# Abdeljalil Akkari Myriam Radhouane

# Intercultural Approaches to Education

From Theory to Practice

Intercultural Approaches to Education

Abdeljalil Akkari · Myriam Radhouane

# Intercultural Approaches to Education

From Theory to Practice

Abdeljalil Akkari Faculté de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'éducation University of Geneva Geneva, Switzerland

Myriam Radhouane Faculté de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'éducation University of Geneva Geneva, Switzerland

This book is published by funding support form "The Swiss National Foundation" and the "Fonds Général of the University of Geneva"

ISBN 978-3-030-70824-5 ISBN 978-3-030-70825-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70825-2

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## **Foreword**

"Intercultural approaches in education", that brings back happy memories of my 20-year career as a professor at the University of Geneva—until 2007—occupying a chair bearing this name, and particularly giving an introductory course in the main lecture hall on this theme. It is therefore an honour to be asked to write this preface, since Abdeljalil Akkari was my Ph.D. student and then a lecturer before being himself appointed to this post as my successor and then presenting this course—giving it, of course, a new direction with respect to his own interests and competences.

Leonardo da Vinci would have written: "It's a poor disciple who does not better his master". I would add: "It's a poor master who does not seek for his disciples to better him". Reading this introductory manual, I acknowledge with great satisfaction that my "disciple" has largely eclipsed me. Indeed, it had always been my ambition to write a manual like this, desperately needed for a long time but never achieved. However, I was involved in the preparation of two manuals: an introductory one (Segall, Dasen, Berry and Poortinga 1999); and another more advanced (Berry, Poortinga, Segall and Dasen 2002), but these focused on comparative (inter)cultural psychology and only dealt with education in the widest sense of enculturation, socialization, learning and the transfer of knowledge (see, for example, Dasen 2004).

Therefore, for many years an "Introduction to intercultural approaches in education" has been lacking; a true manual (as is often found in academia in the United States because the courses there are often given by following a manual religiously chapter by chapter), a manual written in simple language and easily understood, but complete and serious. This is exactly what Akkari and Radhouane present to us. Their book is well written and pleasant to read; all the terms receive an adequate explanation and are set in context; it is far removed from the academic jargon often found in literature. As in any good manual, each chapter describes what it is going to deal with, explains the subject matter in a concise and complete way and then sums up the main conclusions and discusses their application, both in the field of educational policies and teaching practices. How intercultural approaches should be taught is then taken up again and discussed in the third part of the work.

In their introduction, the authors explain their choices: they decided to focus on formal education and the comparative part concentrates on the countries of the "North", with the exception of Brazil. It does not, therefore, correspond to the option that Abdeljalil and myself chose in our group of chapters dealing with "the pedagogies of the South" (Akkari and Dasen 2004), the "South" having become the "majority" in the updated and enlarged edition in English (Dasen and Akkari 2008). This choice is completely understandable and reflects the needs of both the educational authorities and the (future) teachers. With my ethnographic and psychological disciplinary approach, I often found myself out-of-step with these needs and I relied upon the support of Christiane Perregaux and Micheline Rey (some of whose works are cited in this book) in order to feel less guilty.

Having said this, I would like even so to indicate the existence of some manuals using interdisciplinary approaches closer to my competent disciplines, particularly cultural anthropology (Camilleri, 1985), developmental psychology (Bril & Lehalle, 1988; Troadec, 2007) and intercultural social psychology (Licata & Heine, 2012). This latter manual draws largely on one of ours (particularly Segall et al., 1999), while being, of course, more up to date; the others dating from the 1980s are, of course, more ancient, but I believe they merit being brought out of the museum.

Another manual that I would like to draw attention to here, as an interesting addition for those interested in education, both informal and formal in Africa, is that of Nsamenang, Tchombé and Sabatier (2019). It is interesting because it attempts to adopt a specifically "Afrocentric" approach, reflecting the "indigenous psychologists" movement which evolved particularly in Asia (see, for example, Misra & Mohanty, 2002; Kim, Yang & Hwang, 2006). I have always supported this revolt against Western intellectual domination, while encouraging its integration into an international perspective (for example, Dasen, 1993). If this manual is now available in a French translation, it is thanks to Colette Sabatier, with whom I had already published a book with the sub-title "other children, other schools" (Sabatier & Dasen, 2001).

My own approach as a developmental psychologist, becoming over the years and with "experience" increasingly an ethnologist, consisted of trying to take culture seriously in studying the learning process and the development of the child (for an introductory summary, see Dasen, 2007; a more recent example is Dasen, 2016). What Akkari and Radhouane bring with this book, and which I regret never having successfully completed myself, is now a well-documented demonstration of intercultural approaches in today's schools.

I have no doubt that this manual will become an obligatory reference work. I find it necessary that this content should be taught at the beginning of studies in the educational sciences and in teacher training, as is the case at the University of Geneva, while being pursued in subsequent studies. "There is nothing more useful than a good theory", as the saying goes, and I approve entirely. Akkari and Radhouane provide us with a good demonstration while providing us with both a solid theoretical Foreword vii

foundation and an intelligent discussion of its applications. I say to them: "Well done and thank you!"

> Pierre R. Dasen Emeritus professor for intercultural approaches in education Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences University of Geneva Geneva, Switzerland

## **General Introduction<sup>1</sup>**

The growth of cultural and linguistic diversity throughout the world has obliged numerous education systems to adapt to this new reality. Obviously, some countries, particularly in the Global South, will be faced with the challenges of infrastructure, universal schooling or teacher training before tackling the issues associated with cultural diversity. It is for this reason that our book will be mainly focused on the countries of the "North"<sup>2</sup> and on the internationalization of intercultural approaches in these situations. This choice has given us the opportunity to conduct comparative analyses on education systems that are facing similar issues when dealing with cultural diversity in the school.

The choice of regions does not diminish the international character of intercultural approaches. Discussions in international organizations, academic research concerned with cultural diversity, innovations connected with the new rights of minorities—they are taking place all over the world. It is for this reason that we believe comparisons, borrowings and transfers are quite common in the way that diversity is tackled and enhanced—or not—in the school and in society. Whether it is a question of concepts or of teaching techniques, the comparative approach is useful in establishing points of convergence and divergence among different national situations. Comparison also permits the ideological, political and social foundations of intercultural approaches to be brought to the fore.

The choice of title for our work—"intercultural approaches" is inspired by comparing it with other expressions, such as "intercultural education" or "intercultural teaching". To begin with, "to approach" a destination (in this case, an educational innovation) always involves the unexpected and some risk. This conforms perfectly to the activities of educators and educational policymakers who attempt to take culture in education seriously. They are faced with a multitude of obstacles, solidly entrenched in people's psyche and forming part of the school's historical heritage. In this situation, their activities are more akin to gradually making

<sup>1</sup> The authors warmly thank John Fox for his decisive contribution in the preparation of this book.

<sup>2</sup> The expression "countries of the North/South", frequently used in our study, allows the countries said to be "developing" or of "low income" to be distinguished from those countries located in the northern hemisphere and often noted for their long experience with industrialization.

headway rather than the immediate introduction of the principles of intercultural education.

Next, the expression "intercultural approaches" makes it easier to understand the dynamism and complexity of processes dealing with cultural diversity. These processes involve the educational partners and their status, their resources and their competences in situations with a multitude of interactions (Cohen-Emerique, 2015). Intercultural approaches are more like processes in constant evolution rather than reliable remedies.

Furthermore, our use of the term "approaches" in the plural supports the idea that considering diversity is a complicated process that goes beyond the context of the classroom and the educational relationship between the teacher and the pupils. Indeed, it also involves educational policies as well as public policies in the broadest sense. In this context, the plural expression implies a wider understanding of intercultural issues, by making neither those involved nor the system uniquely responsible.

The flexibility implied by the term "approaches" also allows us to move away from models proposing ready-made solutions designed to function with a culturally heterogenous population. Intercultural approaches should always avoid the temptation of an imperative interculturality taking the form of simple solutions.

Finally, as we present it in this book, there are numerous ways of addressing cultural diversity in education. Each one is tainted by its historical or national context and by the magnitude of the cultural diversity in which it is located; for example, the ethnic, linguistic or religious diversity.

From this variety of ways of implementing intercultural approaches, there follows a double concept enabling two main attitudes towards diversity to be distinguished: one is said to be "intercultural" and the other "multicultural"; we will return later to these two prefixes, their variations and their implications.

As far as implementation is concerned, our studies and our analyses have exposed four levels of intervention guiding the direction and the activities of intercultural approaches:


4. At the level of teaching and class management: teaching methods, parent/teacher relationships, language, pupil identity, equality, the history of different cultural groups, a balanced representation of cultures in school textbooks.

In the following chapters, these four aspects will guide our discussion of the development and the issues of intercultural approaches in education.

This book is addressed to different types of readership. First of all, and above all, to students of the social sciences (in education, sociology, anthropology, etc.), and particularly those intending to become teachers. Next, in-service teachers may also find ideas for reflection in this book, for professional development and analyses likely to support their intercultural projects within the school. Beyond that, the book may be useful to junior researchers and to professionals (educators, social assistants) concerned with cultural diversity.

The objective of this book is to encourage reflection on education, schooling and even the concept of interculturality. The matters raised must be on-going and, as far as possible, allow researchers or educators to call into question their attitude, their standards, their relationship with otherness, their understanding of difference, etc. Indeed, one of the issues of intercultural approaches resides in an on-going interrogation.

The Part I of this work attempts to clarify the theoretical and conceptual foundations of intercultural approaches in education. We will explore different concepts and the key ideas employed to justify or support their development in the education sector.

The Part II is devoted to national experiences involving the gradual introduction of multicultural and intercultural approaches in the school.<sup>3</sup> We will examine the experiences of different countries in order to show the reader their similarities or their differences. We will also examine the diverse types of resistance to intercultural approaches. To sum up, this Part II aims, on the one hand, to throw light on the historical and institutional circumstances that contributed to the advent of intercultural approaches in different national contexts. On the other hand, it allows us to examine the different ways intercultural approaches have been introduced into schools.

The Part III of the book is devoted to discussions and teaching activity accompanying the implementation of intercultural approaches within the school. We show in as concrete a way as possible how intercultural approaches have been incorporated into teaching. Language, religion, citizenship and the central role of the teacher are covered in the themes dealt with.

<sup>3</sup> Due to the diversity of ways of implementing cultural diversity in the contexts studied in this book, we have mentioned here "multicultural" and "intercultural" approaches to education. In the remainder of the work, our preferred term is "intercultural". Later in the text, we provide an explanation for this choice.

## **Contents**

#### **Part I The Historical and Theoretical Foundations**



#### **Synthesis of Part I**




#### **Synthesis of Part II**

#### **Part III Debates and Educational Actions**



## **Acronyms<sup>4</sup>**


<sup>4</sup>Acronyms used by the authors in the text; does not include acronyms found in external citations.


## **List of Figures**




#### **Chapter 8**


#### **Chapter 10**


#### **Chapter 12**



## **List of Tables**



## **Part I The Historical and Theoretical Foundations**

Intercultural approaches in education have an inter- and multidisciplinary foundation; this means that they mobilize concepts and theories arising from several different disciplines of the social sciences. Anthropology is a primary and inescapable source, inasmuch as it provides the theoretical foundations for concepts of culture, ethnocentrism, cultural relativism, race and racism. Sociology, due to the dominant place occupied in its theoretical sphere by the notions of inequality, justice, discrimination and domination, allows intercultural approaches to be founded on the crucial balance between the need for equality and the right to be different. Psychology and social psychology bring subtle analyses about ideas of identity, cognition, social representation and emotional development. Social psychology seeks particularly to know to what extent the social environment, groups and others form the representations that people make of the reality of the world in which they live (Fischer, 2015). Political sciences, by exploring individual and group decisions which affect the distribution of resources in society through the State's operations and its institutions (including the school), as well as the representation of citizens and the conduct of citizenship, allow us to place intercultural approaches in the larger context of power relationships. This discipline particularly highlights historical segregations put in place in Western liberal democracies affecting certain minority groups.

As the driving force of any educational undertaking, teaching makes it possible to consider the importance of a balance between the "principle of educability" and the learner's "principle of freedom" (Meirieu, 2018). Teaching that is aware of intercultural approaches is firstly a conception of education in which cultural difference is no longer an obstacle and becomes a promising resource on which more relevant learning processes can be constructed. However, if cultural difference is to be perceived as such, it must also be closely examined so as to identify possible mechanisms presenting a barrier to learning.

## **Chapter 1 The Advent of Intercultural Approaches in Education**

#### **1 Introduction**

Nowadays, when one examines the history of the introduction of the compulsory school, our attention is drawn principally to the humanist dimension of providing schooling to everyone (but not including native and populations under colonisation), inherited from the philosophy of the Age of Enlightenment in favour of citizenship. However, we may too hastily overlook the nationalistic, Eurocentric and colonialist attitudes associated with the expansion of Western schooling.

Thus, it is through an understanding of its historical roots that this first chapter will explore the factors which have encouraged the school to take an interest in the multiple aspects of cultural diversity. In the first instance, we will draw attention to the school's original purpose as an instrument likely to blend socio-cultural differences. Then, we will present the way intercultural approaches became credible in the second half of the twentieth century. The chapter's third and fourth sections will be devoted respectively to an analysis of international organizations and certain thinkers at the origin of the development of intercultural approaches.

#### **2 Formal Education as a System for Cultural Homogeneity**

Compulsory formal education spread progressively throughout Europe at the end of the nineteenth century as a system for national cultural uniformity. The public school was one of the institutions made responsible for unification on the political, cultural and linguistic levels in societies displaying strong regional diversity. While it was created on the basis of a rupture with the Church, the public school, a legacy of the Age of Enlightenment, in fact undertook on its own the system for the unification and profound transformation of people and social groups. To put it simply, mass literacy took the place of religious education (Beillerot, 1998).

Formal education derives its legitimacy from three principal sources—religious institutions, positivism and nationalism—which led to a triple advance: "for each individual in whom it refined all the faculties, for the society to which it contributed to develop unity and to humanity which it civilized and improved" (Dubreucq, 2004, p. 45).

Positivism and the Age of Enlightenment's political inheritance had a profound influence on formal education. Indeed, positivism inspired the school with the concept of scientific reasoning, since it is a theory of rationality explaining natural events originating with Auguste Comte and opposing individual convictions (Schurmans, 2011). The dissemination of scientific knowledge by the school was designed to overcome ignorance and to liberate individuals from traditional archaic ideas. For the Age of Enlightenment, education had been the vehicle of social progress and political emancipation. It would bring mankind out of its particular cultural and social isolation in order to create a national, responsible and rational being. With Condorcet and the educators of the French Republic, the school became the vehicle for universal values which began in Europe and spread progressively to the rest of the world. We will discover that it is this same universalism which can undermine intercultural approaches to education.

The school was also created to serve the consolidation of nationalism and the formation of a patriotic spirit among future citizens. It is no accident that, in numerous situations, compulsory schooling followed the widespread introduction of compulsory military service. Indeed, the country/Nation needed an efficient system to blend regional cultures and identities with the nineteenth century's national cultures. In addition, for Barrère and Jacquet-Francillon (2008), the school "[…] was defined and is still defined—by the achievement of cultural unity (p. 6)." It was in this way that the inhabitants of Brittany had to abandon their language when they were compelled to enter the French formal education system. In the same way, the children of First Nation populations in Canada or the Aboriginals in Australia were taken away from their families and placed in boarding schools so as to become "educated and civilized" in English and absorbed into the national culture. We will describe further on in this book the trauma, which continues to this day, that these generations of native children experienced.

The school's cultural unity, as well as its special relationship with the question of national identity, brings us to interrogate the issues of nationalism and patriotism. Some authors differentiate between the two concepts. Nationalism establishes itself best as a mobilized ethnicity. The mobilization of a culture and a common history were combined with increasing economic growth and widespread social mobility. Nationalism promised to restore dignity and to efface the humiliation to which people had been subjected. It is on this foundation that nazism took root in Germany before the Second World War. Patriotism is the unifying concept for immigrant societies, such as those in the United States and Canada or even the new States created in the post-colonial period. The myth of a common origin cannot be employed in the face of a variety of religions and different languages (Adam, 1995). Stated another way, nationalism originates in love of the nation and its influence, while patriotism arises from love and defence of the homeland. Nevertheless, these two terms are subject to an ambiguous relationship. For instance, when nationalism suffers from a bad press, politicians can rely on patriotism without abandoning nationalism.

Even today, numerous children, both in the North and the South, participate in daily or weekly ceremonies paying homage to the national flag and anthem. The school class described by Foucault (2014) is inherited from a military context. According to this author, the school environment is structured like a learning machine, but it is also there to survey, to establish a hierarchy, to standardize, to reward, while excluding any doubt and anything unforeseen. This preparation of minds and bodies is intended to facilitate transmission which is reduced to the obedient reproduction of standard school exercises. It would seem that the search for unity is one of the principal purposes of schooling and, we may frequently observe, is among the objectives of national cohesion.

As a result, we can say that formal education has been constructed from the beginning in an ethnocentric way in relation to certain social groups (colonized peoples, women, rural dwellers, disadvantaged populations, minority cultures and migrants, etc.). In truth, the compulsory school's explicit initial objective was to form citizens, educated of course, but also conforming to the dominant political agenda of the time, and firmly cast in a nationalist mould.

It seems to us that any true democratization of the political arena (or, in other words, the acceptance of disparate values, of different political ideas or even other interpretations of the nation and of living together) will disrupt the founding myths of State education and its mission to bring about cultural homogeneity. In this context, intercultural approaches represent a healthy questioning of the schooling. Liberating no doubt for some social groups, but also oppressive and alienating for a large number of others, from its inception the school has shown that it has little respect for minority and regional cultures, and even less for native and colonized peoples, arbitrarily considered as remote from the definition of good civilization. To be educated also means to accept and to pass on the values and beliefs that are far from being shared by all the potential learners. For the disadvantaged groups in Europe and worldwide, the school is supposed to bring civilization and well-being, for example to rural populations.

It is therefore crucial, in the context examined in this book, to understand the school's difficulty in accepting difference and cultural diversity, since its initial historical purpose was to achieve uniformity—the reassuring standardization and cultural homogenization of individuals and groups into the mould of the national monocultural and often colonizing State, including socially disadvantaged populations.

It is important to point out that our reproaches about this type of education with regard to the promotion of cultural diversity do not diminish the immense services it has rendered to modern societies, such as scientific progress, the promotion of girls' education or the massive dissemination of knowledge between generations and countries, to mention only a few. Formal education must therefore always be examined at the same time as its contradictions and its paradoxes.

#### **3 Cultural Diversity Becomes Legitimate Within the School**

During the second half of the twentieth century, three factors allowed the place and power of the monocultural school, serving a nation designed and conceived as culturally homogeneous, to be called into question. They were decolonization, the spread of democracy in public life and the internationalization of migrations.

In the first place, the independence of the majority of Asian and African countries over the period 1945–1960 was the outcome of a long process of emancipation. The school, as inherited from the colonizer, was called into question, since its ethnocentric attitude was a source of disdain for local cultures and languages. Moreover, this form of colonial school had been set up specifically for the colonizers' benefit. During this period the school had become what Kane (2003) called "an ambiguous adventure"; it was both an instrument of cultural alienation, but, if the colonized person managed to take advantage of it, also one of the routes to emancipation in the anticolonial combat and the struggle for equality. Nevertheless, one should avoid any temptation to consider the result of colonization in Africa as entirely positive.<sup>1</sup>

Secondly, the increasing democratization of political and social life<sup>2</sup> contributed to the greater visibility of cultural diversity in the majority of human societies, including those that considered themselves to be ethnically and culturally homogenous. In a large number of countries, following the mobilization of civil society and political reforms, educational programmes promoting minority cultures and languages were introduced. On this subject, there was the unavoidable impetus of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. This originated at first within the African-American community and contributed to the abandonment of the racial and educational segregation preserved up to the beginning of the 1950s (see Chap. 5). In the wake of this movement, the Spanish-speaking community obtained the right to use Spanish in bilingual formal education programmes. This second event demonstrates that any liberation or democratization in the public sphere and in the construction of a State founded on justice opens up a debate about how cultural diversity should be tackled in the school. For example, in Latin America, the progressive waning of military dictatorships at the beginning of the 1980s allowed a discussion to begin on cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity in the school.

The emergence of human rights' movements in the world was characterized by a wide diversity united by mobilization. For example, the civil rights' movements in the United States were organized initially on an ethnic basis: the African-Americans against educational segregation and the Mexican-Americans for the acceptance of

<sup>1</sup> Whether politically, ideologically or even educationally motivated, there are endless discussions about the potentially positive role of colonization: in France, for example, this aspect of colonial history was included and then withdrawn from official curricula (Boilley, 2005).

<sup>2</sup> Let us recall that in countries proud of their democratic political system that it was necessary to wait until the second half of the twentieth century to see women (half of society!) granted the right to vote. In France and in the United States, it was not until the 1950s and 1960s that Algerians and African-Americans were able to assume complete citizenship.

Spanish in the school. In Latin America, the civil rights movements opposing dictatorships were mobilized through political and social slogans, and were grouped principally around progressive churches, trade unions and left-wing political movements. It was much later that the civil rights' movements were joined by indigenous groups demanding political, social and educational rights. In Europe, the organization of migrants and their progeny in the form of civil rights' movements was more discreet. Thus, in France, the "Marche des beurs" [March for Equality and Against Racism] in 1981 (by the descendants of North African immigrants) brought together young people from the suburbs with some encouragement from left-wing trade-union movements and churches.

In third place, the increasing mobility of workers and migrations taking place at the national and international levels has resulted in miscellaneous societies as far as their socio-cultural composition is concerned. International migrations, whether voluntary or involuntary, lawful or clandestine, have transformed the school in a large number of countries and have obliged it to consider seriously the learners' cultural diversity.

It is under the impetus of these three structural factors taking place over the long term, and to different degrees depending on the country and the epoch, that intercultural approaches have gradually infiltrated certain Western situations. It is an educational reform movement which is necessarily international and has a multitude of forms. It affects the world's countries and regions in various ways depending on their socio-political, economic and historical context. This change is, without any doubt, a key component in the future of modern education systems. The cultural element, combined with the social milieu variable, suggests a true change of perspective in our understanding of the culturally different pupil. He or she is no longer simply the one who has come from a family socially estranged from the formal school, but may also have arrived from a distant country or from another continent, the cradle of a different culture, a different language, a different religion or a different way of interacting with the school.

According to Pagé (1993), intercultural approaches aim at three main objectives: (1) recognizing and accepting cultural pluralism as a social reality; (2) contributing to the creation of a society equal in rights and equity; and (3) participating in the establishment of harmonious inter-ethnic relationships. Any conflicts that arise must be settled through negotiation and a democratic debate (Parker, 2015).

The concept of equity is necessary for an understanding of and an introduction to these objectives. It supports the idea of an approach adapted to particular situations so that each individual is able to benefit from equal access to the range of social and economic provisions in education. It is not a case of viewing Others as deficient as a result of their personal, physical or cultural characteristics, but rather of analysing a situation leading to inequalities in order to propose an alternative. Demeuse and Baye (2005) highlight four conditions for equity: equity of access; equity of teaching empathy; equity of educational outcomes; and equity of social ambition (OECD, 1993, quoted by Demeuse & Baye, 2005). This last meaning refers to the capacity of an individual to prosper in society (Demeuse & Baye, 2005).

We should mention here the multitude of forms that so-called "intercultural approaches" can assume. From assistance to pupils who are different to the struggle for social justice, a large number of movements find themselves for one reason or another branded with this label (see, for example, Sleeter & Grant, 2009). In general, intercultural approaches in education aim first of all at more equality, more equity and more diversity at all levels of the education system (Loubet, 2015). The danger of cultural separatism and communitarianism, sometimes wrongly associated with intercultural approaches, has no meaning, because its principal objective is community isolation or the search for difference at any price and not equality of rights. The development of the single-group studies' movement in the United States is a good example of this tension between communitarianism and the search for equality and equity. This movement, criticized for its tendency to favour communitarianism, in fact brought to the fore the need to study cultural and social groups as a separate entities so as to develop more profound knowledge about them contributing to justice and equity (Sleeter & Grant, 2009).<sup>3</sup>

Ultimately, intercultural approaches in education refer to the changes necessary so that education systems can face the multicultural reality of modern societies. It implies parallel efforts of understanding and acceptance between individuals, groups and countries. It suggests a dynamic and evolving conception of culture, since it is subject to internal pressures and external influences. In this way, the historical and enduring national culture is a myth incompatible with even the very idea of an education system that accepts diversity.

The legitimacy attained by cultural diversity in the school remains fragile and is constantly called into question. It is mistakenly blamed for the omission of concepts of equality and brotherhood, and it is sometimes accused of being at the origin of disunion and antagonism. We observe all over the world that cultural assimilation, viewed as the only real prospect for living together, is gaining ground and is given new relevance by a wave of unbridled nationalism and far-right movements.

#### **4 Two International Organizations that Pioneered the School's Opening to Diversity**

Among numerous institutions concerned by intercultural approaches to education in the world, we would like to mention the contribution of UNESCO and the Council of Europe.

From its foundation in 1945 to its most recent publications, UNESCO has been a major player in the promotion of cultural diversity. In its Preamble, the Constitution of UNESCO4 proclaims "since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of

<sup>3</sup> Even so, this trend requires critical analysis, because here it is partially developed; it could be the source of essentialist attitudes (for a detailed analysis, see Sleeter & Grant, 2009).

<sup>4</sup> http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL\_ID=15244&URL\_DO=DO\_TOPIC&URL\_SECTION= 201.html.

men that the defences of peace must be constructed". The Constitution places strong emphasis on justice and the struggle against discrimination:

The purpose of the Organization is to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations (UNESCO, 1945, p. 6).

In 1952, UNESCO published a series of studies on racism. The anthropologist Lévi-Strauss made a particular contribution with his book entitled *Race and history* (Lévi-Strauss, 1952). He criticized the proposition of Gobineau (1816–1882), an author who proposed the existence of three races—one black, one white and one yellow—whose capacities were not equal, with interbreeding only leading to degeneration. Lévi-Strauss (1952) counters this proposition claiming that the strength of a culture can only gain from its contacts with other cultures.

In 1955, UNESCO organized a symposium in Paris on the theme of "The positive contribution by immigrants", followed by a conference in Havana in 1956 on "The cultural integration of migrants". These conferences and their ensuing publications signalled the beginning of a common international interest in the phenomenon of migration and cultural diversity.

