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Cultural diversity and education |
| Type: |
Summary |
| Contributed by: |
Xavier Besalú |
CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND EDUCATION
Cultural diversity and education is a book designed mainly for the initial training of professionals in all fields and stages of education. Its aim is to be useful for all and it is presented as a basic guide in which, in a necessarily synthetic way but with penetration and rigour, all those subjects which might interest a demanding reader, a critical and pensive student and a committed professional are introduced.
The text tries to construct a theoretical, global and complex framework, covering a broad spectrum, which is capable of carrying out an educational intervention scientifically and ethically based. It is not a book with grandiose statements and principles, nor is it a detailed statement of techniques and dynamics; rather it is set at an intermediate point, on that indefineable line which presents knowledge that only makes sense if it is put into practice and past practices by means of reflection.
The first chapter Three points of departure, heralds the planned route. Placing education in a context which is culturally diverse is not a question of didactic technique or pedagogic philosophy rather it demands a unhurried treatment of the new contexts which condition and outline educational intervention. If we start by talking about migrations, it is because this is the immediate cause for our being preoccupied by these themes at this moment in time. It is also the first point of reference which professionals of education associate with interculturalism. But secondly, it seems essential for us to explain the concept of culture and to show clearly that educating in the 21st century is not the same as educating in the recent past: society is not the same, neither is the public the same, nor even education itself.
The intercultural question is extremely delicate indeed, including to a large extent differences of class, making reference to the future of cultural and collective identity, to daily social cohabiting and to the education of autonomous characters, and it allows various answers, some of which can shock with the linearity of ideas which are sometimes too far from reality and from the immediate concerns of those responsable for the educating of others. It is possible, in spite of all this discussion, that the schooling of pupils who are culturally diverse, may not be the main problem in the Spanish education system, but it is certain that the education of the children of foreign immigrants has put up for discussion all of its contradictions and has highlighted for all to see the outstanding or unresolved problems of education in our country. The second chapter presents Intercultural education as a reasonable viewpoint from which to understand the extent and character of the educational needs of societies today and as a useful pedagogy for achieving the development of each individual personality as well as the essential social and community cohesion.
The curriculum has emerged from a perspective which tackles the themes of education according to new bases, as part of a social framework which organises cultural transference and guarantees social progress. The curricular mentality has prioritised the questions relating to knowledge, to cultural selection which is offered in educational establishments, as much as or more than technical, methodological and organisational aspects. Nevertheless, its viewpoint is all-inclusive in the way in which it deals with planning as much as with that which is actually tried and tested by teachers. The third chapter An intercultural curriculum deals with the theme of the curriculum as an instrument of intervention by the education authorities and summarises the political guidelines which regulate the running of formal educational centres. Next it analyses each of the areas of the curriculum to show how intercultural education can take place from each one of these and finally, it dedicates a section to transversality.
Intercultural education in practice poses many challenges and questions: How can an educationally intercultural project be devised? What are the matters on which teachers have to make agreed decisions by consensus with the whole centre? What can be done in the classroom with the pupils? The intercultural dimension affects all aspects of curricular design, and in the fourth chapter Interculturalism in the educational centre how to proceed with this matter is explained. On the other hand, plans of action are set out and they give guidance on various organisational aspects, from processes of reception and welcome to the activities of mediation or the relationship with families. In addition, a reference to the Programme for Remedial Education is made, as much for its theoretical objectives as for the real impact that it has had in practice.
Fortunately, on the Spanish market there are a large number of quality books and materials available which facilitate the programming and implementation of an education which respects cultural diversity, is dedicated to promoting the scholastic and social success of all participants and is committed to the fight for a more just society. In the fifth chapter Strategies, resources and materials, some of these are taken into account, but the main message is their existence itself and the multitude of proposals, dynamics and resources which are emerging and which, placed in the hands of competent professionals with clear ideas, constitute an inexhaustible supply of opportunities for teaching and learning. They are focussed particularly in the field of education concerning values and attitudes, making it clear that this is an area which goes beyond the individual and any morals so as to make itself open to the collective, the ideological and the political. In any case, the chapter has not been designed as a list of specific techniques, but as an introduction to the didactic possibilities, in tune with the principles of intercultural education that have been previously established.
Although most of the content of the earlier chapters is applicable to all areas and sectors of education, it seems appropriate, given its expansive potential and the plurality of its fields of intervention, to devote a chapter to the relationship between Cultural diversity and social education. The education of adults, understood as a part of the constant education of people and as such with a wide range of functions and activities; sociocultural activity, associated with the field of free time and community revitalisation as much as with a determined methodology of socio-educational intervention; and specialised education, labour and social work with people and groups with specific difficulties concerning integration (disabled people, mal-adjusted people, drug addicts, outcasts etc.) constitute the traditional and more usual fields of social education. The impossiblity of dealing with each and every one of these has led to us dealing with specialised education in a very tangetial way, in order to focus on the education of adults and the use of free time by young people of immigrant origin.
The aim of this book is to set out a global exposition of what is actually involved in the consideration of cultural diversity in the field of education. Although throughout the text there are continuous references to teachers and pupils, it is worth dedicating a chapter, the last one, which we have called Minorities and professionals to the main officials of all education action. More than a decade after Spain became a target for immigration, much-needed studies, monographs and investigations of the processes of insertion and integration of the various minority cultures present in our society and of their dynamic individuals and communities are being carried out. It is a journey which has scarcely begun, but we must drive on with determination. On the other hand, the role of professionals in education is crucial in any educational process. Knowing how they think and how they perform in multicultural contexts and designing well-founded formatives appropriate to the theoretical and practical needs of these professionals is a political priority which cannot be put off.
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