Multiculturalism, policy and teaching : defending democratic principles and practices

Ethnic diversity typifies Australian and New Zealand! Aotearoa societies, but not necessarily their school curricula. As in other countries, school knowledge in these countries has been questioned, in part because of the exclusion of ethnic minorities from curriculum representations of their societies (Donald & Rattansi 1992; Roman 1993). Neither they, nor their experiences, perspectives, needs and interests, have been adequately and appropriately represented in the knowledge disseminated in classrooms in these countries. Curriculum standards, guidelines and policies can therefore shape narrowly and exclusively what teachers tell their students about their society. Efforts continue to be made to redress this situation (Kanpol & McLaren 1995; Tomlinson & Craft 1995), some of which are reviewed in this chapter.