In 2006, UNESCO's guidelines for intercultural education were published (UNESCO, 2006). Since that time, there have been a large number of books, speeches and documents by the organization contributing to improving the image of diversity, both within the education system and elsewhere. One of its most recent publications, the *Education 2030 Agenda* (a text written by various international organizations5 and published by UNESCO), devotes a large place to the respect of cultural diversity and the rights of minorities, as well as the need to introduce education for global citizenship (UNESCO, 2015a). Since 1945, the attention paid by UNESCO to the multitude of cultures and improving their image has not weakened; nevertheless, it can be observed that it is undergoing transformation and adaptation to keep pace with changes in societies.

The second international organization that we will deal with here is the Council of Europe, which is deeply interested in the way cultural diversity is considered by education systems. It is actually one of the pioneer European organizations which, since the 1970s, has promoted awareness about pupils from different cultures so that they can learn the major culture's language and can integrate into national education programmes. It was during this same decade that the organization called for the pupils' first languages to be recognized and it participated in an institutional drive designed, amongst other things, to set up language courses and lessons on cultures of origin (Auger, 2007). As with UNESCO, the Council of Europe's work concerning intercultural education has evolved over time and in response to changes taking place in the world. In the first place, its message referred to a scheme focused on those who are "culturally different" and moved on to education for all, discovering otherness and

<sup>5</sup> As well as UNESCO, the *Education 2030 Agenda* was supported by several international organizations—the World Bank, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNDP, ILO and UN WOMEN.

skill training so as to master the dynamic of diversity (Perotti, 1994). In the 1980s, the Council of Europe promoted a project on integration aimed at education for all pupils based on the discovery of diversity and the learning of skills and attitudes likely to improve intercultural relations (Porcher, 1981; Alaluf, 1982, Rey, 1983, 1984). In the 1990s, it recommended a humanist project assessing national education systems according to their capacity to satisfy the contemporary socio-cultural demands of Europe, such as those transmitting knowledge and skills allowing citizens of diverse origins to participate fully in a democratic and multicultural society.

For this purpose, the Council of Europe assigned varied and very ambitious objectives to intercultural education:


Today, several new objectives have come to the fore (cooperation between individuals, collaboration, critical perspective, etc.) (Huber & Mompoint-Gaillard, 2011; Huber, 2012) and demonstrate the constant adaptation of approaches to the evolution of intercultural changes. On this subject, there has recently been a new focus on such themes as religious diversity or education for democratic citizenship (Council of Europe and Keast, 2007; Tibbitts, 2016).

Two books—*The case for intercultural education* (Perotti, 1994) and *Particularisme et universalisme: La problématique des identités* [Particularism and universalism: the problem of identities] (Dadsi, 1995)—have given a thorough description of the wide experience acquired by the Council of Europe in the field of intercultural education. This body has turned its attention both to the schooling of migrants and also to that of Roma communities, as well as to teacher training (see, for example, the "Pestalozzi" series) and even North–South relationships (through setting up the North–South Centre in Lisbon in 1989).6

The Council of Europe (2012) considers diversity as an advantage that can be a source of innovation bringing valuable benefits to organizations, communities and businesses, when managed with competence and in the spirit of inclusion. Thus, the advantage of difference is also the result of policies that unlock the potential of diversity while minimizing the risks related to human mobility and cultural diversity.

If these two organizations (UNESCO and the Council of Europe) have played a major role in the development of intercultural approaches in education, we should not forget that in several places local or national associations have also contributed to change. For example, in the United States and Canada, where the influence of

<sup>6</sup> https://www.coe.int/fr/web/north-south-centre/home.

UNESCO and the Council of Europe is rather limited, local organizations have participated in intercultural approaches in the school. We will discover in the analysis of different national experiences that some movements were supported by civil society and, among others, by the actions of associations.

#### **5 Landmark Thinkers Who Tackled Diversity**

Some thinkers and activists in civil society were involved in opening up intercultural approaches for access to education. For lack of space, we will limit ourselves to presenting three authors here: Martin Luther King, Frantz Fanon and Nelson Mandela. Our choice is based on the fact that these three figures are iconic symbols of the civil rights and decolonization movements.

Martin Luther King stands at the beginning of the legitimacy of cultural diversity in the public institutions of the United States; he is an emblematic figure for civil rights movements anywhere in the world. In his speech "I have a dream", delivered on 28 August 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC in front of thousands of civil rights demonstrators, Martin Luther King declared:

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

While proclaiming the necessary end to the injustices suffered by Black Americans, he stresses the call for a peaceful settlement remote from any spirit of retaliation, ethnic nationalism or revenge. His contribution is key inasmuch as he emphasizes the preliminary concept that underlies all intercultural approaches: awareness, at the political level, of the need for a more just and equal society for all the groups that compose it. It is moreover in the same spirit of the Civil Rights Movement that intercultural approaches came to the fore. Martin Luther King's inheritance is rooted in intercultural approaches in a process of constructive interaction between cultures and ethnic groups in order to create a more just society, far from cultural separatism and communitarianism.

In another context altogether, that of the decolonization movement, Frantz Fanon sought to analyse the psychological consequences of colonization, both on the colonizer and on the colonized. He called into question the colonial regime's structure, which he considered as "pyramidal" and fundamentally racist (Bouamama, 2014). For Fanon, colonization brought with it depersonalization leaving the colonized person in a state of "infantilism, oppressed, rejected, dehumanized, uncultured, alienated, ready to be taken in hand by the colonial authority" (Fanon, 1961, pp. 53–54).

From his experience as a minority Black living in French society (which, however, considers itself as the cradle of human rights and the guardian of republican values) and his observations on colonial Algeria, Fanon published *Black skin, white masks,* a book in which he denounces racism and "linguistic colonialism". He examines particularly the racism to which he had been subjected in the Parisian intellectual community (Fanon, 1952).

Fanon (1956) shows that the anticolonial struggle is also a struggle for the survival of colonized cultures.

The implementation of the colonial regime does not automatically lead to the native culture's demise. On the contrary, it follows from historical observation that the objective sought is more a long agony rather than a sudden eclipse of the previous culture. This culture, previously dynamic and looking to the future, closes in on itself, frozen in its colonial status, imprisoned in the iron collar of oppression. Both present and mummified, it betrays its adherents. It condemns them without trial. Cultural mummification leads to a mummification of individual thought processes. The so universally present apathy of colonial peoples is simply the logical outcome of this procedure. The reproach of inertia continually directed to the "native" is the height of bad faith. As if it were possible for a man to evolve other than in the framework of a culture that he recognizes and accepts freely (Fanon, 1956, p. 124).

Frantz Fanon's book shows that the implementation of intercultural approaches demands considerable effort in deconstructing the mechanisms of colonial domination. Today, a great deal of work, particularly for intercultural approaches, is rooted in the paradigm of decolonialization and the struggle against the domination of cultural or social groups (see, for example, Gorski, 2008, 2009; Sleeter, 2013).

More recently, Nelson Mandela became the figurehead of the struggle against *apartheid* in South Africa. After the collapse of this regime of oppressive racial segregation against the Black majority, he did not react "to narrow Afrikaner nationalism with a narrow African nationalism" (Gumede, 2013, p. 16). He saw diversity as an "appropriate tool to overcome divisions based on race, gender or class and access to resources (Gumede, 2013, p. 17)." By supporting equality of rights between Blacks and Whites in post-*apartheid* South Africa, Mandela brought about Desmond Tutu's dream: the creation of a "rainbow nation" (Baines, 1998). His action also resulted in the school paying attention to all the languages that exist in this country.

Nevertheless, economic inequalities and latent segregation in South Africa illustrate the long road that remains to be covered to achieve success for South African multiculturalism (Gouws, 2013; Reygan & Steyn, 2017).

We note that the three iconic intercultural figures that we have selected to illustrate the advent of intercultural approaches can be distinguished by their ability to cross cultural and ethnic boundaries. Their work is trans-cultural and draws attention to the interest, particularly for education systems, to make an effort to cross these same frontiers. In this context, their efforts have been very valuable in the need for and development of intercultural approaches.

#### **6 A Multiplicity of Terms**

One of the hazards encountered by those concerned with intercultural approaches to education (both professionals and researchers) is the multitude of terms used in this field. As a result, we must try to throw light on the different terms, their differences and how they are used. Table 1 sums up the most frequently used terms from three points of view: English, French and international.


**Table 1** The multitude of terms used in intercultural approaches to education and where they are used

Exchanges among pupils placed in different cultural contexts

The multitude of terms reflects the numerous opportunities of introducing—or not—intercultural approaches in education. Figure 1 presents some of the terms and shows the links between them.

**Fig. 1** The four basic paradigms in managing cultural diversity

Monoculturalism corresponds to the image of a tree rooted in cultural ground believed to be homogenous. According to this line of thought, difference is regarded with suspicion, while cultural differences are not perceived and not accepted. Monoculturalism claims the advantage of using a single teaching language for all children. Multiculturalism and interculturalism are two attitudes promoting diversity and cultural differences. Multiculturalism corresponds to the image of a mosaic in which all cultures have their place, but do not mix (remaining side by side), while interculturalism may be illustrated by the image of weaving, in which all the cultures are in contact with each other. A carpet uses all the threads that make it up to create an attractive design. Finally, transculturalism refers to a significant level of hybridization among cultures, for which the reference to a single culture is inconceivable and the crossing of cultural boundaries is tolerated. Transculturalism opens up new areas for learning and interbreeding. Rather like a chameleon, the transcultural person can partake of flexible and changing identities; he/she is allowed to stray from cultural references, including those of his/her origins. While the chameleon adapts yet remains the same, the transcultural person crosses the boundaries of identity, making them permeable, without giving up his/her hybrid identity.

At this point of conceptualizing intercultural approaches, it would seem necessary to return to the inter/multicultural duality. Beyond their precise linguistic use in French-speaking (inter) and English-speaking (multi) contexts, the considerable differences between multiculturalism and interculturalism have also been mentioned by some authors, fundamentally French-speaking; for instance, Abdallah-Pretceille (2011) considers that multiculturalism is a way of dealing with the majority while recognizing the presence at the same time of distinct and homogenous groups. On the contrary, the prefix "inter" of "interculturalism" indicates the relationship and how interactions among groups and individuals are considered.

In a report to the Council of Europe, Camilleri-Grima (2002) expresses the same idea, in the belief that there is a considerable difference between the two terms:

A clear difference should be made between multiculturality and interculturality. When one speaks of bi- and multicultural knowledge, it is based on the principle that culture is a historic and invariable concept, and that it could gain through access to information concerning it. With interculturality, on the other hand, one is concerned with another level of knowledge, also including cognitive, affective and behavioural competences permitting transfers from one culture to another (Camilleri-Grima, 2002, p. 56).

#### UNESCO (2006) also makes a distinction between inter and multi educations:

There have traditionally been two approaches: multicultural education and intercultural education. Multicultural education uses learning about other cultures in order to produce acceptance, or at least tolerance, of these cultures. Intercultural education aims to go beyond passive coexistence, to achieve a developing and sustainable way of living together in multicultural societies through the creation of understanding of, respect for and dialogue between the different cultural groups (UNESCO, 2006, p. 18).

Other authors, mainly English-speaking, are more sceptical about any true differences between "multiculturalism" and "interculturalism". As Rocher (2015) states correctly, multi- and interculturalism are polysemic and politicized terms.

#### 6 A Multiplicity of Terms 15

Let us say to begin with that the terms multi- and interculturalism are similar. In the widest sense, they refer to the presence of several cultures in the same country. However, they also assume several meanings depending on the way political, social and research personnel use them. Therefore, they may designate a sociological reality, a state ideology, a group of public policies or a social system for standardization (Rocher, 2015, p. 34).

According to Meer and Modood (2012), the positive characteristics of interculturalism (communication, the recognition of dynamic identities, the promotion of unity) are also found in multiculturalism. They even suggest that multiculturalism at present goes beyond interculturalism as a political attitude capable of recognizing that social life consists of different individuals and groups. Both the groups and the individuals must be included in the formal and informal division of power, and reflected in an ethical conception and not simply an instrumental conception of citizenship.

While the conceptualization of intercultural education in the previously mentioned UNESCO document is clearly compatible with multicultural education as understood in the United States, the rejection of multicultural education by UNESCO alienates the American public and thwarts important potential collaboration (Sleeter, 2018).

Rather than resolve the terminological debate of multiculturalism versus interculturalism, it seems more useful to analyse their respective contributions to social justice in the school. On this subject, it is sufficient to emphasize that the terminological option chosen, either "inter" or "multi", is not necessarily final. All education systems are faced with inequalities associated with the pupils' cultural and ethnic origins. The process that created these inequalities may be different, but they are nevertheless present everywhere (Farnen, 2017). For example, in the United States, the rate at which cultural minorities earn secondary education diplomas is lower than that of the majority White population. Fortunately, the gap between these two groups is reduced when it comes to access to employment (Rumberger & Lamb, 2003; Lutz, 2007).

In France, the rate at which young people from immigrant families gain the *baccalauréat* is very similar to that of young students of French origin (Vallet, 1996). Nevertheless, the gap widens between the two groups when it comes to access to employment and social integration, especially for young people of African origin (Zylberberg et al., 2017).

Multi/intercultural approaches are designed to achieve the liberty, aptitudes and competences required to tackle our own cultural or ethnic boundaries so as to establish interactions with other groups and other cultures. They must help the students to develop awareness, knowledge and the necessary attitudes for full participation in a democratic and free society based on access to citizenship for all. In other words, to learn is the search for liberty, autonomy and the simultaneous recognition of oneself and others.

In an attempt to pinpoint the action of multicultural education, Burnett (1994) divides the approaches and programmes employed into three categories according to their priority target: (1) programmes focused on the content of education; (2) programmes focused on the pupil (the learner); and (3) programmes aimed at social action.

The main objective of programmes focused on the content is to introduce into the curriculum elements concerning minority cultural groups present in the classroom so as to stimulate knowledge and the recognition that the other pupils have of these groups. One of the major difficulties is to find the way and the place to present the diversity of cultural heritages present in the classroom. These programmes must also avoid the hazards of folklorism likely to elevate some cultures into stereotyped models:

Imagine the school administrators who want to develop a program to address racial injustice and end up hosting *Taco Night* or the *International Dance Showcase*—events that often inaccurately highlight superficial aspects of a culture while ignoring the ways in which members of the groups being "celebrated" are marginalized (Gorski & Goodman, 2015, p. 4).

Programmes focused on the pupils are specifically destined to satisfy the educational needs of minority pupils. A typical example that falls into this category is the promotion of bilingual education or courses in the original language and culture. The reception of pupils upon their first arrival also falls into this category. It implies commitment on the part of the school to facilitate the reception and educational and social integration of migrant and refugee students.

Programmes aimed at social action attempt to reduce interethnic tensions in the classroom. Educational desegregation7 and all the measures designed to improve the school's social environment are examples of activities undertaken in the framework of this third type of multicultural education programme.

#### **7 Conclusion**

To conclude this first chapter, we can place the advent of intercultural approaches to education in the context of the international epoch of decolonization and the promotion of civil rights initiated by various groups who had been oppressed in the past. These latter groups sought in the first instance to halt injustice and discrimination so as to live together with equality and respect. These approaches were designed so that the education system reflected the diversity and multiplicity present at the demographic level in the classroom and to combat the structural educational inequalities and discrimination faced by a large number of minority populations and migrants.

The use of a wide variety of terms is noted at the international level concerning intercultural approaches to education. This diversity reflects the fact that they are always rooted in a social, political, legal and historical context. A contrast is often noted between multicultural approaches and intercultural approaches. The former limits itself to the level of recognizing the difference, while the second is the expression of priority accorded to interactions. Nevertheless, it seems pointless

<sup>7</sup> Educational desegregation is a movement aimed at forbidding schools and classes in which pupils are separated according to the colour of their skin. This concept is dealt with in Chap. 5 on the United States of America.

to overemphasize this contrast, not only because numerous education systems are confronted with similar problems (inequality, injustice, discrimination, segregation), but also because of the international circulation of knowledge about multi- and intercultural approaches and innovations.

Given the historically ethnocentric and monocultural characteristic of most education systems, intercultural approaches encounter different types of obstacles. Some people are opposed to their development since the recognition of cultural diversity could bring with it the risk of the society, the school and the curriculum breaking down. Others perceive it as superfluous and even a luxury. In these contexts, these approaches do not represent a central part of the formal education programme available to all pupils. They are often relegated to extra-curricular activities or reserved for a certain number of disciplines: history, geography, art, languages, and are sometimes earmarked uniquely for classes containing a large number of immigrant children. These attitudes have a negative effect on intercultural approaches, making them liable to be applied on an ad hoc basis, infrequently and cursorily (Gay, 2004).

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## **Chapter 2 International Migrations and the Management of Identity by the State**

#### **1 Introduction**

Despite meeting opposition, intercultural approaches to education have still been able to spread. International migrations form a typical part of global phenomena and have resulted in the adoption and legalization of these approaches in many countries. In this chapter, we will look initially at the extent and evolution of international migrations in the world. Then, we will address the different models of access to citizenship. Finally, we will analyse the consequences of restricted access to citizenship for children and young people from migratory backgrounds.

#### **2 International Migrations: An Everlasting Phenomenon**

Changing one's place of residence is a reflex as old as human history. Indeed, nomadism in the search for a better way of life was the early reality for human populations as soon as they left humanity's African cradle. More recently, tens of millions of people left Europe between the middle of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the Second World War emigrating in search of a more prosperous life. Thus, between 1815 and 1915 60 million Europeans emigrated to the Americas in order to flee economic hardship and poverty (Chaliand, Jan & Rageau, 1994).

Until the beginning of the twentieth century, there was very little administrative supervision of these migrations. It was between the wars that they fell increasingly under State control, mainly for reasons of national security or the preference of host countries to select people from particular origins.

Following the Second World War, migrations began again due to the shortage of manpower in Northern Europe and North America. Industrialized European countries satisfied their needs for manpower from European regions that had experienced less industrialization (Southern Europe), but also from their former colonial empires. France looked mainly towards North Africa; the United Kingdom towards the West Indies and the Indian sub-continent. For a long time, the host societies only recognized the migrants as workers, since any other aspect of their existence was considered secondary and irrelevant (Sayad, 2006). However, we note that the definition of these migrants as "invited workers" or "immigrant workers" might have contributed to the legalization of their presence within the host countries. Today, vague terms are employed, such as "migrants" and "refugees", or these first- or second-generation migrant populations are identified by their religion (for example, French Muslims). This quick glance at questions of people's denomination following migration is necessary. In fact, these terminological issues are important in the eyes of the ideological assumptions they are supposed to inform. For example, in France, Gastaut (1997) detected a modification of the term "foreigner" to "migrant" which, in the 1960s, referred more to the origin or the cultural affiliation than to their true migratory status. The author also explains that the use of the term "migrant", applied to (second- and third-generation) children from migrant families, has strengthened its negative connotation. More recently, the discussion has once again focused on the term "migrant", but this time as the antithesis to the term "refugee". Calabrese (2018) describes the numerous tensions raised by the media concerning the social realities that these terms define. From the viewpoint of these sources, it would seem that people's denomination contributes to the recognition of their way of life and the place that society wishes to grant them. Reflection about the Other arising from intercultural approaches should then encourage a process of reflection about the words describing the world.

Since the 1970s and the first oil crisis, the supervision of international migrations has become stricter, particularly within the European Union and other industrialized countries. After several successive attempts at regulating migrations, controls have become more severe. It is for this reason that migratory movements underwent a deceleration during the 1990s, even if they did not stop altogether. European countries that have been long-term exporters of migrant workers, such as Italy and Spain, gradually became host countries for a new wave of migrants. Nowadays, international migrants represent a significant part of the total population in some countries, such as Australia, Canada, Switzerland and the United States of America.

Migrations from and to the countries of the Global South began to expand from the 1970s onwards, encouraged by two principal factors: on the one hand, the wealth of the oil exporting countries; and on the other, the development of emerging economies. For example, the Arabian Gulf countries accepted millions of migrant workers coming for the most part from Asia. In Africa, countries such as South Africa and Ivory Coast have welcomed millions of migrants from all over the continent, drawn by the mining industry and the boom in cocoa.

Encouraged by both advances in transportation but also by interdependence and economic globalization, contemporary international migrations take place on a global scale. Today, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) believes that 244 million persons, or 3.3% of the world's population, can be considered as international migrants (as of 2015, McAuliffe et al., 2017).<sup>1</sup> It should also be noted that different

<sup>1</sup> Publishers of the *World report on migration 2018* for the International Organization for Migration.

conflicts affecting several of the world's regions have contributed to an increase in migrations (as of 2016, IOM counted 22.5 million of such persons as refugees across the world),<sup>2</sup> mainly in countries bordering on conflict zones, but also in wealthy countries.

If 3.3% of the world's population currently live in a country other than their place of birth, it is both a little and a lot. Little in terms of overall demographics. A lot if we consider the degree of concentration of this population in the urban and prosperous regions of the globe.

Among them, some people find themselves in "irregular situations", which means that they are not authorized to stay in the host country. According to OIM, it is difficult to give a precise figure on this group of migrant people in view of the elasticity of the concept of irregularity (there are many ways of ending up in an irregular situation varying from one's place of birth to the expiry of a work permit), but also because of different national laws governing migrations (McAuliffe et al., 2017).

These initial descriptions of migratory situations should lead the reader to conclude that they are complex. One must constantly keep in mind that migrations are accelerating in several directions (mainly North–North, South–South, North–South) and that "nearly all countries in the world are concerned by the departure, the arrival and the passage of people" (Wihtol de Wenden, 2009, p. 75).

Furthermore, the figures concerning migrations are liable to be interpreted in different ways. When comparing the number of migrant people to the world's population, the total number might appear slight. Indeed, the vast majority of people living in the world today will not leave the country of their birth. Nevertheless, if we were to take into consideration all the potential numbers of people who are seeking to change countries to escape difficult living conditions, these figures might then seem more important. Added to which, the concentrated domiciliation of migrant populations within the host countries might sometimes give the impression that they represent a considerable part of the global population. Finally, in examining these figures, one should avoid an overestimation influenced by a fear of migrant people and exaggerated accounts about them.

Even if population movements grow on a global scale, few countries in the world would label themselves and officially declare themselves as countries of immigration. Population movements often reflect social and economic breakdowns, ecological problems and growing economic inequalities between the poorest and the richest countries on the planet.

From a strictly demographic and economic point of view, South-North international migrations are indispensable for a number of rich countries in order to overcome their demographic decline, to maintain their economic prosperity and their present standard of living (Frenkel, 2017). Nevertheless, the flow of migrants

<sup>2</sup> In 2016, coming mainly from Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Myanmar, Somalia, Southern Sudan, Sudan and Syria (McAuliffe et al., 2017).


**Table 1** The number and annual growth rate of migrants in the world by region

*Source* United Nations (2017)

to host countries encounters, both in the countries of the North and the South, opposition provoked by popular demagogues and by the rise to power of the extreme right in some European countries and in the United States, inspired by the fear of international terrorism.

#### **3 The Present Distribution of International Migratory Flows and Their Impact on Education Systems**

The number of migrants in the world today is estimated to be a little less than 250 million. Immigrants, defined as people resident in a country other than that of their birth, represent 3.3% of the global population (McAuliffe et al., 2017). Analysing migratory flows and trends, the United Nations Organization emphasizes that immigration contributed 42% to population growth in North America between 2000 and 2015. Without a similar contribution, the population of Europe would have declined during this same period. The United States, with almost 50 million individuals, is the host country with the most migrants, while Saudi Arabia, Germany and Russia each number about 12 million (United Nations, 2017).

Table 1 sums up the flow of migrants today by world region. According to this source,<sup>3</sup> between 1990 and 2017, the number of migrants has increased from 152.5 million to 257.7 million, with an annual average growth rate of 2.4% .

An examination of the international flow of migrants allows a certain number of preconceived ideas to be overturned. The increase in the number of migrants in developed regions is the outcome of the growth in the number of migrants coming

<sup>3</sup> As mentioned earlier, it is sometimes difficult to estimate the number of people who have left their country. Furthermore, we believe that the categorization of migrant persons can bring about slight changes during censuses of migrant persons.

from both the South and the North. Of the 65 million international migrants reaching the North between 1990 and 2017, 48 million, or 76%, were born in the South. The remaining 16 million, that is 24%, came from Northern countries. In Switzerland and Germany, a large number of migrants came from neighbouring European countries (France, Italy, Spain). In the countries of the South, the increase in the migrant population resulted mainly from people who had been born in the South. Between 1990 and 2017, the migrant population originating in the South and living in the South grew from 57 to 97 million, an increase of 70%. Of the 41 million people born abroad and who migrated in the South during this period, about 96% were born in developing regions, while only 4% originated in countries of the North (United Nations, 2017). It is therefore necessary to examine migration in all of its complexity and in the context of the growing globalization of migratory flows. Moreover, some countries, where restrictive migratory policies have come into force, count among the twenty countries in the world with the most migrants. As an illustration, we may mention Italy or the United States (for the year 2015, McAuliffe et al., 2017).

On a global scale, in 2017 14% of all migrants were less than 20 years old. The proportion of young migrants was considerably higher in developing regions (21%) than in developed regions (less than 9%) (United Nations, 2017). In a report dating from 2014, the Global Migration Group (GMG) drew attention to several reasons to explain why very young people migrate: study abroad, the search for employment, family reunifications and the quest for protection (concerning requests for political asylum, for example). These are the main reasons for them wanting to go abroad. Nevertheless, the report states that these reasons are largely conjecture, because data about young people are relatively rare (GMG, 2014).

Europe has been the destination of a net flow of migrants for several decades. However, with the economic crisis of recent years and the growth in power of xenophobic movements, more restrictive migratory policies have entered into force in numerous countries, and several countries have even envisaged a situation of zero migration.

While this topic mainly concerns humanist ideals, solidarity among peoples and the preservation of each person's right to dignity, a few economic arguments are sometimes put forward to convince the most unwilling of migration's beneficial effects. Beyond a cultural mingling which is a source of enrichment, some authors have drawn attention to aspects connected with productivity issues and a country's rates of innovation. Livi Bacci (2018) highlights, for example, the need for Europe to attract significant streams of migrants if it wishes to maintain a reasonable level of economic growth.

Moreover, between 2015 and 2050, and without any migration, the European population would decline in most countries, including the active population, even if there were an increase in the national active population's productivity and the retirement age was raised.

