Higher Education Teachers as Cultural Transmitters
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55737/tk/2k25a.41070Keywords:
Cultural Transmission, Higher Education, Teachers’ Role, Academic Stakeholders, Gender Differences, PakistanAbstract
This paper discusses the role of teachers of higher education as transmitters of culture based on the opinions of Heads, teachers and MPhil/PhD scholars of government universities of the Southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan. Using a quantitative approach with stratified sampling, data were collected from respondents through a questionnaire. Descriptive (Mean, Percentage, and SD) and inferential statistics (t-tests, ANOVA) were applied to assess gender and stakeholder differences. Results indicate that gender does not significantly influence views on cultural transmission, as male and female responses were statistically similar across all groups. The findings of the study suggest that academic position rather than gender shapes perceptions of cultural transmission. Teachers, being directly engaged in pedagogy, endorse it more strongly, whereas scholars adopt a more critical stance. The study highlights the need for dialogue between faculty and researchers to reconcile differing perspectives on cultural transmission in higher education. Recommendations include structured discussions to address scholars' reservations and foster a balanced approach to cultural education.
References
Banks, J. A. (2015). Cultural diversity and education: Foundations, curriculum, and teaching. Routledge.
Banks, J. A. (2024). Introduction: The Global Quest for Educational Equity. Daedalus, 153(4), 6–20. https://doi.org/10.1162/daed_e_02101
Banks, J. A. (Ed.). (2021). Transforming multicultural education policy and practice: Expanding educational opportunity. Teachers College Press.
Becirović, S., & Akbarov, A. (2015). Impact of social changes on teachers’ role and responsibilities in the educational system. Journal of Linguistic Intercultural Education, 8, 21-34. http://dx.doi.org/10.29302/jolie.2015.8.2
Biesta, G. (2019). Should teaching be re (dis) covered? Introduction to a symposium. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 38, 549-553. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-019-09667-y
Bustamante-Mora, A., Diéguez-Rebolledo, M., Hormazábal, Y., Valdés, Y., & Vidal, E. (2024). Policies, projects, and initiatives for sustainable higher education with gender equity: Literature review and case study—Universidad de la Frontera. Sustainability, 16(12), 5038. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16125038
Cosme, G. (2021). A social learning understanding of violence. Academia Letters. https://doi.org/10.20935/al1019
Crema, E. R., Bortolini, E., & Lake, M. (2024). How cultural transmission through objects impacts inferences about cultural evolution. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 31(1), 202–226. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-022-09599-x
Cruz, A. G. B., Seo, Y., & Scaraboto, D. (2024). Between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation: Self-authorizing the consumption of cultural difference. Journal of Consumer Research, 50(5), 962–984. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucad022
Deardorff, D. K. (2020). Manual for developing intercultural competencies: Story circles (p. 116). Taylor & Francis.
Dei, G. J. S. (2025). Multiculturalism and Public Education. Transnational Migration and Education, 110.
Dewey, J. (2024). Democracy and education. Columbia University Press.
Dreamson, N. (2016). Reinventing intercultural education: A metaphysical manifesto for rethinking cultural diversity. Routledge.
Dunn, M. S., & Badaszewski, P. D. (2023). History of Women and Men in Higher Education. Multiculturalism on Campus: Theory, Models, and Practices for Understanding Diversity and Creating Inclusion.
Evans, R. W. (Ed.). (2021). Handbook on teaching social issues. IAP.
Farag, A., Greeley, L., & Swindell, A. (2023). Freire 2.0: Pedagogy of the digitally oppressed. In Paulo Freire Centennial (pp. 62-75). Routledge.
Feibleman, J. K. (2012). Education and Civilization: The Transmission of Culture. Springer Science & Business Media.
