School diversity climates: Investigating the school context for the social inclusion and achievement of minority youth

My PhD focusses on intergroup relations and cultural diversity within schools, as organisations. I assess the different approaches to diversity within organisations and how this affects minority youth adjustment and intergroup attitudes. I investigate attitudes towards diversity (diversity climates) at five levels: individuals (i.e. pupils), small groups (i.e. classrooms), leaders (i.e. teachers), organisations (i.e. schools) and countries (US, UK, Belgium). I take a broad approach to understand organisational diversity attitudes using quantitative longitudinal data in Belgium and the UK, a qualitative approach coding actual organisational policies on diversity, and experimental approaches to assess the influence of leaders as managers of diversity within organisations. In my current (attached) study, I assess the small-group (classroom) level diversity attitudes (i.e. acculturation attitudes). I find that if minorities’ diversity attitudes misfit with their intragroup minority peers or with their intergroup (classroom) peers’ diversity attitudes, this can be detrimental for peer relations within the organisation.status: publishe