Cultural Intelligence (CQ) as a Model for Increasing Intercultural Capabilities in Effective Teaching Relationships

• In Event: 46.060 - Intercultural Development in Higher Education: Bridging Ideas, Concepts, and Practices

Abstract

This paper tackles calls by scholars for teacher education practices to increase teachers’ intercultural capacity to address complex cultural situations in K-12 classrooms (Howard, 2003; Banks, et al., 2005; Gay, 2009; Nieto, 2010). While scholars have proposed more exposure to cultural diversity and critical reflection, this paper describes an innovative approach utilizing Cultural Intelligence (CQ) and its related assessments in a redesigned foundational teacher preparation course titled “Culture, Schools, and Communities”. This preliminary study demonstrates how the instructors developed and piloted a program which utilized a train-the-trainer model within a graduate seminar and then implemented the content for the teacher candidates in course sessions and professional learning communities. The aim of the study is to develop the intercultural capabilities of new teacher candidates so that they can build effective teaching relationships with the culturally diverse students in their classrooms and to develop more culturally relevant pedagogy.

Scholars point to the need for teachers to connect with students and access their lives and experiences of in order to engage them as learners (Burchinal et al, 2008). Building upon such connections positions schools as “relational places” (Bingham & Sidokin, 2004) and emphasizes the relationship quality between teachers and students in order to facilitate academic success and well-being (Eccles & Roeser, 2011). To develop teachers’ abilities to connect with culturally diverse students, McAllister and Irvine (2000) and Cushner (2011) suggest that education borrow from the field of intercultural relations to address teachers’ underlying attitudes about cultural differences.

The study’s research utilizes mixed methods to understand teacher candidates’ development of intercultural capabilities during a one semester, teacher education foundations course. The introduction of the CQ model is intended to facilitate self-reflection, provide a language to discuss cultural issues, and to supply a developmental framework for the growth of candidates’ intercultural capabilities. CQ is a rigorously researched four-factor intelligence model to describe the “variability in coping with diversity and functioning in new cultural settings” which can be developed through training, experience and education (Ang & Van Dyne, 2008, pp. 4-8). Quantitative analysis of teacher candidate multi-rater assessment data was used to identify a purposeful sample of participants for subsequent semi-structured interviews. Interview data was analyzed for emerging categories and convergence with the four-factor CQ model.

The development of the study and themes that emerged from the evaluations, student assignments, and qualitative interview data explore the "in-situ" intercultural competencies called for by Leung, Ang, and Tan (2014), specifically the capabilities that teachers need in order to successfully navigate cultural differences in their classrooms, build relationships, and meet the pedagogical needs of their students.

While existing models strive to help teachers connect with students, create relevant curriculum, and develop a social justice mindset, they fail to address and assess how teachers think about, understand, and experience cultural differences in their schools and communities. This paper utilizes the CQ model to conceptualize and assess how teacher candidates understand and navigate cultural differences in order to better prepare them to build effective teaching relationships with students.

Authors

• Douglas Paul Kennedy, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Michael P. Goh, University of Minnesota