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Impacts of Religion, Socioeconomic Status, Gender, Ethnicity, Culture, Etc. on a Child's Development 

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Impacts of Religion, Socioeconomic Status, Gender, Ethnicity, Culture, Etc. on a Child's Development 

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Not all children grow up having the same experiences. Not every child is free from financial burdens, racial prejudices, or sexist hierarchies. Understanding how these things can influence a child's growth can prepare educators to create a safe, inclusive, and productive classroom environment.

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The foundation for cultural competence are found in these four categories. 

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The foundation for cultural competence are found in these four categories. 

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Attitude: Valuing Diversity- Open and accepting towards cultural differences. Recognizing the value cultural differences and diversity brings to an educational setting.

Skills: Adapting and Managing Differences- Adapting to cultural needs. Having the ability to recognize, understand, and navigate various cultural perspectives, while respecting individual differences and avoiding biases.

Knowledge: Developing Knowledge- Openness to ask questions and expand view of different cultures.

Awareness: Self-Assessments- Challenging one's own biases and perspective on culture.

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Having implicit biases as a teacher may take away opportunities for students to grow. If a teacher has a prejudice they don't realize they have, they could subconsciously pay less attention to some of their students. These students might get overlooked, and the teacher may minimize their problems.

A student who may be on the receiving end of behavior like this may feel left out, insecure, or overwhelmed from possibly falling behind due to not getting the proper guidance they need from their teacher. It could also affect their relationships with their peers if the teacher does not promote diversity or create a space for collaboration between students.

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This article from Maryville University describes the effects of a child's environment and upbringing on their development. 

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This article from Maryville University describes the effects of a child's environment and upbringing on their development. 

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Key Takeaways

exclusivity affects a child's self-esteem

social behavior and relationship-building skills are dependent on learned cultural norms

childrens' cultural influences at birth are neutral and develop only through increased socialization

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Cultural background gives children a sense of who they are. The unique cultural influences children respond to from birth, including customs and beliefs around food, artistic expression, language, and religion, affect the way they develop emotionally, socially, physically, and linguistically.

When a child's self-identity is at odds with the social environment due to cultural differences, it can hinder learning. Fortunately, culturally competent educators help children of all cultural backgrounds learn by showing an understanding and acceptance of diverse cultures and how they make each child uniquely valuable.

Because culture is such a powerful indicator of a child's future well-being, those who work with children, including social workers, counselors, and specialists, need to understand the cultural influences on child development and how they impact the way people grow and learn. A degree such as Maryville University's online Bachelor of Arts in Human Development and Family Studies can prepare future professionals for success in these roles, providing them with the background and experience they need to support children and families with their services.

The Importance of Childhood Development

Early childhood is a key period of mental and emotional growth, and what children perceive and experience can shape their future: Our childhood environments and how we respond to them can predict the course for our health and well-being as adults. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports, "Although the brain continues to develop and change into adulthood, the first eight years can build a foundation for future learning, health, and life success. ... How the brain grows is strongly affected by the child's experiences with other people and the world."

To understand the environment's impact on a developing child, let's look at the three main ways children process the information around them as they grow.

Classical conditioning. Drawing associations between a stimulus and response. For example, children in religious families might associate bedtime with prayers.

Operant conditioning. Drawing associations between a reward and an action. For example, children might receive dessert after eating their vegetables.

Observational learning. Absorbing and copying what they see from others in real life or in the media. For example, a child might say, "Time to clean up" because a teacher says it in school.

Children learn, therefore, by observing and making associations about their surroundings. Exposure to positive influences can favorably impact a child's development, while exposure to toxic or stressful influences can negatively impact development.

All else being equal, a child's cultural influences at birth are neutral. All too often, however, some elements of cultural background may not be accepted or understood by the society in which a child grows up - potentially harming a child's self-image and development.

In other words, the social cues a young child takes in from others about cultural background can help or hamper development because developing children readily internalize what they see and hear. When a young child's cultural background differs from the prevailing culture - for example, the child's family might speak a different language at home, eat different foods, or observe different holidays - it can affect self-image. This is especially the case if peers or even teachers treat the child in a way that reveals bias or casts the child in the role of an outsider.

