New publication by Neila Miled – Educational leaders’ perceptions of multicultural education in teachers’ professional development

Miled, N. (2019). Educational leaders’ perceptions of multicultural education in teachers’ professional  development: a case study from a Canadian school district. Multicultural Education Review, 11(2), 79-95

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2005615X.2019.1615249

ABSTRACT

This Paper presents and discusses the findings of an empirical qualitative study that was conducted in one school district in British Columbia, Canada. The paper explores the perspectives of the educational leaders and their understanding of multicultural education and how they implement it in the school district’s teachers’ professional development (ProD) and in-service education. It discusses the theoretical frameworks that shape the participants’ choices and actions concerning how they educate and support teachers to handle the complexities of diversity and the changing demographics in the school district. The findings highlight the dominant liberal framework of multicultural education, the systemic barriers to move beyond the tokenistic approach of cultures and the organizational constraints to move towards transformative, critical multiculturalism and anti-racism education in teachers’ training and professional development. The paper proposes critical transformative multiculturalism as an alternative to transform teacher education and engage with educational reform from a social justice framework.