Cultural Diversity Profile and the Values of Bhinneka (Diversity) in

Multicultural Education of Elementary School

Arbin Janu Setiyowati, Henny Indreswari, Irene Maya Simon

Faculty of Education, Department of Guidance and Counseling, UniversitasNegeri Malang, Malang, Indonesia

Keywords: Cultural Diversity, The Values of Bhinneka (Diversity), Multicultural Education

Abstract: This study aims to determine the profile of cultural diversity in elementary schools and the diversity of values

that need to be developed in multicultural education in elementary schools. The design of this study was

survey research. The subjects of this research were 50 school personnel involving principals, teachers and

administration staffs in Malang City and Pasuruan Districts. The research instrument used was semi open

questionnaire. Data analysis techniques used in this study was descriptive analysis techniques. The results

show that cultural diversity at the elementary level encompasses religious diversity, ethnic diversity, diversity

of mind-sets and behaviours, and the diversity of socioeconomic status. The diversity values that need to be

developed in the multicultural education in the elementary school include the diversity aspect of religious,

ethnic, geographical, customs and language diversity; and diversity attitudes that include mutual respect,

avoiding discrimination, justice, cooperation and compassion.

1 INTRODUCTION

The diversity of Indonesian can be seen from the

aspect of regional condition and socio-cultural

aspects. According to the social culture condition, it

is seen that the people of Indonesia are composed by

various differences, whether religious, ethnic, racial,

language and cultural differences. Such socio-cultural

conditions tend to create conflict among the life of the

Indonesian. The fact also shows that in the life of the

Indonesian people there are frequent conflicts

between groups of people who are motivated by these

differences.

Cultural diversity of Indonesia is beneficial as a

source of knowledge for the local community and

global society, as a nation identity within

international relationship, as an element to encourage

a tolerance, unity, and nationalism. Therefore, as the

young generation, it is important to understand the

diversity as the potency of Indonesia instead of being

a reason of conflict.

These days, news in both television and printed-

media expose a numerous cases of conflict. For

instance, a conflict issues in Lampung, conflict

between different religions followers, between

different ethnic and race, and etc. In addition, a

conflict in Jakarta election which was full of racial

and religion discrimination. These recent conflicts are

due to the limited awareness of Indonesian regarding

cultural diversity. Moreover, certain group of people

think that their group is better than the other. To

reduce the conflict and create a harmony social living

within society, it urgently needs a solution. To reduce

horizontal conflict occurring in society, several

countries have made an attempt such us fostering the

society by providing peace, human right, civics, and

multicultural education (Salomon and Cairns, 2010;

Fontana, 2016). Hence, considering the above-

mentioned issue in Indonesia, it requires to develop

multicultural education within Indonesian education

system from elementary school to tertiary education.

Conflict that might be happened within

elementary school students related to the diversity

issue basically can be prevented. Conflict happens

due to wrong perception regarding diversity issue

which is existed in the surrounding environment of

individual and limited of positive role within the

environment (Winkel, 2009). Wrong perception can

be clarified by providing a counter information. It is

expected in the future, counter information can

change students’ perception and behaviour.

Therefore, it requires an appropriate means to counter

the information and systematic plan through the

development of multicultural education which take

Setiyowati, A., Indreswari, H. and Simon, I.

Cultural Diversity Proﬁle and the Values of Bhinneka (Diversity) in Multicultural Education of Elementary School.

DOI: 10.5220/0008408100840089

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Learning Innovation (ICLI 2018), pages 84-89

ISBN: 978-989-758-391-9

into account elementary school students

characteristics.

Multicultural education is important to be

developed in the early age of children, especially

starting from elementary school. Elementary

education is the foundation for the establishment of

all values necessary for social life. Elementary

school-age students are at a level of development that

allows them to receive as much information and

behavioural models as possible, both positive and

negative. It is expected that the community

environment can provide information and

behavioural models that are positive for the

development of children. Awareness of the diversity

of the Indonesian cannot be developed instantly

instead, it needs continuous attempt. Therefore, it is

important to provide multicultural education from an

early age, in elementary school, to encourage the

awareness of the importance of diversity that exists in

our country.

Previous research findings reveal the

importance of systemic attempt to teach children from

diverse cultural backgrounds and establish

collaboration between schools, families and

communities (Cousik, 2015). Further, the results of

the study confirms the need for a model of

multicultural education designed which is adjusted

with the characteristics of elementary school students.

The developed multicultural education needs to be

designed that involves the role of the family and the

community. The importance of family and

community involvement in multicultural education is

essential to create a continuous learning process

within family, school and community environments.