Whether the rich countries decide on a policy of restriction or openness to immigration, their education systems will be faced with the management of cultural diversity for a long period to come. Indeed, the number of children in the education system who were born abroad has today reached unprecedented levels (Fig. 1).

**Fig. 1** The proportion of the population born abroad in 2018 (as a percentage).<sup>4</sup> *Source* OECD (2020). https://doi.org/10.1787/7f230fe7-fr

Furthermore, the descendants of migrants will be increasingly numerous in educational institutions. It will be seen that, for both primary and secondary education in many countries in the North, the enrolment of migrant and refugee children will avoid the closure of classes resulting from the ageing of the population. There will even be occasions when new classes have to be opened to deal with the flow of new arrivals. This will have a beneficial effect not only on the renewal and maintenance of educational infrastructures, but also on the employment of teachers.

The development of intercultural approaches in education is closely linked to our understanding of migratory flows. The diversification of pupils' ways of life, origins and mother-tongues has obliged the school to develop different strategies to adapt to a new, increasingly diverse school population. The national experiences described in this book show that educational policies have been set the task of facilitating the arrival and integration of migrant pupils on four levels within the existing education system:


<sup>4</sup> These statistics include people born abroad, holding the citizenship of the country they are living in (OECD, 2020).


Through the theoretical chapters and the case studies, we will discover in this book the different ways in which States have assumed responsibility for the pupils' cultural diversity by analysing the four levels mentioned above.

#### **4 Access to Citizenship and Multiple Affiliations**

Faced with migrant populations from diverse origins, national policy-makers have come up with a variety of responses (Windisch, 2000). To begin with, a distinction must be drawn between the countries which would declare themselves to be long-term migrant countries, such as Australia, Canada or the United States, and those countries that have sought a short-term remedy resorting to foreign workers to fulfil the important needs of their economies (for example, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland), even if they ultimately became countries whose populations contained a large number of foreigners.While these two categories are often confused with each other, it should be noted that, over recent decades, the second category has found itself faced with the long-term residence of numerous communities originating abroad and is now involved in an intense debate about national identity.

One way of analysing the way in which countries see themselves with regard to international migrations is to examine their procedures for granting access to their nationality. Indeed, obtaining it is an important factor in coming to grips with cultural diversity, to the extent that it includes the possibility—or not—of equality before the law for all of a country's inhabitants.

The matter of nationality and its linkage to citizenship has initiated several discussions. On this subject, Andrès (2013) identified two basic attitudes which must be elucidated to understand the issues underlying the process of naturalization. Firstly, he designates a position in which nationality is a synonym for citizenship. It is a condition for belonging to the nation and thus proving one's loyalty (Andrès, 2013). In this case, the citizen's political commitment (the vote) requires the foreigner to "express allegiance to his/her new State through a naturalization procedure" (Andrès, 2013, p. 104). Secondly, this author establishes another position in which citizenship and nationality are two separate issues. Thus, the participation in local political life (for example, the right to vote) demonstrates the individual's citizenship, while his/her nationality refers only to an "ethnocultural or identity" affiliation (Andrès, 2013, p. 104).

The matter of being awarded a nationality has also been discussed from an international legal point of view, since every individual has the right to a nationality, while access to it is governed by a sovereign State (Carlier, 2003). If statelessness (having no nationality) is to be avoided at all costs, this does not necessarily mean that States "must" grant their nationality to each individual (Carlier, 2003). On this subject, Carlier (2003) establishes a tension between human rights and nationality, since the latter confers rights that could make individuals unequal. He clarifies that, since it includes people into a national space, it excludes others from it.

To these concepts, the notions of race and ethnocultural community in some States can be added, which are employed in official documents and in laws. Côté (2012) defines the notion of the ethnocultural community as:

a process of identity construction (ethnicity) on the basis of a shared culture. The level of belonging and the type of cultural referent which is employed in this process may vary from one group to another and from one individual to another within the same group. Cultural references are multiple: language, geographic region of origins, religious and spiritual practices, trades, family or social class. Besides, identification with an ethnocultural community is an expression of a voluntary social distancing or not from the dominant cultural model of the society in which one lives and the historical values that it represents (p. 2–3).

In modern laws on nationality, two systems are used with multiple shades or combinations of meaning: birth-right citizenship (*jus soli*) or the right of blood (*jus sanguinis*). The birth-right principle awards nationality to any child of foreign parents born on the national territory. The acquisition of nationality is not, however, automatic. France bases the acquisition of French nationality on the birth-right principle according to the situation. Here is an example.<sup>5</sup>

A child is French if born in France when at least one of its parents is born there himself/herself. Simply being born in France does not justify the award of French nationality unless the child is born of unknown or stateless parents, or of foreign parents who have not transmitted their nationality (France Diplomatie, 2018).

This system of birth right is valid in countries such as in Canada, France, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The right of blood, valid in all countries, grants the parents' nationality to the child, independent of where it was born. This system gives absolute priority to family connections, and any person who does not descend from native ancestors is considered as a foreigner.

This system dominates in cultures strongly steeped in tribal or clan traditions, but also in countries of Germanic culture such as Germany, Austria and Switzerland. These last two countries are also among the European countries that require the longest number of years of residence in the country before being able to submit a request for naturalization.

It is difficult to accept the right-of-blood system in a situation experiencing strong international migration since it runs the risk of transforming a large number of inhabitants into "second-class" citizens due the impossibility of exercising their political rights. It is for this reason that the birth-right system has recently gained ground

<sup>5</sup> Certain other situations are described in the text of the law, but we will not dwell on them here. The reader can find more information at: https://www.immigration.interieur.gouv.fr/Accueil-et-acc ompagnement/La-nationalite-francaise/Les-conditions-et-modalites-de-l-acquisition-de-la-nation alite-francaise.

on the right-of-blood system. For certain members of the majority group, the birthright system might appear to be too indulgent, even a threat to national identity. It seems that those countries with a law of nationality based on birth right, granting a host country's nationality practically automatically to all second-generation young people, are more successful in integrating their immigrants. On this matter, it would appear useful to compare France and Germany, which apply respectively the birthright and the right-of-blood system. For example, the rate of female exogamy in France (exemplified by the number of children born to an Algerian mother and a native French father) evolved from 6.2% to 27.5% between 1975 and 1990. Over this same period, the rate of female exogamy in Germany (exemplified by the number of children born to a Turkish mother and a native German father) evolved from 0.5% to 1.2% (Clément & Girardin, 1997).

We can see from these figures that mixed marriages are far more frequent in France than in Germany. The system providing access to nationality explains this difference to a certain extent, even if other explanations could also be put forward. It should, however, be noted that access to nationality in Germany has become far more flexible since the beginning of the present century. Nationality is granted to children of foreign parents if they have been resident in the country for several years or if they hold a residency permit. In France as well, there have been a few failed tentative political initiatives to modify the law such that it would no longer automatically grant French nationality to children born in the country to foreign parents. The right wing and the far right have never abandoned this campaign. We can also observe that each country has its own way of managing the possibility of possessing two nationalities (forbidden, tolerated or accepted).

Fougère and Safi (2005) explain that naturalization is often "perceived as the 'ultimate' step in integration. For this reason, it is often regarded from the point of view of the individual rather than that of the host society. It is considered as successful assimilation" (p. 169). Nevertheless, as we shall discover in the following chapter, different processes of acculturation, particularly integration, do not depend solely on the individual's foreign origin; it is necessary to consider the attitude of host societies regarding foreigners or people with migratory backgrounds.

Indeed, we understand that people, despite their legal national affiliation, are not always viewed in the same way. On this subject, to describe someone as a native is a controversial demographic or statistical definition, used particularly in a certain number of demographic studies in France and Quebec. They apply to autochthonous people (that is to say, natives, without any foreign heritage). In modern parlance, certain expressions indicate the difference between native people and the others. In Quebec, for example, the expression *québécois pure laine* is used compared to the *québécois sur le papier*. In Malaysia, the term *Bumiputra* ("son of the earth" in Malay) is used for native inhabitants of the country, as opposed to migrants who are probably Malaysians of Chinese or Indian extraction. The idea of native is frequently encountered in public discussions. It can lead to the establishment of a hierarchy between individuals and lead to inequality before the law (for the purchase of property and entry to certain professions).

More recently, the wave of refugees arriving in Europe across the Mediterranean has revealed the devastating consequences of armed conflicts and economic and humanitarian crises on populations. A certain number of countries have distinguished themselves by their generosity in welcoming refugees. This is the case of Germany which, even faced with the political rise of the extreme right, welcomed more than a million Syrian refugees and introduced ambitious measures to facilitate their effective integration into German society through schooling, training and access to employment (Kersting, 2018).

#### **5 The Generations Arising from Migration in Society and the School**

A consequence of the development of international migrations was the classification of different generations of migrants (first, second, third generation). The difficulties of acquiring citizenship in countries following principally the right of blood led to some young people being assigned an identity. They were entitled to the nationality of their parents even though they had not learned to speak the official language of their country of origin. Likewise, even though they had lived their entire lives in the host country, their restricted access to its nationality could stigmatize them and prevent them from participating fully in local political life. This restriction also implied their permanent status as foreigners; their status "outside" the nation with which they could or would identify themselves:

These students'—the Indigenous, the refugee, the immigrant, and the children of immigrants—senses of belonging are regulated byWhiteness in different ways in everyday settings and often through seemingly innocuous micro-practices including questions such as, "Where are you from?" and statements such as, "you are just like us" (Cruz & Sonn, 2015, p. 139).

The descendants of migrants are always confronted with the need "to justify their presence". Frequently, they are interrogated about their origins and their loyalty towards the country where they were born. Societies that have experienced a strong wave of migration must act as diverse societies on the cultural, linguistic and religious levels, but also regarding the physical appearance of its inhabitants. As stated by Shin (2015), we need to rethink our models used in analysing the identity of ethnic minorities:

When we consider the complexity of constructs meant to reflect how individuals view themselves in terms of race and/or ethnicity, it seems almost nonsensical to rigidly promote theoretical models that are based on the assumption that all members of a particular racial group perceive and experience racial issues similarly (Shin, 2015, p. 13).

As far as the education system is concerned, analysis and research based on the nationality variable are sometimes irrelevant, to the extent that this variable throws little light on the languages spoken by individuals or their connection with their culture(s). The variable of country of birth or age at which they arrived in the host country may provide more appropriate information about the situation of migrant pupils in the school.

#### **6 Conclusion**

Driven by globalization, and the circulation of human-beings and ideas across the world (despite a few obstacles), international migrations have expanded considerably over recent decades. This has automatically resulted in the spread of cultural diversity in societies and in education systems, transforming a number of metropolises into multicultural cities (Abdul Qadeer, 2016).

Recently, international migrations have raised fear and concern. However, their global volume in relation to the world's total population remains modest. It is estimated that, in the future, a maximum of 5–10% of the world's population will live in a country different to that of its birth. This modest percentage will not prevent some parts of the world—the richest countries—from counting a high proportion of migrants.

While migrations have signified economic prosperity for individuals and countries (economic growth for the host countries and the flow of money to the countries of origin), modern migratory policies have tended towards the increased tightening of frontiers against migrants originating in the South. Beyond issues associated with international solidarity, the ageing of the population in industrialized countries will nevertheless stimulate them to encourage international migration.

The wave of migration affecting industrialized countries has brought with it not only political changes exemplified by the progressive rise in power of openly xenophobic political parties, but it obliges all the concerned countries to consider their collective identity(ties), as well as to review matters concerning integration and inclusion. The centrality of work as a positive and legitimate good has suffered as a result of globalization. In this same way, the term "migrant" or "refugee" has gradually replaced terms such as "guest worker" or "immigrant worker".

Beyond any economic or political argument, it is important to understand the extent to which migration has transformed the school. It has assumed an important role in the development of pupils' hybrid identities and in understanding the issues associated with interdependence between countries and intercultural relations. The school has become a major player in the way diversity is dealt with in our modern societies. Throughout this book, the reader will discover the challenges confronting it, but also the initiatives it has launched to promote cultural diversity.

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## **Chapter 3 Race, Racism and Anti-racism**

#### **1 Introduction**

Inter- and multicultural approaches in education activate concepts such as race, racism, ethnicity or discrimination. These concepts are often associated with historical events, which have given them added significance and make their appropriation more complicated. Added to which, they can have different meanings according to the social or cultural group employing them, and according to their geographical or even their historical setting. For all these reasons, it is necessary to learn how to interpret these concepts, to understand the issues connected with their use and to discuss the ways they can be employed in education.

#### **2 The Historic Roots of Racism**

Racism, present in the majority of modern societies, originated from various historical events, particularly slavery and colonialism.

In the history of humanity, slavery is one of the cruellest experiences of denying liberty to others. Even if it has existed in most civilizations, including those that we tend to admire (particularly Ancient Greece and Egypt), the slave trade of Black Africans was an extraordinary event of oppression for three principal reasons, namely: the number of people involved (several millions); the appalling and inhumane conditions of their voyage to the Americas (many died while crossing the Atlantic); and the institutionalization and sophistication of this merciless trade.

Over several generations, this commerce depleted the African continent of a large part of its population. It also resulted in the creation of African diasporas in many regions of the world, but particularly in the Americas. If, in most cases, former slaves were unable to conserve their language and their religion, they were able to transmit and create extremely rich cultural expressions drawn from their ancestors' African roots and to participate, for example, in the construction of an African-American and/or African-Brazilian culture.

Slavery was not only an economic affair but also an attempt to gain psychological mastery over its victims. Thus, as Jones (1999) has suggested, confronting the oppression of slavery had both an important psychological impact on the African-American identity, but also led to the creation of a significant psychological resilience required to survive the experiences borne by their ancestors. To be a member of the African population reduced to slavery meant that one had survived the brutality and cruelty of the slave trade, endured residential segregation and discrimination, as well as all kinds of obstacles and unjust treatments (Jones, 1999).

While emphasizing the importance of legal and legislative measures aimed at abolishing slavery, it is imperative to recall that this practice reflects the relationships of otherness. By basing the social classification of individuals on biological criteria, this ranking of humans justified the racist practices of slavery (Peretti-Ndiaye, 2016). "Race" was manipulated in order to rank individuals. It was the "mapping" of the skin colour (Peretti-Ndiaye, 2016) that permitted this social ranking and its perpetuation.

Racial ideologists based themselves on a hierarchical social structuring, which did not bestow the same degree of equality on all individuals. Moreover, the popular infatuation in Europe in the nineteenth and part of the twentieth century to observe exotic races and peoples on public display in universal exhibitions is a witness to this reasoning of hierarchical human classification. These exhibitions were racist and the fascination of Europeans for them reflected the epoch's state of mind: not all human beings were created equal. "Exotic people" alongside wild beasts were displayed in sideshows behind iron grills or in special cubicles for a public thirsty for the uncommon. It demonstrated the most obvious proof of the breach which existed at that epoch of colonial empire-building between *speeches on equality* and *the ingrained practice of discrimination.* For these reasons, ethnological zoos or "Negro villages" remain extremely sensitive subjects. These exhibitions were the practical reality of a racist ideology in which the Black person recalled "bestiality" (Bancel and Blanchard, 1998, quoted by Peretti-Ndiaye, 2016, p. 109). Furthermore, the theme of sexuality (nudity) was particularly exploited. These exhibitions seem to bear witness to an ambivalent fascination for human beings believed to be at the limit of bestiality.

Obviously, these human zoos would never have taken place without the colonial connection. Indeed, at this time, the European countries took whatever they wanted from their colonies—raw materials, archaeological artefacts, but also human beings to stare at.

If one can place the historical origin of racism in these remarkable events in History, it is also necessary to consider this phenomenon as multidimensional and appearing in different contexts. The features of racism can arise between many types of social and cultural groups. The remainder of this chapter focuses on the ways the Other has been kept at a distance. It will give the reader an idea of the extent of racism and its capacity to exist in a number of different contexts, which means that racism should be understood as a phenomenon assuming different forms, each designed to exclude certain individuals or to place them in a hierarchical structure.

#### **3 Key Concepts for Understanding Racism**

The approach that we use here, borrowed from Peretti-Ndiaye (2016), allows us to present the social mechanisms at the origin of racism. By identifying the human attitudes that classify difference, this author shows us how an individual or a social group may identify Others, keep them at a distance and develop a racist attitude towards them.

First, she mentions otherness, which covers "all the processes for the construction of the Other and encompasses phenomena associated with the […] naming and more generally the classification of groups" (Peretti-Ndiaye, 2016, p. 107). In other words, otherness is how to identify the features that make the Other different from oneself.

Second, she tackles ethnicization, which is a "process by which ethnic references occupy a dominant or central place, by preference […] or by rejection (De Rudder, 1991) used in such a way as to conceal the relational games that constitute 'ethnicity' as a differential indicator" (Peretti-Ndiaye, 2016, p. 108). Here, belonging is therefore the characteristic that may justify an individual's acceptance or rejection. The author states that this concept resembles a biological image of the individual making the difference permanent (Guillaumin, 2002/1972, quoted by Peretti-Ndiaye, 2016).

Third, the author describes the process of racialization. She explains first that the association of biological determinism with ethnic membership is one of its components (in other words, it is used as a justification for the differences viewed as permanent and generally reprehensible). This process has been employed to justify interindividual or social hierarchies (Peretti-Ndiaye, 2016). On this subject, a wave of racialist thought (first appearing in Europe in the middle of the nineteenth century) attempted to explain social phenomena through hereditary and racial factors (Taguieff, 2002). This doctrine or ideology of racism can easily lead to hostile and scornful behaviour (Taguieff, 2002).

Fourth, she mentions *racisation*, which she defines as "the extreme degree" of "racial assignment" (Peretti-Ndiaye, 2016, p. 109), meaning that when individuals have been assigned to a race, they are limited to what this group (culturally, socially, etc.) represents (Peretti-Ndiaye, 2016). It could then be said that individuals no longer exist for what they really are, but only to the image that corresponds to their assigned group.

Finally, the author defines racism as "the social relationship based on the socially constructed belief in 'races'" (Peretti-Ndiaye, 2016). What is interesting about this definition is that it raises the idea of a social construct justifying hierarchical relationships between individuals. This is at the origin of classical racism, which "relies upon a conception of races as distinct and profoundly unequal biological entities, both physically and intellectually" (Peretti-Ndiaye, 2016, p. 113). One important aspect about racism to be kept in mind is that it "binds the natural to the social" (Peretti-Ndiaye, 2016, p. 112) by justifying social discrimination on the basis of biology.

Beyond the terms presented here, it should be recalled that the construction of an image of the Other based simply on differences labelled as unchanging and understood as negative makes it possible to develop hostile attitudes when groups or individuals who are different from one another come into contact.

Further to understanding the social mechanisms governing racist ideologies, it is necessary to turn our attention to the concept of "race". For this purpose, we must go back to the nineteenth century, at the time when Arthur de Gobineau's works were published, and particularly his *Essai sur l'inégalité des races humaines* [Essay on the inequality of human races]. Guillaumin (1967) proposes the following summary of Gobineau's sociology: "an attempt to establish a theory of human evolution based on the hypothesis of the existence of a hierarchy between human races, and which is based on a historical comparison between human societies" (p. 147). The process of racialization defined above is at the heart of Gobineau's work, since he constantly links the social with the natural/biological (Guillaumin, 1967).

Moreover, the concept of race refers to a biological and genetic dimension differentiating human groups. The scientific study of race underwent an enormous advance in the wake of physical anthropology at the end of the nineteenth century. The existence of races within humanity lost its scientific justification following the publication of a large number of books. Indeed, the most recent scientific research on racial origins and on genetic diversity invalidates the hypothesis of a hierarchization based on racial origin and has shown that genetic codes do not correspond to any of the gradations that some people had attempted to establish (Jacquard, 1978; Langanay, 1999).

These studies have shown that the hypothetical biological races, still perceived and named as an objective reality, do not correspond to any true biological findings. Races are as much subjective structures as other social, political or religious groupings. The physical characteristics used as a basis for racial categorization (skin colour, hair texture, eye shape, etc.) are perfectly irrefutable if considered separately, but they do not amount to the necessary and coherent proof. Contrary to the species of animals created artificially, the false genetic entity that we call race does not correspond to any biological evidence concerning humanity. Furthermore, humanity has undergone such cross-breeding and migration since the dawn of time that the concept of a pure race is very unlikely to exist.

Nevertheless, the scientific fiction of race does not halt the social reality of racism. Indeed, it should be pointed out that the main outcome of scientific conclusions concerning the concept of race arises from the fact that they directly contradict social representations and the evidence of common sense. Moreover, the evidence that supports scientific conclusions is too abstract to be easily taught and popularized.

It should therefore be borne in mind that the use made of race is based more on a social construct than on any scientific or biological evidence, and that it is an analytical instrument for the production and the legitimation of injustice and discrimination. Understanding this concept and its meanings within society is necessary so as to be alert to it and the struggle against latent racism.

The institutional use of the concept of race has tended to disappear from official and scientific language in continental Europe, following the negative meanings associated with it in the aftermath of the Second World War, as well as to advances in genetics. In North America and the United Kingdom, however, the use of the word "race" is still common and authorized in public administration. In fact, in the English-speaking world, the concept of race is based on scientific usage and is quite separate from the racism attached to doctrine or ideology (Peretti-Ndiaye, 2016). In the United States, racial subdivisions (listed in Table 1) are used as official categories during population censuses. Several administrative issues revolve around these measures, such as the assignation of social categories or the introduction of positive discrimination (Simon, 1997). Indeed, the racial data are used to promote equality of opportunity in employment and education, as well as being used for research purposes (U.S. Census Bureau, 2018).

It should be explained that the Government of the United States of America accepts the use of the concept of race in census data only as a reflection of its "social definition" and is not at all intended to define this concept from a "biological, anthropological or genetic" point of view (U.S. Census Bureau, 2018).

It can be noted that Spanish-speaking or Latin-American people can align themselves with a number of the racial groups mentioned (U.S. Census Bureau, 2018). In fact, they have a special status in the United States' census and do not represent a "race" as understood by the Census Bureau (Simon, 1997). It should also be noted that the completion of a census on a racial basis in the United States is based on the principle of self-declaration, according to which since 2000 one is allowed to declare several origins (U.S. Census Bureau, 2018). Table 1 is an illustration of complicated interethnic relationships and historical confrontations, which have enabled social construction and racial otherness.


**Table 1** Racial categories in the United States

*Source* U.S. Census Bureau (2018)

#### **4 Racism Today**

Before examining the issues of racism in modern societies, it would seem necessary to return once again to this concept's definition. For Arendt (1982), racism is "the feeling of a fundamental superiority, not simply momentary, of man over man, of 'superior' races over 'inferior' races" (p. 22). As for Memmi (1982a), he designates racism as "a general and definitive devaluation of real or imagined differences, to the accuser's benefit and to the victim's detriment in order to justify an aggression or a privilege" (p. 98). Aggression and hostility are authorized by the threat to the integrity of so-called "pure" races. In fact, we are speaking here more about the fear of losing the power and advantages which, even if they have been acquired under false pretences, are justified by the racialist theories. It is for this reason that colonialization was often justified by racialist ideologies.

If conventional racism is based on a naturalist or biological method of classifying human beings (Peretti-Ndiaye, 2016), we observe that modern definitions pay less attention to this aspect and more to the discrimination and injustice that have resulted from racist ideologies. To sum up, racism refers to the belief according to which the physical features (real or imagined) of the members of a racial group influence their social behaviour and their psychological and intellectual capacities. For the racist, some racial groups therefore appear to be automatically superior (privileged) and others necessarily inferior. This is the way that racism allows the justification and legalization of the dominant/dominated relationship (Memmi, 1982a).

Employing these ideologies, racists aim at two objectives: to preserve the "purity" of the race and to identify the trespassers. In this way, Arendt (1973) explains the Holocaust and the wish to exterminate the Jews as an aggravated sense of antisemitism that had been present since the Jews had been assimilated into the dominant European culture. The loss of the differentiated character of the "assimilated Jew" justifies antisemitic rejection, even extermination, because they have become too similar to the members of the "nation", who can no longer identify their foreignness that would allow them to keep their distance (Arendt, 1973). This example illustrates the difficulty of coming to grips with racism. Indeed, we note that this concept is capable of renewing and transforming itself depending upon social changes: in this case, it is the Jewish person's status which changes and aggravates the racist person's need for differentiation. In other cases, it is perhaps the waves of migration which have drawn attention to new scapegoats. Therefore, racism seems to be a dynamic process in search of a reason to exclude in order to justify a hierarchization between individuals.

Among the definitions of racism, Wieviorka (1994) distinguishes two that enable him to analyse the phenomenon's progress and its links with particular contexts. They are universalist and differentialist or cultural racism:

1. Universalist racism: based primarily on a biological difference which rationalizes the exploitation of Others and their inequality. For example, theories describing skin colour thereby justify a hierarchy of individuals based on universalist racism.

#### 4 Racism Today 37

2. Differentialist or cultural racism: "stresses the assumed and irreducible character of certain cultural differences" to justify the exclusion (i.e. marginalization) of certain cultural groups. For example: When one hears: "No. They are too different. They are incapable of adapting", this description of failure to adapt is cultural racism.

Wieviorka (1994) explains that racism evolves and, even if in certain contexts it is still influential, one is generally placed in a differentialist situation. The reaction to racism called "antiracism" can also fall into either a universalist or differentialist logic. In the case of a universalist type of reply, the reaction to racist logic would aim at promoting an unswerving equality among all individuals (Wieviorka, 1994). Therefore, in this perspective, the idea of race is redundant, because it would allow the establishment of particularisms, radically opposed to the universalist logic. On the other hand, in the case of a differentialist type of response, it is precisely the recognition of particularisms which lies at the heart of antiracist action (Wieviorka, 1994). This conception of antiracism aims to consider the individual in all his/her complexity (including the cultural and "racial" identity) and not only as an individual in every way equal to another.

Despite the apparent opposition between these two forms of antiracist combat, Wieviorka (1994) develops the idea that racism, if it is not universalist (as it possibly was in the past) or differentialist (as it would be today), remains a blend of these two interpretations and therefore merits a joint combat against these two dynamic definitions (universalist and differentialist). In reality, the two examples put forward by the author (nazism and *apartheid*) show that despite the pliability of racist ideologies and their adaptation to new forms of difference (each wave of migration, for example), there is only one form of racism that combines in its own fashion differentialist (based on culture and intending to exclude) and universalist (justifying exploitation and discrimination through biological differences between people) ideologies.

