How to Promote Diversity in Schools: Three Strategies for Positive Change

For a thriving society, recognition of diversity and inclusion is a must in order to foster equality and unity. The first place a child may become exposed to diversity is when he/she leaves the comfort of his/her home and goes to school. Essentially, the school becomes the first place where you may interact with another person with an entirely different standing. The world is now a global village exponentially, and international student recruitments are shaping more diversified classrooms. So, to instill acceptance and empathy at a tender age in children, educational institutions must craft strategies to promote heterogeneity, awareness, and equity within their classrooms and culture.

Diversity in Schools

Many educational institutions are recruiting students around the globe that makes their classrooms more diverse in various factors, such as gender, race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, experiences, religion, age, or political opinion. Collectively, these factors contribute to multifariousness in schools and higher educational institutions. 

To encourage the practice of coexistence and communal empathy, it is significant for teachers, students, and administration to create an environment where individuals connect and communicate with diverse peers and coworkers.

Three Strategies for Positive Change

Studies have proven that embracing diversity plays an elevating role in developing a healthy, harmonious society. And societies practicing multicultural respect, acceptance for all communities and ethnicities prosper more comparatively to those who don’t. 

But here, questions arise, how can we enhance diversity in our schools? How does here and now diversity function in the classrooms? Hence, we crafted a well-researched guide with the three best strategies that draw a positive change to your school.

Know Your Students

Various higher educational institutions practice international student recruitments to promote diversity in their institutions. In this type of student recruitments, the most notable aspect is to know the background of students. We can understand that it seems an arduous task, but with effective devising, things will become easier and proffer a long-lasting impact on peers and society. 

Therefore, while recruiting college students, invest some time to sort consequential information like from which country they are coming? What is the socio-economic situation of their country? Are they the best fit for your institution? And enlist all other respective viewpoints that can influence the culture of your institution. 

After paperwork and student recruitments, the next step is vital. Now is the time to promote the true colors of diversity by organizing different multicultural activities and events. Here are a few bright ways to begin:  

• Schedule Daily Classroom Visits:  The best way to connect with the new students is to meet them by visiting the classroom regularly. Interacting while hall/corridor walks is also a good idea. Such subtle daily meetings will make it easy for the students to adapt to the new environment. 
• Communicate with Teachers: Schools that encourage international student recruitments must plan how they will manage diversity. And teacher training is essential in this regard to incubate apt academic goals in a harmonious atmosphere.
• Show High Spirits: Engage in school functions and attend various student clubs. It will attest to your interest in diverse school cultures. And eventually, create an amicable and encouraging atmosphere for the students from different backgrounds.

Converge Diverse Training Needs

Static standards cannot implement in diverse classrooms, so begin with teachers’ training to establish distinct strategies for international students with distinctive learning requirements. Following are a few approaches to ensure equitable and accessible diverse classrooms:

• Launch Agile Technologies: Agile technologies make academic learning convenient and accessible for all students, including differently-abled pupils. Such technologies include advanced computer gadgets or speech-to-text software, talking calculators to cater to dyscalculia students, and several other technologies that simplify things for students with diverse backgrounds.
• Promote New Teaching Plans with Diverse Instructions: New teaching techniques include modified instructions, mixed learning plans, and project-based training. These techniques enable teachers to support students with diverse needs.
• Map Opportunities for Students: Institutions that offer international student recruitments or planning to launch multicultural student recruitments must map future opportunities for them. This practice will increase productivity at the academic level and promote acceptance among diverse groups.

Be Open to Discuss Inequality

The schools and universities need to create a secure and supportive learning space for students from diverse backgrounds. School administration should promote an atmosphere of open discussion about any discrimination and inequality. It will lessen the hesitation of both educators and students and encourage them to speak up about issues they are encountering. 

A significant way to take active steps is to address inequality immediately when someone faces it, for instance:

• Use polite language that encourages positivity and desist using stereotypes. 
• Counter instantly and efficiently to inapt actions and comments. Take violations earnestly.
• Promote acceptance and awareness. Avoid student groupings based on economic or racial lines.
• Eliminate extant inequality markers from your school. For instance, ensure students eligible for free lunch plans aren’t separated as they will feel inferior or different.

Final Thoughts

The world is evolving rapidly, both culturally and technologically. It is mandatory to promote and embrace diversity. Conventional teaching approaches and traditional recruiting practices should be converged to meet the requirement of the present era. So, to keep pace with the evolving world, it’s the need of an hour to initiate multicultural student recruitments with proper planning to foster diversity in the classrooms.