PERCEPTION OF TEACHERS ABOUT THEIR ROLE AS ‘CULTURAL WORKERS’: A CASE STUDY OF KALLAR SYEDAN

Abstract

This paper explores the perception and understanding of the teachers about a ‘multicultural classroom’. The objectives were: to find out the understanding of teachers about a ‘Multicultural Classroom’; and to explore their understanding about their own classes as ‘Multicultural’. Qualitative research method has been adopted, in which four in-depth interviews, from the teachers of the ‘only’ primary public school in Kallar Syedan were conducted. Description of findings are based on three themes where the first theme is ‘Teacher’s inadequate understanding of the term “Teacher as a Cultural Worker"’. Teachers lack the understanding of the term ‘multicultural classroom’, and they also lack the sense of responsibility of being a ‘Cultural Worker’. The second theme is ‘Teacher’s perception of the classroom’ where they perceive their classes as ‘multicultural’ but with an underdeveloped understanding. The third theme is ‘The choice of their examples’ which shows that the examples are not chosen while keeping in mind the sensitive diversity of the class. They cannot give them examples from intersections of diversity due to their lack of knowledge. In the findings, it was evident that discussing sensitive topics about multicultural education in a small group format was helpful and could be a helpful tool for making positive changes with multicultural education in the future. My study reiterated that more multicultural-based training is necessary for practicing teachers.