School Leaders’ Cultural Responsiveness to Sikh Students and Families in Ontario Schools

• In Event: Exploring South Asian Experiences in North America: Negotiating Multiple Identities Across Educational Spaces

Abstract

Sikhs represent the largest Indo-Canadian minority group in Ontario (Statistics Canada, 2010). Most Sikhs are from a South Asian background and wear visible articles of faith including unshorn hair, turban and the kirpan. This study investigates how school leaders are culturally responsive to Sikh families and students within the school community in Ontario schools. It does this by: 1) looking at what factors may play a role in a school leaders “sensemaking” of Sikhs; 2) observing how this “sensemaking” shapes their interactions with Sikhs in the school-setting; and 3) using James Banks Approaches to Multicultural Curriculum Reform, including the Contributions, Additive, Transformation, and Social Action Approach (Banks & Banks, 2011) to better understand how school leaders are culturally responsive to Sikh families and students.

This paper uses social justice and equity with a critical race perspective to better understand the process of “sensemaking” (Evans, 2007). Weick describes, sensemaking as “the ways people generate what they interpret” (Weick as cited in Evans, 2007). For scholars studying critical race in schools, the main objective is understanding how racial meanings and identities provide the basis for action, that being educational decision making for students of color (Evans, 2009). Culturally Responsive pedagogy recognizes the importance of including students' cultural references in all aspects of learning. (Ladson-Billings,1994) as cited in The Education Alliance, 2006). Thus, critical race theory lends itself to analyzing school leaders’ “sensemaking” and culturally responsive actions on matters of race.

Data comes from semi-structured interviews of five school administrators from Ontario secondary schools who have self identified as “having worked significantly” with the Sikh community in schools. Other data sources include the transcript and field notes from the interviews. Qualitative analysis was used to analyze the interview data. Data was grouped into four main themes of 1) contextual background; 2) “sensemaking” of Sikhs; 3) policies and processes in the school; and 4) culturally responsive practices according to James Bank’s Approaches.

Results show that a school leaders’ perceive that media stereotypes influence their “sensemaking” of Sikhs but that their ideas of Sikh families and students identities’ are predominantly shaped by their personal interaction with Sikhs either personally or in the school setting. School leaders’ were aware and implemented the board-wide religious accommodation policy that allows Sikh students to wear Sikh articles of faith. Most culturally responsive practices indicated by school administrators can be categorized into the Contributions and Additive Approach. School leaders’ desired to be more culturally responsive but admitted to not having the expertise and tools to do so.

The significance of this study is that there is a need for culturally responsive resources and training available for school leaders to understand and respond to the community they serve. This research also adds the unique Sikh perspective to the body of family participation research. Many populations including Sikhs, may use faith to define a large part of their culture, hence, this starts the exploration of how faith fits in the context of cultural responsiveness.

Author

• Harpreet Kaur Neelam, University of Toronto - OISE