Courses

Cultural Humility in Education

This set of five 4-hour workshops introduces the core principles and skills of cultural humility, specifically geared for educators. The workshops can be taken as a sequence or individually.

Core 1: Cultural Humility as Path to Educational Equity
Core 2: Institutional Consistency, Power, and Privilege in Education
Core 3: Skilled Dialogue and Inquiry With Students and Colleagues
Core 4: Identity Negotiation and Self-Reflection in Education
Core 5: Transformational Conflict in Education

Core 1:

Cultural Humility as Path to Educational Equity

Cultural humility, unlike cultural competence, does not assume an end point but rather a commitment to life-long learning. It is an approach that helps us create equitable institutions through the intentional practice of meeting others where they are, addressing power differentials, institutionalizing organizational consistency, and focusing on unlearning personal biases. This workshop will introduce you to the core philosophy of cultural humility and initial steps for application.

What you will learn:

Understand the philosophical underpinnings of cultural humility
Understand the framework of cultural humility
Be familiar with the historical backdrop of the cultural humility movement
Increase your comfort in talking about the four core principles of cultural humility
Develop an action plan for expanding your integration of cultural humility into daily life

Workshops typically include:

Introductions, energizers, and experiential learning activities
Mindfulness and journaling practices
Viewing of the Principles and Practice of Cultural Humility, by Dr. Vivian Chavez
Overview of the four core principles
Small group discussion about how to foster cultural humility in daily life
Action planning

Who should attend:

DEI leaders, chief diversity or equity officers, administrators
Educators and mentors
Students
Anyone who works or studies in an educational setting

Core 2:

Institutional Consistency, Power, and Privilege in Education

This workshop reviews the matrix of domination, power, privilege, and levels of oppression. We explore how these dynamics become both internalized and institutionalized, as well as the long-term impacts on educators and students. Social justice self-care and action planning conclude the workshop.

What you will learn:

Develop a deeper awareness of the cultural humility principles and their interconnectedness
Increase your comfort with systems theory, institutional accountability, and intervention strategies (e.g., communities of practice and cultural humility core teams)
Develop an action plan for self-care and institutional success

Workshops typically include:

Introductions, energizers, and experiential learning activities
Mindfulness and journaling practices
Overview of the four core principles
Small group discussion on how to foster cultural humility in daily life
Action planning

Who should attend:

DEI leaders, chief diversity or equity officers, administrators
Educators and mentors
Students
Anyone who works or studies in an educational setting

Core 3:

Skilled Dialogue and Inquiry With Students and Colleagues

Cultural humility is conceptual framework and daily practice for moving organizations more deeply into equity. It requires the ability to engage in the processes of skilled dialogue and inquiry. This workshop focuses on the skills and abilities required to engage in inquiry and skilled dialogue with students and colleagues. We explore what is required to create a culture of dialogue vs. discussion or debate and how best to engage more fully in shaping a culture of dialogue through classroom curriculum, diversity dialogue groups, and equity dialogue/core groups.

What you
will learn:

Understand the depth and breadth of a culture of dialogue
Develop a robust dialoguing practice
Practice the skill of invitation to dialogue
Develop calling-in protocols
Apply the skills of dialogue and calling in to a variety of settings

Workshops typically include:

Introductions, energizers, and experiential learning activities
Mindfulness and journaling practices
Overview of the four core principles
Small group discussion on how to foster cultural humility in daily life
Action planning

Who should attend:

DEI leaders, chief diversity or equity officers, administrators
Educators and mentors
Students
Anyone who works or studies in an educational setting

Core 4:

Identity Negotiation and Self-Reflection in Education

As educators, we navigate multiple identities, just as our students do. Part of navigating identities is acknowledging the role of power and privilege in each interaction. How we see ourselves and how others see us matters, as do the messages we have internalized about our perceived identities. Cultural humility requires an honest assessment of the role of power and privilege in our daily life and how it shapes our interactions. To fully engage in equity, social justice, and culturally humble engagement, we must not only recognize our privileged identities but also understand how to negotiate them, name them aloud, and move towards allyship. This workshop examines power and privilege in the academy, navigating personal identities, skilled reflective practice, and ally behavior.

What you
will learn:

Understand power and privilege in your daily life
Develop skills for navigating personal identities
Develop skills for a real-time reflective practice and ally/solidarity behavior
Practice power analysis, intersectional analysis, and shared decision-making
Apply ethno-relative understanding and a standpoint praxis

Workshops typically include:

Introductions, energizers, and experiential learning activities
Mindfulness and journaling practices
Overview of the four core principles
Small group discussion on how to foster cultural humility in daily life
Action planning

Who should attend:

DEI leaders, chief diversity or equity officers, administrators
Educators and mentors
Students
Anyone who works or studies in an educational setting

Core 5:

Transformational Conflict in Education

Conflict is an essential process along the path to a deeper sense of cultural humility. Conflict need not be viewed as a dysfunctional form of engagement or communication; when appropriately handled, it can be constructive. In fact, for individual and perspective transformation to occur, conflict is often required. This workshop explores the opportunities conflict provides and how to engage fully and productively with conflict situations, from a place of cultural humility. Skills include calling in during difficult conversations, real-time feedback, anti-oppression informed/liberation mediation, and identifying episode vs. epicenter focused interventions.