According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), childhood exposure to dominant social biases - such as favoring people who are white, Christian, heterosexual, able-bodied, thin, wealthy, fluent in English, natives rather than immigrants - can trigger developing children to judge themselves unfavorably by the same limiting standards. When children do that, their development suffers.

Recognizing Cultural Influences on Child Development

Culture influences development from the moment we're born, making an impact on us as we grow. For instance, culture can affect how children build values, language, belief systems, and an understanding of themselves as individuals and as members of society.

Children can receive these cultural influences in different ways, such as through their parents, their environment, and the media. How society shows an understanding of diverse cultures can impact a child's development in many ways, such as how confident in themselves or how comfortable interacting with others they become as adults.

Parental Influences on Child Development

Parents' culture can influence their children's development. A 2019 study, for example, found that cultural values often influence the way parents raise their children, including how they discipline and set boundaries. It makes sense that parents raise their children based on cultural influences because they're preparing them to develop behaviors necessary to operate and thrive in that culture. However, when the social environment and home culture clash, developmental issues can arise.

Collectivist vs. Individualistic Cultures and Parental Discipline

Parents' cultural influences can impact how they discipline a child's behavior. This, in turn, can affect a child's development, particularly if those methods of discipline differ from the dominant cultural tradition.

Before delving into the methods of discipline and culture, what do the terms "collectivist" and "individualistic" mean exactly? Essentially, a collectivist culture values and rewards the prioritization of community needs over individual needs, as well as generous, kind, collaborative behavior. Collectivism is the norm in Asian, Central American, South American, and African cultures.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, an individualistic culture values and rewards assertiveness and independent action, stressing the importance of the individual over the group. Individualism dominates in North American and Western European cultures.

The 2019 study cited earlier found that parents from individualistic cultures discipline differently from parents from collectivist cultures. The former group of parents might discipline their children by taking something away that matters to them personally. On the other hand, parents from collectivist cultures might tell their children to think about how their behavior affects others.

The study found that children raised in individualistic cultures often described themselves based on their unique attributes, such as "I am good at math." Meanwhile, children raised in collectivist cultures were more likely to describe themselves based on their relationships with others, such as "I am my mother's daughter."

Child development can be influenced if parents or teachers discipline children according to the dominant culture - the U.S. has an individualistic culture - rather than the culture of their family of origin. For example, children whose parents have disciplined them to value cooperation over competition might become confused or upset when a teacher urges them to be competitive.
Parental Influences on Children's Social Behavior Varies by Culture
Children learn how to act by interacting with their parents. For this reason, the parents' cultural background often influences a child's behavior.

Communication style is a case in point. Children tend to communicate in a style that resembles their parents' way of communicating, and diverse cultures converse and explain things in different ways.

Children who communicate based on an individualistic cultural model will often tell long, self-focused stories with themes of autonomy and personal preference. Conversely, children who communicate based on a collectivist cultural model will often tell brief, other-oriented stories with themes of authority and interrelationships.

These cultural influences on children's language development can help or hinder them on the playground, and later in the workplace. If children's culture is respected at school, including the way the children interact verbally with others, then they'll be more likely to experience the acceptance and respect they need to grow and develop. They're more likely to become adults with a healthy self-image who feel understood and capable of confident, fruitful interactions. If not, however, they may become adults who hesitate to raise their voices and be heard for fear of being ridiculed or misunderstood.

Environmental Influences on Child Development

Environmental influences on child development can include influences from community and culture as well as from environmental health hazards. Pollution from a nearby power plant, contaminated water, or lead in the home, for example, can cause lasting impacts on children's health. As the CDC reports, environmental contaminants can cause greater harm to children than to adults because children's bodies are still developing.

In fact, children take in more air, water, and food per pound of body weight, making them more vulnerable to health issues from environmental hazards. The health issues might not show up until later in life, causing difficulty in school, work, and socialization. A child exposed to polluted air, for example, might develop asthma as a teenager.

