@article{CivitillodeMoorVervloed2016, author = {Civitillo, Sauro and de Moor, Jan M. H. and Vervloed, Mathijs P. J.}, title = {Netherlands: An exploratory study}, series = {Support for Learning : British Journal of Learning Support}, volume = {31}, journal = {Support for Learning : British Journal of Learning Support}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {0268-2141}, doi = {10.1111/1467-9604.12119}, pages = {104 -- 121}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Teachers' beliefs are crucial to the success of inclusion programmes and reform efforts for children with special educational needs (SEN). Based on this evidence, one hundred and thirty-nine primary pre-service teachers from one training institution in the Netherlands completed an adapted version of a measure of beliefs towards inclusive education. In contrast to previous studies on pre-service teachers, results of this study showed participants held neutral or negative beliefs towards this matter. In addition, limited time for pupils received the highest rating as a barrier to inclusion, whereas direct teaching experience was the most preferred method of inclusion. The implications of this study for practice and indications for future research are discussed.}, language = {en} } @article{CivitilloDenessenMolenaar2016, author = {Civitillo, Sauro and Denessen, Eddie and Molenaar, Inge}, title = {HOW TO SEE THE CLASSROOM THROUGH THE EYES OF A TEACHER: CONSISTENCY BETWEEN PERCEPTIONS ON DIVERSITY AND DIFFERENTIATION PRACTICES}, series = {Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs}, volume = {16}, journal = {Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {1471-3802}, doi = {10.1111/1471-3802.12190}, pages = {587 -- 591}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Nowadays, teachers must deal, as never before, with diversity in classrooms. Differentiation practices help teachers to address this diversity in an inclusive setting. However, teachers' perceptions about classroom heterogeneity are fundamental to examine whether they are competent to screen their pupils' needs. The present study used a qualitative research design in order to understand how four teachers who teach the same classroom of a secondary school recognise and address those diverse educational needs within a classroom. Results showed a distinct view of students' diversity within a classroom. Moreover, differentiation strategies to respond to this perceived diversity were only partially used.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Civitillo2019, author = {Civitillo, Sauro}, title = {Teachers' cultural diversity beliefs and culturally responsive practices}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42776}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-427763}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {161}, year = {2019}, abstract = {The present dissertation about teachers' cultural diversity beliefs and culturally responsive practices includes a general introduction (Chapter 1), a systematic literature review (Chapter 2), three empirical studies (Chapter 3, 4, and 5) and it ends with a general discussion and conclusion (Chapter 6). The major focus of investigation laid in creating a deeper understanding of teachers' beliefs about cultural diversity and how those beliefs are related to teaching practices, which could or could not be considered to be culturally responsive. In this dissertation, I relied on insights from theoretical perspectives that derived from the field of psychology such as social cognitive theory and intergroup ideologies, as well as from the field of multicultural education such as culturally responsive teaching. In Chapter 1, I provide the background of this dissertation, with contextual information regarding the German educational system, the theoretical framework used and the main research objectives of each study. In Chapter 2, I conducted a systematic review of the existing international studies on trainings addressing cultural diversity beliefs with pre-service teachers. More specifically, the aims of the systematic literature review were (1) to provide a description of main components and contextual characteristics of teacher trainings targeting cultural diversity beliefs, (2) report the training effects, and (3) detail the methodological strengths and weaknesses of these studies. By examining the main components and contextual characteristics of teacher trainings, the effects on beliefs about cultural diversity as well as the methodological strengths and weaknesses of these studies in a single review, I took an integrated approach to these three processes. To review the final pool of studies (N = 36) I used a descriptive and narrative approach, relying primarily on the use of words and text to summarise and explain findings of the synthesis. The three empirical studies that follow, all highlight aspects of how far and how teacher beliefs about cultural diversity translate into real-world practices in schools. In Chapter 3, to expand the validity of culturally responsive teaching to the German context, I aimed at verifying the dimensional structure of German version of the Culturally Responsive Classroom Management Self-Efficacy Scale (CRCMSES; Siwatu, Putman, Starker-Glass, \& Lewis, 2015). I conducted Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and run correlations between the subscales of the CRCMSES and a measure of cultural diversity- related stress. Data (n = 504) used for the first empirical study (Chapter 3) were collected in the InTePP-project (Inclusive Teaching Professionalization Panel) in which pre-service teachers' competencies and beliefs were assessed longitudinally at two universities: the University of Potsdam and the University of Cologne. In the second empirical study, which forms Chapter 4, the focus is on teachers' practices resembling school approaches to cultural diversity. In this study, I investigated two research questions: (1a) What types of descriptive norms regarding cultural diversity are perceived by teachers and students with and without an immigrant background and (1b) what is their degree of congruence? Additionally, I was also interested in how are teachers' and students' perceptions of descriptive norms about cultural diversity related to practices and artefacts in the physical and virtual school environment? Data for the second empirical study (Chapter 4) were previously collected in a dissertation project of doctor Maja Schachner funded by the federal program "ProExzellenz" of the Free State of Thuringia. Adopting a mixed-methods research design I conducted a secondary analysis of data from teachers' (n = 207) and students' (n = 1,644) gathered in 22 secondary schools in south-west Germany. Additional sources of data in this study were based on pictures of school interiors (hall and corridors) and sixth-grade classrooms' walls (n = 2,995), and screenshots from each school website (n = 6,499). Chapter 5 addresses the question of how culturally responsive teaching, teacher cultural diversity beliefs, and self-reflection on own teaching are related. More specifically, in this study I addressed two research questions: (1) How does CRT relate to teachers' beliefs about incorporating cultural diversity content into daily teaching and learning activities? And (2) how does the level of teachers' self-reflection on their own teaching relate to CRT? For this last empirical chapter, I conducted a multiple case study with four ethnic German teachers who work in one culturally and ethnically diverse high school in Berlin, using classroom video observations and post-observation interviews. In the final chapter (Chapter 6), I summarised the main findings of the systematic literature review and three empirical studies, and discuss their scientific and practical implications. This dissertation makes a significant contribution to the field of educational science to understanding culturally responsive teaching in terms of its measurement, focus on both beliefs and practices and the link between the two, and theoretical, practical, and future study implications.