Canada, Multicultural Education in

Multicultural education refers broadly to pedagogical and curricular approaches that attend positively to diversity, promoting equitable opportunities and outcomes for all learners regardless of ethnic or cultural origins, or other aspects of social identity. In Canada, the term multicultural is contested, with numerous views from a variety of ideological and conceptual positions, even from within education. Public education in Canada has developed over the past 150 years with specific regional differences, as each province is tasked with developing curriculum and setting educational practices and programs in its jurisdiction. Among multicultural educators themselves, this description includes a wide range of activities.

Schools and school districts adopting multicultural education approaches, including “multicultural clubs” in schools since the 1970s in Canada, have traditionally fostered the integration of immigrant and ...