Wieviorka (1998) also started to think about the social, political and even identity causes behind racial practices. His thoughts are presented in four ways:


4. A form of racism defined as defending its own cultural identity without any particular reference to modernity or its control. In this case, racism can exist without any contact with its supposed victims. For example: in several parts of Europe where there are few Muslims, the inhabitants may support Islamophobia as a way of defending Europe's Christian culture.

#### **5 Racism and Education**

Despite the conclusion of scientific research that race does not exist, racism remains omnipresent and calls for commitment on the part of educational institutions. Furthermore, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965) foresaw the introduction by the ratifying countries of measures to combat racism, two of which were education and awareness-raising. Indeed, these two measures could make a significant contribution to the prevention of racism. However, education and awareness-raising are only effective if they form part of an overall policy involving organizations and institutions, and directed at all those involved (Davolio and Eckmann, 2017).

As far as the educational actors are concerned, it is important that racism is acknowledged as a true social problem. There have been several situations where teachers are not always ready to recognize it as such. In Australia, a study revealed the cultural openness of teachers, but this was offset by their failure to accept racism as a serious problem in society and in the school (Brooks, Knaus and Chang, 2015). In the United States, it has been shown that, confronted with the upsurge of xenophobic movements, multicultural education is simply not enough. Therefore, the organization of a day "without immigrants" in the country highlighted the hateful violence that many pupils and communities were subject to. Xenophobic attitudes within the teaching body itself were also observed during this event (Au, 2017). The struggle against racism can also be communicated via the curriculum. In France, Dhume (2016) drew attention to antiracism as one of the values of the republican school. Through his analysis, he tested the argument that antiracism is an intrinsic value of the French curriculum. He shows the novelty and the ambiguity of this theme, which had been presented recently as "evident".

Still concerning curricula and as an echo of the earlier presentation of links between racism and slavery, intercultural approaches in education have the responsibility of encouraging this theme's inclusion in educational programmes so as to explain the necessity of a collective memory about this historic event in mankind's story. On this subject, an interesting teaching project is to ask the pupils to examine how their understanding of human races is out of step with what science tells them about it nowadays.

The exhibition "All Related, All Different" presented at the Musée de l'Homme [Museum of Mankind] in Paris at the beginning of the 1990s and visited by thousands of people, represented an extremely useful initiative for antiracist education. In fact, this exhibition dealt with the diversity and the origins of mankind as well as the scientific discoveries of recent decades which have completely transformed our understanding of them. From an essentialist conception, which reduced humanity to a few racial groups, scientists proposed an analysis confirming the existence of common ancestors for all human beings and the widespread cross-breeding that has taken place since the origins of the human species. The interest of this exhibition for education and teaching is due to the fact that most people, including the young, remain attached to an essentialist vision of genetic diversity.

Another more recent project of genetic analysis associated with the National Geographic Society, "The Genographic Project", undertook over recent years to reconstruct the rapid progress of *Homo sapiens* since leaving Africa, our common cradle, some 60,000 years ago. The American geneticist Spencer Wells, one of the leaders of "The Genographic Project", speaks not only of recreating "humanity's genealogical tree", but furthermore to make it into an educational and humanist project; based on his research, he wrote: "each person can understand his links with the people of the whole world, know that we are all connected to each other by a genetic thread and that our threads became intertwined during the migrations of our ancestors" (Spencer Wells interviewed by Joignot, 2010). We are in fact, us human beings, all cousins, all related, provided with the same genetic make-up. Our variations of skin colour, hair, shape of the skull and eyelids, all arise from genes common to all of us, which have been triggered in particular by climatic conditions, when *Homo sapiens* conquered the world and commenced his planetary exploration (TallBear, 2007; Nash, 2012; Wells, 2006). To converse and discuss with adults, children and young people about racism is the best way to prepare them to live together, ignoring their differences and sharing their common origins. Children are better placed to understand that we are not born but become racist. We should therefore reply to their questions when they want to understand discrimination and racism and before they acquire prejudices (Ben Jelloun, 2018).

#### **6 Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality**

Two approaches appear to us as innovatory in the struggle against racism in the school and in society: critical race theory and intersectionality.

In the English-speaking world, the use of the concept of race remains current, which could sometimes shock or annoy in the French-speaking context. Its use serves researchers particularly who examine a social construct rather than a bogus biological truth (Wieviorka, interviewed by Barats-Malbel, 1994). It is from this viewpoint that critical race theory develops, using this concept to analyse the inequalities that individuals experience due to the group to which they belong (Ladson-Billings, 1998; Delgado and Stefancic, 2017). Four statements seem to guide the development of a critical race theory:


The question of privileges is crucial in critical race theory, more particularly the matter of "White privilege". Thus, the concept of whiteness and the dominance that it assumes or encourages has become an important paradigm among the current critical terms in the English-speaking human sciences. McLaren (2018) calls into question the dominant hypothesis according to which all we have to do to overcome racism is to introduce initiatives designed to include minority populations, in other words the non-Whites. He argues that we must also stress the analysis of White ethnicity and how to devaluate it, more particularly the ideology and practices of White supremacy.

In education, critical race theory focuses principally on the upsurge of racism based on biological ideologies, on the resegregation of schools in the United States, on ethnocentric curricula and on the still current usage of the deficit theory (Ladson-Billings, 1998).

Intersectionality is another concept widely used in contemporary social sciences, principally English-speaking. The term tackles the way in which the multiple forms of inequality and identity interact in different contexts and over time. For example, race, social class, gender, handicap and other characteristics combine in an interdependent and dynamic way to produce inequality. This concept originates in the work of Crenshaw (1991), a critical theoretician of race in the United States, but was once widespread throughout the social sciences to the extent that it is sometimes considered as a "buzzword".

Intersectionality allows us to recognize that belonging to a given group could make people vulnerable to various forms of prejudice. Since we are at the same time members of several groups, our complex identity shapes the way in which we each experience life. For example, men and women may often experience racism differently, just as women belonging to a minority cultural group may experience sexism differently. Intersectionality therefore includes two key elements: first, an empirical base for an intersectional approach to better understand the nature of social inequities, as well as the processes that create and support them. Secondly, intersectionality has a basic activist component in the sense that an intersectional approach aims to generate coalitions between different groups and actors with the objective of resisting discrimination and changing the status quo (Gillborn, 2015).

Critical race theory and intersectionality allow us to confront some challenges that face any researchers or educators expecting to take culture seriously in their

<sup>1</sup> Phrases in parentheses added by the authors.

activities. In fact, these theories enable us to scrutinize the complex mechanisms of inequality and the dynamic of discrimination. These mechanisms involve, at the same time, factors linked to race, ethnicity, gender or social belonging.

#### **7 Conclusion**

Fanon (1956) states that the question of racism is intimately linked to colonialism and to economic, cultural and political domination. He rebelled against the tendency leading to racism being considered as the history of people, while mobilizing the following argument: "There are a few incorrigible racists but you should admit that on the whole the population loves … Given time, all of this will disappear … This country is the less racist…" (p. 128).

After George Floyd was killed on 25 May 2020, in Minneapolis, protests erupted in different countries and the movement "Black Lives Matter" (BLM) spread around the world. Demonstrators gathered in several cities in the United States but also in Berlin, Paris, Dublin, Amsterdam and many other cities. While racism is an historical and contemporary phenomenon, corporate media in U.S are reinforcing the framing of race and presenting Black Americans as inadequate, lawless, criminal, threatening and at times biologically different (Lane, Williams, Hunt et al., 2020).

Despite numerous international and national declarations, subtle and very often implied racism continues to pollute the life of millions of people on the street, in schools and in work places. It seems to us important to tackle the question from several points of view. The first is an analysis of the historical and political roots which make certain individuals and groups vulnerable to and victims of racial discrimination. The second perspective is that of education and training. The school has a true responsibility in disassembling the racist ideology both in society and within itself. The third perspective is that of the law, which has adopted measures against all forms of discrimination: racism cannot be considered as an opinion; it is a crime that deserves to be denounced and punished for what it is.

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## **Chapter 4 Key Concepts for Intercultural Approaches**

#### **1 Introduction**

The use of intercultural approaches in education cannot be carried out without the educational actors' appropriation of a certain number of fundamental concepts (Robles de Meléndez & Beck, 2009). In this chapter we will discuss many of the principal concepts such as culture, ethnocentrism, cultural relativism, equality and difference. This list is obviously not exhaustive, since several other concepts could have been included, such as otherness, diversity, dialogue or even universalism.

The notions and theories that underpin these concepts help us to understand social and educational reality. When dealing with cultural diversity, concepts allow us to see the social world from a different perspective so as to concentrate on the individual aspects of which it is composed: identity, relationships between groups, etc. Concepts can also be understood as printed cards reproducing simple mental images of social reality. They are tools ensuring a clear passage as much for the practitioner as for the researcher.

#### **2 Culture, Cultural Identity and Biculturalism**

The concept of culture is an anthropological creation of the twentieth century occupying a primary place in the human and social sciences, and situated at the heart of intercultural approaches to education. It is therefore necessary to determine what this concept can elucidate as phenomena, but also to indicate the risks and limits in its use.

It should be made clear that it is indeed the anthropological definition of culture that underpins its use in the context of intercultural approaches. As emphasized by Doutreloux (1990), culture is a system of representations unique to human beings. It gives coherence, sense and meaning to individual and collective life. Cultures do not differ by their content, or not a great deal, but rather in the way the content is organized, connected and ranked. For Lévi-Strauss (2014), it has "multiple features" (p. 37) which can lead to closer or more distant relationships between cultures.

For the American anthropologist Geertz et al. (1973), culture is a model of meanings incorporating symbols that have been transmitted throughout history. It therefore consists of a system of inherited concepts expressed in symbolic form by means of which human beings communicate, perpetuate and develop their knowledge about and attitudes towards life. Culture is public property because systems of meanings basically belong to a particular group of people.

Misra and Gergen (1993) point out the importance of transmission in the definition of culture:

…culture is a historically situated, collective product constituted by the values, beliefs, perceptions, symbols, and other humanly created artifacts which are transmitted across generations through language and other mediums…. Culture is simultaneously a product of human action as well as a determinant of future action, a composite of meanings and associated traditions, which define, inform, and constitute the range of our understandings and investments (Misra & Gergen, 1993, p. 226).

And, indeed, here the idea of *group* is particularly important since culture is linked to the question of social affiliation and to the socialization of individuals (Lüsebrink, 1998). Elsewhere, Rocher (2005, quoted by Verbunt, 2011) says on this subject that culture and what it contains is involved in the consolidation of "people into a particular and distinct community" (p. 65). Thus, it allows a group, a nation, a society to be distinguished by its own cluster of cultural practices or system of representations (language, religion, political structure, education, cooking, clothes, architecture, etc.). These different symbols are more or less visible and identifiable by someone outside the group. The image of the iceberg often used as a metaphor for culture is an illustration of its complexity and epitomizes the existence of visible and invisible cultural characteristics.

Despite the importance of the collective nature in the idea of culture, it is essential to reserve a place for the individual in it. We will see later in this book that the relationship to own culture and to other cultures creates one's identity and one's relationship with the world. In this way, individual strategies should be considered when analysing cultural membership.

It is also in the way that cultural practices are ordered and structured in a given context that allows the concept of culture to be approached (Guillaumin, 1994). It is therefore necessary to combine references to social belonging, to individual subjectivity and to the context to understand the matter of culture. For example, for a teacher to welcome and integrate pupils from a different culture means not only considering them as bearers of particular cultural characteristics (language, religion, family structure, social situation, migrant status, etc.) but also to place them in a productive situation linking the various characteristics and their relationship to the school context. Furthermore, it is essential to grasp and to understand the way the migrant pupil lives, perceives and interprets the host country. It is equally vital to understand the parallels, the compromises, the linkages and bridges that the pupil makes between the different cultures.

Culture is not a catalogue of fixed features; it displays symbols, links, hierarchies, contradictions, tensions, borrowings from other cultures and on-going improvisation. Porcher (1994) describes quite correctly the dynamic character of a culture, its capacity to adapt and to transform itself:

The deep historical roots of a culture, its enduring transmitted qualities, its heritage are obviously essential in understanding it, even if it is not necessary to master them to function. They lead to grasping the hybrid character of any culture, its mottled, striped, harlequin nature. The legacy always has a miscellany of origins, which does not in any way prevent it from being unique, distinctive, owned by those who are however merely its custodians (Porcher, 1994, p. 10).

It is therefore important to beware of any essentialist and fixed concept of culture. To essentialize a culture, that is restricting it merely to some of its features (for example, language or religion), does not permit a true understanding. Its elements form "an indissociable ensemble constantly declined in a variable way, according to the memory and the aspirations of each individual" (Stenou, 2007, p. 424). Cultural essentialism may result in a dangerous aberration likely to provoke a cultural drift towards ethnicity or race, leading to a confrontation between "those who are like us" and "those who are not" (Dervin & Machart, 2015). Essentialism tends to remove us from a dynamic and evolutive vision of the concept of culture necessary for the calm development of intercultural approaches (Ferréol, 2015).

Identity is a key concept in intercultural approaches due to the complicated network of relationships surrounding individuals and their environment. It is crucial in the child's development and in learning (Erikson, 1968). Intercultural approaches solicit at the same time the right to cultural identity, which might appear to be multiple, but at the same time they accept lapses, nomadism and cultural hybridization.

From a global point of view, cultural identity may be considered as a construction in which individuals order their perceptions, descriptions and self-evaluation in relation to their environment or certain precise contexts (particularly cultural). The central idea is that identity is the outcome of an individual construction process and, in this way, is flexible, changeable and dynamic. Thus, the idea of multiple identities is key in the development of intercultural approaches to education, since it promotes an individual's negotiation, contestation, modelling or remodelling of identities (Brinton, Kagan, & Bauckus, 2017).

The dynamism of culture and the subjectivity of individuals is reflected in their identities. One could then propose that cultural identity is "both stable and on the move" (Charaudeau, 2016, p. 33) and that it is better approached through the term "identity strategy" (Lipiansky, 2000).

For example, a child who has inherited two cultures through a mixed marriage or by migration (the parents' culture and the culture of the host country) may acquire a bi- or multicultural identity allowing trouble-free upbringing. Biculturalism or multiculturalism provide access to several cultures (usually the original culture and that of the host country) and the capacity to transfer freely from one to the other. This applies not only to immigrants arriving from other countries but also to the children of immigrants who, while born and brought up in the host society, are also soundly rooted in their family's culture of origin. These situations can also apply to people belonging to ethnic minorities where the inherited culture needs to be maintained, in one way or another, from one generation to the next. Biculturalism or multiculturalism may represent for individuals a psychological and social tool for adaptation (Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005).

Nevertheless, Maalouf (1998) draws attention to the complexity and the possible negative impact of multiple identities. He describes the interaction of a bicultural individual with the world, which sometimes might have the tendency to reduce "the whole identity to a single affiliation" (Maalouf, 1998, p. 11).We will show in this book that the processes of acquisition, perception and belonging are not straightforward and can be the outcome of complicated manoeuvres.

It is therefore essential for those involved in education and researchers, when speaking about migrant pupils, to avoid any temptation to use inappropriate metaphors such as "they are caught between two stools" or "they have no idea where they are!". Rather, we recommend an approach designed to make the pupils' cultures legitimate, while not forcing upon them a cultural affiliation based on fundamentally essentialist beliefs.

Scientific literature sometimes presents a contrast between "individualist culture" and "collectivist culture" (Hofstede, 1994; Rothstein-Fisch & Trumbull, 2008; Triandis, 1994), or between "monochrome cultures"1 and "polychrome cultures"2 (Clément & Girardin, 1997; Hall, 2003). These differences can be useful in the framework of intercultural communication but underestimate, on the one hand, the variety of social groups in each culture and, on the other, the confinement of individuals in a globalizing and immutable cultural sphere.

In relation to the question of cultural identity, intercultural approaches speak in favour of the individuals' true autonomy in the choice of their cultural identity or identities.

This liberty for each individual to choose his/her own identity could act as a protective mechanism when the status (particularly migratory) is associated with an uncertain situation.

It is important for the school to adopt a flexible attitude towards children and young people from foreign backgrounds leaving them the possibility of taking responsibility for and living several cultural identities. While not underestimating the possibility that some young migrant children might experience their double cultural affiliation with difficulty, it seems sufficient to us to emphasize that most of them have no trouble combining the identity inherited from their parents with that acquired in the host country, as well as many other affiliations linked to youth culture and global social networks.

Concerning these initial definitions of the key concepts, it is important that the reader is able to identify the problems connected with culture and cultural affiliation, while interpreting them in a relativist manner. The concepts help us in interpreting reality and in understanding it better. Still, the vitality of culture and cultural identities

<sup>1</sup> Time is managed in a linear way and the individual carries out one task after another.

<sup>2</sup> Time is managed in a circular fashion and the individual carries out several tasks at the same time.

makes the total generalization of words concerning the choice of affiliations or the acquisition of a culture impossible. As Bachler puts it (2018), culture is a labyrinth:

Culture is a labyrinth, with its circuitous byways and sometimes dead ends. Nevertheless, it is by travelling along them that we create what we are. Well, perhaps it is wiser to maintain culture as a labyrinth and not attempt to make it reflect our civil status, nor to ask it to take care of our identity papers (Bachler, 2018, p. 29).

#### **3 Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism**

Ethnocentrism, which is an attitude common to all cultures, consists of assuming that one's culture of origin is the model for all humanity. This is equivalent to considering the way of life or of thinking, the customs and the beliefs of the culture to which one belongs to be the best or are "the norm" compared to other practices, which are inevitably not normal.

As Herskovits and Vaudou (1967) stated it:

Ethnocentrism is the attitude of those who believe their own manner of living is preferable to any other. As the logical follow-up to the process of "enculturation" during their childhood, most people acquire this feeling about their culture, whether they express it or not (Herskovits & Vaudou, 1967, p. 61).

For each individual, ethnocentrism allows other cultures to be evaluated and interpreted according to a yardstick unique to one's own culture (Montaigne, 1965). Ethnocentrism might imply value judgements concerning other individuals coming from cultures whose practices are incomprehensible to oneself, because they are misunderstood. Eating habits are a good illustration of this concept, since normally we are able to eat everything as long as we have been socialized (encultured) from childhood to certain culinary practices. At the same time, we are tempted to express swift judgements of disapproval about the eating habits of other cultures or other peoples. At school, textbooks give a good illustration of the tendency towards ethnocentrism, especially through the choice of maps (very often focusing on the country where the textbook was produced and on the type of projection used to present the map) or the biased presentation of national history compared to that of other peoples and cultures (Blondin, 1990; Preiswerk & Perrot, 1975). The production of world maps also illustrates the manner in which some nations indicate their superiority towards others. Mercator's projection is the most common. First created in the sixteenth century, it allows a biased representation of countries' and continents' sizes with the psychological objective of conveying the idea that the West was the most powerful entity (Harley, 2009). On the other hand, if the Peters' projection had been used, in which the proportions of each continent are respected, Africa would be much bigger than Europe (Harley, 2009). The maps therefore reflect the game of knowledge and power (Harley, 2009).

Concerning ethnocentrism, it seems to us essential to distinguish between defensive ethnocentrism and offensive ethnocentrism. Defensive ethnocentrism reflects a group's wishes, when threatened by assimilation or colonialism, to preserve its unique culture, its language or any other feature of its historical heritage. This form of ethnocentrism can be observed in all cultures, both minority and majority ones. For example, the speakers of European regional languages may adopt defensive ethnocentrism to show their desire to protect their languages faced with the steam roller of national and international languages. In the same way, the survival of indigenous peoples is at present threatened by the thoughtless exploitation of their natural environment. They may therefore express defensive ethnocentrism by attempting to preserve their way of life and their ancient cultural heritage.

On the other hand, offensive ethnocentrism, closely associated with colonialism and imperialism, takes the form of individuals (or a community or a country) who consider their values and cultural features not only as the best, but also the ones that should be adopted by choice or by force by other peoples and cultures.

Eurocentrism, a variant of ethnocentrism, is another concept unfavourable to intercultural approaches. According to Parekh (2000), Eurocentrism is based on the two following hypotheses: on the one hand, the first modern European civilizations arising since the seventeenth century represent the highest form of social life ever attained by humanity until that time and are the universal standards by which all others should be judged; on the other hand, it reached this moment of glory without the contribution of any non-European civilizations and therefore owes little to other civilizations. Three fundamental influences have fashioned European civilization. Its intellectual and political foundations were laid by classic Athens and Rome, both assumed to be exclusively European creations. Its moral and religious foundations were posed by Christianity which, although not European in origin, was radically remodelled in the light of the Greco-Roman heritage and only became a force for progress after undergoing much cultural modification in European hands. Its third major influence was the rise of individualism, secularism, science and technology, etc., all of which are believed to be unique achievements of modern Europe arising from its heritage.

The convergence of Western thought and ways of knowing with Eurocentric colonialism resulted in the imposition of a hierarchical articulation of difference (e.g. "civilized/uncivilized," "modern/primitive," "expert knowledge/general knowledge," "development/underdevelopment," "favoured/condemned," "European/Other," "White/Other") to the benefit of the ruling classes. Western/modern social science was built upon this conceptualization of the world and has served to justify and naturalize this world order as "the way things are done" (Cruz & Sonn, 2015, p. 131).

Transferred to the educational domain, Eurocentrism consists of assigning to the school the tasks of encouraging the skills, attitudes, values and frames of mind that created, underpin and are dear to European civilization, including the capacity of critical and independent thinking, individualism and a scientific approach, without any reference to the contribution of others (Parekh, 2000).

A priority objective of intercultural approaches in education throughout the world is to oppose the typical (natural) tendency of educational actors to assume ethnocentric behaviour. An acceptance of cultural relativism is therefore necessary to implement intercultural approaches in education. Cultural relativism consists of analysing and evaluating the behaviour of individuals from different cultures on the basis of one's own references and cultural contexts. It demands both a certain familiarity with other countries (history, character, organization and structuring of its typical features, complexity, etc.) but also cognitive flexibility necessary to appreciate difference and otherness. Anthropologists, through their long residences in and their minute observations of far-flung societies, have shown the coherence of their social organization and have favoured the development of cultural relativism, in other words openness to the Other, to difference and the ability to understand and tolerate different cultural coherences, without establishing a hierarchy among them.

If cultural relativism is therefore necessary, it becomes dangerous if it is pushed towards absolutism. Indeed, absolute (or radical) cultural relativism consists of justifying and accepting all behaviours associated with a culture. This failure to distance oneself and lack of consideration are not favourable to intercultural approaches in education. Thus, female excision and other similar cultural practices cannot be justified with arguments about cultural relativism. If the reliance on scientific knowledge and democratic discussion allows certain practices to be challenged, it makes no sense to want to maintain them or to make them "sacred" in the name of absolute cultural relativism.

Another concrete example concerns equality between men and women or personal rights, which cannot be denied in the name of cultural or religious specificity. Radical or absolute cultural relativism encourages the right to isolation and an overidealization of cultures. It can deny individuals the right to belong to a universal human culture and forces them to remain imprisoned in a value system that resists all change (Abou, 1992). To use, once again, the splendid phrase of the French anthropologist Françoise Héritier, cultural relativism should be relativized by suggesting that the difficult path of political emancipation travelled by Europe since the Age of Enlightenment may be followed by other cultures (Héritier, 2008). The matter of relativism places stress on the question of recognition and acceptance of cultural diversity. Its excesses and its absences may both lead to us losing our way.

In short, all the richness of intercultural approaches is associated with the need for a complex, fragile and never accomplished balance between recognition and approval of cultural differences, but also the need for all individuals to live under the rule of law based on equality, dignity and liberty.

Intercultural approaches must be conceived as tools to reflect upon and develop the educational practices aimed at awareness and taking a stand so as to work towards a greater responsibility for ourselves and others. They must help us to oppose essentialist visions of identity and culture, and combat the forced ethnicization of others imprisoning them in a caricatural image. They will promote the move from a natural ethnocentrism to a reflective ethnocentrism by encouraging respect and the pursuit of differences (Costanzo & Vignac, 2001). Intercultural approaches are fundamentally the necessary steps for crossing cultural frontiers and holding a dialogue.

#### **4 Equality, Difference and Social Justice**

Let us now turn to the importance of the concept of equality in the emergence of intercultural approaches in education. It should be recalled that the arrival of mass compulsory schooling at the end of the nineteenth century was designed to achieve equal treatment for all individuals in the education system. It was therefore a marked improvement compared to the former education system reserved for the most favoured social groups. It was also a step forward for those societies in which social reproduction was carried out in a hereditary manner through a system of castes or clans.

Compulsory school attendance for all the children of a generation marks the beginning of a founding act for modern democracies and a step forward in the history of humanity: school achievement would determine, in principle, the place individuals would occupy in society. In the period 1950–1960, the sociology of education showed that the principle of meritocracy was closer to a founding myth rather than a proven outcome. In fact, formal equal treatment of individuals in the education system hides their selection and the reproduction of social inequality by a school that claims to be emancipatory (Perrenoud, 1984). According to Bourdieu (1966), this allows the school to remain conservative:

Formal equality that governs educational practice serves in fact as a disguise and a justification for indifference towards the real inequalities facing education and facing the culture taught or, more correctly, demanded (Bourdieu, 1966, p. 366).

By treating all pupils in the same manner, one automatically strengthens those whose cultural and linguistic experiences are closest to those of the school culture. In the English-speaking literature, the concept of "colour-blindness" is used to describe the attitude of teachers who call themselves impartial when faced with their pupils' cultural or colour differences (and therefore possibly of origin as well). In adopting formal equality for all and indifference to differences, this attitude can in fact be prejudicial to children (Blaisdell, 2005).

It also seems useful to us to recall that the concept of equality at the school covers at least three aspects: equality of access to the school; equality during the learning processes; and equality of the pupils' learning outcomes. If it is possible to act on the first aspect by making the school open to all, it is much more difficult to act on the second and to influence the third. The responsibility of the teachers and the parents is partially invoked for the second and third aspects.

In a complimentary attitude to the work of the educational sociologist (analysing the inequalities in the school and in knowledge), intercultural approaches in education reinstate the legitimacy of the idea of cultural difference and the need to find a satisfactory way of dealing with it in the school. As Camilleri (1985) emphasized, individuals manage to mark their difference as a positive feature of their identity if it is accepted and recognized by others. As a result, intercultural approaches today seem more sensitive to education for cultural difference than to an education for those who are culturally different (Sleeter & Grant, 2009).

In short, the concepts of difference and equality allow the contributions and the limitations of intercultural approaches in education to be established. As de Souza Santos (1999) rightly stated: "We have the right to equality each time our difference places us in a situation of inferiority, in the same way that we always have the right to be different each time that equality attempts to strip us of our own characteristics" (p. 45).<sup>3</sup> Hence the necessity of an equality which recognizes differences—a differentiation that is not a source of inequality.

