The role of a cultural diversity facilitator

Riccarton students and their families proudly representing Pacific culture at the school's annual Culture Fest.

Schools across Aotearoa are increasingly multicultural. This is true of Riccarton High School, in Ōtautahi Christchurch with their students representing 70 different nationalities.  

To help meet the needs of each cultural group, the school hired a cultural diversity facilitator in 2018.  

Today, the position is held by Dr Tisi Sharnali. Her role is multifaceted, busy, and vital. Tisi says that all schools, even if they’re not as diverse as hers, benefit from culturally capable staff like her.  

“If you think about equity, schools need to give opportunities for all students to showcase their heritage culture or to sustain it in their lives.”  

Tisi says students from migrant families change quickly in New Zealand schools.  

“They acculturate quite fast and the school acts like a melting pot for them. They can lose their heritage culture quite fast from early learning to secondary school, and some of them will lose their language.”

She explains how it can be harmful for young people to lose essential parts of their identity, especially when they’re doing so to fit in.  

“Some ākonga don’t want to bring food in their lunchbox, which is their food,” says Tisi.  

“To bring equity, we need to highlight those elements so we can give [ākonga] acknowledgement that it is important to keep your heritage culture and language.”  

Juliet Fry, Riccarton High School’s English for speakers of other Languages (ESOL) coordinator, says having Tisi’s vision and expertise to be able to really connect with smaller communities within their bigger community has been really useful.  

These qualities have been beneficial to Riccarton’s staff, as well as students.  

Culturally competent educators  

Students performing with Japanese taiko drums as part of the school's annual Culture Fest.

One key way educators can become more culturally competent lies in their perception of diversity.  

Tisi says the key is not to see diversity as a challenge, but rather something that can enrich learners’ experiences in the classroom and foster a sense of community within the school.  

“The class is a family,” she adds. “Nowadays, you can find information on hand. So if you want to learn about any culture, it’s available there.”  

“Just saying ‘Eid Mubarak’ to a student would mean a lot to them ... giving those little affirmations that can help the class to feel together,” says Juliet.  

Tisi stresses regular cultural training for all Aotearoa teachers and makes herself available to local teachers who want to ask questions about the myriad cultures at their schools.  

“When you are getting students from multiple cultures, you need to make sure that you are providing something equal to any other student of your class.”  

One surprising source of expertise in this area has been the students themselves.  

Often, Riccarton High School students are invited to teach staff about their backgrounds and identities.  

“When we have Pasifika language weeks, we have the students coming into the staff room to talk with the staff, not just about language, but some of the cultural aspects of themselves. The teachers really appreciate that,” says Juliet.  

Families as a source of knowledge  

Riccarton students in traditional dress practise for a performance during Chinese Language Week.

Tisi says that parents can also be useful resources for teachers wanting to increase their cultural capabilities. She says, in the past, she’s had parents express a keen desire to come to introduce themselves and their child’s culture.  

“Those parents, those families, they have their richness, their history. They’re bringing their history with them into the country. So we could use those families as a resource as well,” she says.  

For many cultures, the passing down of knowledge from generation to generation within the same family is a vital cornerstone. Tisi says that in Riccarton’s Pasifika studies class, in particular, relatives are frequently invited to help with lessons.  

When this happens, Tisi says the class becomes “a living cultural place”.  

“It’s working in the ways of the cultures taught in that class, and so that’s a good model for the rest of us to use.”  

Both Tisi and Juliet agree that empowering students to share and feel pride in their culture is crucial to their wellbeing, as well as the health and vibrancy of the school. Teachers play a vital role in facilitating this.  

By viewing diversity as an opportunity to broaden their minds as well as those of their ākonga, educators can deliver equal opportunities to all students while facilitating an inclusive, cyclical kind of learning that gives back to all those who participate.

Dr Tisi Sharnali has been working as a cultural diversity facilitator at Riccarton High School since January 2020.

Five tips for schools 

Juliet and Tisi share their top tips and suggestions to help elevate cultural capability and responsiveness.  

1. Form a Cultural Diversity Communication Team.
   This could be a group of school staff who meet regularly to plan and discuss cultural diversity activities. The team should have some student representatives who give ākonga voice to the team.  
2. Enable active connection with whānau from ethnic communities.
   For example, organise ethnic parents’ meetings, celebrate ethnic events,  do house visits, have school staff attend community hui and prepare a customised calendar for cultural diversity activities. 
3. Connect with local agencies who run various multicultural programmes and activities.
   Negotiate, and bring those opportunities for the students and parents.  
4. Make use of ethnic parents' knowledge as resources for classroom learning.
   Make space for them to introduce themselves and their child's culture.  
5. Employ a cultural diversity facilitator/coordinator who is responsible for coordinating activities.
   This person would have structured networks to ensure that activities are connected across the school and responsibilities are shared. Structured networking could include: regular meetings with the appropriate senior leadership person, timetabled connection with HOD of English as an Additional Language, shared responsibility for supporting former refugees, responsibility for the Cultural Diversity Communication Team.