School leader approaches to multicultural education

Abstract

This chapter critically examines a variety of approaches to diversity in integrated schools (i.e. mixed Catholic and Protestant) in Northern Ireland and considers their implications in the context of the wider debate around multiculturalism. It presents a study of integrated school principals and their responses to diversity in their schools. It furthermore provides a summary of the characteristics of different approaches to integration and how they can be viewed with respect to teacher education. Given the range of possible educational responses to cultural diversity, it is important to determine which are the most contextually relevant in order to encourage their adoption throughout initial and ongoing teacher education. This chapter argues that multiculturalism and multicultural education can provide a valuable frame for analysis of integrated education policy and practice.