Mellouki (2004) recalls correctly that recognizing the Other is all very well, but taking that person and treating them as an equal is another matter.

The purely theoretical recognition of the other is not sufficient to eliminate communication barriers as long as they are not present in my concrete behaviour, as long as they do serve as my guide in my daily encounters with others, as long as they do not help me interpret the exact meaning of what is said and done, as long as it does not force me *de facto* to consider him as my equal and to copy his way of thinking, to be and to act for what they are, that is to say for cultural models that are neither better nor less good than those dictated to me by the society and culture within which I was raised (Mellouki, 2004, pp. 13–14).

Social justice is both a process and a desirable objective for the school and society. The objective of social justice is to achieve the full and equal participation of individuals drawn from all of society's social groups, which is reciprocally structured to respond to their needs. The process of reaching the objective of social justice must be democratic and participative, respecting human diversity and differences. This inclusive process emphasizes the capacity of human beings to work together in a collaborative manner in order to change society. Social justice requires a world in which the distribution of resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable, where individuals are physically and psychologically secure, accepted and treated with respect (Adams & Bell, 2016). It is therefore vital for teachers to take up the objective of "social justice" in their daily work in the classroom. It seems to us that this concept is far more concrete than the idea of "equality of opportunity", which is nevertheless omnipresent in institutional deliberations.

Intercultural approaches have available solid conceptual foundations if they succeed in uniting the concepts of equality, diversity, difference and social justice (Manning, Baruth, & Lee, 2017), but one should be careful not to exaggerate equality due to the risk of ending up with indifference. Furthermore, one should not overestimate or exaggerate diversity/difference so as to avoid ending up with culturalization or with the essentialization of cultures (Ogay & Edelman, 2011). It is only in a relationship of positive tension between equality and diversity that intercultural approaches may advance (Ogay & Edelman, 2011).

<sup>3</sup> "Temos o direito de ser iguals quando a nossa diferença nos inferioriza; e temos o direito de ser diferentes quando a nossa igualdade nos descaracteriza. Daí a necessidade de uma igualdade que reconheça as diferença e de uma diferença que não produza, alimente ou reproduza as desigualdades" (p. 45).

#### **5 Assimilation, Integration and Recognition**

The concept of assimilation has a long history in the social sciences. The sociologists of the Chicago School, particularly Park, have used it to analyse the relationship between different ethnic groups. Park (1939, 1950) defines assimilation as a movement of disorganization/reorganization, of interpenetrations and fusion through which people acquire the memories, feelings and attitudes of Others by sharing their experiences, their history and by accommodation into a common cultural life.

Other more recent works have shown in the vast majority of cases that immigrants are assimilated to the norms and values of the host societies by the second or third generation (Todd, 1994; Tribalat, 1995). In French sociology, assimilation has a different meaning to the one defined by Park: "Assimilation implies the resorption and reduction of the migrants' typical social, cultural and religious practices" (Tribalat, 1995, p. 13) to the benefit of a majority or dominant culture.

Assimilation is therefore defined as an injunction for the immigrants (ethnocultural minorities) to observe the host society's norms (the dominant society), the expression of their original socio-cultural identity and its idiosyncrasies being relegated to the private sphere. During the process of assimilation, the gaining of nationality or citizenship,4 conceived as an "irreversible" commitment in the host society, assumes capital importance.

Assimilation is a process leading a group or an individual belonging to an ethnocultural minority to adhere strictly to the dominant group's behaviours and values. It is an irreversible process resulting in the loss of unique cultural characteristics for a dominated minority population, colonized or strongly influenced by the majority group. During assimilation, the acceptance of the Other implies the abandonment of difference or cultural specificity. In other words, Others may be accepted without discrimination but on condition that their own identity (cultural identity) is abandoned and that they adopt totally and rapidly the host society's values and behaviour. Assimilation has a negative connotation since it means wanting to eclipse one culture for the benefit of another.

In social psychology, integration takes shape through all the interactions among the members of a group, stimulating a sense of identification with the group and its values (Grawitz, 1999). In sociology, it bears witness to a higher level of social cohesion within the society (Durkheim, 1897/2007). In the educational domain, the concept of integration was used firstly in the field of handicap, subsequently being transposed at the end of the 1970s to intercultural approaches in education as a replacement for the concept of assimilation, which had fallen out of favour. Integration has gradually become the principal concept to define educational and social policies aimed at immigrants or cultural minorities and their children, but also to analyse their situation

<sup>4</sup> In some situations (France, for example), the nation (nationality) is merged with citizenship. In contrast, in multinational States (Russia, for example), generally organized into a federal political system, there is not a single citizenship but several nationalities are possible depending on the nation to which a person belongs.

in relation to the host society. Thus, we speak of people or groups that have been well or badly integrated.

Integration means to introduce a new element into an ensemble (a society, a nation). Integrated individuals also change the group into which they have been included. The idea of interaction is therefore at the core of this process. Integration is a process creating an opportunity for ethnocultural minorities to participate actively in economic, social and cultural life. Today, the success of integration is ultimately measured through the participation of minority groups in political life. Integration does not relieve the host society from examining its own values. Neither does it mean that the ethnocultural minority should give up all of its cultural practices, but requires on its part a certain flexibility and desire to adapt. Integration is therefore an open process which functions over the long term. It makes the ambitious wager to succeed, eventually, in creating a fruitful hybrid and the possibility of living together wisely in both society and the school.

Through the reading of political works, one can conclude that the concept of integration is open to different interpretations. Take, for example, the case of the Haut Conseil français à l'intégration (HCI—Supreme French Council for Integration). This political body, founded in 1989 (and dissolved in 2012/2013), had as its objective to clarify "matters concerning the integration of foreign residents or those of foreign origin" (HCI, 2009). For this reason, HCI was particularly interested in the concept of integration, as well as in its different procedures. In 1993, a report defined integration as a process likely to encourage the active social participation of all men and women expected to live in France over the long term. This participation implies the acceptance, without any reservations, that particularities may continue to exist, especially cultural ones. However, the report recommended encouraging cultural convergence so as to strengthen social cohesion (here it is possible to notice a concept of integration originating with Durkheim) (HCI, 1993). In one of this political body's last reports (in 2011), integration is analysed not through the lens of social integration and cohesion, but through truly measurable criteria; these were, particularly, insertion into the job market, access to housing (defined as "an unmistakable sign of the desire for integration") (HCI, 2011, p. 25), the rate of exogamy (marriage between a French native and someone of foreign extraction) and the acquisition of national citizenship (HCI, 2011). Here, integration is perceived through a largely practical lens. These four pointers can, to a certain extent, demonstrate a degree of social cohesion, while the qualitative question of interaction between the host society and foreigners (or people of foreign origin) seems to occupy a less important place.

Furthermore, an extract from this report demonstrates a conceptual merger between integration and assimilation: "All foreigners, whatever difficulties they have been faced with, have been progressively integrated *to the extent that* they have blended into the French nation, both themselves and, what is more, their descendants" (HCI, 2011, p. 21). The idea that foreigners "blend" into the nation would seem to reduce their former affiliation leading to the necessity of adopting totally the majority culture.

These examples show the need of placing the concepts of assimilation and integration in a national historical and political context. Thus, in France, it can be noted that the term "integration" is sometimes used in the same way as the former republican assimilation. In the United States, the current use of the word "mainstreaming" is also close to integration, while it possesses at the same time a meaning which recalls both "assimilation" and "standardization".

The concept of integration does not always affect the social sphere in a global way; it can form part of more precise dimensions, such as educational policies. Here, we will take the example of Quebec. In fact, the question of integrating pupils with migrant backgrounds occupies an important place in the province's educational policies. In the manner of the "Plan d'action en matière d'intégration scolaire et d'éducation interculturelle, 1998–2002" [Action plan for educational integration and intercultural education], various documents published by the Ministry of Education posed questions about the integration of migrant pupils and suggested some answers. Three dimensions were established as making up the integration process: command of the language (linguistic integration); success in the school (educational integration); and social integration ("the establishment of significant links with the host society's members, as well as the learning of its cultural values, standards and references" (Ministère de l'Éducation de Québec, 1998, p. 5)). In this way, educational integration represents one dimension in the process of adaptation, which "is not achieved until the migrant person or his/her descendants participate fully in all the host society's community life and have acquired a feeling of belonging in this regard" (MCCI, 1990a, p. 16, quoted by Labelle, Field and Icart, 2007, p. 19).

It is necessary to understand the concept of integration as a process accepting the existence as well as the persistence of cultural characteristics in minority or migrant populations. It is in this way that they are clearly independent of the assimilation process, which aims at the disappearance of cultural characteristics. Gibson (1988) estimates that integration corresponds to a conversion without assimilation.

On the other hand, it is necessary to insist on collective responsibility which underpins the concept of integration (Obin & Obin-Coulon, 1999). In this respect, it is particularly the integrative capacity of certain groups or cultural spaces which is called into question (Obin & Obin-Coulon, 1999). Integration should then be understood as a process consisting of two dimensions: the first, more objective, to a certain extent voluntary, includes participation in constraining structures (professional activities, social and political institutions) and the adoption of common standards (model family, language, social behaviour, etc.); the second, more subjective, even affective, takes the form of the development of a sense of belonging to the same community of destiny. However, one should not place responsibility for the integration process wholly on the individual from the minority or migrant group—the implicit or explicit signals communicated by the host society influence the process. It is interesting, for example, to observe how refugees from South-East Asia (the Boat People) were welcomed with open arms by European societies in the 1980s, while African migrants are at present abandoned in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Even if it is true that the historical and political contexts are different between these two situations, they do not have the same effect on the process of integrating migrant people; for this reason, we stress the dynamic dimension of this process and consider the signals sent by host societies during its analysis.

For Sayad (1994), integration is the type of process that can only be discussed afterwards in the form of a *modus operandi*, merely to say whether it succeeded or failed. It is a process which consists ideally of passing from the most radical otherness to the most complete identity (or intended as such). It is a process during which one knows when it has ended and how. There was no doubt in Sayad's (1994) mind that the discussion on integration is inevitably a discussion about identity—one's own identity and the identity of others—and, in the final analysis, on the unequal balance of power that these identities are engaged in. It is a discussion, not of truth, but producing the effect of truth.

To conclude, it is necessary to recall that the concept of integration as it is understood today has inherited other similar meanings, such as those of adaptation and assimilation (Sayad, 1994). Each one of these meanings wants to be original but, in reality, they are only different expressions, at different times, in different contexts and for different social usages of the same idea, which consists of developing a certain type of social cohesion (always politically tainted).

The concept of minority, much employed in the English-speaking literature, is employed to analyse the situation of groups searching for recognition and equality. According to Meunier (2007), this concept may be defined as a community formed on the basis of a real or imagined common origin. This minority could easily be ethnic, cultural, religious, national, regional or sexual. This concept does not necessarily refer to groups with a limited membership, but particularly to historically dominated collective ensembles.

In some national contexts, the terms "ethnic minority" or "ethnocultural minority" are used. The meaning of ethnic comes from the Greek *ethnos*: "a class of people of the same origin and condition". This term is used for a grouping of individuals who have common characteristics. Today, numerous theoreticians concerned with cultural diversity (especially North American) consider that all minorities should be included in the process of recognition and they therefore include all of them in their thinking (see, particularly, Sleeter & Grant, 2009).

Taylor (1994) considers that any policy on difference results in a demand for the recognition of minorities so that there should not be any second-class citizens. The alleged neutral collection of principles of political dignity blind to differences would be the reflection of a supremacist culture, since only minorities and oppressed cultures are obliged to assume a foreign form. What underlies the demand for recognition is the principle of universal equality. The policy of difference denounces all forms of discrimination and refuses any second-class citizenship (Taylor, 1994). To the extent that equality is sought, it is important to request it for, if we are all different, we should also all be equal.

The question of recognition of minorities may be divisive. In fact, for some, it risks opening the way to communitarianism5 in the functioning of public life, and

<sup>5</sup> Communitarianism: a belief that communities formed on the basis of cultural, religious or social affiliations should live in small self-governing units. In some countries (for example, France), the idea of community is used as a foil against multiculturalism.

will terminate in the weakening of social and national cohesion in favour of isolated communities. For others, the recognition by society and in political will for all the minorities is a way of becoming aware of the injustices that some cultural groups may suffer (Schnapper, 1992). For Ogay and Edelheim (2011), to push equality to its limits would result in indifference to differences; on the contrary, to exaggerate diversity could end up with culturalization or the essentialization of cultures. In the same way, de Souza Santos (1999) and Ogay and Edelheim (2011) propose a positive connection between "equality" and "difference". The tension between these two concepts is inherent to intercultural approaches, which seek an ideal recognition of singularities, while promoting interactions between them.

#### **6 The Processes of Enculturation and Acculturation**

The anthropologist Mead (1972) defined enculturation as a process through which any human group will transmit to its children from birth shared cultural elements, norms and values. It is a process that allows human beings to acquire progressively throughout their childhood and adolescence the values of their original cultural group (Colin & Müller, 1996). It refers to strengthening the original culture's norms and fundamental values (usually that of the parents). The meaning of the prefix "en-" is to introduce, to encircle, to wrap around, to enclose.

Acculturation means that the norms and values of another culture are acquired progressively. The prefix "ac- " is similar to that of the words *accept, accede, accommodate.* Acculturation is the outcome resulting from direct and continuous contact among different cultural groups.

For individuals belonging to cultural minorities or having experienced migration, specialists speak of a process of acculturation corresponding to the adjustment that migrants, uprooted from their cultural milieu and transplanted into another society, must undergo (Dinello, 1977). When groups or individuals from different cultures enter into direct and continuous contact, changes occur, with constant recompilations of cultural systems. Acculturation can be observed at both the community and individual levels. It should be noted that in the case of a focus upon the individual, we speak of psychological acculturation.

In societies displaying cultural diversity, we observe the coexistence of the processes of enculturation and acculturation alongside the process of socialization.

Numerous authors have attempted to develop analytical frameworks to study the acculturation process. We will present successively the contributions of Gordon (1964) and Berry (1991). To assist in the understanding of these models, it is necessary to relax the definitions previously stated. As mentioned earlier, concepts can be interpreted in different ways; thus, divergent definitions may be ascribed to them. What remains important are the content and processes enabling them to be described and understood thanks to these two models.

Gordon (1964) employed the concept of assimilation to analyse the acculturation of ethnic minorities in the United States. By establishing three levels of implementation of this concept, he was able to analyse different forms of acculturation in a given society. First, he examined cultural assimilation. This concerns the process of adopting the outstanding features of the dominant group (language, behaviour, values, etc.). In the United States, one observes that numerous ethnic groups are completely absorbed culturally, nevertheless their social participation in society remains modest. Secondly, he develops the idea of a structural assimilation to which he adds two wider meanings: a primary and a secondary. Secondary structural assimilation concerns the relationships said to be secondary (in the workplace, in schools, in political organizations, in the locality, in leisure and in sport), while primary structural assimilation concerns relationships of greater immediacy or intimacy. One could say that it is the type of relationship that most concerns individuals on the personal level (religious communities, social clubs, informal social organizations, close friendships, family relations). Finally, in third place, he places a last type of assimilation, this time connected with individuals' marriages (between those arising from minority and majority groups); this is called matrimonial assimilation. These bear witness, ultimately, to the extent of integration and amalgamation among various groups in a given society. Even if it is relatively old, Gordon's model (1964) allows the dynamic of interethnic relationships in modern societies to be analysed.

The Canadian psychologist Berry (1991) estimated that acculturation could be considered as a phenomenon that is both collective and individual. Acculturation requires individuals, whether they belong to the host society or to various groups being acculturated, to adopt new behaviours and to establish new forms of relationships in their daily lives (Berry, 1991). According to him, the best way to determine the attitude in which individuals being acculturated find themselves in multicultural societies is to ask them questions concerning their daily lives (Berry, 1991):


The interconnected answers to these two types of questions allow four types of acculturation strategies to be defined, as illustrated in Table 1.


**Table 1** Acculturation strategies

*Source* Berry and Sam (1997)

In order to illustrate this model, we will use the example of Lino,<sup>6</sup> who we will place in four situations in order to illustrate the four acculturation strategies. It is important to understand that the examples given are employed for illustration purposes and are simplified; reality and the use of concepts from real-life situations are no doubt much more difficult to apprehend.


This theoretical presentation of the processes of acculturation is interesting. Nevertheless, it should be treated with care. In fact, if Berry "speaks of 'choice' in the strategies of acculturation adopted" (Amin, 2012, p. 110) by immigrant people or those with migrant backgrounds, it would seem that he does not "take into consideration the social, historical, ideological or cultural conditioning, which often overwhelms

<sup>6</sup> Our example is based on a fictitious child with a migrant background; nevertheless, Berry's model can be adapted to other situations, such as those of cultural minorities who do not have a migrant origin (the case of the Amerindians, for example). Examples using this model are found again in the remainder of this book and allow the reader to understand the different analytical options proposed.

the individual, as well as the unconscious parameters which impose themselves on him" (Amin, 2012, p. 110). In subsequent studies refining this model, Berry (2005) returns to the idea of choice, which he describes as only possible in the case of an acculturation process based on the integration strategy if—and only if—"the dominant society is open and inclusive with regard to its attitude to cultural diversity" (Berry, 2005, p. 705). In conclusion, this model is therefore interesting in establishing the acculturation strategies possible, but should always be accompanied by a critical approach towards the host society and its attitude towards migrant individuals or those with migrant backgrounds.

#### **7 Conclusion**

Intercultural approaches are rooted in different concepts that we have attempted to clarify in this chapter, of which "culture", "ethnocentrism" and "cultural relativism" are the most important.

Culture gives meaning to people's and community's lives. It encourages socialization and grants the possibility for individuals and groups to learn, to communicate, to make exchanges and to borrow practices or innovations. Nevertheless, intercultural approaches are incompatible with any temptation towards essentialism, where culture is defined in a simplistic and unalterable manner.

It is the duty of intercultural approaches to destabilize individuals' and group's natural ethnocentrism so as make them ready to accept cultural relativism encouraging an understanding of otherness, without falling into absolute cultural relativism which is harmful for living together since it authorizes the acceptance of all cultural practices without any appraisal of their value.

Other concepts, such as equality, difference, assimilation, integration or recognition are also stimulated by intercultural approaches. However, since these notions are employed in political speeches, by the media and in daily interaction, they are open to numerous interpretations which could lead to confusion.

Migrants and cultural minorities, traditionally the victims of discrimination, experience acculturation processes in different ways according to their origins, their place of residence, public policies concerning them, as well as their daily and migratory experiences. Different theoretical models have attempted to analyse the modalities of acculturation. However, with the public debate on cultural diversity in the school becoming political, it is often expressed in terms of the traditional assimilationist model. While one part of the protagonists in this debate supports this model, teachers and other educational actors are able to resist intercultural innovations that they consider do not conform to it (Inglis, 2009). The meaning of integration in a plural society and at school can be defined according to such value scales as tolerance, acceptation, difference, laicity or human rights (Abdallah-Pretceille, 1992). As emphasized by Kymlicka (1995), each time minorities or immigrants have been welcomed as potential citizens, cultural differences have never represented an important obstacle to integration and to living together. The integration, assimilation or exclusion of migrants depends less on cultural differences than on public policies concerning recognition, insertion and citizenship.

Finally, it seems essential to us to stress the need for educators and teachers who choose intercultural approaches to make use at the same time of the richness, the complexity but also the limits of the key concepts that these approaches are trying to introduce (Barthoux, 2008).

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## Synthesis of Part I

The first part of this book has allowed us to situate the historical and conceptual foundations of intercultural approaches in education. These approaches contribute to an attempt to break with the original monocultural custom in the school setting, which was unsympathetic to cultural diversity. The anthropological definition of culture forms the foundation of intercultural approaches. In fact, it is essential to consider culture as a structural and mobilizing element in human society. Nevertheless, it is helpful to consider that any culture is subject to constant transformation through an internal dynamic and through indispensable contacts with other cultures. What is more, culture is always to be located in the contexts where it prospers and gives meaning to the lives of individuals and groups. Ethnocentrism and racism have posed serious obstacles to introducing cultural diversity into education. As a result, it is important to analyse the psycho-social processes that encourage them. In the same way, cultural relativism represents an important point of stability for intercultural approaches, on condition that it does not blind us to the need to criticize and to combat some discriminatory or unjust cultural practices.

## **Part II National Experiences: Comparison, Convergences and Divergencies**

Comparison in education is an essential tool in the analysis of motivation, the priorities inspiring the partners, their roles and the emergence of problems. In the case of intercultural approaches, the analysis of different national contexts (or regional in the case of federal States) allows us to identify key factors in their development. From this point of view, this second part of our book will familiarize readers with a few situations as well as issues in the development of intercultural approaches. The chosen countries reflect the general posture of this book: mainly focused on intercultural approaches in the countries of the North and in Western contexts. Nevertheless, these choices have also been guided by our research experiences and our more profound expertise on these countries. This investigation of five national experiences brings to light two principal findings. First, the way in which countries take possession of the theme "the consideration of cultural diversity" is closely linked to their history, the formation of their national identity and their relationship with other peoples. From our analysis of these factors, it comes to light that intercultural approaches may follow two paths in their development. The first, typical of some contexts such as that of the United States, arises from the bottom up; it is civil society which, through different civil rights movements, has demanded that difference shall be considered. The second rather reflects a movement beginning at the top: it is the recommendation of international organizations that States shall take diversity into account. The second of our findings is that, in most situations analysed, some groups find themselves regularly excluded or at least designated as marginalized within education systems. Here, comparison enables us to highlight a common trend: cultural otherness does not merge easily into the school culture.

## **Chapter 5 Multicultural Education in the United States**

#### **1 Introduction**

The United States of America represents a contradictory context for the consideration of cultural diversity in an education system. On the one hand, the Civil Rights Movement and legal decisions have enabled considerable progress to be made in the matter of the right to a quality education for ethnic minorities. On the other hand, the school still suffers from the relics of slavery and racial segregation, because racial mixing remains weak. In this chapter, we will first examine the historical circumstances in the emergence of multiculturalism. We then situate the consideration of cultural diversity between the Civil Rights Movement and legal decisions. We will also deal with the evolution of multicultural education and the schooling of ethnic minorities in the country. Finally, we will examine the appropriate contribution of critical pedagogy to multicultural education.

#### **2 How Multiculturalism First Appeared in the United States**

The appearance of multicultural education in the United States is the outcome of a long and complicated process written into the country's earliest and contemporary history. To begin with, one must consider that the racial question was always a central feature in the political and intellectual debate in the United States. The scientific references that we will mention, the social and political events, the commitment on the part of some associations or celebrities illustrate the constancy of this theme in national debates. It is possible to identify a few paradoxes in this national context. Myrdal (1944) has, for example, shown that if the White population tended to believe in a profound equality, the discriminatory treatment reserved for the Black population demonstrates that between the ideal and reality there was a huge gulf. In this same line of thought, Price (1992) called into question the application of "American values".

It is therefore very important to take into consideration the context when examining the development of intercultural approaches in education in the United States. First, one can say that the country had been founded on the triple foundation: "slavery/colonization/immigration". White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) institutions and language provided the foundation for living together upon which successive waves of immigrants had to integrate and assimilate. The WASP culture dominated and still dominates to a great extent the country's social, economic and political life. It is interesting to note, for example, that up to the present time John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Barack Obama and Joe Biden remain the only American presidents who were "non-WASP".

We will see that slavery, already dealt with earlier in this book, has had a major influence upon the country's cultural composition. However, one must also consider the different waves of immigration, fundamentally European, taking place between 1880 and 1920. These events launched a new policy, principally based on the wish to assimilate the newcomers who were required to adapt to the existing mores. The expression "melting pot" described this intention to "transform the immigrants from different ethnic and religious groups into Americans sharing a common culture, and developing common attitudes, values and ways of life" (Bisin & Verdier, 2000, p. 955).

The question of racial segregation also had an impact on the context in which multicultural approaches in education developed. The expression "separate but equal" reflected a policy for the separation of individuals following a Supreme Court decision (when dealing with the Plessy v. Ferguson affair).<sup>1</sup> Public life was thereafter governed by racial segregation. Such policies led to numerous disparities (educational, social and economic) to the detriment of the minorities.<sup>2</sup> Moreover, internal terrorism in the form of lynching and racial discrimination guaranteed that the Blacks were kept in a state of racial subjection and fear (Connor & Ferri, 2018).

This manner of managing ethnocultural differences dominated the United States until the emergence of the Civil Rights Movement on the political scene during the 1950s and 1960s, which thrust the combat for equality and opposition to residential and educational segregation to the fore. The emergence of multiculturalism in the American education system therefore forms part of the struggle by civil society against inequalities for access to education confronting the stereotypes reflected in educational curricula and institutions, while combatting the mediocre quality of separate—education provided to ethnic and cultural minorities.

In the United States, the concept 'multicultural' pulls in two directions: One toward a celebration of diversity and individuality; and another toward the creation of a national curriculum that is paradoxically both pluralistic yet culturally unifying. In view that the United States is undergoing clear demographic shifts and changes in student population, and in view that education institutionally serves to both shape and to enable a dynamic

<sup>1</sup> Which contributed to authorizing the introduction of segregation measures.

<sup>2</sup> Here, the term "minority" refers not to actual numbers but more to the matter of distribution of power between individuals. Those with less, in this case certain ethnic or cultural groups, are then considered as minorities.

citizenry, multicultural education in the United States is in need of sustained support and, indeed, expansion (Bal, 2016, p. 187).

#### **3 The Civil Rights Movement and Legal Decisions**

In 1954, a judgement by the Supreme Court in the celebrated affair of "Brown v. Board of Education" agreed that schooling based on racial separation was unjust and unequal. This judgement, extremely important in the history of education in the United States, opened a breach in de facto segregation that had affected Black American children and therefore drew particular attention to their schooling.

An examination of the laws adopted in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement shows the educational theme's omnipresence (Table 1).


**Table 1** Laws and legal decisions following the Civil Rights Movement in the United States

Adapted from Kahn (2008)

In the United States, during the period preceding the Civil Rights Movement, the poor school performance of Black children was typically explained by the theory of socio-cultural handicap. According to this theory, the educational difficulties of children in popular classes were attributable to a lack of socio-cultural resources (language deficit, cultural poverty, weak intellectual development, etc.). Recognition of the heritage and cultural experience of Black children was never admitted. This theory placed the blame for these children's educational difficulties on the children themselves (and their parents), but does not become involved in calling into question an educational institution based on segregation and inequality. This theory was widespread during the 1950s.

