Individual and Contextual Morality: How Educators in Oppositional and Permissive Communities Use Culturally Responsive Practices
Instructional practices that attend to students’ cultural motivations and strengths can play an important role in mitigating educational inequities. However, educators increasingly experience backlash for efforts to address educational inequities, raising moral questions about how educators should e...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Behavioral Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/15/4/446 |
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| author | Kate M. Morman Cong Wang Laura M. Brady Stephanie A. Fryberg |
| author_facet | Kate M. Morman Cong Wang Laura M. Brady Stephanie A. Fryberg |
| author_sort | Kate M. Morman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Instructional practices that attend to students’ cultural motivations and strengths can play an important role in mitigating educational inequities. However, educators increasingly experience backlash for efforts to address educational inequities, raising moral questions about how educators should engage students. Through a national study, we explored how educators’ likelihood of implementing culturally responsive practices (CRPs) (i.e., practices focused on affirming students’ cultural backgrounds) varied according to educators’ individual moral frameworks (i.e., multicultural and colorblind diversity ideologies) and the contextual moral frameworks they encountered among their administrators (i.e., support for educational equity work) and local communities (i.e., DEI sentiment). When their communities were permissive of DEI, teachers who strongly endorsed multiculturalism implemented CRPs frequently, regardless of their administrators’ support for equity work. In DEI-opposed communities, however, pro-multiculturalism educators only implemented CRPs frequently when their administrators supported equity work. In contrast, regardless of community-level DEI sentiment, CRP implementation among educators with weaker endorsement of multiculturalism depended upon administrators’ support for equity work. Results suggest that educators with less well-defined individual moral frameworks about diversity rely upon contextual frameworks to determine their practices, while those with more codified moral frameworks rely upon contextual frameworks primarily when their individual moral frameworks conflict with their community’s. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e8fed9679c194eb1952e32d93a54484a |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2076-328X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Behavioral Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-e8fed9679c194eb1952e32d93a54484a2025-08-20T03:14:20ZengMDPI AGBehavioral Sciences2076-328X2025-03-0115444610.3390/bs15040446Individual and Contextual Morality: How Educators in Oppositional and Permissive Communities Use Culturally Responsive PracticesKate M. Morman0Cong Wang1Laura M. Brady2Stephanie A. Fryberg3Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USADepartment of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USAEducation Systems and Policy Program Area, American Institutes for Research, Chicago, IL 60606, USADepartment of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USAInstructional practices that attend to students’ cultural motivations and strengths can play an important role in mitigating educational inequities. However, educators increasingly experience backlash for efforts to address educational inequities, raising moral questions about how educators should engage students. Through a national study, we explored how educators’ likelihood of implementing culturally responsive practices (CRPs) (i.e., practices focused on affirming students’ cultural backgrounds) varied according to educators’ individual moral frameworks (i.e., multicultural and colorblind diversity ideologies) and the contextual moral frameworks they encountered among their administrators (i.e., support for educational equity work) and local communities (i.e., DEI sentiment). When their communities were permissive of DEI, teachers who strongly endorsed multiculturalism implemented CRPs frequently, regardless of their administrators’ support for equity work. In DEI-opposed communities, however, pro-multiculturalism educators only implemented CRPs frequently when their administrators supported equity work. In contrast, regardless of community-level DEI sentiment, CRP implementation among educators with weaker endorsement of multiculturalism depended upon administrators’ support for equity work. Results suggest that educators with less well-defined individual moral frameworks about diversity rely upon contextual frameworks to determine their practices, while those with more codified moral frameworks rely upon contextual frameworks primarily when their individual moral frameworks conflict with their community’s.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/15/4/446culturally responsive practicesdiversity ideologiesmoral beliefs in educationequity-focused teaching in political contexts |
| spellingShingle | Kate M. Morman Cong Wang Laura M. Brady Stephanie A. Fryberg Individual and Contextual Morality: How Educators in Oppositional and Permissive Communities Use Culturally Responsive Practices Behavioral Sciences culturally responsive practices diversity ideologies moral beliefs in education equity-focused teaching in political contexts |
| title | Individual and Contextual Morality: How Educators in Oppositional and Permissive Communities Use Culturally Responsive Practices |
| title_full | Individual and Contextual Morality: How Educators in Oppositional and Permissive Communities Use Culturally Responsive Practices |
| title_fullStr | Individual and Contextual Morality: How Educators in Oppositional and Permissive Communities Use Culturally Responsive Practices |
| title_full_unstemmed | Individual and Contextual Morality: How Educators in Oppositional and Permissive Communities Use Culturally Responsive Practices |
| title_short | Individual and Contextual Morality: How Educators in Oppositional and Permissive Communities Use Culturally Responsive Practices |
| title_sort | individual and contextual morality how educators in oppositional and permissive communities use culturally responsive practices |
| topic | culturally responsive practices diversity ideologies moral beliefs in education equity-focused teaching in political contexts |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/15/4/446 |
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