In addition, in the designed multicultural education,

the school has an obligation to improve teachers'

knowledge and pedagogic skills in the practice of

teaching students from diverse cultural backgrounds.

The quality of teachers in multicultural education

affects the students' sensitivity in accepting the

cultural diversity around them.

Multicultural education will help students

recognize the cultural diversity around them and

establish the awareness of cultural diversity. Jackson

et.al (2006) research findings suggest that when

children are given the opportunity to interact with

peers from diverse cultural backgrounds, they tend to

be less biased. The findings of this research provide

the basis for this research to create a profile of cultural

diversity in elementary schools as well as to identify

the values of diversity that need to be developed in

multicultural education in elementary schools.

2 METHOD

The design of this present research is a survey

research. Survey research was used to reveal the the

cultural diversity condition within elementary school

and also the values of bhinneka (diversity) which is

important to be developed in multicultural education

of elementary school. The subject of this research

involved 50 personnel of elementary school around

Malang City and Pasuruan Regency. It consisted of

head of school, teacher, and administration staffs.

This research employed descriptive analysis

technique. The instrument of data collection used

semi-open questionnaire. The data were then

analysed descriptively with the percentage

calculation.

3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Cultural diversity profiles in elementary schools

obtained from this study include: conditions of

cultural diversity in elementary schools, students'

perceptions of cultural diversity, attempt taken by

schools to introduce cultural diversity, constraints

faced in the attempt to introduce cultural diversity,

and the values of diversity that need to be developed

in multicultural education of elementary school. The

results of the five aspects achieved in this study are

described as follows.

Cultural diversity profiles in elementary schools

include: 1) conditions of cultural diversity in

elementary schools, 2) students' perceptions of

cultural diversity, and 3) constraints faced in the

attempt to introduce cultural diversity. According to

the 50 respondents, 62% of the respondents stated that

there is a diversity of religion, ethnicity, culture and

socioeconomic status in the background of students.

While 36% of respondents reported that the

background of students tends to come from identical

religion, race, culture and socioeconomic status and

2% of the respondents reported that they did not know

the diversity of student background

In terms of students' responses to cultural diversity

in schools, from 50 respondents, 80% of the

respondents revealed that students were able to accept

cultural differences between themselves and their

friends, while 20% of respondents revealed that

cultural differences were one of the causes of the

emergence of problems among students. Relating to

the problems faced by students regarding cultural

diversity, 42% of the respondents revealed that

students from minority cultures have difficulty in

adjusting to their peers, 30% of the respondents

reported that there are no problems arising on

Cultural Diversity Proﬁle and the Values of Bhinneka (Diversity) in Multicultural Education of Elementary School

students related to cultural diversity, and 22% of

students from culture minorities often become

victims of their peers jokes.

The perception of school personnel regarding the

cultural diversity includes: 1) the understanding of

school personnel regarding the cultural diversity, 2)

the importance of introducing cultural diversity

among students, and 3) the degree of school personnel

regarding their own culture and student’s culture

understanding. According to the respondents answer

during the survey, it was obtained that most of the

school personnel, equal to 90%, admitted that the

cultural diversity is a common phenomenon. They,

additionally, confirmed that they respect the

differences. However, 6% of the respondents

remained difficult to accept and admit cultural

diversity within their surrounding and required to take

an effort ro accept cultural diversity. Meanwhile, 4%

of the respondents are even difficult to accept cultural

diversity and consider that their culture is the best

one.

According to the respondents response analysis, it

was obtained the data regarding the importance of

cultural diversity among students which includes:

70% of the respondents affirmed that it is important

to introduce cultural diversity in order to encourage

the acceptance and respect within students, 34% of

the respondents reported that it is important to create

a harmony and positive environment surround the

students, 20% of the respondents confirmed that

conducive school environment importantly contribute

to learning process, and 6% of the respondents

claimed that it is important to introduce cultural

diversity for avoiding horizontal conflict among

students due to inability to accept other cultures.

According to the respondent’s response analysis,

it was obtained the understanding of school personnel

about their own culture and student’s culture. Based

on 54% of the respondents response, they understood

well their own culture and students culture, 42% of

the respondents understood well their own culture but

not the culture of students, meanwhile 4% of the

respondents did not understand both their own culture

and students culture.