The beginning of the 1960s was marked by the Civil Rights Movement's stunning development conducted by the African-American community, with Martin Luther King as its principal leader. In reality, this movement formed part of the long struggle for equality carried out by Black Americans. Indeed, from the beginning of the twentieth century numerous Black American intellectuals had contributed to the theoretical and practical conception of multicultural education. Du Bois (1903) had described the African-American identity using terms such as double-consciousness or double identity (two-ness). He was indefatigable in fighting for equality for all American citizens, while affirming that the twentieth century's principal problem was that of racial divisions. He was among the founding members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the most powerful organization for civil rights in the United States.

Malcolm X, for his part, represented a more radical and Afro-centric attitude. Faced with the reticence of White Americans about any gesture in favour of multiculturalism, Malcolm X fought for the birth of radical Black nationalism, which in his eyes was the only way to overturn the status quo of racial inequality. He converted to Islam and battled within the Nation of Islam organization (Malcom X, 1965).

Martin Luther King symbolized a clearly multicultural and pacifist position. He is well known for his famous speech "I have a dream …", in which he called for the end of the Black community's oppression and institutionalized racism. The Black Reverend Jesse Jackson now carries the flame of the historical combat by cultural minorities for equal rights.

The Civil Rights Movement aimed at obtaining social, political and educational rights for the Black minority equivalent to those of the majority of the population of European origin. Let us recall that the African-Americans in the United States have family roots going back much further than most of the descendants of European migrants. The development of this resistance movement by Black populations, as well as the movements for women's rights and popular protests against the war in Viet Nam, resulted in an agreement about the need for public formal education to reflect and promote the contribution of all cultural and ethnic groups in American society. In 1964, the vote of laws enabling Black Americans to enjoy rights similar to those of the remainder of the population (Civil Rights Act) had a major impact in the progressive acceptance of cultural pluralism in educational institutions.

While the Black Americans struggled for equal rights, other cultural and social minorities joined the same fight for equality and the recognition of their heritage and their cultural particularity. The Chicanos (Mexican-Americans who had always lived in the south-west of the United States) and the Hispanics (Spanish-speaking Latin American immigrants), for example, demanded the right to use Spanish in educational institutions after decades of Anglo-Saxon domination. The Chicano movement "El Partido Nacional de la Raza Unida" (The National United People's Party) had an important influence at the beginning of the 1970s by deciding the issue of several local elections in southern Texas (Estrada, Garcia, Macías, & Maldonado, 1981).

In the United States, multicultural education is clearly associated with the Civil Rights Movement. African-American researchers and educators working with all the civil rights movements represented the principal source of support for the partisans of multicultural education. The action of African-Americans and other minority groups protesting about discriminatory practices of which they were the victims in public institutions marks the start of multicultural education (Banks, 1981). Banks (1981) stressed the development of multicultural education during teacher training and in curriculum design. Nieto (2000) explored the way in which social, political and educational factors worked together to have a negative influence on the school careers of pupils belonging to certain ethnic groups. This author also described the impact on education of discrimination, racism, school policies, socio-economic status, ethnicity, gender, teacher training and expectations, as well as language. Finally, Nieto (2000) proposed the concept of "cultural equity" as a pillar of multicultural education.

Educational segregation, legally forbidden since 1954, has become once again a problem in the United States. It is, in fact, the suburbanization movement, in other words the relocation of middle and affluent classes to the outer suburbs of urban areas, that has resulted in the ethnic separation of populations and the return of racial homogeneity in the composition of school classes. This phenomenon illustrates the relative failure of multicultural approaches in their attempt to disrupt and then improve unequal ethnic relations.

Further to the problem of residential segregation, affluent people often send their children to private schools, usually located in the same suburbs where the middle and affluent classes (mainly White) have taken up residence in order to flee the violence, ghettos and the insecurity associated with city centres. Racial homogenization of residential areas and schools presents major obstacles in the improvement of the Black communities' destiny. The phenomenon of removal to the affluent suburbs, also called "White flight", has led to racial heterogeneity losing the little territory that had been gained in the wake of laws and initiatives following the Civic Rights Movement.

It is possible to say that the emergence of multicultural education in the United States is associated with the mobilization of some communities that have been historically marginalized and discriminated against. This mobilization has been followed up by legal, educational and social measures designed to improve cultural diversity and increase equity (Darling-Hammond, 2015; Noblet, 1993).

#### **4 The Evolution of Multicultural Education and the Schooling of Ethnic Minorities**

From its origins until the present time, several principles have shaped multicultural education and its implementation. One could say that there is a willingness for a global change, but adapted to the different structures of education systems that underlie the conception of multicultural education. One of the first directions of change to be established concerned the content of teaching. For Banks (1993), one of the most influential authors on this subject, curricula must include multicultural education. This means that such elements should not be added piecemeal, but should form an integral part of the official educational curriculum. One may observe, for example, that the movements launched in the 1960s in the United States allowed some groups to gain more visibility in the school and this happened, particularly, through the modification of educational curricula which had largely been based on the WASP heritage. These measures contributed to giving a positive image to the minority cultural groups themselves. They also encouraged the emergence throughout the United States of studies aimed at particular ethnocultural groups. It was at this epoch that African-American studies, Latino studies and studies on gender were introduced throughout the country (Kahn, 2008).

If the objective of multicultural education is not new, it should be said that it is still relevant today. Spring (2017) put forward the idea that considering different cultures and promoting them, as well as an understanding of inequalities, should be some of the themes included in educational planning and in the teaching proposed for the pupils. Today, multicultural education becomes a way of promoting the pedagogical content allowing pupils to learn to live in a diverse, global world in constant turmoil (NAME, 2018).

The second axis in the development of multicultural education that we will deal with concerns the relationship between the educational partners. Banks (1993) mentions the reduction in prejudice, as well as education for equity as key elements of multicultural education. In this same vision, Spring (2017) highlights the fact that an understanding of the way in which a pupil's culture may be different from that of other pupils is a significant element in multicultural education.

Furthermore, the question of equity already raised by Banks (1993) and the objective of combatting discrimination, as well as social justice (NAME, 2018), show that multicultural education should not only be dealt with in the classroom and in the school: it should also be part of the education system and society as a whole.

Finally, multicultural education (according to its most recent definitions) should form part of the training and preparation of pupils to live in a diverse society. For NAME (2018), they should be prepared for the responsibilities that they will have to face in an interdependent world; they should also acquire attitudes, knowledge and competences for living in the company of different cultures.

It can therefore be noted that throughout its history, multicultural education has adopted different forms and has focused on different objectives. One could then say that it has taken shape through three different phases: (1) modifications to textbooks and curricula so as to include the contribution of minority cultures; (2) calling into question the idea of cultural handicap, very much in fashion until the beginning of the 1970s, and used to explain the poor educational performance of children belonging to ethnic minorities; and (3) public policies designed to reduce educational segregation, particularly through the mixing of pupils using school transport so as to obtain multi-ethnic classes.

Without denying their symbolic influence, these three directions have had a relatively modest impact on the country's schools, particularly on educational desegregation which has persisted and continues until the present time due to residential segregation. If the Whites are no longer able legally to prevent the Blacks from sending their children to the same schools, they may leave the multicultural districts of large towns and install themselves in increasingly remote suburbs.

Figure 1 sums up the principal multicultural phases of the school in the United States and gives examples of how they were achieved.

Still on the subject of the evolution of multicultural education in the United States, it can be stated that the 1970s represented an important watershed in their development (Gay, 1983). This change took place both in the curriculum and in teaching. As mentioned earlier, curricula began incorporating the contribution of ethnic minorities, since most states acted upon recommendations designed to integrate diversity into educational programmes. There was also a significant effort to revitalize the cultural and linguistic heritage of Amerindian pupils. It was during this period that the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) recommended the inclusion of multicultural education in teacher training. This body, responsible for teacher training, included diversity as one of the six evaluation standards employed at that time.

**Fig. 1** The three multicultural phases of the school in the United States

However, during the 1980s, following the publication of the report *Nation at Risk* (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983), multicultural education was marginalized in favour of educational reforms oriented towards educational standards with an assimilationist orientation and Anglo-conformism (Washburn et al., 1996). The priority objective established by this report was that the United States' school should regain its place in international comparisons of school performance. Schools had been accused of not providing the pupils with the necessary competences and knowledge enabling the United States to participate favourably in global economic competition. Furthermore, multiculturalism had been accused of only serving the particular interests of ethnic minorities (Sleeter, 2018).

However, demographic realities eventually forced educational decision-makers to turn their attention once again to paying serious attention to de facto multicultural plurality in the American school (Koppelman, 2008). For example, numerous American towns already have a majority of pupils belonging to ethnic minorities. As shown in Fig. 2, by 2060 White pupils will only represent 34% of enrolment.

The United States has traditionally been labelled as a nation of migrants. Immigration is the motor which has fashioned and refashioned the country. It has also been a passionate individual, societal and political adventure, which has taken place in a complicated juxtaposition of social, economic, religious, political and cultural transformations, involving the immigrants and their descendants, and the country in its entirety (De Melendez & Beck, 2018).

The 2014 census painted a complete panorama of cultural and ethnic diversity in the United States. Not only did it illustrate evolution in the country's diversity, but

**Fig. 2** The evolution of the pupil population's composition. *Source* Adapted from Putman, Hansen, Walsh, and Quintero (2016)

it also drew attention for the first time to the emergence of multiracial and multiethnic groups calling themselves "multicultural": 8 million inhabitants described their heritage as multiracial. By 2060, the proportion of people declaring two or more races will reach 19% of the population (De Melendez & Beck, 2018).

In 2015, babies belonging to ethnic minorities represented 50.2% of births and pupils belonging to these minorities for the first time overtook the number of White pupils (De Melendez & Beck, 2018).

Cultural diversity presented in demographic data does not give a true picture of the level of learning and school performance. Figure 3 displays the principal differences in the level of education associated with ethnicity. Even if all ethnic groups have improved their performance between 2006 and 2016, the differences between them remain significant. The Whites and the Asians have the highest levels of performance, while the Blacks and the Hispanics have the lowest. More than 60% of Asians aged between 25 and 29 years of age have obtained a first university degree, while for the Blacks and Hispanics this proportion is around 20%.

When comparing school completion, the Hispanics have improved their performance between 2006 and 2016, even if 20% of them still do not complete the secondary school course. As far as higher education is concerned, the percentage of White individuals with a first university degree or higher in 2016 is about twice that of Blacks and Hispanics. The Asians represent the group with the highest level of education in the country.

In 2014, the drop-out rates for Asians (1.0%) and Whites (5.2%) between 16 and 24 years of age were lower than their Black (7.4%) and Hispanic (10.6%) classmates; the drop-out rate for Blacks was inferior to that of Hispanics. The drop-out rate for those individuals possessing two races or more (2.7%) was lower than that for

**Fig. 3** The percentage of individuals between 25 and 29 years of age according to their level of education and their race/ethnicity in 2006 and 2016. *Source* Adapted from Synder, Brey and Dillow (2018)

Whites, Blacks, Hispanics and Amerindian/Native Alaskans (15.7%), although not remarkably different from that of Asians. The drop-out rate for Amerindians and Native Alaskans was not noticeably different from that of their Hispanic and Pacific Islander homologues, but actually above that for all the other racial/ethnic groups (McFarland, Stark, & Cui, 2014).

Between 1974 and 2014, the school drop-out rate decreased for White, Black and Hispanic young people aged 16–24 years. Over this period, the drop-out rate for Whites dropped from 11.9 to 5.2%, while that for Blacks decreased from 21.2 to 7.4%. In 1974, the rate for abandoning studies for Hispanics was 33.0%, and there was no particular trend between 1974 and 1990. Subsequently, this rate dropped to 32.4% in 1990 and 10.6% in 2014 (McFarland, Stark, & Cui, 2014).

Ultimately, one can say that, over recent years, despite an improvement in some educational indicators, for young people with ethnic minority backgrounds a persistent gap remains between them and White/Asian students.

As we have already remarked earlier, school segregation is linked to residential segregation, while the lack of ethnically mixed schools in the United States is probably the most alarming phenomenon and a major obstacle to the introduction of intercultural approaches in the United States.

Figures 4 and 5 show, on the one hand, the evolution of enrolment according to ethnicity and, on the other, the evolution according to ethnic origin of schooling in schools with at least 75% of pupils belonging to ethnic minorities (McFarland et al.,

**Fig. 4** The distribution of pupils (%) enrolled in primary or secondary public schools by race/ethnicity, in autumn 2004, 2014 and by projection in autumn 2026. *Source* U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary and Secondary Education", 2004–2005 and 2014–2015; and National Elementary and Secondary Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity Projection Model 1972 through 2026. See: *Digest of Education Statistics 2016*, Table 203.50

**Fig. 5** The percentage of pupils in public primary schools enrolled in schools with at least 75% of pupils from minority groups, by race/ethnicity: for autumn 2004 and autumn 2014. *Source* U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey", 2004 and 2004–2015. See *Digest of Education Statistics 2006*, Table 93 and *Digest of Education Statistics 2016*, Table 216.50

2017). The most evident trend in Fig. 4 is White pupils losing their majority. By 2026, there will be almost the same number of White pupils as Black, Hispanic and Asian pupils combined.

Figure 5 highlights the spread of school segregation, because since 2014 almost 60% of Black and Hispanic pupils attended schools with more than 75% of pupils belonging to ethnic minorities. This figure shows that White pupils generally attend schools where they are the majority and the same is true of Black and Hispanic pupils.

#### **5 The Theories of Critical Pedagogy and Social Justice**

Critical pedagogy emerged during the 1980s, but its origins lie in the Civil Rights Movement (Cho, 2013).<sup>3</sup> By proposing in the first instance a "macro" analysis of the school, this trend has called into question, among other things, the egalitarian myth on which it is based, but also its instrumentalization (the school as a means for …) (Cho, 2013). However, a "micro" analysis of the school had also been pursued. The creation of the curriculum or the hidden curriculum have been, amongst other things, subjected to criticism aimed at showing that the school reproduced inequalities (economic or

<sup>3</sup> For a detailed analysis of the development of critical pedagogy, as well as the different currents influencing it, the reader may refer to the work by Cho (2013) figuring in the bibliography.

social) (Cho, 2013). The principal objective of this theory is not to express a criticism of the school, but more to inspire structural change within it and in society. This is how Cho (2013) defined it:

The fundamental objective of critical pedagogy is to construct schools and an education which function as agents for change. Through schools, critical pedagogy attempts to build more egalitarian power relations, to make the learners' voices heard, and to inspire a critical conscience, and all this with the goal of promoting social change (Cho, 2013, p. 1).

Kincheloe (2008) identified several characteristics of critical pedagogy. The first relates to the founding of this theory on matters concerning social justice, equity and autonomy (Kincheloe, 2008), The second is based on the idea that all educational choices have political roots: the author mentions above all those that favour society's dominant groups (Kincheloe, 2008). However, one must recognize that the educational techniques arising from critical pedagogy are themselves eminently political. Finally, the third characteristic established by Kincheloe (2008) refers to a reduction in human suffering. This is attributable to the historical foundation of critical pedagogy in a tradition that analysed the relationships of power and oppression.

The theory of critical pedagogy, as well as the theory of social justice in education, gave rise to the development of various types of pedagogy all designed to give the pupils autonomy, to reduce inequalities and to create just societies … Here are a few examples:

Alim and Paris (2017) proposed a "culturally sustainable pedagogy", which reinvented schools as spaces where various heterogenous practices are not only promoted, but also sustained and employed. By fundamentally reforming the goal of education, this pedagogy demands a critical and liberating vision of schooling, which redirects the blame for the children's learning crisis to oppressive school and social systems.

Gay (2010) describes a "culturally relevant pedagogy", originally developed by Ladson-Billings (1995), and of which the "cornerstone" is "critical analysis of the society" (Schmeichel, 2012, p. 225). This pedagogy aims at the following three objectives: successful schooling for all pupils; the development of their cultural competence; and their critical appraisal of society and its organization (Ladson-Billings, 1995). This theory is based on the willingness to participate in making *all* pupils autonomous, the enhancement of their cultural identities, the development of their critical consciousness, and to make them actors of change in the society (Gay, 2010).

In this same order of ideas, Sleeter (2018) estimates that multicultural education is more than an assemblage of reform strategies for the school curriculum; it is also a combat zone for power in order to define the objectives and the processes of education in a diverse and unequal world.

#### **6 Conclusion**

It should be borne in mind that multicultural education would not have appeared in the United States without the perseverance and energy exercised by the Civil Rights Movement. Remarkable progress was accomplished, such as public bilingual education, the acceptance of cultural diversity in curricula and educational activities, making educational institutions responsible for the integration of children who were different and affirmative action. Nevertheless, the most notable failure is the persistence and even the worsening of social segregation. Moreover, a conservative movement increasingly influences educational reforms by emphasizing the quality of education based on educational achievement rather than attaining the multicultural school.

The advent of multicultural education in North America clearly represented an attempt to boost the learning success of children belonging to cultural minorities and to take advantage of the already existing cultural plurality in schools (Joshee, Peck, Thompson, Chareka, & Sears, 2016). As Banks (1991) has suggested, the principal objective of multicultural education is education for liberty. It must assist pupils to develop the know-how, knowledge and attitudes necessary for them to participate fully in a democratic and free society. Multicultural education encourages liberty, the skills and competences necessary to cross our own ethnic and cultural frontiers in order to establish interactions with other cultures and groups. It is encouraged by an open conception of national identity in which the contribution of all cultural groups is acknowledged.

There is an important difference between North America and Europe in the conception of national identity. In the New World, until recently immigration was considered as one element making up the nation. The expressions "melting pot" and "nation of migrants" show that the role of immigration in economic prosperity has been appreciated for a long time, by both public opinion and most politicians.

For the sake of comparison, there existed in Europe until recently a consensus that a national community of destiny was one of its founding myths reflected in statements such as "Our ancestors, the Gauls" in France and "William Tell" in Switzerland. As stated by Race (2017), multiculturalism assumes different forms in different parts of the world. One major distinction is between New World countries, which subscribe to multiculturalism as a nation-integrating formula, and Europe, where multiculturalism is exclusively a property of minorities, with immigrants holding a central but ambiguous and increasingly contested role in it.

However, with the election of Trump in the United States, Hispanic demography has become inescapable on the political scene. In parallel, the wall under construction to halt immigration arising from Latin America has allowed a relative coincidence in European and North American attitudes. Indeed, we observe that migrations from the South are viewed as a threat by part of the population in both Europe and North America.

Finally, this chapter, by describing the evolution of multicultural education, as well as the way it has been defined, has illustrated the flexibility of this concept. It has evolved over time as a reflection of social events and its assumption by different partners. One question raised by the analysis of its development concerns the issues of its implementation in educational policies.

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## **Chapter 6 Multicultural Education in Canada**

In this chapter, we will try to retrace the development of inter- and multicultural approaches in Canada, including Quebec. As our analysis progresses, we will reveal the need to distinguish between these two geographical and political entities. First, we deal with the whole country, which will be approached by examining the emergence of the federal policy on multiculturalism. Then, the second part of the chapter is devoted to the history and evolution of schooling for indigenous children. The third part tackles the way multiculturalism has been incorporated into curricula and educational policies. Finally, the fourth part explores the specific features concerning multiculturalism in the Province of Quebec.

#### **1 Introduction**

Canada is certainly very open to the influence of the United States (Joshee & Johnson, 2011), but it has also developed its own particular way of managing cultural diversity, especially in the French-speaking Province of Quebec. From 1971, the Canadian Federal Government introduced its official policy on multiculturalism (Moodley, 1995). The ideology conveyed by this policy considers Canada as a mosaic made up of various ethnic groups—English-speaking, French-speaking, indigenous peoples and migrants, united by communication in the two official languages, English and French (Beauchesne, 1991).

For almost fifty years, racial, ethnic and cultural matters have occupied a large place in discussions on education and on equality throughout Canada. With terms such as "multicultural education", "anti-racist education", "sovereignty and autodetermination for the native peoples in the domain of education", there has been the desire by the educational partners to identify the sources of inequality within the education systems and to introduce practices in favour of both equality and the social integration of minorities (Ghosh & Galczynski, 2014; Young &Mackay, 1999). Compared to other countries in the world facing cultural diversity, Canada could be said to have achieved remarkable progress (Ghosh, 2018). Nevertheless, it seems important to us first to situate the Canadian model in its context. For this purpose, the rest of the chapter will describe various nuances.

#### **2 The Emergence of Canadian Federal Multiculturalism**

Canada is the only country in the world which, in 1971, adopted an official policy based on multiculturalism at the highest level of its administrative structure—the federal level. The country identifies itself as one of immigration and this fact is considered as one of the sources of national prosperity and economic development (Ng & Metz, 2015). The policy of promoting cultural plurality in civil society (multiculturalism) is a particular feature of the Canadian Federal State since 1971. Using public subsidies, three purposes were pursued: (1) the State's recognition of the existence of numerous cultural groups deserving respect and the maintenance of their socio-cultural characteristics; (2) the reduction of ethnic barriers thwarting the social and political participation of their members; and (3) the multiplication of interethnic contacts with the intention of increasing tolerance to cultural difference within society (Helly, 2000).

Pierre Elliot Trudeau, the Prime Minister in 1971, is the initiator of Canadian multiculturalism, which he presented to parliament in the following words:

The government is concerned to conserve human rights, to develop the Canadian identity, to strengthen citizen participation, to consolidate Canadian unity and to encourage cultural diversity (Hawkins, 1989, p. 220).

At the federal level, multiculturalism as a public policy was introduced in three distinct phases, described by Dewing (2013):


Table 1 sums up the principal measures adopted in the framework of Canadian multiculturalism. It can be noted that the rejection of assimilation is the first measure likely to lead the way to multiculturalism.

The federal policy of multiculturalism signalled the end of Canada's binational image (English-speaking Protestant/French-speaking Catholic). Even with the maintenance of the two official languages, there is no longer an official culture and no


**Table 1** Principal measures at the multicultural level in Canada

ethnic group has precedence. This denial of Canada's binational character explains to a great extent why multiculturalism had never been popular in French-speaking Quebec (Rocher, 2015). In addition, a part of public opinion in Canada had never accepted the special treatment (privilege) accorded to immigrants and their descendants over the previous twenty years, since these measures had given the highest educated migrants and ethnic elites, particularly within the federal civil service but also in large companies, the political and symbolic power to increase their social status and political influence (Helly, 2000).

In order to curtail opposition to multiculturalism, more recent studies have indicated that it is necessary to revise the conceptual and institutional foundations of Canadian multiculturalism (Abu-Laban, 2018; Bhatnagar, 2017; Guo & Wong, 2015).

The Canadian experience shows how multiculturalism has developed and evolved, but also how it encounters strong resistance. Numerous issues (national, regional, linguistic and religious identities) combine and complicate the actions of cultural openness:

In the 1970s and 1980s, the attempt to create civic cohesion around a largely British identity gave way to a focus on respecting, celebrating and accommodating diversity. While pluralism and inclusion continue to be central to the rhetoric of social studies and citizenship education policy and programs across Canada, we argue it has largely been an iconic rather than a deep pluralism. From the 1970s the idea of education as a doorway for individuals and groups to feel included in the mainstream civic life of the country in Canada has extended to at least attempts to include the voices of a range of previously marginalized or excluded groups (Joshee et al., 2016, p. 42)

#### **3 The Schooling of Indigenous Children**

It is not possible to deal with the matter of multicultural education in Canada without examining the schooling of indigenous children.1 This situation by itself sums up the ambiguity of Canadian multiculturalism which, on the one hand, may pride itself

<sup>1</sup> Also called Amerindians or First People.

on being in the forefront of the international scene in considering cultural diversity, but which has not completely restored the battered historical legacy with its own indigenous people. The schooling of this latter group was an experiment bringing together the school, colonization, racism and ethnocentrism.

As of 1830, the Secretary of State for the Colonies of the British Imperial Government, George Murray, announced that the government's policy was not simply to introduce the manners of "civilized life" into indigenous society. Henceforth, it should improve the condition of indigenous communities by encouraging progress and knowledge of the Christian religion "in any way", and education for the native tribes (Sbarrato, 2005).

It was in this way that indigenous residential schools were founded in 1840 following the adoption of the Indian Act. The main objective was to teach the children French or English and to convert the natives, by choice or by force, to adopt Christianity and the habits of modern life. Behind the schooling of indigenous tribes, there was the concept of civilization/religious conversion, as well as the desire to eradicate their traditional way of life typified by symbiosis with their environment using ancestral and sustainable natural resources. Residential schools are a perfect illustration of the violent methods typical of assimilation models (see Chap. 4 for this concept's definition) in which individuals were expected to acquire all the norms and values of the dominant cultural groups, while abandoning their own cultural references. Furthermore, this example illustrates the necessity of taking the host society's signals into account (or in this case the dominant group), which was resort to an enforced and violent process of assimilation. It is possible to say that these schools were the outcome of an institutional system based on colonialist and racist attitudes:

The presumption of cultural and moral superiority typical of the political class of its allies the Christian churches—can be summed up in an institutional framework which isolated, dominated and humiliated a group of people whose unique crime was to be the bearers a different skin colour and culture (Titley, 2011, p. 13).

Most of these schools were residential (boarding) schools, even if some of them were located on the reserves themselves. The children were separated from their families and often only had the right to make one visit per year. Some children entered these schools at a young age and did not see their parents again until they had completed compulsory schooling at the age of 15. Brothers and sisters were rigorously separated. It should be noted that almost 75% of indigenous children attended residential schools (Bombay, Matheson & Anisham, 2014).

These residential schools were managed by both Catholic and Protestant churches, then after 1969 by the Federal Government. Indigenous languages were forbidden, even in conversations between children. Any attempt to speak their own language resulted in severe punishment. Furthermore, the children were taught that their culture was barbarous and their religious beliefs pagan.

The traditions, the rites, the political organization and economic practices of indigenous people were considered mostly as obstacles to their Christianization or even as criminal behaviour (Sbarrato, 2005, p. 261).


