Promoting Teachers of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) Students as Change Agents: A Cultural Approach to Professional Learning

This article proposes a cultural approach to professional learning to empower pre- and in-service teachers to successfully address increasingly diverse student populations and become culturally responsive to students' diverse backgrounds. This cultural approach treats culture as a vital source for reshaping the politics of identity and difference. It emphasizes building teachers' ability to recognize their own cultural practices and relate to those of their students, as well as enhancing their performance and action in empowering their students to work against cultural hegemony. The article explicates the 3 stages of the approach, namely, the cultural reconciliation, the cultural translation, and the cultural transformation stage, and discusses how they can be applied in professional learning for teachers of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students.