Student and teacher perceptions of school involvement and their effect on multicultural education: a Catalonian survey

Understanding the relationship between teacher and organizational intercultural competency in international schools: a mixed methods study

“…In today's increasingly diverse workforce, intercultural competency is a highly valued skill. In international schools, which can consist of more than 30 different nationalities, intercultural competency of teachers, administrators and the school organization structures can have a significant impact on student academic achievement (Callins, 2006;Oller, Vila, & Zufiaurre, 2012;Schellenberg & Grothaus, 2011;Sleeter, 2012;Snowball, 2009). Deardorff (2009) defines intercultural competency as a set of attitudes, skills and values that influence a person's behavior and communication to effectively achieve one's goals in a culturally diverse environment.…”

“…Additionally, colleges and universities may run courses for pre-service teachers that are labeled diversity training (Keiser, 2009;Oller et al, 2012). Other teacher training programs provide multicultural service learning which combines community service projects with exposure to diverse cultures (Chang, Anagnostopoulos, & Omae, 2011).…”

“…Teachers perceived that Chinese students were more involved in their schoolwork than was reported by the Chinese students. Additional analysis reveals a complex relationship between teachers, students and support teachers that is influenced by the language and cultural background of the students, racial stereotypes and the role of the teacher in the school (Oller et al, 2012).…”

School xenophobia and interethnic relationships among secondary level pupils in Spain

“…Studies on mutual perceptions between immigrant pupils and teaching staff highlight the fact that if teachers' perceptions of such pupils do not coincide with the pupils' perceptions of themselves, then racist attitudes can emerge on the part of teachers (Oller, Vila and Zufiaurre 2012). In such cases, teachers normalise xenophobic attitudes against immigrant pupils as something common among their age -as typical features of teenage peer groups.…”

“…This had significant repercussions in schools, where there was a massive influx of non-Spanish nationals, but without the necessary planning or educational resources (Miralles, Prats and Tatjer 2012;Prats, Barca and López-Facal 2014). Studies on the Spanish case have highlighted the fact that negative perceptions of ethnic-minority pupils increased from 10 per cent in 2000 to 31 per cent in 2005 (Oller, Vila and Zufiaurre 2012;Zufiaurre and Peñalva 2007) In the autonomous regions (comunidades autónomas) with the highest percentages of immigrant pupils, such as Cataluña, Murcia or Madrid, it was decided to set up "Sheltered Catalan or Spanish Immersion Classrooms" (aulas de acogida). These constituted a temporary measure whereby all those pupils who did not speak the official language or languages of the region in question were grouped together for a period of one to two years maximum so as to provide them with "total immersion" language tuition and keep all the new arrivals together (Alegre and Subirats 2007;Besalú 2002;Deusdad 2009).…”