**Table 2** Time-line of residential schools in Canada

*Source* https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/residential-schools and https://en.wik ipedia.org/wiki/Canadian\_Indian\_residential\_school\_system

Schooling in residential schools took the form of: (a) an inadequate curriculum (since it paid no heed to the indigenous cultural heritage), insufficient teaching staff and lesson time, and little participation by the parents; (b) endemic racism; (c) strict banning of use of the indigenous language; and (d) systematic ill-treatment of the children (Barnes, Josefowitz, & Cole, 2006). Beyond cultural subjugation, the indigenous children were also exploited through both unpaid work and sexual abuse. The indigenous leaders believe that the ultimate objective of these boarding schools was to "kill" the natives. Official reports, such as that of the medical inspector of Indian Affairs, Dr Peter Bryce, stated that 25–50% of deaths among indigenous children in residential schools were due to illness, ill-treatment and other causes (Bryce, 1922).

The tragic time-line of these residential schools for indigenous children is presented in summary in Table 2.

Despite the introduction of an official policy of multiculturalism in 1971, the federal government did not close these schools until 1996. Nevertheless, we can agree that these official apologies and the subsequent indemnities, even if they were overdue, represent a step towards the recognition and mending of this historical injustice of which the country's first inhabitants were the victims.

Some observers do not hesitate to declare that the consequences of residential schools are perceptible until this day:

The children boarding in residential schools were brought up in total ignorance of their parents' language and customs. When, upon becoming young adults, they left school, most of them had lost their pride and felt confused and ashamed of their own identity. They were not prepared for a life outside these schools nor for a life within their own communities. The communities and the families, robbed of their natural structures and their roles, began to disintegrate. The education system imposed by the government in the form of residential schools had a direct consequence on the organization of life in the indigenous communities, and its impact on the health of populations and communities is still felt to this day (Sbarrato, 2005, pp. 265–266).

The preceding quotation shows to what extent the consequences of the loss of cultural bearings can be disastrous. In this situation, the indigenous communities can find themselves marginalized, because they can no longer identify with their own culture nor establish links with the surrounding cultures. Even though these residential schools are now abolished and the indigenous peoples have taken charge of their own education, the outcome of this schooling has accumulated over generations and explains the present situation of these communities (marginalization, etc.) (Bombay, Matheson, & Anisman, 2014).

Indigenous education evolves in a complex situation in which hope and openness exist alongside constraints and frustration. Hope takes the form of the conviction among communities, families and educators that the renewal of indigenous values and know-how epitomizing the foundation of the children's and young people's well-being represents the best means of training them to assume the responsibilities of indigenous citizens. Constraints and frustration are encountered in achieving the educational objectives in an environment where the State's authority and the dominant culture challenge the indigenous efforts, both on the political level as well as on those of ideology and the economy (Sbarrato, 2005).

It seems that the question of language is central if the indigenous peoples are actually to take possession of their schools once again:

The most encouraging hopes for indigenous education are based on the process of renewing the language. In this way, the school embodies a primary partner in this intergenerational effort of communities and families to restore ownership of the mother-tongue. Hence, cultural and linguistic activities occupy increasing amounts of space in curricula. Frequently, communities discuss the balance to be achieved between the lessons based on their own culture and those laid down by the provincial authorities (Sbarrato, 2005, p. 276).

Residential schools represent the antithesis of intercultural approaches to education. Based on the attitudes of colonization, ethnocentrism, racism and discrimination, these schools have left an important contentious legacy between the indigenous cultures and the manner of schooling.

#### **4 How Multiculturalism Takes Form in Educational Policies and Curricula**

Based on an analysis of multicultural programmes subsidized by public funds for the period 1983–2002, McAndrew, Helly and Tessier (2005) concluded that they can be divided into four major categories: (1) the support of minority languages and cultures; (2) intercultural comprehension and institutional adaptation; (3) combatting racism; and (4) integration and participation in society. In a context influenced by the radical reduction of funds available during this period, multiethnic organizations, especially those arising from visible minorities,2 have come to the fore as the principal beneficiaries. Furthermore, the authors observe that initiatives designed for intercultural comprehension, institutional adaptation and raising public awareness about racism clearly dominate more traditional initiatives, such as the maintenance of languages and cultures.

Despite the introduction of multicultural programmes, poor school achievement and drop-out by pupils belonging to ethnic minorities continues and gives rise to concern by parents and communities. As a result, initiatives such as race-relations offices responsible for liaison with minority racial communities have been installed in numerous schools (James, 2017).

Nevertheless, these initiatives do not seem to be working inasmuch as race had not been adopted by educators and educational decision-makers as an important factor in school life and in learning outcomes. Race continues to be used by the educational partners, mainly to designate pupils who are non-White and are identifiable by a supposed cultural deficit, weak self-esteem and the absence of positive role-models.

As affirmed by the Ontario Provincial Advisory Committee on Race Relations (1987), "Multiculturalism has not succeeded in resolving the problems that are not linked to cultural differences but rather to racial inequality in power and privileges" (p. 38). In 1993, the Ontario Government recognized the existence of racism in schools in the province, as well as the fact that curricula and Eurocentric practices contributed, at least partly, to the educational difficulties of pupils from minority racial backgrounds (Ontario. Ministry of Education & Training, 1993).

The creation of a Canadian school reserved for young Black pupils marked a significant moment in Canadian multiculturalism. Thus, in September 2009, slightly over 135 pupils entered the classrooms of an Afrocentric alternative school in Toronto (Levine-Rasky, 2014). The reason for its creation was the desire of the Afro-Canadian community's members, who wanted empowerment over the education of their children by modifying the curriculum. In fact, this school has the potential of incorporating various perspectives, experiences and histories of people of African descent into the provincial compulsory study programme. This is one way of including the pupils' cultural membership into the school, but also of promoting it and opposing the ranking of cultures sometimes present implicitly in the province's official curricula.

The preferred school policies adopted by the provinces' educational decisionmakers enabled this school to open its doors, even if it fluctuates between "ideas of choice, liberty and equality" and those of the "market" (Gulson & Taylor Webb, 2013). The Afro-Canadian community is itself divided between the school's promoters, who estimate that their children's educational difficulties deserve concrete action, and their opponents, who consider that this form of educational communitarianism runs the risk of further marginalizing young Black pupils.

The opening of this school triggered a number of debates. According to an opinion poll, only 3% of the province's inhabitants supported the school's opening (Levin-Rasky, 2014). Through the media coverage of this event, several reproaches aimed at

<sup>2</sup> Statistics Canada (2011, p. 32) defines visible minorities as being "persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-White in colour".

this project can be identified. In fact, some people think that an Afro-centred school is the fool proof way of isolating these individuals from the rest of society. It would be an obstacle to the development of multiculturalism. Responding to these criticisms, the sociologist Monica Heller, interviewed by Radio Canada,<sup>3</sup> explained that it is not a form of resegregation of the school, but rather a possible alternative and a strategy to combat massive school drop-out by particular groups of pupils.

The way the Ontario school system conceptualizes the idea of culture seems interesting to us. The organization Ontario Schools (2013) considers that culture goes much further than the typical understanding of ethnicity, race and/or religion. It encompasses the wider ideas of similitude and difference and is reflected in the multitude of pupils' social identities and in their manner of knowing and being in the world. This vision does not consist uniquely in the recognition of otherness; it appears to consider the dynamism of cultural identities. Since culture is understood as one of the elements in constructing an identity, it is necessary to make sure that all pupils feel safe, welcomed, accepted for what they are and inspired to succeed in a school culture based on higher expectations for the learning of all pupils. To achieve this, schools and classrooms must take note of culture and cultural identities. It is a matter of implementing a culturally responsive pedagogy consisting of three dimensions: institutional, personal and educational.

The institutional dimension refers to the administration and management of schools, including the values developed and reflected in the policies and practices of school boards. It is necessary to examine in a critical manner the formal school processes likely to reproduce the particular circumstances of marginalization. From this point of view, educators must analyse the models that should be halted or modified. As for the personal dimension, it covers the self-esteem of educators who are culturally sensitive and the practices that they use to support the development of all pupils. Not only should teachers be aware of their responsibility, but they should also develop a more profound understanding of their pupils and the way in which they learn best. Finally, the educational dimension includes the learners' knowledge and the way classroom practices lead to a culturally adapted class (aware of culture) (Ontario Schools, 2013).

The expansion of educational initiatives attempting to raise awareness about cultural diversity in Canadian schools is taking place in a demographic context marked by unprecedented migratory flows. We will describe them in the following section.

#### **5 A Demographic Context Exhibiting Strong Cultural Diversity**

The demographic evolution and the policy of welcoming new immigrants is transforming Canadian society and its schools. Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, the country's three most highly populated agglomerations, remain the places in Canada

<sup>3</sup> https://ici.radio-canada.ca/radio/Desautels/30012008/96665.shtml.

where more than half of the migrants (61.4%) and recent immigrants (56.0%) reside. By way of comparison, a little more than one-third (35.7%) of Canada's total population lives in these three cities. In 2016, immigrants represented 46.1% of the population of Toronto, 40.8% of that of Vancouver and 23.4% of that of Montreal. If ethnocultural diversity is present almost everywhere in Canada, it should be recognized that this is particularly true of these three big cities (Statistics Canada, 2017a).

The 2016 census counted 7,540,830 people who had been born abroad and came to Canada through the immigration process. These people represent more than one-fifth (21.9%) of Canada's entire population, a figure which approaches that of 22.3% dating from the 1921 census, the highest level ever recorded in the country's history. According to the population forecasts by Statistics Canada, the proportion of the country's population born abroad could reach 24.5–30.0% by 2036 (Statistics Canada, 2017a).

Almost 2.2 million children aged less than 15 were born abroad (first generation migrants) or had at least one parent born abroad (thus, second generation) representing 37.5% of Canadian children. This is a rise compared to the beginning of the 2010 decade (34.6%). This proportion of children resulting from immigration should continue to increase and might reach between 39.3 and 49.1% of children aged less than 15 years in 2036 (Statistics Canada, 2017b). In 1891, the very first year that questions concerning the parents' place of birth had been asked during the census, the number of children with migrant backgrounds was 466,000. At that time, this represented 26.6% of all children aged less than 15 years, that is to say eleven percentage points less than today (Statistics Canada, 2017b).

It is the population of children born in Canada both of whose parents were born abroad that will undergo the greatest increase. According to Statistics Canada's baseline projection scenario, this population will number between 1.3 and 2 million children by 2036 (Statistics Canada, 2017b).

To understand and comprehend these figures it is essential to examine the issues concerning how cultural diversity will be considered and what populations will be concerned.

An examination of the educational level reached by immigrants in Canada (Table 3) shows that on average they had attained a level higher than that of other members of the population.

The title "recent immigrants" designates people who have been granted the status of immigrant or permanent resident for the first time during the period from 1 January


*Source* Population census (Statistics Canada, 2017c)

2011 to 10 May 2016. The percentage of immigrants possessing a masters or Ph.D. degree is more than double that of the population born in Canada: a total of 11.3% of immigrants aged 25–64 years held a masters or Ph.D. degree compared to 5.0% of the population born in Canada. The more recent immigrants were even more likely to possess a masters or Ph.D. degree, since 16.7% held such a higher education diploma in 2016. These figures would seem to reflect a migratory policy based on consideration of individuals' qualifications and their capacity to be integrated into the local job market.

Ultimately, even if cultural diversity concerns Canada as a whole, it can be seen that this diversity is more keenly appreciated in the larger metropolises, where economic wealth is created and where the most highly qualified migrants arriving in Canada prefer to live.

#### **6 The Case of Quebec**

During the 1960s, before the implementation of the federal policy on multiculturalism, the Province of Quebec experienced a disturbed period known as the "Quiet Revolution". It was an important and crucial moment in the history of Quebec, which corresponded to economic, political, social and cultural transformations. The Quiet Revolution was also a time when morals became more relaxed and the Catholic Church's strong influence declined in Quebec society (Bélanger, Comeau, & Métivier, 2000). Following the Parent Report's publication, the management of education was withdrawn from the control of the Catholic and Protestant clergy, although the schools still remained denominational (Government of Quebec, 1963). Given the religious origin of Quebec's education system, religion was far more important as a socio-educational institution than the "social studies" curriculum. To put it more accurately, the Church was the curriculum; teaching moral and patriotic values was the primary focus of "history" and "geography" (Joshee et al., 2016).

The term "interculturalism", employed to designate public policies, has no official status in Quebec, even though it is used in government documents. The Government of Quebec has never furnished itself with legislation comparable to federal legislation on this matter. The term "interculturality" was used at first in several community situations, and then in several sectors involving the provincial government (particularly in the domains of education, social measures, health and immigration) to describe programmes designed to promote the integration of people arriving in the most recent waves of migration (Rocher, 2015).

The federal policy on multiculturalism was not received in Quebec with enthusiasm. In fact, Quebec, the biggest French-speaking society in North America, had experienced a colonial situation in which French-speaking Catholics attempted to free themselves from the economic and political hegemony of English-speaking Protestants. In this situation, multiculturalism could have been interpreted in Quebec as an attempt to smother the French-speaking province's ambitions for independence. Federal multiculturalism treated the French-speaking Quebecois population as one element in the Canadian mosaic in the same way as the English-speakers, the Amerindians and the migrants. The Amerindians in Quebec, whose territory was administered by the Federal Government, were considered in the Frenchspeaking/English-speaking conflict as a useful ally serving the federalists as a means of countering the French-speakers' independence claims. The immigrants in Quebec were also the subjects of a charm campaign on the part of the English-speakers and were therefore sometimes viewed with suspicion by Quebec's independence movement (Balthazar, 1995).

In the 1960s and 1970s, Quebec opened its doors to immigration and, at the same time, the federal policy on multiculturalism was applied in the province. Even so, the Government of Quebec employed the term "intercultural education" in order to indicate the particularity of Quebec society. If multiculturalism stressed the contribution of all cultural communities in Canada, interculturalism in Quebec presumed the primacy of French in its relations with other cultural communities:

The privileged approach of the Quebec State presented the traditional French culture as a *foyer de convergence pour diverses communautés* [meeting place for various communities]. It took the form of an affirmation which ran counter to the presumed equal status of cultures at the heart of the Canadian policy of multiculturalism, since the "French tradition" assumed a privileged status compared to the other traditions making up Quebec society (Rocher, 2015, p. 40).

The French Language Charter (Bill 101) was adopted in 1977 in order to make French the common and usual language for work, teaching, communication and the economy in Quebec. After it came into force, the school was given the mandate to integrate, to educate and to train young immigrants in French. Therefore, this law foresaw that children with immigrant backgrounds must be enrolled in the education system's French-speaking primary and secondary schools so as to facilitate learning the common language.

The Quebec Minister of Education and the Minister of Relations with Citizens and Immigration (1998) established three main guidelines for intercultural education and educational integration:


While in the remainder of Canada mastery of the common language (English) is not mentioned as a priority for multicultural programmes at school, we note that in Quebec this matter occupies a principal place in intercultural education policies.

Interculturalism figures as a structural element in the immigration policies of the Ministry of Immigration, Diversity and Inclusion (2015). While Canadian multiculturalism is seen as a fundamental element in Canadian identity, interculturalism in Quebec represents only one of the five conditions associated with immigration (Rocher, 2015).

Given the rapid evolution in the flow of migrants to Quebec, present research is focusing particularly on ways of living together. The migratory life of young people, the construction of their identity and the relationships among the pupils, the teachers, the parents and the community's decision-makers shape each group's perceptions of diversity and direct its actions (Kanouté & Charette, 2018) and could then influence relations between individuals.

Within the school, one way of facilitating cultural diversity consists of introducing "reasonable compromises". This idea arose from combining the concepts of equality and difference (Labelle & Icart, 2007). It is designed to counter discriminatory practices and to achieve equal treatment for all individuals through the adaptation of norms and laws "within reasonable limits" (Labelle & Icart, 2007, p. 123). It was laid down by the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission as follows:

The legal obligation resulting from the right to equality, applicable in a situation of discrimination and consisting of modifying a norm or a practice of universal application, grants adapted treatment to a person who otherwise would suffer by the application of such a norm. There is no obligation to compromise in the case of excessive compulsion (Dowd, 2006, quoted by Labelle & Icart, 2007).

A reasonable compromise becomes a legal notion describing the easing of a norm in order to lessen discrimination. In education, even if Quebec law recommends religious neutrality in the school, tolerance towards certain religious practices is tolerated (for example, wearing religious symbols). This concept has been the subject of an intense debate in Quebec. The Bouchard-Taylor Commission was created to react to the disapproval aroused by this concept.

In 2006, the Canadian Supreme Court (CSC) passed judgement on a pupil wearing a *kirpan*<sup>4</sup> at school, explaining that its total prohibition diminished religious freedom. It rejected the arguments of those who, wishing to forbid pupils from wearing it, drew attention to the fact that it was a symbol of violence and promoted the use of force in settling conflicts (Rocher, 2015).

The most contested compromises are those connected with religious affiliation. However, it should not be forgotten that one of the Quiet Revolution's gains was a reduction in the Catholic Church's considerable powers. A large number of citizens of Quebec consider that certain compromises granted to religious communities are unreasonable. For example, in a Quebec society that had liberated itself from the Catholic Church's rigorous control at the end of the 1960s, wearing a veil appears to certain people, whether right or wrong, as a symbol of female oppression.

The debate concerning this concept is therefore particularly lively; it draws attention to the already existing tensions in a society cherishing openness and seeking to conserve a national (or regional) linguistic identity. The press plays an important role in this discussion, to the extent that it either contributes to spreading information that is sometimes incorrect or is unjustly accused of adding to the tense debate on reasonable compromises (Labelle & Icart, 2007).

In 2019, the Quebec government adopted its long-awaited secularism bill, laying down proposed ground rules it says will ensure the religious neutrality of the state. Laicity, according to the bill, is based on four principles: the separation of state and religions, the religious neutrality of the state, the equality of all citizens and freedom

<sup>4</sup> The *kirpan* is a symbolic weapon similar to a dagger worn by orthodox Sikhs recalling the need to oppose oppression and injustice.

of conscience and freedom of religion. The most contentious section of the bill, if made law, would ban public workers in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols (Wolfs, 2020).

#### **7 Conclusion**

Despite the richness of multicultural approaches in Canada, the school experiences of children belonging to different Amerindian communities draw attention to the historic power of the assimilationist approach in the school. In fact, for a long time Amerindian cultures were ignored, while a large number of children were torn from their families to undergo enforced schooling, during which violence and humiliations were commonplace (Ellis, 1994). The spread of the principles of multicultural education led to the impact of this virtual cultural genocide being halted and the acceptance that the Amerindian communities should have more freedom in the organization and management of their own schools. Nevertheless, the negative undertones of Amerindian cultures are still present in the school and in society.

Even if it is much less disputed than in the United States or in the United Kingdom, Canadian multiculturalism raises certain fears. The metaphor of a country composed of a "mosaic of ethnicities" or a "community of communities" is closer to "separateness" than "living together". The decline in the relative importance of the two "founding" nations (English-speaking and French-speaking) in favour of indigenous communities and other cultural minorities arising from migration has raised concerns.

Speaking about the period in office of the last conservative government in Canada, Joshee et al. (2016) point out that in a relatively short span of time the official State position on the policy of multiculturalism has gone from valuing diversity as a strength and a source of national identity to decrying diversity as a threat to the country's integrity and security. Furthermore, one consequence of the combination of neoliberal and neoconservative discourses in multicultural education has been to construct diversity as a problem, and to position minoritized students as having deficits that need to be addressed.

Breton (1991) indicates that the policy of Canadian multiculturalism is the management of symbolic resources aimed at groups that have already experienced a certain social benefit with access to material resources, yet still feel excluded from political and social participation. Canadian multiculturalism is based on a certain cultural relativism, since theoretically it considers all cultures as equally important with the same status and the same quality. This has allowed the relevance of multicultural education and the integration of cultural minorities to be tackled simultaneously by the teaching profession (Boudreau et al., 2002). Nevertheless, the assessment carried out by some observers is unenthusiastic. In official speeches, multiculturalism remains vague, which does not help to make it functional. It seems that there has not been any significant progress concerning the educational difficulties of visible minorities, despite the promotion of multicultural education (Gérin-Lajoie, 2008).

Furthermore, many French-speaking Quebecois have had a sceptical and negative attitude towards federal multiculturalism and were not ready to become a cultural group like the others (Berthelot, 1990). So as to distance themselves clearly from the federal multiculturalism and to emphasize their concern about consolidating and recovering their French-speaking national identity, the Quebecois have spontaneously chosen, in the same manner as the French-speaking Europeans, the term "interculturalism" rather than "multiculturalism". Quebec's interculturalism desires to be open to other cultures as an important complement or a contribution to an existing historic culture (that of the majority of French-speakers). To sum up, the specificity of Quebec's interculturalism is the stress on the common culture represented by the French-speaking historic culture of Quebec. In other words, minority groups will be considered as equal partners on condition that they respect the host society's basic values and, first of all, use French as the common and principal language threatened by the English-speaking hegemony.

In its policies connected with different ethnocultural minorities, the Government of Quebec attempts to separate itself clearly from the federal policies based on multiculturalism by choosing the term interculturalism (Gay, 1985). Nevertheless, it would seem that, when it is transferred into the schools, Quebec's interculturalism has not given rise to practices that are very different from those found in the remainder of Canada (Alladin, 1992; Gay, 1985). The distinct nature of Quebec's interculturalism is not accepted by all observers (Azdouz, 2018).

The major challenge for educational decision-makers, teachers and public opinion in Quebec is to adapt to the profound changes taking place in this society over the last three decades. The obstacle arises from the desire of the French-speaking "native" Quebecois to maintain the memory of belonging to a disadvantaged minority, but who now find themselves in a situation of a majority group (within the province) with the immigrants now occupying their former place (McAndrew, 2001).

The place of Quebec in the French-speaking world can be identified by a great terminological and conceptual creativity in the field of intercultural education. Such terms as *appartenance ethnoculturelle* [ethnocultural affiliation], *pluriethnicité* [multiethnicity], *élèves allophones* [pupils who to not speak the local language] and *communautés culturelles* [cultural communities] (Ouellet & Pagé, 1991; Tarrab, Plessis-Bélair, & Girault, 1990) have been proposed and employed in Quebec before being adopted by other French-speaking regions. Toussaint (1993) has proposed the concept of "integrated intercultural education" as a way of keeping track of the cultural diversity within existing educational disciplines in the curriculum, rather than introducing a new subject. Today, there is a wide-ranging debate on the use of the notion of *accommodements raisonnables* [reasonable compromises]. It is a matter of finding common ground in a cultural conflict, which guarantees the respect of rights without imposing excessive restraint.

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## **Chapter 7 Intercultural Education in Brazil**

#### **1 Introduction**

Brazil is a country of continental dimensions making up half of South America, both in its surface area and in its population. Its history and ethno-cultural diversity have converted this vast space into a unique place for the application of intercultural approaches in education. In this chapter, we will examine the reasons inciting public educational policies to pay attention to this theme, but we will also describe the resulting tensions.

The idea of considering cultural diversity in the Brazilian education system is relatively new. In fact, despite the multitude of races and ethnicities making up the country's society, intercultural approaches only date from the last twenty years. It is possible that this delayed development is in part due to the country's complicated history, having experienced successively slavery, an official policy of "whitening" the population, dictatorships and long-term social and racial inequalities (endured mainly by the Afro-Brazilians). This chapter intends to outline intercultural approaches to education in Brazil and to show the principal ways in which they have developed. We will analyse the strong resistance that these changes have encountered in the school. This illustrates the difficult linkages that intercultural approaches must achieve between "the right to be different" and the "necessity of equality", but also between "the equitable treatment of all ethnic groups" and "the unified education system of a Nation-State". We will see that this can lead to long-term paradoxes. People have been speaking of intercultural approaches in Brazil for several years and some legislative initiatives had the clear intention of promoting them in the education system. Unfortunately, it is still an exception to see them in daily operation in schools, since they reopen historical wounds, ethnocultural antagonisms and conflicts believed to impair national cohesion.

#### **2 Inter-Ethnic Relationships in Brazil: The Historical Heritage and Present Situation**

The history of Brazil is closely associated with the population's ethnic complexity. Indeed, the original Amerindian population came into contact with Portuguese conquerors, African slaves and later significant flows of immigrants who were mainly European. This ethnic plurality, structural at the demographic level, is marked on a historic scale by the marginalization of and domination over the Amerindian and African ethnic groups (Moritz Schwarcz, 2001).

The Amerindians were the victims of an attempt at colonization and "civilization", which has finally resulted, between the conquest's beginnings and today, in a dramatic decline in their population. The steady advance of the frontier of agricultural colonization from the Atlantic coast towards the interior, particularly the Amazon basin, has progressively restricted their territory. They find themselves today in a survival situation, struggling to preserve what remains of their cultural heritage and their territory—the object of numerous covetous ambitions.

Despite the abolition of slavery in 1888, the Afro-Brazilians have suffered from the systematic denigration of their history and their culture. They represent the country's ethnic group most subject to poverty, urban violence and social exclusion (D'Adesky and Minces, 2001). This inferior status is due to the fact that the Afro-Brazilians, as ex-slaves, were not equipped to seek their own liberty. Since they had no qualifications and only limited economic and social resources, they automatically became part of the marginalized population.<sup>1</sup> This exclusion has been perpetuated from generation to generation until the present day (Telles, 2014).

Based on an analysis of the way relationships between Blacks and Whites are conducted, Bastide and Fernandes (1955) drew attention to the inequalities between these two groups in Brazilian society. The White ideology seems to consider the Blacks as primitive, dirty, ugly, superstitious, financially irresponsible, immoral, aggressive, erratic in the workplace, sexually perverted and exhibitionist. Moreover, in the multicultural and mixed-race Brazilian society, the education system has always favoured the White culture with the intention of endorsing the deculturation of minority populations and promoting White supremacy (Da Silva, 1987). Deculturation is the process of bringing about a group's cultural breakdown with the objective of exploiting it (colonial and neo-colonial exploitation) (Da Silva, 1987). White supremacy assumes that its values, history and culture are the exclusive references and the only ones that have any worth in enhancing society. White supremacy also finds expression by considering the values of dominated groups as inferior.

<sup>1</sup> The marginalization of the Afro-Brazilian population is a very good example of an acculturation strategy based on the process of marginalization (see Berry, 1991, explained in Chap. 4), but in this case also taking into account the dominant society's actions; by depriving the Afro-Brazilian population of their rights and their cultural heritage, by not allowing them to conserve links with their cultural origins, nor enabling them to establish links with the dominant society, their social exclusion has resulted in them being marginalized.

This description of the situation is a perfect example of racialization2: the Other (in this case the Black person) displays genetic biological characteristics justifying an unequal and unjust social order. A strongly hierarchical group structure ensues from this process. Widespread ethnic hybridization in Brazil brings prejudice to any individuals who have the slightest trace of African blood.

