Culturally Relevant Practices and Asset-Based Pedagogies
“As a classroom community, our capacity to generate excitement is deeply affected by our interest in one another, in hearing one another’s voices, in recognizing one another’s presence.”
― bell hooks, Teaching To Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom
Asset-based pedagogies center the students as “…subjects in the instructional process, not mere objects” (Gloria Ladson-Billings). Funds of Knowledge, Culturally Relevant and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies are examples of asset-based pedagogies. Asset pedagogies position linguistic and cultural practices of all students as valuable and resources that should be honored and centered in instruction.
What are asset-based pedagogies?
Funds of Knowledge
The funds of knowledge approach (González & Moll, 2002; Moll & Gonzalez, 1994) represents ‘communities in terms of the resources, the wherewithal they do possess, and a way to harness these resources for classroom teaching’ in contrast to a typical deficit-perspective viewing students, often multilingual learners, as lacking necessary skills and knowledge.
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995) is defined as “a pedagogy that empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural referent to impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes. These cultural referents are not merely vehicles for explaining the dominant culture; they are aspects of the curriculum in their own right” (Ladson-Billings, 2009, p.20). This emphasizes that culturally relevant pedagogy is not simply teaching about culture, or adding a unit about different students’ cultures, foods, or festivals within an existing curriculum and structure for teaching. Instead, students’ diverse cultures are centered in and central to the curriculum and ways of teaching and can be used as content, process, and a lens through which to teach content and to engage students in critical thinking and exploration and questioning. Ladson-Billings also asserts that through culturally relevant pedagogy, students question and become prepared to question larger issues outside of the classroom (1995).
Three key elements of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy are (Ladson-Billings, 2021):
- Student Learning
- Cultural competence
- Sociopolitical/ Critical Consciousness
Student Learning is more than simply “academic achievement” and focuses on and fosters growth and development among students independent of tested measures. Often we discuss student learning in terms of test scores; however, “Measurable outcomes may be the least significant result of student learning and development (McNeil, 1986). Thus, student growth and the development of confidence and agency among learners are powerful components of student learning.
Cultural Competence is a teachers’ responsibility and ability to learn deeply about their students’ cultures and help all students to gain understanding in each other’s cultures as well as the dominant culture. This involves weaving in and centering culture throughout the year and including diverse voices in the texts of all content areas in contrast to, for example, including black authors and culture only during black history month and not other times of the year. Bishop (1990) describes the importance of representation in the literature as providing windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors. This competence is essential and valuable for all students – including students from minoritized and majoritized backgrounds so that they can expand their understandings and learn from and about each other while also making personal connections and learning about themselves.
Sociopolitical/ Cultural Consciousness involves creating an environment that invites students to problem-solve. Students can be encouraged to think about issues that are relevant to them, for example, issues related to school dress codes or recess policies. Students can question these policies and make connections to larger social and societal issues that may be underlying or influencing school-level policies. This invites students to move beyond simple memorization of information to preparing them to understand how to identify and think about solving complex real-world problems. Ladson-Billings emphasizes that “The political work of the classroom is not to be confused with partisanship”, and that as students investigate issues of importance to them, they can “…go from a problem of their own to understanding larger principles of justice, equity, and equality” (2021, p.7-8). This also helps students to develop their voices and can be done at all levels as even children as young as kindergarten have opinions and are often very interested in issues of fairness.
Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy
Through Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (Paris, 2012), extends culturally relevant pedagogy to include a focus on taking action to sustain cultural and linguistic aspects of their communities while also developing skills and knowledge to be successful in mainstream schooling. Culturally sustaining pedagogy also focuses on learning as additive and “critically enriching strengths rather than replacing deficits” (Paris & Alim 2017, p.1). Culturally sustaining pedagogy calls for schools to be places that contribute to the sustaining and revitalizing of indigenous and minoritized cultures and cultural ways of being and knowing.