This research also identifies school attempts to

introduce cultural diversity to students which include:

1) the attempt taken by school personnel in

introducing cultural diversity to students, 2) the

attempt of school in introducing local culture in

school activities, and 3) the involvement of parents

and local community in introducing cultural diversity

to students. According to the respondents’ response

analysis, it was obtained the attempts to introduce

cultural diversity to students taken by school. Based

on 70% of respondents’ response, they introduced

cultural diversity through the celebration of religious

feast days and folktale about the uniqueness of each

region. Based on 40% of the respondents’ response,

they expressed positive attitude and behaviour

regarding cultural diversity, 30% of the respondents

chose to integrate cultural diversity in the learning

process, 28% of the respondents encouraged cultural

diversity by blending the students with different

culture in group work learning. Meanwhile, 14% of

the respondents avoided discrimination during the

interaction with students.

The results of the respondents' analysis found that

the attempt of schools to introduce local culture in

school activities include: integrating local cultural

content in daily learning (80%), introducing local

culture to students through non-curricular activities

(18%, however, the rest have not paid attention to

local culture (6%). While the school attempt in

involving parents and the community in introducing

cultural diversity to the students by: involving parents

and communities in the religious and national

celebrations (60%), inviting parents in an attempt to

report student progress as well as problems faced by

students related to cultural diversity (34%), inviting

community leaders to introduce cultural diversity to

students (18%), however the rest have not involved

parents and communities in an attempt to introduce

cultural diversity to students (8%).

Moreover, according to the respondents response,

several obstacles and issues were found during the

activity in introducing cultural diversity such as:

parents and local community have limited awareness

regarding the importance of cultural diversity (36%),

school policy still do not reflect the attempt to respect

cultural diversity (24%), school personnel have

limited awareness regarding the importance of

cultural diversity (22%), media and learning source

related to cultural diversity are limited (18%), the

cultural diversity in Indonesia is abundant, so the

introducing is only in general overview (8%),

individual behaviour of school personnel do not

completely reflect the respect on cultural diversity

(6%), and the time to introduce cultural diversity to

students is limited (4%).

Additionally, the values of bhineka (diversity)

which are important to be encouraged within

multicultural education of elementary school include:

1) the aspect of diversity and 2) the attitude related to

diversity. According to the respondents’ response, it

was obtained several aspects of diversity which are

required to be fostered to students: religion diversity

(62%), ethnic diversity (44%), geographical diversity

(46%), cultural diversity (62%), and language

ICLI 2018 - 2nd International Conference on Learning Innovation

diversity (58%). As for attitude related to diversity, it

is important to encourage: respect (100%), avoiding

attitude (70%), fairness (80%), cooperative (60%),

and compassion (64%).

The results showed the background of elementary

school students come from diverse cultural

backgrounds. Cultural diversity that exist in

elementary school, among others, religious diversity,

culture, ethnicity, to socio-economic status. The

diverse cultural background of these elementary

school students is a positive element for introducing

and cultivating an awareness of cultural diversity in

everyday life from an early age. Although it does not

close the possibility of conflict among students due to

cultural diversity.

Cultural diversity should be introduced to

elementary school students so that students have an

understanding that cultural diversity is a unifying

factor of community life and do not serve as a cause

of conflict. This is consistent with what revealed by

Banks & Banks (2010) that multicultural, where

social structure is not identical, identity and culture

are different but coexist, differences are not regarded

as conflict but are seen as sources of welfase that

provide change for society. The introduction of

cultural diversity from an early age to primary school

age through multicultural education will make it

easier to facilitate the growing awareness of cultural

diversity embodied in attitudes tolerant of cultural

diversity. Awareness of cultural diversity is one of the

important factors to prevent social conflict in the

community. This is in line with the findings of

Ameny-Dixon (2004) which reveal that multicultural

education increases productivity, overcomes

prejudices, develops interpersonal communication,

creates cultural awareness, and prevents social

conflict.

In the context of cultural diversity in the school

environment, will be encountered culture of the

majority and culture of a minority. The position of the

culture will certainly affect the individual

psychology, particularly those who occupy the

position of minority culture. The results showed that

students from minority cultures tend to have difficulty

adjusting to the social environment in school. The

difficulty of adjusting for minority students will tend

to impact on other aspects of student life, especially

academic achievement in schools. This condition

must be anticipated by all parties, especially schools.

Schools should be able to guarantee and facilitate all

of the students, especially minority students, to be

able to adjust as well as possible to the school

environment without neglecting their academic

achievement. Zirkel (2008) states that multicultural

education can improve student academic

achievement. Individuals will naturally succeed in

educational systems which can facilitate them to

discover or explore themselves. Zirkel's research

reveals that a student who obtains a chance to express

him or herself in his or her mother language will

improve his or her academic performance and express

it better. From the exposure, it shows the importance

of schools to create schools that appreciate cultural

diversity in order to facilitate optimal growth of all

students through multicultural education.

