A reflection
of your own experiences of culture and identity in relation to education
First off, what is
the meaning of culture and identity? Phillips (2006) adopts the definition of
culture “the process through which any
social organization develops and reproduces itself”. In a similar fashion, Hofstede
(1980) defines culture as “the collective programming of the mind which
distinguishes the members of one group from another”.
Identity deals with who we think we are, and provides the meaning to our lives.
Although culture and identity are intangible, they are both imperative
ideologies in education, playing significant roles in the school environment.
I attended an all girls’
school, where it was very multicultural. All of us came from different
backgrounds. Majority of us had different thoughts, morals, values, traditions
and religions. However, what I realized was that my grade was spilt into
groups, and most of it was based on our cultural background. We had groups known
as “the fobs”, “the Asians”, and “the lebs”. I think this is because we were
more comfortable spending more time with people who were more similar to us.
My school had
students from a variety of cultures, and due to this, my school made sure that
they maintained and promoted the importance of positive school culture, having
an aim to help students to achieve and grow in the school environment. For
example, the school café, an external influence on my identity in education in
my own experience. I worked in the school café with my friends, and as a
result, I was identified as being a part of the café group. Through the café, I
was able to not only connect to my peers, but also to all teachers in my
school. The students who were from other grades that I didn’t know, they knew
me as the girl who worked in the café. The café certainly influenced and
changed my identity as it developed the group that I classified with in high
school, and provided me with a sense of belonging.
Society is slowly
realizing the importance of culture in education. This is seen in the recent
article titled, “Schools should consider
Aboriginal culture”. The article states how research has shown that by
including Aboriginal culture in education, will allow Aboriginal students to
perform better “as they are focusing on
what they value”. Thus, culture and identity influences all aspects of
school for all staff and students.
Therefore, culture
and identity impacts the way children participate in education, how teachers
teach and how teachers interact with their students. As Wadham & Boyd
states, “Culture shapes education, and
education shapes culture”. This is reflected through my own experiences in
my high school experience, as discussed in this post.
References:
Phillips, A. (2006). What is culture? In Arneil, Barbara and Deveaux,
Monique and Dhamoon, Rita and Eisenberg, Avigail, (eds.) Sexual justice /
cultural justice. London, UK : Routledge, pp.
Hofstede, G.
(1980). Culture’s Consequences:
International Differences in Work related Values. London: Sage
Publications, pp. 21.
Wadham, B. Pudsey, J. & Boyd, R. (2007). Culture and education. Sydney:
Pearson Education. Chapter 1: What is culture?, pp. 6
News.ninemsn.com.au. (2013).
Schools should consider Aboriginal Culture. < http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2013/09/18/17/25/schools-should-consider-aboriginal-culture> - Accessed on
September 22, 2013.
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