Cultural Competency Milestone
Looking at the continuum, decide which stage the school would like students to reach by the time they graduate. The stage should be a realistic one based on the curriculum and other activities the school requires/provides to students. Then, draft a program outcome that identifies what graduates would know, be able to do, or value to achieve the chosen stage. Identify in the required curriculum and other courses and activities where the knowledge, skills, and values needed for cultural competence are introduced, practiced, and mastered to the desired stage. Finally, use the continuum to develop an assessment tool or tools that will allow students to demonstrate whether they have achieved the desired stage by graduation. This tool might be a self-reflection and assessment by students, an exam, or a simulation that requires the use of knowledge, skills, and values that underlie cultural competence.
Example: IU has as a program goal the broad category “Professionalism,” which encompasses cultural competence: “Our students will empathize with and respect those affected by their work.” The corresponding program outcome states that students will be able to: “Identify, appreciate, and navigate cultural, social, political, and viewpoint differences in both personal and professional interactions.”
A comparison of the key verbs in this outcome – “identify, appreciate, and navigate” – puts this outcome on the continuum in the Acceptance, Adaptation, and Integration stages.
| Stage of Cultural Competence | Description of Knowledge, Behaviors, and Values | Examples Of Statements a Person in this Stage Might Make |
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| Chauvinism about a Particular Culture | I recognize broad, general categories of culture. But not only do I believe that my culture is superior to other cultures, I believe that members of other cultures have no or only a limited place/role in my community. |
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| Unawareness of Cultural Differences | I don’t have personal assumptions and biases based on culture. I may recognize broad, general categories such as “foreigners,” “gays,” and “people of color.” I prefer to be with people who are like me. |
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| Preference for a Particular Culture | I know there are other cultures, but my culture is better than other cultures. Other cultures just aren’t as moral. I sort people by whether they belong to my culture or not. OR I think another culture is better than mine. So, I try to belong to that culture. |
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| Minimization of Cultural Difference | I believe that cultural differences are superficial, like food, music, and clothing. All people share universal human traits and values, (like the ones at the heart of my culture). Because we are all the same inside, I act like myself, no matter whom I’m with, and I treat everyone the same. In my country, I don’t believe that anyone has an advantage due to culture. |
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| Appreciation of Cultural Differences and Acknowledgement of Cultural Diversity / Equity | I believe that all behaviors and values, including my own, are constructed in distinct and observable cultural contexts that are equally authentic human experiences (cultural relativism). I try to understand how general cultural context and patterns affect my own and other people’s specific behavior and values. That doesn’t mean that I agree with or prefer another culture’s values. Rather, I try not to judge another culture based on my own culture’s values, even when I don’t like the behavior or value of the other culture. Sometimes, trying to be nonjudgmental can feel as though I’m not being true to my own cultural values. Being aware of general cultural context and patterns means I have to be careful to focus on the specific people I’m interacting with. I try not expect them to follow all the general values and behaviors of their culture. I know that systematic privilege for dominant cultural groups exists. If I’m a member of a dominant group or in a role that gives me power or authority over someone who is different from myself I try to be careful about how I act. I don’t want to be blind to privilege or seem as though I’m judging their culture. I don’t want to offend someone else. |
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| Responsiveness to Cultural Differences/Diversity/Inclusion | I learn about cultural difference before working with others, including by seeking out cultural informants and researching cultural difference. I consciously shift my perspective and behavior in response to another’s culture. That means I practice empathy, withholding judgment, and cultural frame-of-reference shifting in working with others. I use tools such as The Five Habits of Cross-Cultural Lawyering. I am motivated to practice because, the more I practice, the more fluid and authentic my adaptations become, and the more effective I become in making an experience more culturally accessible for other people. I apply my own cultural and professional values in culturally relative ways. |
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| Fluency in Cultural Inclusion | I see all people as culturally unique because we each create our own cultural and personal identities, based on the more general cultural contexts and patterns that we experience. I like being able to integrate the different cultures that I belong to into a positive whole. I use power in culturally appropriate ways, with an emphasis on reconciling differences. I look for and create opportunities for multicultural interactions. I support others in creating their own multicultural or intersectional identities. |
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Working Group
Georgia State
Kinda Abdus-Saboor
Indiana Bloomington
Carwina Weng