The interplay between diversity climate and multiculturalism policy: How diversity contexts shape student collective voice

Abstract

AbstractExisting research has largely acknowledged the importance of context in facilitating voice in culturally diverse institutions. However, most research has been situated empirically at the individual‐ rather than collective or context‐level. In the present research, multilevel modelling was used to examine the effect of school diversity context on students' perceived collective voice. Based on data from 4,690 students within 69 schools in Flanders, Belgium, we examined how multiculturalism policies as well as collectively perceived school climates of respect for diverse cultural groups may facilitate or hinder native and immigrant‐origin students' perceived collective voice. Results showed that diversity climates of respect were related to a greater perceived collective voice among all students, while multiculturalism policies had no effect. Nevertheless, an interplay between policy and climate showed that multiculturalism policy narrowed the gap in perceived collective voice between schools with stronger or weaker diversity climates. These results were robust to alternate indicators of climate and across minority/majority status groups. They raise the question of whether critical consciousness of unequal respect may be a first step in establishing socially just schools where multiculturalism policies value cultural identities and where all students can feel they have a collective voice. Future research directions are discussed. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.