Transforming Lives and Systems: Cultural Competence and the Higher Education Interface

98 Pages·2020·2.127 MB·English

by  Jack Frawley, Tran Nguyen, Emma Sarian

SPRINGER BRIEFS IN EDUCATION
Jack Frawley
Tran Nguyen
Emma Sarian Editors
Transforming Lives
and Systems
Cultural Competence
and the Higher
Education Interface
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Jack Frawley Tran Nguyen Emma Sarian
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Editors
Transforming Lives
and Systems
Cultural Competence and the Higher
Education Interface
123
Editors
JackFrawley Tran Nguyen
National Centre for Cultural Competence National Centre for Cultural Competence
TheUniversity of Sydney TheUniversity of Sydney
Sydney,NSW,Australia Sydney,NSW,Australia
EmmaSarian
National Centre for Cultural Competence
TheUniversity of Sydney
Sydney,NSW,Australia
ISSN 2211-1921 ISSN 2211-193X (electronic)
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Acknowledgements
The editors and authors acknowledge and pay respect to the traditional custodians
of the lands where Australian universities now stand, and the contribution they
make to higher education. The editors wish to thank the many contributors to this
book,includingtheauthorsandpeer-reviewers,thestaffoftheNationalCentrefor
Cultural Competence.
v
Contents
1 The National Centre for Cultural Competence: Transformative
Journeys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Jack Frawley, Tran Nguyen, and Emma Sarian
2 Creating Effective Cultural Competence Workshops
for Australian Higher Education Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Amy McHugh-Cole, Rachael Simons, and Gabrielle Russell
3 Methodology for Evaluating the University of Sydney’s
Culturally Competent Leadership Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Alessandra Pecci, Jack Frawley, and Tran Nguyen
4 Deconstructing and Embedding Cultural Competence in Initial
Teacher Education: Responding to University Graduate
Qualities for Undergraduate Students. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Sheelagh Daniels-Mayes
5 NavigatingtheCulturalInterfacetoDevelopaModelforDentistry
Education: Cultural Competence Curricula in Dentistry
Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Cathryn Forsyth, Stephanie D. Short, Michelle Irving, Marc Tennant,
and John Gilroy
6 Fostering Diversity Competence in the Veterinary Curriculum . . . . 63
Jaime Gongora, Meg Vost, Sanaa Zaki, Stewart Sutherland,
and Rosanne Taylor
7 Progressing STEM Education Using Adaptive, Responsive
Techniques to Support and Motivate Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Collin Grant Phillips and Fu Ken Ly
vii
Chapter 1
The National Centre for Cultural
Competence: Transformative Journeys
JackFrawley,TranNguyen,andEmmaSarian
Abstract The University of Sydney’s National Centre for Cultural Competence
(NCCC)hostsprofessionaldevelopmentprogrammesforprofessionalstaffandaca-
demicstobeabletoactively,ethically,respectfullyandsuccessfullyengageininter-
culturalsettings,includingtheabilitytoengagemeaningfullywithcultures,histories
and contemporary issues of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. In
addition, several resources and online modules have been developed for students.
TheseprogrammesandresourcessupportstaffandstudentsfromacrosstheUniver-
sitytodeveloptheircapability,capacityandresilienceforculturalcompetenceand
help deepen connections between leadership, cultural competence and Aboriginal
andTorresStraitIslandercontexts.Itissuggestedinthischapterthattransformative
learningisbestsuitedtoculturalcompetenceeducation.
· ·
Keywords Culturalcompetence Transformativelearning Culturalchange
Introduction
IntheplanningphaseforestablishmentoftheNationalCentreforCulturalCompe-
tence(NCCC)itwasforeseenthatitwouldbethefirstknowledgecentreinAustralia
specificallyestablishedtofosterscholarshipandresearchinandtranslationofcultural
competence.Overthesixyearsofthefundingperiod,theNCCCwouldevolveintoa
nationallyandinternationallyrecognisedleaderinthedevelopmentofculturalcom-
petenceknowledgeandpractice.TheprogrammesandactivitiesoftheNCCCwould
align with and be informed by the University of Sydney’s Wingara Mura—Bunga
BarrabuguAboriginalandTorresStraitIslanderIntegratedStrategy(Universityof
Sydney,2012).TheWingaraMurastrategysetsoutawhole-of-universityapproach
to the development and integration of Indigenous cultures, pedagogies and episte-
mologieswithintheUniversity,includingtheestablishmentofculturalcompetence
asagraduatequality.
B
J.Frawley( )·T.Nguyen·E.Sarian
NationalCentreforCulturalCompetence,TheUniversityofSydney,Sydney,NSW,Australia
e-mail:[email protected]
©TheAuthor(s)2020 1
J.Frawleyetal.(eds.),TransformingLivesandSystems,
SpringerBriefsinEducation,https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5351-6_1
2 J.Frawleyetal.
ThestrategicvisionoftheNCCCwasnotonlythatitwouldinform,shapeand
promoteculturalcompetencenarratives,actionandcapabilitytotheuniversitycom-
munityatthefirstinstance,butalsowidenitsreachbothnationallyandinternation-
ally.Whileinitiallyfocusedon,andbuiltonanAustralianIndigenousfoundation,the
NCCCwouldincreaseitsrelevancetootherdiversecommunities,especiallywithin
