As a measure of self-reflection and assessment , I utilized Harris’ (2013) Cultural Proficiency Receptivity Scale as, it has been used by myself in research and training to help facilitate excellence in leadership by exploring current knowledge and research issues related to diversity in cultural and societal patterns affecting the American educational system. These issues include but are not limited to socioeconomic, ethnicity, religion, literacy, gender, age, sexual orientation, geographic or regional, and special needs. As Harris ( 2013) explains, cultural proficiency is a deep, personal introspective work one undertakes before attempting to influence the behavior of others. “Multicultural competence is the process in which a person develops competencies in multiple ways of perceiving, evaluating, believing, and solving problems” (Ameny-Dixon, 2004, p. 5).
In reflection, this tool helped me realize that the leadership framework that I have been imploring is incomplete, in terms of understanding how my influences and interactions could better service a global intervention strategy, while maximizing the local and extended multicultural exchanges to do so. I understand the broader picture of racial and social economic issues and are aware of some of the nuances, but I have some difficulty translating this understanding into action. As a school leader, I look to the people around me for collaborative support. If I could take for one of my fellow colleagues, he always tells me to remember that we are in the “kid business”, and if that adage holds true, as educational leaders’ we must be cognoscente of the people we service. Like any good business, good customer support is essential. I fell that it is imperative that everyone in the community feels welcome to our school environment, at all times.
I have discovered throughout my experience growing in life and career that many of the misconceptions of others have fallen by the wayside, but the values and expectations that I have encountered through interactions with other cultures have grown me as a person. These key observations permeated and modeled many aspects of leadership style. I readily involve the ability to collaborate with others and the understanding that have an effective program; there must be communication with all stakeholders. Effective communication is the key. As educators with wide range of experiences with various kinds of people we have the responsibility to teach our students to be open and accepting of differences. But unfortunately that is sometimes easier said than done. I have found in these cultural exchanges, that it is not sufficient to rest on feelings of “being culturally diverse,” but in reality to truly be culturally proficient, it is a never ending evolution in the larger political, social, economic, and cultural context.
According to Banks and Banks (2013) “multicultural education incorporates the idea that all students—regardless of their gender; sexual orientation; social class; and ethnic, racial, or cultural characteristics—should have an equal opportunity to learn in school” (p. 3) I find that my bluntness, can create division, and I try to avoid it, but sometimes it happens. I have attended some professional development and feel that I turned a corner in this area. I know as an educational leader that I have a responsibility to provide an environment conducive to the different cultural experiences, learning modalities, and educational experiences that may be encountered thorough interactions with parents, community leaders, and the students to which we service. We should view multicultural environments as an opportunity to build up our toolbox to fit the ever growing needs of the students we service. Each experience a person has helps to shape their leadership style and can help expand, or even limit, their ability to lead an organization or a group. Gundling, Hogan and Cvitkovich (2011) advise, different cultures also learn in different ways. It is in observing how people deal with and react to conflicts that we see clear differences between cultures. Our perception will shape the perceptions of others and we should reflect on the message we are portraying. Ultimately, such an approach should help us as educators to understand and respect diverse students and to guide these students more effectively toward academic and personal success and fulfillment.
I fell that one can travel through he processes and identify the issue as driven by a global perspective in identifying the differences in multicultural learning modalities and consensus relationships building by closing the understanding gap through creating mutual exchanges and the creation of common social languages.
References
Ameny-Dixon, G.M. (2004). Why multicultural education is more important than higher education now than ever: A global perspective. International Journal of Scholarly Academic Intellectual Diversity, 8(1), 1-9.
Banks, J. A., & McGee Banks, C. A. (2013). Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives (8th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Gundling, E., Hogan, T., & Cvitkovich, K.(2011). What is global leadership?: 10 key behaviors that define great global leaders. Boston:Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
Harris, S. (2013). Conflicts in culture: Strategies to understand and resolve the issues. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.