Intercultural education in Europe: policies, practices and trends

Abstract

Abstract:European societies have become increasingly diverse as a result of legal and illegal migration flows, and educationists are facing the challenge of how to address the presence of migrant students. In recent years, there has been increasing activity at European level in the field of intercultural education despite the principle of subsidiarity. This article draws on 30European level policy documents published within the last decade to analyse the dynamics influencing intercultural education in Europe. These include European Union institutions (such as European Commission, European Council, and Council of Ministers) and Council of Europe documents. Our discussions are situated within historical and contemporary European immigration policy developments. We argue that the main emphasis of recent European level policies and directives is on fostering social cohesion through incorporating migrant students.In so doing, European organisations have had to deal with arguments surrounding the legitimacy of European policy initiatives in the field of intercultural education.

Equality and Diversity in the Classroom: A Comparison of Students’ and Teachers’ Attitudes in Six European Countries

“…The concept of social cohesion advocates a sense of collectivity and civic unity within schools, companies and wider society. The guiding logic of European policy documents is the better integration of migrants into society and more particularly into the labour market (for a more detailed discussion of European-level policy documents, see Faas et al, 2013). Expanding the awareness of diversity issues beyond the workplace to the classroom is the focus of this study.…”

Educación intercultural en Cataluña (España): evolución de los discursos y de las prácticas (2000-2016)

“…To sum, the fi rst study took place at a time in which the intercultural model was just getting off the ground, both at the theoretical level and in terms of concrete policies. Nevertheless, although the discourse was quite closely aligned with what the European institutions said that intercultural education should be (Faas et al, 2014), the specifi c intercultural education policies in Catalonia were aimed, above all, at improving the processes of integrating foreign students (reception, compensatory education, Catalan language teaching, etc. ).…”

“…However, there have been signifi cant changes in how it is viewed. Most countries have gone from monocultural models involving the segregation or assimilation (to the dominant group) of those who are culturally different to more modern discourses of respect and appreciation of other cultures (Faas, Hajisoteriou and Panayiotis, 2014;Hansen, 1998;Perry and Southwell, 2011;Portera, 2008;Tarrow, 1990). The Spanish education system, like those of other societies, has undergone this same evolution (Fernández Enguita, 1996;García Castaño, Granados and García Cano, 1999;García Fernández and Goenechea, 2009), although the pace and timing have been different.…”

“…However, despite the efforts of EU institutions and the Council of Europe to establish a common intercultural dimension that refl ects the growing diversity (Faas et al, 2014), individual European countries have great autonomy in the fi eld of education, with the consequent diversifi cation of strategies and actions (Gundara and Portera, 2008). Thus, in practice, very different actions can be found at educational institutions under the umbrella of 'interculturalism', and what educators understand intercultural education to be and the actions they carry out to implement it at schools differ from country to country, city to city, and school to school (Allemann-Ghionda, 2008;Leeman and Reid, 2006).…”

Clil Teachers’ Perceptions of Intercultural Competence in Primary Education

“…Actually, when the Council of Europe launched the project called The New Challenge of Intercultural Education (2002) they aimed at promoting awareness ofthe need to introduce the interfaith dialogue focusing on religion as an element of IE (Samers, 2004). One of the main goals was to put forward the introduction of the common European principles for managing diversity at school considering the greater social plurality of their countries (Faas, Hadjisoteriou & Angelides, 2014). Peñalva and Soriano (2010) also highlighted the importance of interculturalism and Intercultural Competence (IC) to develop a European identity among citizens.…”