The Benefits of Diversity and Inclusion in the Classroom
What is Diversity and Inclusion?
We’re hearing increasingly about the benefits of diversity and inclusion to workplaces these days – how it translates to significant increases in the bottom line, how it attracts top-level buy-in and helps reach a broader customer base, how it strengthens trust in company culture, promotes better decision making and drives better innovation. It’s all the rage. The idea of leveraging diversity and inclusion isn’t a new one, but as well as the workplace, it’s just as useful to apply it to the classroom.
So how can we think about the benefits of diversity and inclusion in the classroom? First, let’s consider what diversity and inclusion are really about.
Diversity refers to the differences in the makeup of a group, for example the mix of genders, racial backgrounds, nationalities, sexual orientations, etc.
Inclusion is a related and connected concept to diversity, which considers how well each of the various identity groups present are represented in the functioning of the group – are there equal levels of contribution, reward, presence and appreciation of perspectives for all identities, or are some favoured? Those which are favoured or represented more are considered to be privileged, while those which are under-represented are considered to be minorities.
Within the classroom, teachers can help to bring awareness of diversity and inclusion through the ways in which they guide class discussions and class content relating to people with identities of different kinds. They can also help the class to feel safe as a group, especially students who may fall into minority groups, and set examples through the behaviours they model. Some of the benefits of this, both in the short term and long term, are:
1. Providing the foundation for confidence in early adulthood and adulthood
When students are exposed to various aspects of the world from an early age in a safe way, they can learn about people who are different as well as similar to them in an open-minded way. Learning about people from different cultures, different religious backgrounds, different types of families and different ways of thinking helps them to foster a deeper sense of safety and self-confidence when they come across these people in tertiary education and the workplace.
2. Builds valuable soft skills such as empathy
Learning to relate to people in different ways, especially people who are different to us, helps foster empathy. Being able to consider the different circumstances and experiences that different groups of people experience helps students to become aware and appreciate some of the things they make take for granted. It may also help them to form stronger friendships, both at school and post-school.
3. Reduces prejudice and builds interpersonal skills
As students build empathy, they are able to reduce their prejudices consciously, allowing them to form closer relationships with their peers. These interpersonal skills are valuable not only to strengthen friendships, but will also be valuable skills which set them aside from others as they apply for jobs in the future.
4. Improves student achievement
As students develop an appreciation for people who are both similar and different to them in different ways, building empathy and interpersonal skills, they become better equipped with the skills needed to improve their school performance. They are able to perform better in groups, better manage interpersonal conflicts if they arise in the schoolyard, assisting in managing emotions more effectively.
5. Builds creativity
Being exposed to different ways of thinking and being in the world helps broaden student’s minds to appreciate the depth and breadth of the world. This equips them to be better able to come up with new ideas, see different perspectives and to be open-minded.
Teachers As Role Models
Given the suite of benefits for children, both now in the classroom and in their future workplaces, it makes sense to build an awareness and positive culture around diversity and inclusion in the classroom. Teachers are their students’ major role models, aside from parents, and so teachers are in a unique position to offer gentle questioning when situations where diversity and inclusion matters arise. These could come up as part of discussions around material being covered in class, around different peer groups and individuals within the class, for example. Sometimes the most impactful thing to do is to merely call attention to the fact that there are assumptions at play, and students often will respond positively to this increased awareness. Teachers can also weave curiosity about difference and diversity into class content, helping to guide students gently to an awareness of the depth and breadth of types of people in the world. You never know what sorts of academic or creativity benefits your students might come up with as a result!
For more information about Unconscious Bias and How to Challenge it in the Classroom, read here.
This article was originally written for SheMaps and published here.