Children of low-income communities are most likely to be at risk of exposure to environmental hazards. As the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) reports, low-income communities may have poor infrastructure, making them more vulnerable to the effects of natural disasters, such as contaminated water and damaged drainage systems. They may also be located closer to factories and highways, both of which contribute to high levels of pollution in the air, soil, and water.

Media Influences on Child Development

Media influences on childhood development include movies, TV shows, video games, and other online content. Research that the American Psychological Association (APA) has shared shows that children's exposure to violent media can result in aggressive behavior; exposure to advertising for non-nutritious foods can increase rates of childhood obesity; and too much screen time can be linked to lower brain development in preschoolers.

A study from the Cognitive Impacts of Digital Media Workgroup found that children begin to learn from TV programs at around 2.5 years old. Educational programs, such as "Sesame Street," can positively influence their knowledge and social skills, preparing them for school. However, after they turn 6 years old, children begin to watch more entertainment programming, which can, in turn, influence their behavior negatively. In addition, while video games can help children develop visual processing skills, they can also yield aggressive behavior. The effects on cognitive skills and behaviors are often specific to the games played.

As a result of these findings, the study suggests that clinicians and early childhood service providers should work with parents to limit TV exposure before children turn 2 years old. As children begin to learn how to read, clinicians and service providers should advise parents to regulate children's media consumption - with a focus on providing educational media content - and encourage reading habits.

The connection with cultural background is clear: Diverse cultures have different attitudes toward TV and other entertainment media, as well as different abilities to afford access to such media. A child from a collectivist culture, for example, may be encouraged to help infant or elderly family members in lieu of watching educational TV after school. Indirectly, culture influences these children's ability to benefit from such experiences.

In addition, to take the example further, children whose culture discourages educational TV and other media may be ridiculed by school peers for missing out on popular pastimes other children engage in.

Another way that media in popular culture can influence child development is by depicting and perpetuating cultural stereotypes. For example, a movie might show women or minorities in a negative light, or not at all. A sitcom might feature only white characters, never those of diverse races or ethnicities.

Clearly, the absence of role models in entertainment media, or the presence of negative stereotypes, can affect children's self-esteem. This can cause media to become a negative cultural influence on a child's development.

A Crucial Understanding of Childhood Development

Educators, parents, caregivers, and social workers need to understand how children's cultural influences affect their development. With this knowledge, adults can better guide students of different cultures and backgrounds through their growth processes and ensure that they're being exposed to healthy influences. They can also provide them with the tools they need to cope with negative influences, such as cultural biases and prejudices against diverse cultures, in schools and in society at large.

According to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP), for example, early childhood programs can foster children's development - physically, mentally, and socially. Consider the Head Start program, which provides children from low-income families with services to promote their educational and emotional growth. Children who participated in programs such as Head Start grew up healthier and engaged in less harmful activities, such as drinking and smoking, than those who didn't.

Educators and social workers need to be aware of their own implicit biases about cultural differences. As the NAEYC reported, teachers can exhibit biases in their treatment of children according to the child's race, ability, socioeconomic status, and behaviors. The biases can inhibit teachers from effectively helping these students and, therefore, prevent students from developing at the pace that's best for them. By understanding the cultural influences on child development, including their own cultural biases, professionals in these roles can better make an impact on children's lives and deliver the care they need.

Careers That Incorporate Cultural Influences on Child Development

An understanding of cultural influences on child development is important for professionals in a range of roles.

Child Life Specialist

A child life specialist is clinically trained to help families work through the developmental impact of serious injury or illness. For example, a child life specialist might work with families to help children cope with illness or stress in a hospital setting. This work includes identifying stressors, encouraging self-expression, and ensuring that children can make their voices heard in often overwhelming situations.

Understanding how the healthcare system approaches cultural diversity helps child life specialists assist families from various cultural backgrounds. Further, a child life specialist understands that the trauma of illness or injury looms large in child development and thus seeks to mitigate the impact, while taking into account each child's cultural background.

