The cultural diversification of the Scottish teaching profession: how necessary is it?

In the last two decades in most parts of the world, the nature of teachers' work and the knowledge they require has undergone enormous change. In part, these changes have occurred in response to unprecedented levels of global mobility. Culturally homogenous classrooms have become rare in most places in Britain, Europe and elsewhere, such as the USA, Canada and Australia (OECD, 2011). Of particular significance is the rapid rate of demographic change in some countries where there has been recent and relative cultural homogeneity, such as Iceland (OECD, 2013) and Ireland. for example (Government of Ireland 2012). Countries including the USA. Canada and Australia, sometimes referred to as 'classical immigration countries' or 'traditional immigration countries' (Dustmann, Frattini, & Lanrora 2011), have experienced increased cultural diversity in specific geographical areas and regions in response to government resettlement policies (e.g., Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection 2014). Additionally, although not due to global trends in immigration, the cultural and linguistic diversity of countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States of America, includes the diverse cultures and languages of Aboriginal and First Nations populations. Despite the increased cultural and linguistic diversity of student populations, in Scotland, like the rest of the UK, the majority of teachers are white and monolingual (The Scottish Government. 2011; Department for Education, 2012). Increasingly, the lack of ethnic diversity within teacher populations worldwide is seen as problematic by researchers and policy makers in general, who have called for some time for the cultural and racial diversification of the profession. One of the reasons underpinning such calls is the benefit to culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) pupils. An increasing body of research suggests ethnik and racial minority teachers have important insights about the pupils with whom they share cultural minority status.

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