Figlio, D. N., Giuliano, P., & Sapienza, P. (2022). Cultural transmission in education. NBER Reporter, (2), 18-22. https://hdl.handle.net/10419/265491
Fonagy, P., & Allison, E. (2023). Beyond mentalizing: Epistemic trust and the transmission of culture. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 92(4), 599–640. https://doi.org/10.1080/00332828.2023.2290023
Foulis, E., & Gillen, K. (2024). Culturally sustaining pedagogy at Hispanic-serving institutions: The case for centering heritage language learners’ experiences in Spanish programs. Journal of Latinos and Education, 23(3), 1254–1265. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2023.2256852
Freire, P. (2020). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. In Toward a Sociology of Education (pp. 374-386). Routledge.
Gay, G. (2018). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice. Teachers College Press.
Giroux, H. A. (2014). Neoliberalism's war on higher education. Haymarket Books.
Hewlett, B. S., Boyette, A. H., Lew-Levy, S., Gallois, S., & Dira, S. J. (2024). Cultural transmission among hunter-gatherers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 121(48), e2322883121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2322883121
Knoester, M. (2015). Democratic education in practice: Inside the Mission Hill school. Teachers College Press.
Krejcie, R.V. and Morgan, D.W. (1970) Determining Sample Size for Research Activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30, 607-610.
https://doi.org/10.1177/001316447003000308
Ladson-Billings, G. (2021). Culturally responsive pedagogy: Educating past pandemics. Norman Fries Distinguished Lectureship Series. 1.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/fries/Fries/2021/1
Li, Y., Zhang, L. J., & Mohamed, N. (2024). The influence of mentorship and working environments on foreign language teachers’ research motivation in China. Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-03448-w
Maniglia, R. H. (2022). The promise and threat of engaged pedagogy: A tribute to bell hooks. Sustainability and Climate Change, 15(4), 239-248. https://doi.org/10.1089/scc.2022.0059
McKenzie, A. L., Athinarayanan, S. J., McCue, J. J., Adams, R. N., Keyes, M., McCarter, J. P., ... & Hallberg, S. J. (2021). Type 2 diabetes prevention focused on normalization of glycemia: a two-year pilot study. Nutrients, 13(3), 749. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13030749
Milenković, M. (2024). Intangible Cultural Heritage and Reconciliation in the Western Balkans: An Anthropological Perspective. Taylor & Francis.
Miller, C., & Morrison, J. (2025). Feminist pedagogy within constraints: teaching reflective writing in a UK higher education institution. Gender and Education, 37(6), 653–669. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2025.2508761
Odom, S., Boso, H., Bowling, S., Brownell, S., Cotner, S., Creech, C., Drake, A. G., Eddy, S., Fagbodun, S., Hebert, S., James, A. C., Just, J., St Juliana, J. R., Shuster, M., Thompson, S. K., Whittington, R., Wills, B. D., Wilson, A. E., Zamudio, K. R., … Ballen, C. J. (2021). Meta-analysis of gender performance gaps in undergraduate natural science courses. CBE Life Sciences Education, 20(3), ar40. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.20-11-0260
Sanjakdar, F., & Apple, M. W. (2024). Engaging Critical Pedagogy in Education. London: Routledge.
Sleeter, C. E. (2018). Multicultural education, past, present, and future: Struggles for dialogue and power-sharing. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 20(1), 5–20.
Smith, L. T. (2021). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Stimac, Z. (2022). Indigenous Peoples through the Lens of UNESCO. Religions, 13(10), 957. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100957
Taylor, G. C. (2023). Weird History: Genre Mixing in Contemporary American Historical Fiction (Doctoral dissertation, University of Delaware).
Trueba, H. T. (2022). The dynamics of cultural transmission. In Healing Multicultural America (pp. 10-28). Routledge.
Wonder, A. (2022). Abolition Is Not Abstract: Zines and the Transmission of Revolutionary Cultural Capital (Master's thesis, Loyola University Chicago).
Zeichner, K. M. (2009). Teacher education and the struggle for social justice. Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203878767