Course Description
Multicultural education in teaching and learning views and values the cultural diversity of students as an asset rather than adopting a “deficit” perspective. It aims at promoting inclusivity, social, political, economic, equity and justice in diverse educational settings. Respecting and appreciating cultural diversity implies promoting the development of culturally relevant pedagogies and praxes. Overall, this course is designed to equip its students with the theoretical knowledge and skills they need to teach as well as collaborate with peers and colleagues from diverse backgrounds in both local and global contexts. The course will be held within the beautiful and culturally diverse setting of Perugia, Italy. It is best suited for education or psychology majors and/or language professionals who are interested in hands-on, experiential teaching practices designed to meet the needs of multicultural students and/or adult learners.

Course Objectives
By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Identify the different meanings and interpretations of multicultural education.
• Distinguish the characteristics of culturally responsive pedagogies and practices.
• Analyze the difficulties and challenges that teachers face in today’s multicultural classrooms.
• Integrate multicultural practices in everyday lesson plans (in any subject area).
• Evaluate lesson plans in terms of their multicultural characteristics and approaches.

Course Materials
Readings will be made available online to students. The books cited are also available online as PDFs.