richard Barlow, “BU Research: A Riddle Reveals Depth of Gender Bias,” https://www.bu.edu/today/2014/bu-research-riddle-reveals-the-depth-of-gender-bias/
  • 16.
    Institutional Bias “Those establishedlaws, customs, and practices which systematically reflect and produce group- based inequities in any society. An institution may be biased whether or not the individuals maintaining those practices have biased intentions” Henry, P.J. (2010). Institutional bias. In: J. F. Dovidio, M. Hewstone, P. Glick, & V. M. Esses (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination (427). Sage; Newburg Park, CA.
  • 17.
    Examples of InstitutionalBias  Hiring choices based off of networking  Police racial profiling in traffic stops  Wage gap between men and women  School meetings/activities during the day
  • 18.
    What are “Micro-Aggressions” Brief,everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to certain individuals because of their group membership.  Assuming minorities are foreigners or from a different country – “But where are you originally from?”  Clutching your purse when walking past young men of color  Making sexist or racist jokes because they are “all in good fun” Paludi, Michele A. (2012). Managing Diversity in Today's Workplace: Strategies for Employees and Employers. Praeger.
  • 19.
    What Message IsSent by Micro-Aggressions  Assumption of Intellectual Inferiority  Second-Class Citizenship  Assumption of Criminality  Assumption of Inferiority  Assumed Universality of the Minority Experience  Assumed Superiority of Majority Cultural Values Derald Wing Sue; et al. (Summer 2008). "Racial Microaggressions Against Black Americans: Implications for Counseling" (PDF). Journal of Counseling & Development. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  • 20.
    Influence of Stereotypesand Micro-Aggressions Stereotype: Women aren’t as good as men at math.  In a controlled study, young girls who are reminded about negative stereotypes concerning math skills tend to underperform.  Boys tend to rate their math skills higher than girls of equal measured ability. This leads to more boys self-selecting STEM majors in college which leads to more men in those fields.  This leads to stereotypes in that field. For example, male associate professors are 2.5X more likely than women to be promoted to full professors controlling for age, seniority, field, and academic productivity. https://genderedinnovations.stanford.edu/institutions/bias.html
  • 21.
    WHAT CAN YOUDO TO BE MORE CULTURALLY COMPETENT
  • 22.
    Most Important Thing:Recognize Your Implicit Biases  Recognize that implicit bias is natural and can never be fully eliminated  Try to recognize your own biases and compensate for them Information taken from the Harvard Project Implicit at https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/faqs.html
  • 23.
    Take On aMindset of Openness  Be open to change and encountering new things  Understand that cultural differences do not have to get in the way of meaningful relationships  Don’t react negatively when someone brings up something against your own belief system
  • 24.
    Remember That Individualityis Key Recognize that you may have stereotypes about other races but that individuals need to be respected and treated as their own persons
  • 25.
    Recognize Institutional Discrimination Recognizingthe power dynamics of institutional bias and discrimination and how they affect disadvantaged groups can help overcome differences  Be aware that a person may view certain institutions differently  Also be aware that what may have been easier for you may not be so easy for someone else
  • 26.
     Color-blindness does notwork  Be aware of individual and group differences and incorporate them STRATEGIES con’t
  • 27.
    Don’t Be Afraidof Language Differences  If you meet someone who does not speak the same language as you, it is okay to ask for help  If you hear a word you are unfamiliar with, ask them what it means. If you use a word they don’t understand, explain it to them.  Recognize the differences in language within a cultural group, that there can be cultural variation within a language group, and that there is variation in literacy levels across all language groups.
  • 28.
    Involve Those You’reWorking With in What You’re Doing  Be prepared to change what you’re doing and how you’re doing it based on those you’re working with  For example, if you are a teacher teaching students about history, listen to feedback from students about what topics to go over or about what kind of projects to do
  • 29.
    Provide Positive Counter-StereotypeRole Models  If you are having speakers present, try to get speakers that don’t fit stereotypes.  In a teaching environment, include modules on non-white historical figures (and not just in Black History Month).
  • 30.
    Students and Teachersare Individuals  Get to know students/families  Share cultures as part of lessons – Avoid singling out/speak for the group  Some parents have negative associations with school  There may be language/child care/other issues
  • 31.

Editor's Notes

  • #27 Ignoring the elephant in the living room – never works Acknowledge People usually don’t take offense at a well meant question.