Culturally Responsive Practices when Working with Multilingual Children, Young People and their Families

Abstract

Background: The population of school-aged children in the UK is increasingly diverse. Children have the right to enjoy and learn the language, religion and culture of their family, even if they are not shared by the majority of people in the country where they live (The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child [UNCRC], 1989). Educational Psychologists (EPs) have a duty of care to ensure their practice responds to the communication and language needs of children and young people from linguistic minority backgrounds (Health and Care Professions Council [HCPC], 2023). However, EP responses to cultural and linguistic differences in their practice is under-researched. Methods/ participants: A systematic literature review focused on reviewing the views of EPs practising in different countries when working with culturally and linguistically diverse children and young people. A questionnaire was drawn from research on culturally responsive EP practice (Sakata, 2024; Douglas Girao & Kelly, 2023). EPs across the UK were asked to indicate the level of importance, their level of confidence and the extent to which they were able to use culturally responsive skills in their practice when working with multilingual children, young people and their parents/ carers as well as the facilitators and barriers when doing so. Analysis/findings: Responses to the survey indicated that whilst EPs felt it was important to practice culturally responsively with this client group, lower averages and greater variance were recorded in their levels of confidence and ability to use these practices. Findings in the systematic literature review highlighted that EPs’ experiences across national contexts could be understood within the bidirectional and interactional influences of the ecological model and correlated with previous studies, suggesting that issues across these systems persist. Conclusion/implications: The thesis concludes by considering implications for culturally responsive practice when working with multilingual service users. A dissemination strategy for this research is outlined in the hope to highlight areas of need and to facilitate increasing cultural responsivity when working with multilingual children, young people and their parents/ carers.

Date of Award	6 Jan 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Kevin Woods (Supervisor) & Catherine Kelly (Supervisor)