Intercultural Lessons Several years ago, I was blessed to be included in an international project partnering with Lakeland College (Vermillion) and the Vocational Education and Training Authority of Tanzania (Mwanza). While supporting the college in Mwanza and getting to know the people and the place, I learned many lessons about my own cultural myopia. One of the first lessons I learned had to do with the concept of “Power Distance”. In Tanzania your age, gender, education, and job title has an impact on how you are to be treated. This was apparent from the minute my colleagues and I were picked up from the airport. From that moment on, as the senior male member of the group, I was expected to ride in the front seat. Several times in the following weeks, Jackie and I would try to shake it up and switch seats, but that just seemed to unnerve the driver. When we were at the college, it was no different. As much as I asked my Tanzanian colleagues to simply call me Jeff, I was always “Dr. Jeff” to them. Sometimes, when we were being a little less formal, they would relax a bit and just call me “Doctor”. This power distance was also quite obvious as I walked around the college and interacted with the support staff and groundskeepers. They could not miss my grey hair and balding pate. Invariably I was addressed not with “jambo” (hi) or “habari” (how are you), but with “shikamoo” (I respect you, my elder) to which I was expected to answer with “marahaba” (thank you for your respect, my son/daughter). The power distance was also very apparent in the way that the students showed their respect for the teachers. As they arrived each morning, in their blue and white uniforms, they lined up to shake our hands, ask about our health, and bring greetings from their families. The students never questioned the long days, the short breaks, or the meager lunches. They would arrive early for class and would sweep out the classroom, straighten the desks and generally tidy while the teachers prepped their notes. There was no “thank you” – these actions were simply expected. And, when students answered questions, they were expected to stand by their chair and compose themselves to deliver an answer that showed thought and respect, even when answering simple math questions. The students (most in their late teens or early 20’s) were always very attentive and compliant. They took notes without being told to do so, they always showed respect and greeted teachers accordingly, and they often endured long and repetitive explanations and would not say anything - even when they knew that the teachers were making mistakes in their explanations. According to Geert Hofstede, a renowned scholar in intercultural research, there is a significant difference in how Canadians and Tanzanians view and experience power difference. As Canadians, we seem to have no problem referring to our Prime Minister as “Justin” and in making fun of his hair, his socks or his pauses in speech. In Tanzania, the office holds much more respect. Although they might question some of the president’s decisions, most Tanzanians would never consider referring to their president by his first name. Pictures of the current president (John Magufuli) and the founding president (Julius Nyerere) are expected to be respectfully displayed in every office, school, college, and even behind the front desk at every hotel. Along with high vs low power distance, Hofstede lists five other markers of cultural difference: individualism vs collectivism, masculinity vs femininity, certainty or uncertainty avoidance, long term vs short term orientation, and indulgence vs restraint. (Check out his website: https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/) Where a society fits in, according to these markers, would have a great deal of impact upon how people live and on how they learn. For instance, in Canada we stress student-centered teaching, which includes differentiating educational approaches, providing individualized feedback and working to ensure each student gets their needs met. In Tanzania the focus is more on delivering a set content. The teacher’s role is to show expertise and the student’s role is to show diligence in applying themselves in learning this content. In Canada there is an emphasis on teaching students problem solving, critical thinking and entrepreneurship; challenging students to apply their knowledge and skills. In Tanzania the emphasis is more on conformity and “rightness”. All students should have the essentials and all should be able to give the correct answers when called upon. Is it no wonder then, that many of our international students have difficulty in adjusting to how we teach, how we interact, how we support, and how we assess? The NorQuest Learning Circle for Intercultural Competence and International Success
At NorQuest we are becoming increasingly aware of the challenges facing both instructors and international students as they navigate and negotiate the intercultural spaces in our face to face and online teaching environments. With this in mind, NorQuest International and NorQuest People Development embarked on a four month professional learning journey to build on and share faculty knowledge, skills and awareness in supporting international students. (Thank you for your leadership, Nancy!) This “learning circle” used Indigenous pedagogy (the Circle of Courage) as an organizational and interpretational frame and incorporated best practices from Professional Learning Communities and Reflective Practice. Together with Barbara, Daisy, Julia, Karen, Martha, Nancy, Paula, Rasoul, Sheryl and Viola, Sarah Apedaile and I spent countless hours each week looking closely at some of the factors that influence how we reach and teach our international students. We did this through readings and links, weekly discussions, online forums, and mini-research projects, where we would try different approaches, reflect on them and then share our thoughts with the larger group. In the end, we learned a great deal about our students and about ourselves. Sarah cobbled together an impressive Moodle site with countless resources, links and inquiry questions. Each participant was free to learn at their own pace, sampling from “the berry patch” and reflecting on their discoveries about learning and intercultural differences. Some of the topics we discussed included: perspective taking, communication, cultural orientations, identity, language, academic integrity, trust, feedback, safety, gender, conflict, and resilience. We also came to know each other much better, and learned to draw upon the wisdom of our colleagues for insight and direction. I know that I was humbled each and every time we checked in; NorQuest has some very committed, compassionate and thoughtful instructors! And together we learned - that we have so much more to learn.