To be able to facilitate students in order to accept

the diversity of cultures and be capable of adapting to

the school environment, an active role is required

from school and all school personnel. The active role

of all school personnel will determine the success or

failure of multicultural education in schools. The

teacher's positive attitude toward multicultural

education has an important role to play in harmony

social living; to be peaceful and respectful; to accept

all identities with their respective cultural identity

uniqueness (Yılmaz, 2016). The active role of school

personnel in creating a culture-friendly school begins

with how they perceive cultural diversity. The results

show that most school personnel acknowledge and

realize that cultural diversity is a common

phenomenon and there is need for mutual respect for

cultural diversity. The results also show that most

school personnel recognize the culture they possess

and the culture of their students. A good introduction

to one's own culture and the culture of others is one

of the factors supporting the growth of tolerance in a

diverse society.

Characteristics of education in primary schools

also requires school personnel, especially teachers, to

recognize the background of each student. The

recognition of the characteristics and background of

elementary school students is very important because

the elementary school level is the basis for the

individual behaviour construction. In addition, the

needs of elementary school students to be paid

attention is very high and it requires a figure who can

establish good personal close relationship to the

students. Attitudes and behaviour of teachers directly

affect students and can cause students to show

positive and negative behaviours and attitudes both in

school and community settings. In order for students

to have awareness and apply their multicultural

education, students should be given school and

educational environments that have equal opportunity

regardless of their race, ethnicity, language, religion,

gender, cultural background, socio-cultural status,

and sexual orientation. Multicultural schools are able

to create social justice, create equal opportunities in

Cultural Diversity Proﬁle and the Values of Bhinneka (Diversity) in Multicultural Education of Elementary School

education, recognize cultures and be unbiased about

students, reflect cultural influences on the educational

environment, and organize school programs in

accordance with multicultural principles and is

accepted into the dimensions of multicultural

education (Gay and Howard, 2000; Ameny-Dixon,

2004; Banks and Banks, 2010). Thus, to realize the

aforementioned goals, it requires a great teacher who

can ful fill the role.

To create a cultural diversity-friendly school, it

requires a real attempt to introduce and encourage the

awareness regarding cultural diversity to all students.

Some important attempts have been made by school

such us integrating cultural diversity into curricular

and non-curricular activities, showcasing a cultural

diversity-friendly attitude and behaviour, local

culture introduction, and involving parents and local

community. What have been taken by school are in

line with the sustainable education development in

the family, social, and school context. Multicultural

education will not achieve its goal if it only relies on

school since it requires an active role from all parties

related to students development. This is in line with

the opinion of Banks & Banks (2010), stating that

multiculturalism consists of dimensions of content

integration, knowledge construction, bias reduction,

pedagogical equity, and empowerment of school

culture and social structure. Multicultural education

programs in schools are expected to be able to better

serve their parents and communities in order to

increase their active involvement in multicultural

education programs, such as policy formulation,

involvement in programs and tangible contributions

to the implementation of multicultural school

curricula (Nganga, 2014).

It is normal that during the process in introducing

cultural diversity to students, schools will encounter

several obstacles. According to the results, the

obstacles encountered by school are: school policies

which are not completely support, limited

participation of parents and local community

involvement, limited time allocation in school to

introduce cultural diversity, and school personnel

attitude and behaviour which are not completely

aware upon cultural diversity. Furthermore, the

results affirm that school personnel attitude,

particularly school principal significantly influences

school policies. The principal, as a school leader, will

be seen as a central figure in the socio-cultural context

(Sullivan, 2013) throughout the school development

process. Principals who pay attention to the

importance of cultural diversity will be able to create

school policies that care about cultural diversity. The

results of this study are in line with Lizotte (2013) and

Moos (2013) findings, which indicate that the

Principal's role in school development is complex,

multi-dimensional, and multi-layered. The principal

must show the best performance to provide better

education to the students; try to meet the expectations

of stakeholders in improving teaching and learning,

improving school infrastructure, motivating teachers

and serving parents of students.

School policy which provide a room for being

care of cultural diversity could encourage and

motivate the entire school personnel, particularly

teacher to recognize and become aware of the

importance of cultural diversity. Gay (2000) reveals

that culturally responsive teacher will be aware of the

symbolic power of curriculum as instructional

instrument and will use it to help them communicate,

deliver important information, values, and action

regarding cultural and ethnical diversity to students.

While, culturally responsive school program will

understand that communication style of different

ethnic groups reflects culturally loaded values and

learning (Nieto, 2002; Derman-Sparks and Edwards,

2010).

