Diversity refers to normal human variances in terms of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, dis/ability, religion, indigenous status, nationality, citizenship status, culture, refugee status and so on (Smith, 2011). What people experience in their lives, including the opportunities and challenges, are heavily influenced by their diverse markers or attributions. For example, minoritised ethnic or racial groups or people with dis/ability often experience lower educational and life outcomes compared to majority ethnic or racial groups or people without dis/ability respectively. However, such differential impacts are not due to differences among people, rather how diversity is understood and managed in societies (Bhowmik & Kennedy, 2022).     

This symposium will examine how a selected number of societies, including Cameroon, Hong Kong and Scotland understand diversity, what challenges for educators and leaders are reportedly it poses, and how educators and leaders deal with those challenges. Particular focus will be given to diverse groups’ construction and negotiation of identities, belonging, acculturation, religions, experiences of marginalization and discrimination and their linkages to educational outcomes and wellbeing. Adopting an asset-informed approach that assumes diversity as a strength as opposed to deficiency (Waitoller & King Thorius, 2016), the symposium will report policies and practices that are found to be effective in managing classrooms with students from diverse backgrounds. The underlying theories such as labeling issues in dis/ability discourse (Essex and Macaskill, 2020), diversity mindset in inclusive leadership (Knippenberg and Ginkel, 2022), decoloniality (Mignolo & Walsh, 2018), and critical race theory in education (Taylor, Gillborn, & Ladson-Billings, 2009) will be highlighted. The symposium will also shed light on educational and parenting practices of minoritised groups so as to better equip educators, leaders, researchers and other stakholders to meaningfully engage with minoritised students and their families.

All four papers will deal with diversity and related responses in their respective contexts. First paper will examine the gaps between policy and practices in relation to Additional Support Needs in Scottish education system. The second paper will look at how inclusive leadership capabilities are being developed in Cameroon by harnessing the power of continuous learning via professional learning community. The third paper will elucidate how critical literacies can be utilized to promote decoloniality by engaging students with diversity, inclusion and power related isssues in a teacher education programme at a Scottish university. The fourth paper will employ a critical race perspective to highlight the shortcomings of language dominating discourse in relation to minoritised students’ education in Hong Kong. 

This 90-minute symposium comprises an opening session, four paper presentations, comments by the Discussant and question-answer session with the audience. A Chairperson will open the symposium to welcome the audience and explain the purpose, rationale and structure of the symposium. They will have 5 minutes for the opening session. It will be followed by four paper presentations focusing on three different jurisdictions. Each Paper Presenter will have 15 minutes. The Discussant will then take 15 minutes to highlight and critique some key points of each presented paper as well as their implications for policy, practice and future research. The symposium will close by a question-answer session with the audience for about 10 minutes. The Chair, Paper Presenters and the Discussant are all scholars working in three different parts of the world.

Bhowmik, M. K., & Kennedy, K. J. (2022). Reconceptualization of support and policy for minoritised students with dis/abilities in Hong Kong. Cambridge Journal of Education, 52(4), 519-537. Essex, J. and Macaskill, M. (2020). Modern Foreign Language Education for learners with Additional Support Needs in Scotland, Support for Learning, 35 (4), 440-453. Knippenberg., V. D. and Ginkel., V. P. W. (2022). A Diversity Mindset Perspective on Inclusive Leadership, Group and Organisation Management, 47(4), 779-797 Mignolo, W. D., & Walsh, C. E. (2018). On decoloniality: Concepts, analytics, praxis. Duke University Press. Smith, S. R. (2011). Equality and diversity. Bristol: Policy Press. Taylor, E., Gillborn, D. & Ladson-Billings, G. (Eds.). (2009). Foundations of critical race theory in Education. New York: Routledge. Waitoller, F. R., & King Thorius, K. A. (2016). Cross-pollinating culturally sustaining pedagogy and universal design for learning: Toward an inclusive pedagogy that accounts for dis/ability. Harvard Educational Review, 86(3), 366-389.