‘Āina-based Pedagogy as Culturally Relevant/Sustaining Pedagogy
‘Āina-based pedagogy (aka culture-based education and place-based education) grounds content and instruction in the knowledge and values of the community, local and indigenous cultures and ways of knowing in Hawai‘i. It situates learning in authentic and relevant settings, and in doing so, increases students’ engagement, motivation, and learning (Kanaʻiaupuni, Ledward, & Jensen, 2010). This connection to local culture strives to help students to see themselves reflected in the curriculum and feel valued. For learners who have moved to Hawai‘i – either by choice or by necessity, it also allows them to connect to their cultures and to feel connected to the place that they now call home. In Hawai‘i, which is steeped in the legacy of colonialism, tourism, and other forces that have endangered the Hawaiian language and culture, ‘Āina-based pedagogy provides a way for students to learn about these systems and take action to be good stewards (and visitors) of the land. (Adapted from Critical Place-Based Education to Engage Students in Writing (Torres, 2023)).
As a culturally sustaining pedagogy, ‘Āina-based pedagogy extends the study of and through culture to the identification of issues and “problems” in the community, empowering students to explore potential solutions and propose changes. For example, students can investigate pollution on their campuses or a lack of representation of the Hawaiian language on campus and propose solutions to make the campus more aligned with Hawaiian values.
Why is this important?
“Mainstream” students have been enjoying and benefitting from culturally-aligned curriculum their whole lives without anyone questioning whether they deserved to see themselves reflected in the curriculum. The same should be true for all students. In particular, in communities like Hawai‘i, where Native people have been forcibly disconnected from the culture and language, additional focus should be placed on repairing the harm this caused.
What does this look like in the classroom?
This is more than replacing euro-centric curriculum with diverse texts although this is important! This goes beyond discussing and celebrating holidays and traditions, to:
- Center students’ experiences
- Center and celebrate indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing
- Encourage and facilitate translanguaging and bilingual strategies (you can do this even if you aren’t fluent in your students’ languages!). Particularly in Hawai‘i, including signs and other visual representations of the Hawaiian language and other languages that students speak is a powerful model for the importance and value of multilingualism in the classroom.
- Engage students in critical discussion about topics that are relevant and important to them.
- Also, ensure that there is wide representation in the classroom & texts of both local and Hawaiian culture and language as well as representation in texts that allow students to see themselves reflected in the curriculum and in dreams for their futures.
Additional Resources
Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995)
This article defines and demonstrates the importance of culturally relevant pedagogy. Dr. Ladson-Billings is the preeminent scholar of culturally relevant pedagogy, and since this article has written many more articles and books, which can be accessed through university libraries and purchased. This older article is freely accessible and a great starting point for understanding the need and framework for culturally relevant pedagogy.
Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy : A Needed Change in Stance, Terminology, and Practice (Paris, 2012)
This article builds on the work of Dr. Ladson-Billings (above) and extends the concept of culturally relevant pedagogy and advocates for culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP). “Culturally sustaining pedagogy seeks to perpetuate and foster—to sustain—linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism as part of the democratic project of schooling. In the face of current policies and practices that have the explicit goal of creating a monocultural and monolingual society, research and practice need equally explicit resistances that embrace cultural pluralism and cultural equality.”
Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy is expanded on in the book Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world by Paris and Alim (2017), which is a collection of articles defining and giving examples of culturally sustaining pedagogy in practice.
Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors (Bishop, 1990)
This article argues for the importance of representation in literature that students read. Bishop described texts as mirrors, in which students can see themselves reflected as a valuable part of a larger society, windows, through which they can learn about others’ experiences, and sliding glass doors, which learners can walk through to experience new opportunities.
Culture-Based Education And Its Relationship To Student Outcomes (Kana‘iaupuni, et al., 2010)
“This report shares the results of a quantitative research study that examines the impact of culture-based teaching strategies on student achievement and socio-emotional development. The findings are consistent with prior qualitative studies, indicating that culture-based educational strategies positively impact student outcomes, particularly Native Hawaiian student outcomes. This research underscores the benefits of culturally responsive pedagogy and practice. The implications of this study are valuable for education practitioners, programs, and policymakers seeking ways to eliminate achievement gaps for indigenous and other students.”
Mohala i ka wai: Cultural Advantage As A Framework For Indigenous Culture-Based Education And Student Outcomes (Kana‘iaupuni, et al., 2017)
This article discusses “findings from research conducted in Hawai‘i indicate that learners thrive with culture-based education (CBE), especially Indigenous students who experience positive socioemotional and other outcomes when teachers are high CBE users and when learning in high-CBE school environments... By cultivating culturally vibrant and affirming learning environments in lieu of ‘‘onesize-fits-all’’ approaches, educators honor assets found in Indigenous knowledge, values, and stories as models of vitality and empowerment for all.”