Mental Health Counselor

Mental health counselors treat people for issues such as behavioral disorders, substance abuse, anxiety, depression, and stress. They might work in a range of settings, including individual and family services, community care centers, and government facilities. Mental health counselors can train to work specifically with children and families, helping them work through mental health issues, access necessary resources, and navigate treatment plans.

By understanding cultural influences on child development, mental health counselors can more effectively help children and families get to the root of their issues and work through them.

Community Health Worker

Community health workers help individuals and groups access healthcare information, resources, and services. For example, if a community is exposed to an environmental hazard, community health workers might connect people with screenings for lung cancer or asthma. Another example is if an impoverished community has difficulty accessing food, community health workers might connect the community to local services, such as food banks. These professionals also advocate on behalf of vulnerable communities, providing local government representatives, healthcare providers, and health educators with data about people's health status and needs.

Community health workers learn about the factors that influence child development to help families access the healthcare resources they need. They also understand the influence of culture on how families and communities seek aid and respond to stress in crises.

Child Care Center Director

Child care center directors build and manage programs for before- and after-school care, including educational programs, and social activities. Directors also hire and train staff to run these programs and work with children. With an understanding of cultural influences on child development, child care center directors can be prepared to support children outside their home, resolve issues when they arise, and provide working families with the extra help they need in supervising their children.

Social Worker

Social workers assist individuals and families on a case-by-case basis, helping them navigate stressful situations, such as unemployment, illness, and substance abuse. On top of providing these services, clinical social workers are licensed to diagnose clients with mental health issues and intervene in emergencies, such as child abuse. Social workers understand how cultural influences can impact behavior and development.

Social workers can also train in specialty areas, including the following:

Child and family social work
Example: Guiding children through the adoption process or the foster system, or locating community child care services

School social work
Example: Helping students with behavioral issues find a therapist

Mental health social work
Example: Connecting children who have anxiety or depression with a psychiatrist or support group

Healthcare social work
Example: Supporting children through a diagnosis and hospital visits

All social workers are trained to be aware of the factors that influence people's behavior, including their childhood development and how their culture may be influencing it. If a child is acting out at school, for example, a social worker considers how cultural influences at home might affect the child's acceptance by peers at school or how the child responds to challenging school demands, such as competition or collaboration.

Make an Impact in Childhood Development

Maryville's online Bachelor of Arts in Human Development and Family Studies program offers students the knowledge and skills they need to work with families and children in different stages of their lives. Through the program's comprehensive curriculum, students explore the human experience and how individuals develop in their societies and interpersonal relationships. They also gain real-world experience through fieldwork, research projects, and service-learning opportunities in a range of settings where they can begin making an impact in their roles.

If you're interested in learning more about cultural influences on child development - including parental, environmental, and media influences on child development - exploring Maryville's online Bachelor of Arts in Human Development and Family Studies can help you pursue your professional goals.
Recommended Reading Early Childhood Education vs. Childhood Development Nature vs. Nurture Child Development: Exploring Key Differences How to Become a Child Life Specialist Sources American Psychological Association, Kids & the Media Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Child Development Basics Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Children's Environmental Health Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Early Brain Development and Health National Association for the Education of Young Children, The Social-Cultural Context of Child Development and Learning National Environmental Health Association, Children's Environmental Health Equity Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Early Childhood Development and Education Pediatrics The Conversation, "How Culture Influences Children's Development" The Urban Child Institute, What Do We Know About Social and Emotional Development in Early Childhood? The Washington Post Verywell Mind, "Experience and Development" Verywell Mind, "Individualistic Cultures and Behavior" Verywell Mind, "Understanding Collectivist Cultures" U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Health Educators and Community Health Workers U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Preschool and Childcare Center Directors U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Social Workers U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Child Life Specialist" Wiley Online Library, "Environmental Influences on Health and Development: Nutrition, Substance Exposure, and Adverse Childhood Experiences" , "How Different Cultures Shape Children's Personalities in Different Ways" , Digital Screen Media and Cognitive Development

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Cultural Influences on Child Development | Maryville Online

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Explore cultural influences on child development, and learn how educators, parents, and social workers can use this information to improve services and care.

