Developing cohesion and building positive relationships through storytelling in a culturally diverse New Zealand classroom

Educational research highlights the importance of positive teacher student relationships and recommends teachers adopt teaching strategies that are more culturally inclusive, and allow for reciprocal teaching and learning where student prior knowledge is legitimized. Participants in this study experienced such an approach. Through a storytelling process they fostered empathy, compassion, tolerance and respect for difference. This paper introduces four interrelated factors that enhanced participant understanding of themselves, others and cultural perspectives: developing the ways of working, establishing a caring supportive environment, privileging student voice through personal stories, and enhancing participant connectedness and relationship change. These results have potential relevance for teachers and teacher educators who face the challenge of catering for the learning needs of culturally diverse students in their classrooms.

Through a shared storytelling process Year 10 students’ investigated what they learnt about themselves, others and cultural perspectives, and fostered empathy, compassion, tolerance and respect for difference. There was a focus on processes that were most effective in creating a classroom environment where such perspectives could be generated. This culturally inclusive approach emerged from the grounded theory analysis of student journals.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slideResearch highlights
► Storytelling has a central role to play in work on cultural difference and diversity.
► Four interrelated factors that enhanced participant understanding of themselves, others and cultural perspectives emerged as key to developing a culturally inclusive classroom: developing the ways of working, establishing a caring supportive environment, privileging student voice through personal stories, and enhancing participant connectedness and relationship change.