JAASEP SPRING/SUMMER 2008 Part 5 of 11
All series
- ADHD Series
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- Special Education: What Do the Latest Numbers Tell Us?
- Special Educator e-Journal – Latest and Archived Issues
- The Practical Teacher
- Treatment and Support for IEP Students with Disabilities
- Working with Paraprofessionals in Your School
The United States is experiencing demographic shifts in epic proportions as increasing numbers of culturally and linguistically diverse students are entering the public schools at rapid rates. This richness in America‘s K-12 public schools is readily seen in its student population, but it is not visible in the teaching force which continues to be 90.7 percent European American (Branch, 2001). This disparity among teachers and students poses ethical and moral dilemmas in that for many culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students their whole K-12 schooling can be experienced without ever being taught by an ethnic minority teacher (Duarete, 2000).
As it is, differences between the diversity of teachers and students are unlikely to be mitigated without intervention at the federal, state, or local level. As a matter of fact, the problem is only expected to get worse due the national shortages of teachers, especially in the area of special education. Of concern to us is whether or not America‘s teaching force will be culturally competent to handle the diversity to be found in the K-12 student population (Tyler and Smith, 2000), particularly those students in need of special education services.
Abstract
All teachers play a pivotal role, if not the most important role, in the success or failure of culturally and linguistically diverse children, but most importantly in the field of special education as overrepresentation of these children continues to grow. We believe that those teachers who are aware of their own ethnic identity are better prepared to work with children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Consequently, it is our contention that the knowing of one’s ethnic identity is an ethical issue for special education teachers as they attempt to understand the lives of those children who differ from themselves. This paper explores the notion of cultural and ethnic identity and its relationship to the special education teacher.