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Implicit biases by the American Psychological Association: "Implicit bias, also known as implicit prejudice or implicit attitude, is a negative attitude, of which one is not consciously aware, against a specific social group."

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Implicit bias, also known as implicit prejudice or implicit attitude, is a negative attitude, of which one is not consciously aware, against a specific social group.

Implicit bias is thought to be shaped by experience and based on learned associations between particular qualities and social categories, including race and/or gender. Individuals' perceptions and behaviors can be influenced by the implicit biases they hold, even if they are unaware they hold such biases. Implicit bias is an aspect of implicit social cognition: the phenomenon that perceptions, attitudes, and stereotypes can operate prior to conscious intention or endorsement.

Adapted from the APA Dictionary of Psychology and Wikipedia

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Implicit bias, also known as implicit prejudice or implicit attitude, is a negative attitude, of which one is not consciously aware, against a specific social group.

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Implicit biases are biases one may hold subconsciously or internally. These thoughts or beliefs can influence and manifest into outward actions.

On the other hand, explicit biases are biases held knowingly and can be admitted. They typically lead to more direct acts of prejudice, such as discrimination and hate speech.

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Cultural competence by the American Psychology Association: "The ability to understand, appreciate and interact with people from cultures or belief systems different from one's own."

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Researchers study scientific approaches to treat people of diverse cultures.

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Urie Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory can be a helpful tool for understanding the environmental impacts on a child's development. He proposes that development is influenced by interconnected factors starting as close as one's immediate family to societal structures such as culture.

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This video highlights the impact of financial status on a child's brain. A study found that children from higher-income families often had healthier brain development, whereas children from low-income families showed delayed brain development. Higher-income families can afford stimulating toys, enrollment in social or educational programs, and diverse experiences that strengthen the brain, allowing them to provide more opportunities for cognitive development. Brain development can certainly impact education and a child's performance in school. A child of more advantage will be better prepared for learning.

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Article by Harvard on Race, SES, and Child Development

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Article by Harvard on Race, SES, and Child Development

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This article highlights some of the ways racial issues influence a child. Prejudice, racism, and discrimination all cause immense stressors to a family of color. It is known that outside stressors affect a child's performance in school. The article also provides insight into the intersections between race, socioeconomic status, and health. People of color, specifically black populations, show a higher likelihood of health problems, chronic illness, and poverty. Typically disadvantaged families are not only dealing with one issue but a combination of issues that will affect a child's overall health, development, confidence, learning capability, and social skills.

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Key Takeaways

Disparities in the education field still exist and show that minority groups are not afforded the same opportunities or treatment as predominately white student bodies.

Culturally responsive teaching also includes different modes of learning for those with disabilities.

Group collaboration is an important tool.

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American childcare staff and teachers must become more sensitive to the diverse cultures of the children they teach. This begins from the very beginning where children's early education provides the foundation for education. Even here, an supports linguistic and cultural differences. Embracing and affirming a student's diversity helps avoid cultural gaps that exist between children/parents and their educators. By creating a more inclusive learning environment, teachers expand their responsibility to optimize learning for every student. Because family and cultural differences can greatly influence the learning environment, teachers must take steps to contribute to academic success with consideration for those cultural differences.

Overcoming Cultural Gaps

Cultural gaps between parents and educators can affect academic outcomes. To help overcome these challenges teachers can address a number of key cultural pain points:

Disparities

There are many disparities in education including:

Achievement: Teachers are 54 percent less likely to recommend black students for gifted-education programs than white students, unless the teachers were not white.

Funding: According to one report, white school districts received $23 billion more in state and local funding in 2016 than predominantly nonwhite school districts. This is despite the schools having the same number of students.

Readiness: Many teachers avoid being overly critical of black students in fear they might appear racist. However, this greatly interferes with a child's readiness to pursue their academic goals.

Assessing students on achievements without bias can overcome such disparities. As well, government at all levels must reassess funding to ensure equal disbursement of funding across all publicly funded institutions.

