“Opening the Window to a World Wider Than Our Little Classroom”: The Importance of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

Diversity in today’s classrooms must be considered and valued to create effective learning environments. Through surveys (N=83) and interviews (N=10), this mixed methods study examined in-service elementary teachers’ beliefs about culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) – more specifically, self-efficacy and outcome expectancy, as related to CRP. Results showed that teachers not only have highly positive outcome expectations for CRP quantitatively, they also explain specific benefits of CRP – relationship building, student achievement, and learning beyond the curriculum. Teachers were efficacious implementing CRP related to general good teaching practices, such as developing relationships and building trust with students. However, they were less efficacious in more culture-specific CRP practices, such as utilizing students’ native languages and evaluating curriculum to ensure the inclusion of various cultural groups. The importance of CRP was described by all teachers, yet their self-efficacy acted as a barrier to implementation.