The Culturally Inclusive Educator: Preparing for a Multicultural World

by Dena R. Samuels

The Culturally Inclusive Educator asks educators to consider what they can do differently to create a welcoming, inclusive, and exciting environment for the 21st century. Based on the author’s national research and consulting work, this book examines the discrepancy between the current educational cultural climate and the need for educators and their institutions to prepare for a growing multicultural population. It asks what constitutes effective preparation, and provides guidance on overcoming personal and institutional challenges to cultural inclusiveness (stereotype threats, microaggressions, colorblindness/identity-blindness, implicit bias, among others). Samuels begins with the challenges facing the higher education community and then offers 8 transformative steps to help build cultural inclusiveness that any educator teaching any subject can utilize to increase their effectiveness. Culturally inclusive leadership is highlighted as the model for educators and institutions to embrace for success in today’s world. Book

176 pages, Paperback

First published September 19, 2014

Reviews

[Geoffrey Bateman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I consulted this book and read it to help me (and my fellow members of our university's Diversity Council) as we continue to re-imagine and strategize for the future of our diversity and inclusive excellence efforts. It's very readable (focused, short, and accessible) and provides both some strong summaries of key theories to frame this work and a number of useful and more practical ways to approach developing ourselves as faculty who want to promote transformative education for all our students, especially those who have come from historically underrepresented groups or face barriers in our educational settings.