Holidays and Religious Traditions

There is one thing all families have in common: They share holiday and religious traditions in their own way. Because of this commonality, educators and childcare staff can look for ways to celebrate the aspect of tradition instead of focusing on one particular holiday or religion. For example, during the holiday season, look for teaching opportunities with some clear learning objectives. Since peace, joy, community, and giving are common elements to religious beliefs, how can you introduce an understanding of the importance of these shared beliefs?

Can you reach out to the community collectively with a food drive? Can students visit local nursing homes to offer holiday cheer? Can you assign a project for children to create a holiday greeting card to reflect their own religion and traditions? By doing so you teach students to respect themselves, while also showing classmates they must respect and accept the traditions of others. This encourages important educational opportunities such as cooperative learning and student-centered instruction where students share experiences to learn from each other. Projects that allow students to explore the relevance of their own culture provides a learning experience for students to learn about each other's cultures.

Racial and/or Ethnic Stereotypes

Society unfortunately still projects racial and ethnic stereotypes that influence both teachers and students. This threatens to undermine teaching objectives focused on removing these stereotypes. However, efforts to remove them from the classroom help teachers and childcare staff avoid even hints of stereotypical dialogue-based not only on race and religions, but also on gender, learning difference, and sexual orientation. Teachers can use several strategies to overcome stereotypes in the classroom:

Acknowledge Your Biases: All of us have both known and unknown biases due to our upbringing and culture. First look at your own biases and strive to remove them when you enter the classroom. It's better to be hyper-sensitive to potential biases than downplay them.

Create a Diverse, Inclusive Environment: Children and parents are sensitive to the learning environment. All classroom decorations and messaging must remain culturally diverse to avoid subliminal preferences that could be offensive or present stereotypes of any kind. Asking students to contribute to these classroom elements helps keep diversity a priority while being respectful and accurate in cultural depictions.

Offer Diverse Readings and Lessons: Typical stories and curriculums can lack diversity. Try to include diverse experiences looking at other cultural heroes of note to improve pride and confidence in cultural achievements. Offering many perspectives allows students to understand diversity and that achievements are possible for all cultures. It also teaches empathy and tolerance.

Welcome Different Perspectives: Encourage discussions where students can share their individual views. Support hearing from others and show students it is safe to voice opinions that differ from the majority in the room.

Embracing culturally responsive education goes beyond simply addressing cultural aspects of the learning environment. Diversity exists in modes of learning and the way each student responds to different teaching methods. Educators and childcare staff must use a mixed learning approach to appeal to all modes of learning including:

Introducing new modes of learning ensures all student learning styles have equal opportunity to succeed such as:

Auditory and musical learners

Visual and spatial learners

Verbal learners

Logical and mathematical learners

Physical or kinesthetic learners

Social and interpersonal learners

Solitary and intrapersonal learners

The Role Of Group Collaboration

There are many benefits to collaborative learning including:

Higher thinking levels

Improvements in oral communication, self-management, and leadership

Increase in student/educator interaction

Improved retention

Student self-esteem

Increased sense of responsibility

Exposure to diverse perspectives

Increased empathy and tolerance for diversity

Preparedness for realistic social and employment interactions

The Function Of Non-Verbal Behavior

One study found the use of verbal and non-verbal communication in education was more effective in assisting students in their academic progress. It is equally important for teachers and childcare staff to pay attention to a student's non-verbal behavior to better assess their comfort level in certain situations as well as their apparent understanding of lessons. Teachers can use body language and voice levels to signal class is about to start, behavior is unacceptable or to accentuate certain points. Imagery also provides more impact on student learning, and diversity is important when showing images of people in instructional posters.

To promote cultural infusion childcare staff should:

Be aware of the learning characteristics of the child

Learn to embrace children's cultural characteristics

Become flexible to alter teaching practices in the learning environment

Develop group-oriented learning environments

Celebrate diversity

Use uniform standards but avoid standardization

Diversity is found in the classroom not only in the students and their families but in the childcare staff and educators as well. Acknowledging cultural influences on teaching and learning helps prevent problems that impact academic success. When educators recognize cultural and family influence learning challenges, they can introduce inclusive best practices that leverage diversity to create a more tolerant society.