0 Comments
Tanzanian Reflections (an excerpt from my President's report to Phi Delta Kappa membership) At the beginning of this calendar year I went to Tanzania as part of a CICan project to work with the faculty at a vocational college in Mwanza. It was my second trip this year to Mwanza, the first was back in April of 2017 when Jeanne Ratzlaff (NorQuest College) and I helped government officials and college staff in developing a curricula for a remedial/upgrading course. The focus on this second trip (January 2018) was on implementing the three week course as a pilot with the intention of eventually rolling out the course to all of the 26 state-sponsored vocational colleges in Tanzania. On this trip I was accompanied by Jackie Bender (Lakeland College) and we had a great time team-teaching with four of the staff from VETA Mwanza. We worked with twenty-six students, ranging in age from 18 – 29 (most were in their mid-twenties). The pilot program focused on four essential subjects: Math, English Communications, Engineering Science and Study Skills. It was an intense but very rewarding experience. The trip to Tanzania gave me an opportunity to step back and make a few observations about the differences between the educational approaches espoused in Canada and those that are favoured in Tanzania. In many ways, a community or country’s orientation to teaching is a reflection of their overall cultural orientation. Here are some of my observations and reflections when comparing Canada to Tanzania. Observations
Reflections In Canada there is less distance between the student and the teacher, especially at the college or university level. In my experiences as an instructor at the University of Alberta, King’s University and NorQuest College, the familiarity between instructors or professors and adult students is very obvious. You are not seen as Professor X or Doctor X but as Ted or Linda. It is quite the opposite in Tanzania where teachers and professors are highly respected and students would never think of addressing them by first names. Or, if they did, it would be as “Teacher Ted” and “Doctor Linda”. This element of respect for elders and superiors is not just something confined to the classroom in Tanzania. They would never think of their political leaders as “Justin” and “Rachel”, in fact, at every hotel, every government office and every office at the college hang two portraits; one of Julius Nyerere (the first president of Tanzania) and one of John Magufuli (the current president). I remember seeing the same kind of thing when I was in elementary school when we had pictures of Queen Elizabeth and Lester Pearson or John Diefenbaker in the classroom. And that shouldn’t come as a surprise. In the 1960’s Canada was not so multi-cultural and modern in its outlook. We were still very much attached to Britain (like Tanzania). But unlike Tanzania, we have moved on from many of our traditionally British attitudes. In Canada, the trend in education for the last thirty years is to promote engagement; asking teachers to make their lessons dynamic, interactive, practical, and varied in approach. The thought is that students will learn more when they are challenged visually, kinesthetically, emotionally, academically, individually, collaboratively, etc. In Tanzania, there is less emphasis on this, although that seems to be changing. In Canada there is also an emphasis on teaching students problem solving, critical thinking, and entrepreneurship. We are to be challenging our students to apply their knowledge and skills. In Tanzania the emphasis is more on conformity and “rightness”. All students should have the essentials and all should be able to give the correct answers when called upon. In Canada we stress student-centered teaching, which includes differentiating educational approaches, providing individualized feedback and working to ensure each child gets their needs met. In Tanzania the focus is more on delivering a set content. The teacher’s role is to show expertise and the student’s role is to show diligence in applying themselves in learning this content. When I was at the World Educational Research Association Annual Conference several years ago I met an educator from Syracuse University in New York State who lamented the fact that so many sessions about education pushed the idea that the teacher is the most important factor in the classroom. We have listened to people like Bob Marzano advocate for skillful technicians who know how to use “best practices” to promote accountability and engagement and ensure academic achievement. But my colleague from New York said that this is bunk. In his mind, the most important factor is the student. What kind of motivation does the student bring to their studies? Just how are they willing to apply themselves? And will they persevere when they encounter academic challenges? I know that my colleague would not advocate for boring lecture-like lessons or educators who fail to consider interactive instructional approaches, but he was concerned that we have put too much stress on the role of modern educators and have made them accountable for what is essentially the student’s responsibility. My friend from Syracuse asked, “In considering individual student needs and in being responsive, could North American educators actually be spending too much time catering to and enabling their learners?” Already there are rumbles in the teaching community that the changes resulting from differentiated instruction; formative assessment (early feedback, second chances, best evidence, etc.); and standards-based, competency assessments have led to “mark inflation” and a lack of rigor. Some might say that today’s students are no longer challenged to do the work to prove themselves to the teacher or to compete against the rest of the pack and that it is actually the teachers who are asked to do the heavy lifting as they work to respond to thirty students rather than one curricula. Now, of course, this is just one man’s perspective. And, as an educator who has been at the forefront of many of the changes to instructional practice here in Alberta that foster student-centered learning (through my work with AISI and in teacher education), I can mount any number of arguments against his position. The fact that so many of our students in Tanzania had difficulty in taking on student-centered, inquiry-type work shows how important it is to build move away from one-size-fits-all content centered approaches. At an AISI conference in 2012 I attended a session from Dr. Yong Zhao who explained that, while many educators in North America look with jealousy to the success that Asian students demonstrate on International assessments in Math and Science, these educators should appreciate what the North American model fosters. He pointed out that the real titans of change, emerge from North America. The “Steve Jobs” of the world, are not successful because they could memorize and reproduce, but because they had critical thinking skills and were not afraid to take calculated chances. So while we looked across the ocean for answers to our falling PISA scores, Asian educators were looking right back at our system to see what they could learn about problem solving and risk taking. Nevertheless, my colleague from Syracuse does raise an important issue. When I was in Mwanza, the students I encountered were hungry to learn. Even though the days were long (8:15 am to 5 pm) the students arrived early and stayed late. These students are quite different from the ones I have encountered in my teaching experiences both k-12 and at the colleges and universities. How do we continue to build learning experiences for our students that will challenge them to be self-motivated, inquiring, critical, skillful, and perseverant?” Lesson Learned While my colleagues and I went to Tanzania to provide some expertise and coaching, we also found ourselves learning many things. If you are interested, I’m sure I could share quite a few with you, if you pay for the beer! Here are three of our most important discoveries:
|
AuthorJeff Kuntz Ph.D. ImagesExcept where indicated, images used in the blog posts are personal photos, images from NorQuest College or images from Pixabay. Pixabay is a vibrant community of creatives, sharing copyright free images, videos and music. https://pixabay.com/ Archives
March 2024
Categories
All
|