Human Diversity in Education: An Integrative Approach

Human Diversity in Education: An Integrative Approach is a research-based, comprehensive text designed to provide an introduction to multicultural education and diversity in society. The text prepares future teachers for the wide diversity of students that they are certain to meet in their classrooms, schools, and communities. It provides an updated and broad treatment of the various forms of human diversity found in today’s schools including nationality, ethnicity, race, religion, gender, class, language, sexual orientation, and ability levels.

Based on the assumption that it is at the level of the individual teacher where the change that must occur with regard to diversity in schools begins, it assumes that teachers must learn to incorporate issues of diversity in all of their teaching, including, but not limited to their interactions with children, parents, other teachers and the community.

The text contains introductory case studies that are referred back to in a series of chapter-ending critical incidents that prompt students to apply what they learned in the chapter. Important topics covered include: intercultural development of individuals, globalization and international education, religion in society and schools, gender and sexuality, exceptionality, and diversity with respect to early childhood.

Kenneth Cushner is Professor of Education in the College and Graduate School of Education, Health and Human Services at Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, USA. In addition to this text, Dr. Cushner is author or editor of several books and articles in the field of intercultural education and training, including: Intercultural Student Teaching: A Bridge to Global Competence, (2007, Rowman Littlefield); Human Diversity in Action: Developing Multicultural Competencies in the Classroom, 3rd edition (2006, McGraw-Hill); International Perspectives on Intercultural Education (1998, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates); Improving Intercultural Interactions: Modules for Cross-Cultural Training Programs, volume 2 (with Richard Brislin, Sage Publications, 1997), and Intercultural Interactions: A Practical Guide, 2nd edition (with Richard Brislin, Sage Publications, 1996). A former East-West Center Scholar, he is a frequent contributor to the professional development of educators through writing, workshop presentations, and travel program development. He is a Founding Fellow and Past-President of the International Academy for Intercultural Research, and past Director of COST—the Consortium for Overseas Student Teaching, which regularly sends students to student teach in 16 countries. In his spare time, Dr. Cushner enjoys music (percussion and guitar), photography, and travel. He has developed and led intercultural programs on all seven continents.

Averil McClelland is currently Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Cultural Foundations of Education program in the College and Graduate School at Kent State University from which she received her Ph.D. Dr. McClelland has had extensive experience in curriculum design and program evaluation, as well as experience with addressing issues of gender and education and cultural diversity in education. In addition to this text, she is the author of The Education of Women in the United States: A Guide to Theory, Teaching, and Research (Garland, 1992), as well as a number of articles in scholarly journals. She received the Distinguished Teaching award from Kent State University in 1996, and has a long-standing relationship with the National First Ladies Library, where she develops web-based curricula based on the lives of the nation’s 44 First Ladies. Her special interests are the history, sociology, and politics of education, the reconstruction of teacher education, and internationalizing the college curriculum for pre-service and practicing teachers.

Philip Safford, Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Case Western Reserve University, is Emeritus Professor and former chair of Special Education at Kent State University. Prior to earning his Ph.D. through the Combined Program in Education and Psychology at the University of Michigan, with specialization in special education and child development, he had been a teacher and administrator in residential treatment programs for children with emotional disorders. Dr. Safford has authored or edited six books and numerous articles dealing with special education history, early intervention for young children with disabilities, and related topics. He has directed or co-directed a number of training, research, and demonstration projects in special education supported by federal and state grants.