Critical culturally sustaining/ revitalizing pedagogy and indigenous education sovereignty (McCarty & Lee, 2014).
“In this article, Teresa L. McCarty and Tiffany S. Lee present critical culturally sustaining/ revitalizing pedagogy as a necessary concept to understand and guide educational practices for Native American learners. Premising their discussion on the fundamental role of tribal sovereignty in Native American schooling, the authors underscore and extend lessons from Indigenous culturally based, culturally relevant, and culturally responsive schooling… McCarty and Lee argue that given the current linguistic, cultural, and educational realities of Native American communities, CSP in these settings must also be understood as culturally revitalizing pedagogy… they advocate for community-based educational accountability that is rooted in Indigenous education sovereignty.”
Cultivating aloha ‘āina through critical indigenous pedagogies of place (Porter & Cristobol, 2018)
In this article, the authors “use the Native Hawaiian commitment to aloha ‘āina as the fundamental guiding principle that orients our approach to place-based education... After situating aloha ‘āina as part of a Critical Indigenous Pedagogy of Place, we look at how teachers, both Native and non-Native, can make this goal, and the larger political and cultural practices necessary to achieve it fully, more vibrant and relevant for their students… To these ends, we offer curricular building blocks that derive from Indigenous Hawaiian senses of place and purpose, but that can also find resonance in other settings.”
Critical Place-Based Education to Engage Students in Writing (Torres, 2023)
This article discusses how to embrace critical pedagogy through a place-based/ culture-based lens to engage students in writing in TESOL contexts.
Research & References
Bishop, R. S. (1990). Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives, 6(3), ix–xi.
Dominguez, M. (2021). “Se Hace Puentes al Andar”: Decolonial Teacher Education as a Needed Bridge to Culturally Sustaining and REvitalizing Pedagogies. D. Paris & S. Alim (Eds), Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world. (pp.) Teachers College Press.
Gay, G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of teacher education, 53(2), 106-116.
González, N., & Moll, L. C. (2002). Cruzando el puente: Building bridges to funds of knowledge. Educational Policy, 16(4), 623-641.
hooks, b. (2014). Teaching to transgress. Routledge.
Kana‘iaupuni, S., Ledward, B., & Jenson, U. (2010). Culture-based education and its relationship to student outcomes. Honolulu: Kamehameha Schools Research & Evaluation.
Kana‘iaupuni, S., Ledward, B., & Malone, N. (2017). Mohala i ka wai: Cultural advantage as a framework for indigenous culture-based education and student outcomes. American Educational Research Journal, 54(1S), 311S-339S.
Ladson‐Billings, G. (1995). But that's just good teaching! The case for culturally relevant pedagogy. Theory into practice, 34(3), 159-165.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465–491.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2009). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children. (2nd ed.) Jossey Bass.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2014). Culturally relevant pedagogy 2.0: aka the remix. Harvard educational review, 84(1), 74-84.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2021). Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Asking a Different Question. Teachers College Press.
McCarty, T.L. & Lee, T.S. (2014). Critical culturally sustaining/ revitalizing pedagogy and indigenous education sovereignty. Harvard educational review, 84(1), 11-124.
Moll, L. C., & Gonzalez, N. (1994). Lessons from research with language-minority children. Journal of reading behavior, 26(4), 439-456.
Paris, D. (2012). Culturally sustaining pedagogy: A needed change in stance, terminology, and practice. Educational Researcher, 41(3), 93–97.
Paris, D., & Alim, H. S. (2014). What are we seeking to sustain through culturally sustaining pedagogy? A loving critique forward. Harvard educational review, 84(1), 85-100.
Paris, D., & Alim, H. S. (Eds.). (2017). Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world. Teachers College Press.
Porter, M.K., & Cristobol, N. (2018). Cultivating aloha ‘āina through critical indigenous pedagogies of place. Journal of Folklore and Education, 5.
Waitoller, F. R., & King Thorius, K. A. (2016). Cross-pollinating culturally sustaining pedagogy and universal design for learning: Toward an inclusive pedagogy that accounts for dis/ability. Harvard Educational Review, 86(3), 366-389.