This research formulates multicultural education

model in elementary school which is loaded with

bhinneka (diversity) values. The developed

multicultural education model in elementary school is

expected to be able to assist school in generating

cultural diversity-friendly school. The bhinneka

(diversity) values intended are the aspects of the

diversity which are essential to be delivered to

students and the attitude related to diversity should be

encouraged to students. The results of the study show

that the aspects of diversity which are essential to be

delivered to elementary school students are religious,

ethnic, geographic, customes, and language diversity.

These values are compatible with the real condition

of Indonesia which is multicultural. As for attitude

related to diversity, it is important to encourage

respect, avoiding attitude, fairness, cooperative, and

compassion. These attitudes should be ideally existed

within the character of individual thus it can be

concluded that multicultural education is closely

related with character education.

4 CONCLUSIONS

This research concludes that 1) the cultural diversity

in elementary school are religious, race, thinking

pattern, socio-economic status and behaviour

diversity. 2) Elementary school students have begun

to understand cultural diversity in their daily life and

its application example. 3) All school personnel

ICLI 2018 - 2nd International Conference on Learning Innovation

already understand the importance of cultural

diversity and the importance of multicultural

education to introduce and foster an awareness of

cultural diversity for elementary students. 4) The

diversity values need to be developed in the

multicultural educational model in the elementary

school include aspects of diversity, namely religious,

ethnic, geographical, religious and language

diversity; and diversity attitudes that include mutual

respect, avoiding discrimination, justice, cooperation

and compassion. Suggestions proposed from the

results of this study are 1) School personnel: from the

results of research indicates that elementary students

have a demanding need for the importance of

awareness of cultural diversity in everyday life, it is

better that all school personnel can become a model

of cultural diversity for students and able to develope

a multicultural education strategy for elementary

students, which is certainly adjusted to their

characteristics. 2) School: it is expected thatschool

principal as policy maker to realize cultural diversity-

friendly school through school policies which can

facilitate the growth of student’s awareness upon

cultural diversity.

REFERENCES

Ameny-Dixon, G. M. (2004) ‘Why multicultural education

is more important in higher education now than ever: A

global perspective’, International Journal of Scholarly

Academic Intellectual Diversity, 8(1), pp. 1–9.

Banks, J. and Banks, C. (2010) Multicultural education:

Issues and Perspectives. 7th editio. New York: Wiley.

Cousik, R. (2015) ‘Cultural and functional diversity in the

elementary classroom: strategies for teachers’, Journal

for Multicultural Education, 9(2), pp. 54–67.

Derman-Sparks, L. and Edwards, J. O. (2010) Anti Bias

Education for Young Children and Ourselves 2012.

Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Fontana, G. (2016) ‘Religious education after conflicts:

promoting social cohesion or entrenching existing

cleavages?’, Compare: A Journal of Comparative and

International Education, 46(5), pp. 811–831.

Gay, G. (2000) Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory,

Research, and Practice. New York: Teachers College

Press.

Gay, G. and Howard, T. C. (2000) ‘Multicultural teacher

education for the 21st century’, The Teacher Educator,

36(1), pp. 1–16.

Jackson, M. F. et al. (2006) ‘Classroom contextual effects

of race on children’s peer nominations’, Child

Development, 77(5), pp. 1325–1337.

Lizotte, J. O. (2013) A Qualitative Analysis of Distributed

Leadership and Teacher Perspective of Principal

Leadership Effectiveness. Northeastern University.

Moos, L. (2013) ‘Comparing educational leadership

research’, Leadership and Policy in Schools, 12(3), pp.

282–299.

Nganga, L. (2014) ‘Multicultural Curriculum in Rural Early

Childhood Programs’, Journal of Praxis in

Multicultural Education, 9(1).

Nieto, S. (2002) Language, Culture, and Teaching: Critical

Perspectives for a New Century. Mahwah, New Jersey:

LEA.

Salomon, G. and Cairns, E. (2010) Handbook on Peace

Education. New York: Psychology Press.

Sullivan, T. (2013) ‘School-site strategy for distributing

leadership’, Leadership and Policy in Schools, 12(3),

pp. 181–199.

Winkel, W. . (2009) Psikologi Pengajaran. Yogyakarta:

Media Abadi.

Yılmaz, F. (2016) ‘Multiculturalism and multicultural

education: A case study of teacher candidates’

perceptions’, Cogent Education, 3(1).

Zirkel, S. (2008) ‘The influence of multicultural

educational practices on student outcomes and

intergroup relations’, Teachers College Record, 110(6),

pp. 1147–1181.

Cultural Diversity Proﬁle and the Values of Bhinneka (Diversity) in Multicultural Education of Elementary School