theUniversityofSydneycontext,andcontributetothedevelopmentoftheuniversity
asculturallycompetentandindoingsocontributetotheprofessionaldevelopment
ofitsstaffandtheacademicsuccessofitsstudents.
Culturalcompetencehasbeendescribedasanevasiveconcepttodefine,andthat
theemphasisinsteadshouldbeonviewingtheconceptasatransformativejourney.
Theinterdisciplinaryfieldisalsoscatteredwithotherinterrelatedconceptssuchas
cultural humility, cultural responsiveness, cultural plasticity, intercultural compe-
tenceandmulticulturalcompetence.Evenso,itisthedefinitionofculturalcompe-
tencebyCrossetal.(1989)thathasthemosttraction.Crossetal.(1989,p.iv)define
cultural competence as ‘a set of congruent behaviours, attitudes, and policies that
cometogetherinasystem,agency,oramongprofessionalsandenablesthatsystem,
agency,orthoseprofessionalstoworkeffectivelyincross-culturalsituations’.Cross
et al. (1989) emphasise that a culturally competent system should value diversity
and have the capacity for individuals and systems to be able to undertake cultural
self-assessment.TheUniversityofSydney’s2016–2020strategyviewsculturalcom-
petenceasakeyqualityinaddressingexcellenceaswellasadiscretegraduatequality,
thatisembeddedasalearningoutcomeineverydegree.TheNCCC,whilestillin
itsearlystages,hasbeeninstrumentalinsupportingawhole-of-universityapproach
tothestrategicplan,policiesandprogrammesthatassistacademicandprofessional
staffandstudentstonavigatetheirjourneythroughaculturalcompetencelandscape,
andthesetransformativejourneysincludingperspectivesonpracticeandprojectsare
describedinthisvolume.
TheCulturalCompetenceandHigherEducationInterface:
TheNationalCentreforCulturalCompetenceFoundational
Work
Culturalcompetencehasincreasinglybeenviewedasanecessaryresponsetogrow-
ingdiversityinhighereducationinAustraliaandothercountries.Specifically,cul-
turalcompetence isconsideredasoneoftheimportanttoolsthathighereducation
institutions can use to respond to globalisation (Palmer & Carter, 2014). It is also
a channel through which the academy expresses its voice for social justice (Sher-
wood & Russell-Mundine, 2017; Kruse, Rakha, & Calderone, 2018). In parallel
with developing students’ cultural competence (Goodman, 2013), there have also
beensimilarcallstoprogrammesandinitiativespromotingculturalcompetencefor
staff.Somekeyaimsofthisnovelprofessionaldevelopmentapproacharetoenable
1 TheNationalCentreforCulturalCompetence… 3
staffinhighereducationtoadaptwelltothediversifyingworkforce,toworkeffec-
tivelywithdiversepopulationsandbeingresponsibleforteachinginsuchawaythat
demonstratesacommitmenttotheprincipleofrespectforall(Brown,2004).
Cultural change in higher education, as Kruse and colleagues (2018) have
acknowledged, is neither easy nor certain. The authors observe that it is not that
highereducationinstitutionshavenotstrivedtoenablestaffandstudentstobecome
culturallycompetent,butthattheyhaveperformedthisinuncoordinatedandunsys-
tematicways.SherwoodandRussell-Mundine(2017)whendiscussingtheNCCC’s
effort of promoting cultural competence within the University of Sydney context
also recognise that one of the greatest challenges for the Centre is to be strategic
aboutwhereitshouldfocusitsefforts.Furthermore,itisimportantforeachhigher
educationinstitutiontodeterminethedesiredoutcomesofculturalcompetencethat
itaimstoachieve,eithercognitive,attributional,experientialand/orbehaviouralat
bothindividualandinstitutionallevel,thelatterwithafocusonpolicyandpractice
(Bezrukova,Jehn,&Spell,2012).
There have also been significant barriers and challenges to the development of
culturalcompetenceatthehighereducationinterface.Forexample,peoplewithlong-
heldbeliefsmayresistastrongbehaviouralchange-orientedprogrammefocusedon
understandingspecificareasofdifference(Bezrukovaetal.,2012).Staffmayalso
raise significant questions about what cultural competence actually means, why it
is important, what intercultural skills and knowledge should students acquire in
a globalised world and what roles academics and institutions play in mentoring
studentsindevelopingculturalcompetence(Pinto,2018).Additionally,thedominant
neo-liberalistenvironmentinhighereducationtodaycanhinderthedevelopmentof
a cultural competence agenda when this project may have to compete with other
agendasandgoals(Kruseetal.,2018).
Reviewingthecurrentliterature,Kruseandcolleagues(2018)identifysixcondi-
tionsthattheycontendarenecessarytosupportstrongculturalcompetenceagendas
inhighereducation.Theseconditionsinclude:
1. Timetomeet,learnandprocessnewlearning—withthefocusonallowingstaff
to have the opportunity to interact and work with people, as well as on staff’s
knowledgedevelopment;
2. Time to monitor, evaluate and refine processes and practices across the
campus—thiswillenablehighereducationinstitutionstoevaluatetheirprogress
inachievingthedesiredoutcomesofculturalcompetence;
3. Communicationstructuresthatsupporttheworkofculturalcompetence—those
structurescanincludedifferentforms,forexample,bothface-to-faceoronline
communication that foster the exchange of ideas, discussion and networking
withinandacrosstheinstitution;
4. A climate of trust and openness to improvement and learning—with trust
expressedinvariousformssuchasinstitutionmembers’willingnesstoparticipate
ineventsanddialogue;