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Header image courtesy of Jumpstory.

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Jennifer Rosendo - ELV Family Engagement Manager

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Family And Cultural Influence On The Learning Environment - Early Learning Ventures

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American childcare staff and teachers must become more sensitive to the diverse cultures of the children they teach. This begins from the very beginning where children's early education provides the foundation for education. Even here, an supports linguistic and cultural differences. Embracing and affirming a student's diversity helps avoid cultural gaps that exist between children/parents and their educators.

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Some key impacts of socio-cultural factors on children in school:

Gender- limits access to a variety of educational pursuits and discourages the kinds of subjects someone should pursue based on sex. Ex: girls being less encouraged to pursue STEM or boys being less encouraged to take home-ec classes.

Ethnicity- language barriers, lack of representation, or feelings of ostracization.

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Impact of Socio-Cultural Factors on Schooling: Case Studies • Teachers Institute

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Provides examples of how socio-cultural influences manifest in schooling, touching upon how gender, caste, and ethnicity affect educational experiences. It discusses how schooling reflects dominant societal views and can either reinforce or challenge social inequalities, with a focus on the Indian context.

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I like this graphic because it includes how one should view behavior within a cultural context. This is one of the most important aspects of cultural competence. Understanding cultures completely and respecting others comes down to understanding what may be a norm in your culture may not be in someone else's culture.

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"It is impossible to be an expert of knowledge in every culture. Therefore, it is important to admit you are NOT an expert. It is through your willingness to ask questions and listen to others' stories that you demonstrate respect." Caregiving Network, YouTube

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This video outlines some important aspects of being culturally competent as an educator.

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Cultural Competence: What Does It Mean For Educators?

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Paper on Cultural Competence in Education 

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Paper on Cultural Competence in Education 

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"Key points include the importance of integrating diverse perspectives, fostering

inclusive practices, and addressing systemic inequities in education."

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In my future classroom, I will strive to attain as much knowledge as I can on all of my students. I will practice empathy and self-awareness. I will also build rapport with my students and advocate for their education. Harnessing these aspects of cultural competence will hopefully allow me to create a classroom where my students can thrive despite possible disadvantages.

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This competency framework is one of many that outlines ideas for achieving cultural competence on a global scale. It specifically focuses on what educators can teach students about the world and the differences between people. A framework like this ensures that we are leading future generations to not only benefit from cultural competence but display it themselves.

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Global Competence - California Global Education Project

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Global Competence is the disposition and knowledge to understand and act on issues of global significance (CCSSO & Asia Society). Those issues are identified in the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by countries to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all (United Nations).

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Notable: Minority students are watched more closely than white students possibly explaining why minority students are more often in disciplinary trouble while wrong behavior by white students gets overlooked. - Yale University Study on Preschool Students

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This video by NPR explains a study that showed biases by teachers working against black children. In a controlled experiment, black children were expected to display bad behavior even when all children involved exhibited the same behavior. Another experiment showed that black kids receive less empathy from teachers.

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Bias Isn't Just A Police Problem, It's A Preschool Problem | Let's Talk | NPR

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This paper brings up topics of gender bias like expectations of female students (mentions of what female students should pursue as a career, clerical and nursing positions), non-inclusive language (using "boy" or "girl" or other feminine and masculine words when describing stereotypical professions), and treatment toward moms vs. dads from teachers (calling home to mothers instead of fathers despite both having jobs).

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This article describes how children subject to implicit biases have less confidence and self-esteem and receive messages about themselves or others. These messages can internalize and show children who they are expected to be or how they are supposed to act. Implicit biases also perpetuate expected behavior in others, leading children to develop biases of their own.

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Understanding implicit bias, and why it affects kids

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We all want the best for our kids. But when someone makes assumptions about your child before knowing them, it may negatively impact them. And the reality is we all make judgments and assumptions about people to some extent even when we don't want to.