Objectives Of Multicultural Education

The 21st century has seen a major change in technology which has enabled easy interaction and movement of people around the world for better opportunities in jobs, school, business and family union. On the other hand, unfortunate situations such as natural disasters caused by climate change have displaced people from their natural habitats to safer places for refuge. In addition, wars, civil conflicts and other human rights violations have also caused the migration of people to other countries for security purposes (Coelho, 2012). Hence, this increase in mobility has resulted in the creation of multicultural societies, especially in European countries. Iceland is not an exception of this increased number of immigrants. Significantly, immigrant

This can only be accomplished by having a curriculum which acknowledges diversity and promotes equity. In this case, teachers would not be going outside the assessment criteria in their implementation of multicultural programs. Fortunately, the Icelandic National Curriculum Guide promotes multicultural education through the six fundamental pillars which are the basis of the curriculum guidelines for preschool, compulsory and upper secondary school. The fundamental pillars include Literacy, Sustainability, Health and welfare, Democracy and human rights, Equality and Creativity. In this guide, the description of school subjects, their goals, assessment and teaching methods are all based on these pillars. Further, all the fundamental pillars are interconnected but Equality has among other tasks, that of developing Iceland as a multicultural society thus, it emphasises on education concerning culture, nationality, languages, religion and values (Ministry of Education, Science and Culture [MESC], 2014). But, what are the benefits of a multicultural classroom in the curriculum and what is expected of

Thus, teaching strategies need to build on the cultural strengths of the students and teachers need to be knowledgeable of the cultures of their students. To support this, research by Ladson-Billings (1995) shows how academic achievement and cultural competence can be merged. This is in a case where a teacher Patricia Hillard, used her familiarity with the kind of music that pervades the African American youth culture to integrate it into a learning