Envisioning an intercultural gerontology curriculum for undergraduate gerontology programs in Canada: attributes and resources

Abstract

Intercultural gerontology curriculum development at the baccalaureate level has been discussed as a response to the challenge of global aging and a culturally diverse student population. As students learn, live, and work on campuses, at home, and abroad as global citizens, the need for a curriculum that reflects cultures and relationships among cultures will only continue to grow. Based on this context, the questions driving this project were the following: What should an undergraduate university-based intercultural curriculum in gerontology encompass? How might it be delivered? As an exploration of these questions, this study examined the theories and practices associated with intercultural curriculum development in educational studies as well as the theories and practices associated with culture and aging in the field of gerontology. A qualitative study that explored the current thinking of university-based stakeholders associated with intercultural and/or gerontology curriculum followed. Education’s constructivist and humanist learning theories in combination with gerontology’s life course perspective, social construction theory, and cultural gerontology’s emphasis on narratives provided the theoretical lenses for the analysis and integration of the findings. The results of the study included ten attributes of an intercultural gerontology curriculum for Canadian universities and suggested tools for educators in gerontology.