}, language = {en} } @article{CivitilloJuangSchachner2021, author = {Civitillo, Sauro and Juang, Linda P. and Schachner, Maja}, title = {Stressing similarities or ignoring differences?}, series = {Zeitschrift f{\"u}r Erziehungswissenschaft : ZfE}, volume = {24}, journal = {Zeitschrift f{\"u}r Erziehungswissenschaft : ZfE}, number = {1}, publisher = {Springer VS/Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH}, address = {Wiesbaden}, issn = {1434-663X}, doi = {10.1007/s11618-021-00995-9}, pages = {135 -- 153}, year = {2021}, abstract = {The color-evasive ideology (commonly termed "colorblindness") proposes that ethnic and cultural group memberships should be deemphasized. Yet there is a conceptual confusion around the meaning and measurement of color-evasiveness, and this construct is not used consistently in the international as well as German literature. Our purpose is to investigate whether two underlying forms of the color-evasive ideology (i.e., stressing similarities and ignoring differences) are two distinct, albeit related, constructs. We tested this hypothesis by applying these two forms of the color-evasive ideology to teachers' cultural diversity beliefs. In two cross-sectional field studies conducted with pre-service teachers (Study 1, n = 210), and in-service teachers (Study 2, n = 99), questionnaire items on the stressing similarities ideology and items on the ignoring differences ideology loaded on two separate factors, providing a better fit to the data than the one-factor model. Mean scores on these two types of color-evasive ideology also differed substantially, indicating that participants across the two studies mainly endorsed the stressing similarities perspective. The stressing similarities and ignoring differences ideologies related differently to other intergroup ideologies (i.e., multiculturalism and polyculturalism), and showed different patterns to psychosocial functioning in culturally diverse classrooms (i.e., cultural diversity-related stress).}, language = {en} } @article{CivitilloJuangBadraetal.2018, author = {Civitillo, Sauro and Juang, Linda P. and Badra, Marcel and Schachner, Maja Katharina}, title = {The interplay between culturally responsive teaching, cultural diversity beliefs, and self-reflection}, series = {Teaching and Teacher Education}, volume = {77}, journal = {Teaching and Teacher Education}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0742-051X}, doi = {10.1016/j.tate.2018.11.002}, pages = {341 -- 351}, year = {2018}, abstract = {This investigation examined the dynamic relation between culturally responsive teaching, teacher cultural diversity beliefs, and self-reflection on own teaching. A multiple case study with four ethnic German teachers was conducted using classroom video observations (3 lesson units X 2 raters) and post observation interviews in a culturally and ethnically diverse high school. For these teachers there was a high congruence between culturally responsive teaching and cultural diversity beliefs. Yet their degree of cultural responsiveness and their beliefs differed across teachers. The teachers who were observed to be more culturally responsive also showed elaborated patterns of self-reflection on their own teaching.}, language = {en} } @misc{CivitilloJuangSchachner2018, author = {Civitillo, Sauro and Juang, Linda P. and Schachner, Maja Katharina}, title = {Challenging beliefs about cultural diversity in education}, series = {Educational Research Review}, volume = {24}, journal = {Educational Research Review}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {1747-938X}, doi = {10.1016/j.edurev.2018.01.003}, pages = {67 -- 83}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Teaching culturally diverse classrooms starts from embracing beliefs that recognise the strengths of cultural diversity. Research is needed to understand how teacher training contributes to shaping pre-service teachers' beliefs about cultural diversity. Accordingly, the purpose of this review is to 1) provide a description of main components and contextual characteristics of teacher trainings targeting cultural diversity beliefs, 2) report the training effects, and 3) detail the methodological strengths and weaknesses of these studies. A total of 36 studies published between 2005 and 2015 that used a longitudinal assessment of cultural diversity beliefs were reviewed. The collective results of these studies indicate a large variance amongst trainings, with experiential learning shifting cultural diversity beliefs positively. However, existing studies have significant limitations in the study design and training evaluation that hinder their conclusions regarding internal and external validity and point towards new directions for future research.}, language = {en} } @article{CivitilloSchachnerJuangetal.2017, author = {Civitillo, Sauro and Schachner, Maja Katharina and Juang, Linda P. and van de Vijver, Fons J. R. and Handrick, Anna and Noack, Peter}, title = {Towards a better understanding of cultural diversity approaches at school}, series = {Learning, Culture and Social Interaction}, volume = {12}, journal = {Learning, Culture and Social Interaction}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {2210-6561}, doi = {10.1016/j.lcsi.2016.09.002}, pages = {1 -- 14}, year = {2017}, abstract = {The current study investigates two types of cultural diversity approaches at school, namely (1) fostering equality and (2) promoting cultural pluralism. Adopting a mixed-methods design, this study assesses teachers' (n = 207) and students' (n = 1,644) self-reported perceptions of descriptive norms and evaluates school practices and artefacts in the physical and virtual environment of 22 secondary schools in south-west Germany. Results showed that in all schools under investigation teachers and students perceived descriptive norms fostering mostly equality. A wide variety of practices and artefacts was found, revealing a third distinct cultural approach leaning towards endorsing the majority culture. Different practices and artefacts were linked to an emphasis on equality, cultural pluralism, and endorsing the majority culture. Implications for educational policy, as well as applied diversity research, are discussed.}, language = {en} }