EDUC 5460 Assignment: Ethical School Culture and Climate Review

This report reviews two articles related to school culture and climate, focusing on ethical decision-making in education. The first article, by Schachner et al. (2016), examines Germany's approach to balancing cultural diversity and assimilation for immigrant students, highlighting the dual policy of promoting both assimilation and self-proclamation. The report critiques the authors' perspective, suggesting they overlook the government's long-term ethical goals. The second article, by Peter, Taylor, and Chamberland (2015), presents a contrasting view, indicating that Canadian schools have not yet fully embraced diversity and acceptance for sexual minorities, with students still facing homophobic experiences, which constitutes a breach of ethical principles. The review concludes that schools still need to improve in upholding justice on an overall, holistic basis.

Running head: SCHOOL CULTURE AND CLIMATE
SCHOOL CULTURE AND CLIMATE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SCHOOL CULTURE AND CLIMATE
With the advent of the modern age, there has been a paradigmatic shift in the structuring
of the society and the norms meant for the individual conduct. However, in reality the new
structural changes are not something novel as the codes of public conduct were built upon the
existing set of values and mechanisms present in the society itself. The only thing that can be
claimed to be new is the rational basis of justifying the practices of the society and rejecting the
ones which seemed not to be having any rational basis. One such example can be the
replacement of codes of morality sanctioned by religion and society by the code of ethics. In a
society marked by mechanical solidarity and high degree of impersonalization, the code of ethics
shall be serving the purpose of catering to the task of regulating the behaviour of a diverse lot of
people. The central question of this particular essay shall be to analyze whether the principles of
ethics are adhered to in the school culture and climate. For the purpose, an article shall be
reviewed based upon the central theme or question of the essay and its main arguments shall be
contrasted against another article based on the same topic.
The work of Schachner et al (2016) has been chosen as the basic piece of literature to
adjudge the adherence to the code of ethics in the school culture and climate. They deal with the
ethical dilemma of choosing between the principles of equality and inclusion taken together and
the value of cultural pluralism for the purpose of upholding the spirit of cultural diversity,
accomodation and assimilation of all sections of the students into the fold of education.
Schachner et al (2016) say that the necessity to promote the value of cultural diversity and their
assimilation is not something which is any longer typical to the Unites States of America,
Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, but also spreading to the other parts of the world
which takes immigrants from other parts of the world as well. The article by Schachner et al
(2016) analyzes the example of Germany which is increasingly rising up the ladder of preference

2SCHOOL CULTURE AND CLIMATE
amongst the refugees seeking a safe haven, in recent times. Schachner et al (2016) conduct a
quantitative survey in German schools to find out what measure that the schools follow to
balance between promotion of cultural diversity and assimilation of students belonging to
immigrant backgrounds. Realization of both the values at the same time is something which is
not possible, as one has to be forgone for the sake of the other. Hence Germany has embarked
upon a dual policy of diversity which allows assimilation and also the scope to lay a claim to self
proclamation. The policy is implemented by instructing the newly arrived refugee kids into
schools that have a culturally homogenous population where they are instructed in their mother
tongue and also taught German. After having reached a particular level of proficiency in German
language, the students are allowed to assimilate with the mainstream education system
(Schachner et al., 2016). These are the basic finding of the article. The authors have been too
critical about the policy of the German Government, alleging it to be exclusionary, without
actually looking into the fact that it is trying to balance the cultural self assertion and promotion
of diversity at the same time. They have somehow ignore that the ultimate aim of the
government was to uphold the principle of ethics in the long run by making students capable
separately, and by maneuvering the technical barriers of communication.
The article by Peter, Taylor and Chamberland (2015) on the other hand tend to provide a
contrasting image of promotion of diversity in school climate and that is a serious example of a
breach of the principle of ethics. They tend to suggest that the idea of accepting and making
school climate and culture conducive to the students belonging to the sexual minorities has not
yet gained much currency in the context of promotion of diversity and acceptance, as the value is
quite narrowly perceived. According to their findings, the school culture and climate of Canada
is yet to be considered as safe haven for the sexual minorities as the students still suffer from

3SCHOOL CULTURE AND CLIMATE
homophobic assaults from their peers. The attempt to educate the students on accepting non cis-
hetero folks is quite depressing, and the results of which is bore by students belonging to the
group of sexual and gender minorities.
Thus from the above discussion it becomes clear that the school climate and culture are
yet to be able to claim the status of upholding the principle of justice on an overall basis
holistically.

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References
Peter, T., Taylor, C., & Chamberland, L. (2015). A queer day in Canada: Examining Canadian
high school students’ experiences with school-based homophobia in two large-scale
studies. Journal of homosexuality, 62(2), 186-206.
Schachner, M. K., Noack, P., Van de Vijver, F. J., & Eckstein, K. (2016). Cultural diversity
climate and psychological adjustment at school—equality and inclusion versus cultural
pluralism. Child development, 87(4), 1175-1191.