Promoting Inclusivity and Diversity in Your Classroom
When a safe and inclusive classroom is created, more students are capable of achieving a higher level of learning and understanding, not to mention a smoother transition into later stages of education like college or graduate school. Promoting inclusivity and diversity in the classroom is the responsibility of the teachers and school administrators, since the success of their efforts relies solely on the success of their student body.
In this post, we explore why inclusivity is so important and how to facilitate an all-inclusive learning environment, and we’ll showcase an example of one school that demonstrated impeccable inclusivity and diversity within its classrooms.
Why Is Inclusivity Important?
Simply put, inclusivity is important because it promotes the education of all students equally, no matter their race, sex, religion, or any other factor. There are two main issues that arise when talking about inclusivity: a feeling of belonging and stereotype threat.
When students have a feeling of belonging within the classroom or in the educational institution as a whole, they’re less likely to struggle with coursework and campus life. Creating a sense of belonging helps students to integrate into the educational institution and aids them in achieving their educational goals.
Stereotype threat, on the other hand, is the fear of confirming a negative stereotype about one’s own in-group, especially when the student strongly identifies with that group. This can significantly impact the focus and performance of students and create other cognitive obstacles. Students from less privileged socioeconomic statuses, women in math and science classes, members of the LGBT community, and students of other backgrounds are at risk of suffering from stereotype threat.
By promoting inclusivity and diversity in the classroom, teachers can significantly lower the instances of these barriers to learning.
How to Promote Inclusivity in Your Classroom
With a little bit of planning, you can help to promote inclusivity and diversity in the classroom. The first step it to ensure that you include diverse ideas, content, and materials. Whenever you’re constructing a syllabus, be sure to include context and diverse resources to illustrate your lesson plan. It’s also important to be aware of any biases that you may have or any experiences that may shape your perspective or selection of materials.
Other ways to promote inclusivity in the classroom is to foster an inclusive environment. Encourage students to contribute and set clear expectations for how you’d like students to interact with each other so as to keep a certain level of respect and fairness. As the educational facilitator, it’s important that you show respect for all comments and questions and provide an atmosphere where students feel safe to contribute.
Celebrating Schools That Practice Inclusivity and Diversity
Scranton Products recently held a national competition where schools were encouraged to create videos about inclusivity and diversity. The winning school, Williamsburg Christian Academy, was awarded $50,000 in Duralife Lockers and $7,500 in scholarships as the first place prize.
Serving students in grades K-12, Williamsburg Christian Academy demonstrated a wide variety of inclusivity, which takes place in many aspects of school life. Students and faculty worked together to create the winning video, which was selected during a public voting round into the TOP 100 videos. The video was then chosen by a panel of judges for the first place prize.
