Fostering Cultural Humility among Pre-Service Teachers - Connecting with Children and Youth of Immigrant Families through Service-Learning

Oct 15, 2026

This article documents a community-initiated service-learning project within a teacher education program. Guided by a social justice model, the initiative builds critical awareness of power and privilege and counters deficit-model thinking. Partnering with community agencies serving immigrant children and youth, faculty supported community-engaged learning alongside a university office. Evidence includes pre- and post-experience interviews with pre-service candidates, showing improved self-awareness, recognition of students’ strengths, and increased cultural humility among future teachers.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages30

Reading Time1 h 16 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Context

Fostering Cultural Humility among Pre-Service Teachers: Connecting with Children and Youth of Immigrant Families through Service-Learning Darren E. Lund University of Calgary Lianne Lee University of Calgary Abstract This article documents a community-initiated service-learning project within a teacher education program. A social justice model guided the initiative to raise critical awareness on power and privilege while countering deficit-model thinking. Partnering with community agencies serving immigrant children and youth, the faculty researcher worked with an office for community-engaged learning. Data included pre-and post-experience interviews with pre-service candidates. Findings showed benefits from this justice-based approach in improving self-awareness, appreciating the strengths of immigrant children and youth, and an increased sense of cultural humility in pre-service teachers. Keywords: service-learning, pre-service teachers, cultural humility, professional education, immigrant children, social justice Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l’éducation 38:2 (2015)©2015 Canadian Society for the Study of Education/ Société canadienne pour l’étude de l’éducation [www.cje-rce.ca](www.cje-rce.ca) Résumé Cet article renseigne sur un projet service-apprentissage initiée par des organismes communautaires travaillant avec des immigrants. Un modèle de justice sociale a guidé le projet afin de sensibiliser les futurs enseignants au pouvoir et privilège de certaines sphères de la société à l’encontre d’un modèle déficitaire. Le chercheur en collaboration avec le bureau d’apprentissage-communauté de l’Université a travaillé en partenariat avec des organismes communautaires au service des enfants et des jeunes immigrants. Les données comprenaient des entrevues pré-et post-expérience et des enquêtes auprès des candidats pré-service. Les résultats ont montré les avantages du modèle dans l’amélioration dela conscience de soi, l’appréciation des forces des enfants et des jeunes immigrants, et un sens accru de l’humilité culturelle chez les futurs enseignants. Mots-clés : apprentissage par le service communautaire, futurs enseignants, humilité culturelle, formation professionnelle, enfants issus de l’immigration, justice sociale Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l’éducation 38:2 (2015) [www.cje-rce.ca](www.cje-rce.ca) Introduction Growing cultural diversity has transformed the population of school-aged children and youth in many Western nations, including Canada. Our study addresses an approach to teacher education that speaks to this growing diversity through an intentional focus on developing “cultural humility” among pre-service teachers. In a Bachelor of Education course entitled “Diversity in Learning,” the authors have participated in a collaborative partnership that engages community agencies, campus groups, and a university’s faculty of education to include a service-learning placement as part of their coursework. Immigrant-sector community organizations, with a focus on enhancing the well-being of children and youth from immigrant backgrounds, initiated and led the partnership, working with the university’s school of education to strengthen the ways pre-service teachers understand and engage with children and youth of immigrant families beyond the traditional classroom. The authors are a university professor and a former manager of a community agency and who is now a graduate research assistant. Using a social justice framework to raise critical awareness on power and privilege while countering deficitmodel thinking, the collaborative approach has seen success with raising awareness and developing skills along with cultural humility in pre-service teachers. Pre-and postexperience interviews were used over the first two iterations ofthis innovative professional education project. Context Approximately 6.2 million immigrants call Canada home, approximately 20 p

FAQs

What is the main goal of the service-learning project described in the article?

The project aims to foster cultural humility among pre-service teachers by connecting them with children and youth of immigrant families through service-learning placements.

Which framework guided the initiative, and what did it target?

A social justice model guided the initiative to raise critical awareness of power and privilege while countering deficit-model thinking.

How was the impact of the project evaluated?

The study used pre- and post-experience interviews with pre-service candidates, examining changes related to self-awareness and cultural humility.

Oct 15, 2026

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