As stated by Carvalho De Chargas (1989), European immigration encouraged by the Brazilian State foresaw not only replacing Black with White in the principal economic sectors, but also of implementing a campaign for the regeneration and training for work of which the mechanism would be interethnic mixing with the desired outcome being the Black population gradually becoming more White. "Republican" political campaigns, like that of Caetano de Campos, proposed a significant cultural transplantation from Europe and the United States of the methods, teaching materials and even of the teachers themselves so as to transform the Brazilian race.

Considered as inferior, but impossible to eradicate because of their demographic mass, these two ethnic groups (Afro-Brazilian and Amerindian) became the subjects of an official assimilation/civilization policy designed to found the country exclusively on a European cultural heritage. It was furthermore slightly before and following the end of slavery that the campaign of "White domination" (mentioned previously) began. The objective was to transform Brazil into a White nation through a series of concrete measures, particularly the exclusive encouragement of European immigration (Saillant and Araujo, 2007). This also corresponded to significant economic changes in the country (post-slavery). Once the slaves had been liberated (1888, the Aurea Law), "the Brazilian State preferred to let European immigrants enter to create an excess of labour [rather than] having to rely on the former slaves to work in the coffee plantations and subsequently in industry" (Saillant and Araujo, 2007, p. 462). This transformation was perceived as absolutely essential if modernity was to be achieved or for access to what in Brazil is still called the "first world" (*o premeiro mundo*).

Alongside the ideology and implementation of assimilation, there also developed a powerful myth in the country of a successful Brazilian "racial democracy" (ethnic mixed race) consisting of an amalgamation of the three ethnic groups making up the country (Amerindian, African and European). For Freyre (1933, 1952), the cantor of Brazilian racial democracy, the principal of harmonious conviviality between these three groups would enable the three "races" to fuse despite the violent experiences of colonization and slavery. Brazil would be the only place in the world where varied races, peoples and cultures cohabited and interbred harmoniously. It is true that Freyre's study period in the United States, where he met Boas, the founder of cultural anthropology, enabled him to compare the strict racial segregation in the United States with the apparent racial coexistence typical of Brazil.

The study carried out by Coelho and Costa (2009) in the State of Pará has demonstrated the persistence, among the educational community, of the racial democracy myth in the school. Observations carried out in the classroom and the analysis of

<sup>2</sup> This concept was defined in Chap. 4.

interviews with teachers and pupils showed that they accepted the idea of a wellmixed Brazilian society resulting from the three races interbreeding, and representing a source of national wealth and pride.

However, the work should be recalled carried out by the School of Sociology in São Paulo and supported by UNESCO, which demonstrated the significance of racial inequality in Brazil (Bastide and Fernades, 1955; Ianni, 1966; Maio, 1999). As stated by Fernandes (1960), racial democracy is a façade hiding an unequal social and racial order:

There is no racial democracy in Brazil, where exchanges between individuals belonging to distinct "races" begin and end at the level of conventional tolerance. This may satisfy the demands of the questionable "Christian spirit" and the practical necessity of "each maintaining their place". However, this does not truly bring men together, but creates the basis, within the same social space, of a simple coexistence governed by a code which sanctifies inequality by hiding it behind the principles of a democratic social order (Fernandes, 1960, p. xiv).

During the period of military dictatorship in Brazil (1964–1985), educational policies did not pay any attention to questions of interethnic relationships and cultural diversity.

After the gradual return of democracy in the middle of the 1980s, the problem of inequality associated with racial affiliation took on a new form under the pressure of movements of associations, as well as that of a few intellectuals. In 1995, the Black Brazilian Movement organized in Brasilia the "Zumbi dos Palmares" March against Racism, for Citizenship and Life. In the wake of this important demonstration, a document demanding not only the end of racial discrimination but also concrete measures for the promotion of equality was passed to the Brazilian president at that time.

Racial and ethnic relations in Brazil are extremely complicated. Even if the myth of racial democracy is increasingly disputed and the struggle against racial discrimination is more than ever present, intercultural approaches encounter strong resistance, as is illustrated by the current debate about positive discrimination (the policy of quotas) in public universities. Some of this resistance is connected with the role played by international governmental and non-governmental organizations (such as UNESCO and the Ford Foundation) in raising awareness about intercultural approaches. This role is viewed by some Brazilians as interference in the country's internal affairs or as the importation of a problematic not corresponding to the Brazilian situation.

The question of positive discrimination is not only a technical discussion concerning the colour of people's skin. It is above all a political and social matter which has for a long time prevented the Black minority from agreeing on a positive and comprehensible ethnic identity. As Sansone (2003) has clearly shown, the Afro-Brazilians have not only failed to organize themselves as an ethnic entity seeking equal opportunities, but they have also had difficulty in viewing themselves as a distinct ethnic group, since several aspects of their Afro-Brazilian culture have been absorbed into the mainstream Brazilian culture. One only has to consider Brazilian music or dance to understand the situation. For a long time, the actual ethnic interbreeding of the Brazilian population cancelled any specific demand by the Black and mixed-race community. The interest in an analysis of intercultural approaches in Brazil arises precisely from the paradox of having a multi-ethnic and mixed-race society which is incapable of recognizing its true diversity, yet at the same time is very far from the bipolar and dual historic situation existing between "Blacks and Whites" in the United States and in South Africa, or between "nationals" and "immigrants" in Europe. Hence the interest of international researchers on intercultural approaches, who have turned their attention to the present situation existing in Brazil.

It was only recently that the theme of multiculturalism became a part of the research about ethnic and racial diversity in the Brazilian educational field. Even so, it is important to emphasize that it has gained very specific features in the country. In the Brazilian case, it can be noted that cultural diversity and economic inequality mark our social life and, consequently, our schools, which is a political problem based on the claims made possible by the country's democratization (1985), with the space conquered in the parliamentary debates due to the pressure exercised by the activism of the black and indigenous movements. They attempt to legally include something that challenges/overcomes the widespread social belief that there is no prejudice in Brazil (Chamlian & Kowalski, 2016).

#### **3 Legislation Favourable to Cultural Diversity in Education**

To begin with, it is necessary to point out that the gradual return of democracy in Latin America has allowed the claims of dominated cultural and ethnic groups to resurface in most countries in this region. Between 1980 and 1990, eleven Latin American countries have thus recognized in their constitutions the multi-ethnic, multicultural and multilingual nature of their societies. As a result, public policies in the education sector have been required to take the management of cultural differences gradually into account (Ferrão Candau and Russo, 2010).

In Brazil, the first discussions on the educational situation of marginalized groups were launched during the 1970s to 1980s when the Afro-Brazilian movement for civil rights emerged and the first research was carried out on stereotypes and discrimination in the school environment (Domingues, 2007; Gomes, 2010). It should be said that, before this time, the school reflected a policy of assimilating minority populations into the dominant Western culture (Meunier, 2010).3 It was therefore during this period that the demands of minority populations became politicized and organized: the Afro-Brazilian associations requested the full recognition of rights for Afro-Brazilians and the need to oppose negative stereotypes applying to their community. Among the indigenous populations, "numerous conferences and assemblies took place […] and led to discussions concerning the introduction of a differentiated formal education" (Meunier, 2010, p. 392).

It was also during this period that educational researchers looked closely at the persistence of negative stereotypes applying to Black Brazilians in the school environment, particularly concerning teachers' attitudes and school textbooks (Pinto,

<sup>3</sup> This author mentions the case of indigenous populations who had to follow a curriculum based on Western traditions.

1987). Indeed, it can be noted that images of Black children were entirely absent from children's books until the 1930s, after which they appeared but in a caricatural manner until the 1960s (Barbosa, 2015).

At the legislative level, the contribution of the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 should first be emphasized, which gradually reintroduced democracy. It recognized the composite and plural nature of ethnicity and culture in the Brazilian nation. The Constitution's Article 215 recalls the State's responsibility for the safeguard of popular, indigenous and Afro-Brazilian cultural characteristics.

Then, the Law on Educational Directives and Bases (LDB) of 1996 created a more decentralized education system with the distribution of educational responsibilities shared between federal, regional and municipal authorities. At the same time, this law stipulated the necessity of basic schooling which should be provided to all children, as well as the proviso that the school should be adapted to regional and local realities (Article 26). The right to be different had therefore penetrated for the first time into educational legislation. However, the LDB tackles the question of cultural diversity in a general and transversal manner, with the exception of special attention devoted to bilingual and intercultural education intended for indigenous peoples (Articles 78 and 79) (Saraiva, 2010).

In 2003, a new stage was reached in the legislation favouring interculturality in the school. Law 10,639 introduced the obligation to teach African and Afro-Brazilian history in the official curriculum of basic and middle schools. The Black community's contribution in the construction and formation of Brazilian society and identity now formed part of official educational programmes. This law also introduced into the school calendar the date of 20 November as the annual national celebration of Black awareness. In 2008, Law 10,639 became transposed into Law 11,645, which renewed the necessity of teaching African/Afro-Brazilian history and culture, and also introduced the history and culture of indigenous peoples (Saraiva, 2010).

Table 1 draws attention to the way the two principal ethnic minorities have been dealt with when introducing multicultural approaches in Brazil. Due to their small numbers (less than 1% of the Brazilian population) and their widespread distribution, indigenous populations were the first to benefit from the school's acceptance of cultural diversity. It can be seen, for instance, that in the 1990s there was a new relationship between the Western form of schooling and traditional education, alongside the development of "intercultural bilingual education" (Meunier, 2010, p. 394) in schools located in indigenous territories.

On the other hand, numerous misgivings can be detected at the level of valorising the Afro-Brazilian cultural heritage. In fact, this population is the most numerous in certain parts of the country (the north-east). Furthermore, the Black and mixed-race populations represent, according to recent official statistics, the major part of Brazil's population. Even in the southern regions, sometimes considered as White Brazil, the mixed race and Afro-Brazilians have been present among the population for a long time. Moreover, the over-representation of the Afro-Brazilians in the disadvantaged urban districts (*favelas*) has inspired numerous researchers and decision-makers to suggest that the racial problem would be automatically resolved if a determined effort


**Table 1** Principal dates and legal measures in favour of intercultural approaches in Brazil

were made to eradicate social exclusion and poverty. By expanding the analysis to the whole of Latin America, Hooker (2006) has even spoken of including indigenous populations and excluding African descendants.

In short, one can observe that the introduction of Afro-Brazilian heritage into the education system has brought about a reconsideration and a questioning of Brazilian national identity (Canen, 2000). The rethinking of this identity would be achieved particularly by accepting the hybrid character of every Brazilian, but also by recognizing the historical discrimination suffered by Afro-Brazilians and Amerindians. There has been a fundamental revolution in the structure of Brazilian education, originally conceived by the Jesuits as a means of assimilating the "uncivilized" peoples and preparing the country for modernity perceived as European and Christian.

#### **4 Intercultural Approaches at the School**

Table 2 presents the principal initiatives concerning intercultural approaches observed in the Brazilian education system. It can be noted that there is a variety both of approaches employed and of initiators. Beyond the measures associated with curricula, which are omnipresent, we may also note a proliferation of days commemorating the cultural heritage of different ethnic groups.

Furthermore, one can observe the intensive use of art in Brazilian intercultural approaches. In fact, this domain could be considered as the backbone of culture; in this case, the artistic dimension is particularly useful for cultural diversity in the classroom. In general, pupils like to learn new content concerning African and indigenous artistic styles. Manual tasks, songs and dance bring the pupils together without


**Table 2** Intercultural approaches in the training and work of teachers

reference to their ethnic identities. However, one should arm oneself against the temptation to present minority cultures as simple inherited curiosities, thus strengthening stereotypes and the gulf between cultures (Dos Santos and Dias da Silva, 2017). Art is extremely useful in implementing intercultural approaches, as long as a critical attitude is maintained and there is no temptation towards an essentialist approach, reducing culture to a few simple features. For example, using the *capoeira* [war dance] as an artistic activity recognizing the contribution of Afro-Brazilian culture requires placing it in the context of resistance by slaves to oppression.

The curriculum seems to be a productive way of introducing intercultural approaches into the Brazilian school (Ferrão Candau, 2011). The national curricular parameters (PCN), prepared by the Federal Ministry of Education, recommend the integration of cultural diversity in teaching. The PCN's introductory document for the primary school (Brazil, Ministério da Educacão e Cultura, 1997) draws attention to the need to take account of diversity by including it in the objectives, the content and the evaluation criteria. The question of diversity forms part of the transversal themes which must be reflected in different educational disciplines (Portuguese language, mathematics, history, geography, science and arts), thereby bringing interdisciplinarity into the primary school. The Ministry of Education emphasizes:

To live in a democratic and plural society, we need to respect and recognize ethnic and cultural diversity. Through its historical origins, Brazilian society has been influenced by the presence of different ethnic and cultural groups, descendants of immigrants with various nationalities, religions and languages (Brazil, Ministério da Educação, 1998, p. 68).

It seems useful to us to point out that Brazilian teacher training has undergone profound reforms in recent years towards the generalization of a university training and increased professionalization. The place occupied by intercultural approaches in these reforms was limited in the sense that they were not imposed as an obligatory and unavoidable part of training. They seem to have been relegated to the individual initiative of the designers and managers of training programmes. Frequently, intercultural approaches are placed in the teacher-training curriculum as the pedagogy of inclusion, which brings together both awareness of handicapped pupils' needs or those experiencing learning difficulties. However, the availability of federal resources in support of indigenous teachers has encouraged some public universities to launch innovative training programmes in this area (Grupioni, 2006).

*Quilombola* education is also a most remarkable innovation involving intercultural approaches in Brazil. The word *quilombo*<sup>4</sup> refers to the region located between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola. In Brazil during the slavery period, the term designated the places inhabited mainly by escaped slaves in remote areas. It is a form of independent socio-political and community organization opposed to the oppression of slavery. One of the most famous *quilombos* in Brazil was "Palmares" (in the interior of the State of Alagoas) set up in 1595 by Zumbi Dos Palmares (30,000 people on a land area equivalent to one-third of Portugal).

The Brazilian Constitution of 1988 recognized for the first time the existence of *quilombos* and raised the possibility of recovering the ancestral lands of communities bearing the scars of slavery. According to the Palmares Foundation,5 there are at present 1,436 *quilombos* bringing together 1.3 million people organized in a participative manner. *Quilombola* education is based on the historic social and cultural heritage of communities living in *quimbolas.* Children study in the school according to their context and their cultural heritage.

A present threat hovering over the recognition of Afro-Brazilian or indigenous cultural heritage is the omnipresence of evangelical groups in Brazil, which are particularly opposed to recognizing the Afro-Brazilian religious heritage in intercultural projects in the school. These evangelical groups have available a number of political allies, as well as national television channels (Mariano, 2007; Oualalou, 2018).

<sup>4</sup> *Quilombo* is used at present in Latin American Spanish to describe a chaotic and confused situation, and a total lack of order.

<sup>5</sup> http://www.palmares.gov.br/.

#### **5 Conclusion**

This chapter has enabled us to throw light on the two most important aspects in the debate on intercultural education in Brazil. First, it should be said that, to a certain extent, the country is open to experiences and discussions associated with addressing cultural diversity at the international level. Then, our analysis drew attention to the implementation of numerous legislative measures designed to promote interculturality in the school. However, it is appropriate to go beyond the present legislative, judicial and historical approach dominant in the country in order to attempt to found Brazilian interculturality on a critical approach, which challenges interethnic relationships, not only in the school, but also in society at large.

According to Bezerra, Da Silva and Leal (2017), teachers represent the principal tool in overcoming the present immobility and hesitation of the Brazilian education system towards intercultural approaches. We believe that, in order to bring about a real change in the way cultural diversity is dealt with, teachers must have a wider vision of intercultural education not restricted to partial knowledge about typical costumes, festivals, music and food. They must understand intercultural education in the context of a critical and democratic citizenship, and not simply as a contemplative appreciation of the cultural richness of different ethnic groups.

Intercultural approaches are promoted in the Brazilian education system from two principal perspectives. The first, focusing on curricular reforms, favours the recognition of the contribution of traditionally oppressed groups (Afro-Brazilian and Amerindian). The second is centred on policies of equal access, which function through the use of a system of ethnic and social quotas for entry to certain educational institutions. If the first has not encountered a great deal of explicit resistance, it is because it is still not operational in the school's daily life or simply takes the form of a few commemorative days. On the contrary, the second perspective, which challenges the social privilege of being White, has been the target of innumerable controversies which have not yet been resolved.

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## **Chapter 8 Intercultural Education in Switzerland**

#### **1 Introduction**

Before analysing the circumstances leading to the emergence of intercultural education in Switzerland, it would first be useful to explain how the country has dealt with migration. It bears, indeed, all the hallmarks of a paradox. In the first place, the country welcomes and has welcomed in the past a large number of immigrants coming for the most part from Southern Europe, but also from other regions of the world (D'Amato, 2008). This relatively ancient immigration contributed to the country's economic prosperity. Secondly, the country's attitude in relation to immigration has gone through periods of closing the borders and subsequently reopening them again. Thus, Switzerland has modified and adapted its policy on migration on several occasions, particularly concerning the management of the flow of migrating people (D'Amato, 2008). Even if popular xenophobic initiatives (proposals submitted to the people's vote) have not succeeded overall, it nevertheless remains evident that they reflect a certain apprehension or nervousness on the part of public opinion with regard to multiculturality.1

We should also note that, due to the Swiss education system's extreme decentralization, the measures taken for the education of foreign children are usually the responsibility of the cantonal authorities, even if they are generally inspired by federal recommendations. We would add on this subject that the matter of intercultural education concerns above all the country's urban areas and large cities. Until recently, rural and mountainous regions have remained little affected by migration.

In this chapter, we analyse first the emergence of intercultural education in the country. Next, we describe the actions and programmes introduced to react to cultural diversity. We will examine, thirdly, the schooling of migrant children.

<sup>1</sup> For example, on 28 February 2016, the Swiss people voted on an initiative aimed at deporting foreign criminals. This could have been judged as discriminatory because, since the process of acquiring Swiss nationality is long and difficult, it could even concern people who had been born in Switzerland and who had always lived there. The initiative was rejected by 58.86% at the national level (Confédération Suisse, 2021).

<sup>©</sup> The Author(s) 2022

A. Akkari and M. Radhouane, *Intercultural Approaches to Education*, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70825-2\_8

#### **2 The Emergence of Intercultural Education**

In Switzerland, it is difficult to isolate the principal stages in the development of intercultural education due to the extreme decentralization of the country's educational policy. In fact, each canton has the last word on educational matters. Thus, one sometimes hears the true words spoken that in Switzerland "there are twentysix education systems". However, in the absence of a federal minister of education, it is the Conférence suisse des directeurs cantonaux de l'instruction publique (CDIP—Swiss Conference of Cantonal Directors of Public Instruction) which draws up the recommendations proposed for the cantons with the intention of coordinating and harmonizing various educational policies (CDIP, 2017b). It was in the 1970s and 1980s that the first recommendations were issued by this federal body. These consisted principally of measures relating to immigration and the need to educate and integrate "the children of migrant workers" (CDIP, 1972a, b).

As a general rule, the CDIP's recommendations deal basically with such matters as integrating children of migrant origin and their schooling (CDIP, 1972a, b, 1974, 1976, 1985a, 1991b, 1999), the teaching of national and foreign languages (let us recall that Switzerland is divided into four linguistic regions) (CDIP, 1975, 1985a, b, 1986, 1999, 2017a, b) or even the school's role in the struggle against racism and discrimination (CDIP, 1991a). Two recommendations from 1992 and 1993 were focused on the European dimension of education.

It could be noticed that the dates of these decisions by the CDIP are not without relevance; the construction of intercultural education in Switzerland would appear to have taken shape at the time of social (the arrival of migrant peoples (during the 1970s) or refugees (the war in Kosovo in 1999)) and political changes (signature of the Maastricht Treaty within the European Union in 1992).<sup>2</sup> From a cultural and linguistic point of view, the consolidation of a diverse national identity is also involved in the evolution of the intercultural dimension of education in Switzerland.

From the earliest of the CDIP's recommendations concerning the education of children with migrant origins at the beginning of the 1970s up to those dating from the 1990s, intercultural approaches (also sometimes called "intercultural pedagogy" in Switzerland) were regularly discussed and often considered as indispensable elements in teacher-training programmes (Lanfranchi, Perregaux and Thommen, 2000; Sieber and Bischoff, 2007).

It should be recalled that in Switzerland intercultural education was initially a struggle to obtain consent for the schooling of all foreign children. Indeed, a multitude of obstacles blocked the education of these children who had no legal status. Militant educators forced a breach in the legal and institutional measures so as to give them the possibility of attending school (Perregaux and Togni, 1989). Then, stress was

<sup>2</sup> Even if Switzerland has an unusual association with the European Union, one can imagine that its recommendations (actually concerning a geographical and non-political affiliation in Europe) are reflected in the construction of a European identity in all neighbouring countries.

placed on mastery of the French language for the new arrivals. For this purpose, reception classes were created so as to facilitate rapid learning of French and the children's swift integration into regular classes corresponding to their age.

The publication of works by Perregaux (1994b), by Poglia, Perret-Clermont, Gretler and Dasen (1995) and by Perregaux, Ogay, Leanza and Dasen (2001) marked the beginning of an important qualitative and quantitative development for intercultural education in Switzerland. Today, curricular reforms, language awareness (including those of the migrants), teacher training for intercultural education and the distribution of information intended to raise the awareness of children and teachers about the themes of cultural diversity and racism are the principal sectors where intercultural approaches in education are deployed in the Swiss Romande (Akkari and Tardif, 2006; Dasen and Perregaux, 2002; Nicollin and Müller Mirza, 2013).

Despite this apparent craze for intercultural education, it is interesting to observe that in Switzerland the cultural diversity associated with the country's linguistic and religious identity (four national languages and two principal historical religions (Protestantism and Catholicism)), and the diversity brought about by the waves of migration were not discussed as an ensemble in order to identify a common approach and harmonious development.

It should also be noted that in the context of the Swiss Romande (the Frenchspeaking part of the country), the term "intercultural education" was preferred to "multicultural education" under the initiative of Micheline Rey's work as part of the Council of Europe's activities (Rey, 1984).

#### **3 Official Recommendations Concerning Intercultural Approaches in Education**

The CDIP, mentioned above, is a central body for all of Switzerland with the authority to express recommendations intended to coordinate and harmonize cantonal educational policies (CDIP, 2017b). Examining their evolution gives us an understanding of how intercultural education managed to create a place for itself in the Swiss educational scene. An analysis of these recommendations shows that they were based on three working principles, namely: (1) the schooling of pupils with migrant origins; (2) language teaching; (3) the struggle against racism (other principles concerning cultural diversity could also have been mentioned but they seem to us secondary compared to the ones presented here).

One of the first recommendations concerning the schooling of pupils with migratory origins goes back to 1972. It aimed at the integration of the pupils through the school, the struggle against discrimination that they might suffer, but also their preparation for an eventual return to their country of origin. The matter of the struggle against discrimination is on-going in the CDIP's recommendations; it intended to create the foundations for intercultural education and to give all the necessary instructions to ensure the joint schooling of national and foreign pupils.

For this purpose, the CDIP recommended the integration of pupils with migratory origins into regular classes, possibly with support, particularly for the acquisition of the teaching language (CDIP, 1972a). As the years passed, matters concerning the schooling of these pupils became more precise. The CDIP recommended that they should be offered vocational training (CDIP, 1972b) and later further studies (CDIP, 1991b). Concerning their support, it promoted an approach to decisions bearing in mind the language shortcomings of these pupils. These recommendations aimed particularly at avoiding that they should be systematically directed towards special education (CDIP, 1985a) or repetition (CDIP, 1991b).

Over time, the Conference of Cantonal Directors of Public Instruction modified its viewpoint on the child with migratory origins. As time passed, it defined these children less by their status (in 1972: "children of migrant workers"; in 1976, "migrant children"; in 1985: "foreign-language children" or "foreign children" (CDIP, 1985a)). This evolution reflected a progression from migration considered as transient in 1972 towards a migration considered as permanent for Swiss society (see, for example, the recommendation issued by the CDIP in 1985 which aimed at complete integration (CDIP, 1985a)).

In parallel with this evolution, it was intercultural education that intervened in the CDIP's official recommendations. The term "intercultural" appears for the first time in a 1985 recommendation: since these children were likely to remain permanently on Swiss territory, it seemed necessary to encourage what the CDIP called "intercultural teaching" (CDIP, 1985a). Little by little, this body insisted upon the development of this facet of education. It mentioned particularly respect for the children's cultural identities (CDIP, 1991b); it reaffirmed the need for intercultural education (CDIP, 1991b) and expressed the wish that university research should take an interest in this area.

Concerning language courses and the culture of origin, we observe an evolution in the CDIP's position between 1972 and 1985. In 1972, the Conference showed itself to be sensitive to the importance of the language of origin, both to appreciate it in its own right but also for a subsequent return by the children to their country of birth (it recommended particularly authorization to attend foreign-language private schools to make it easier for some children to return). In the same year, it encouraged the development of courses in the original language and culture (CDIP, 1972a). In 1985, the CDIP renewed the principle of integrating foreign-language children into public schools and of avoiding any form of discrimination (1985a). At the same time, it stressed that integration should be accompanied by the right of respect for the parents' cultural identity.

Concerning language teaching, the CDIP issued several recommendations aimed at the advancement of all pupils in their command of national languages. These were necessary for interactions between cantons. For this purpose, linguistic and intercultural exchanges between cantons were promoted (CDIP, 1985b; 1986), as well as the development of bilingual teaching (CDIP, 1995a). The characteristic of this type of recommendation makes us aware that Switzerland developed its relationship with intercultural education basically through matters concerning migration, whereas its own identity is already very diverse due to the presence of different cultural and linguistic regions.

In 1999, the CDIP participated in the implementation of English, a non-national foreign language, in the official curricula of all pupils from the seventh year of compulsory schooling (primary level) (CDIP, 1999). In 2017, it pursued its work in this domain and proposed a series of recommendations so that the teaching of national and non-national foreign languages took place as seamlessly as possible (CDIP, 2017b).

In its recommendation entitled "Racism at school" (CDIP, 1991a), the CDIP promoted cultural openness and the development of intercultural competences for all pupils. It is one of the first recommendations which was not focused entirely on the pupils with migratory origins, nor uniquely on pupils who might be called "native" (non-migratory). Through this recommendation, the CDIP positions the school as one of the principal agents in the struggle against racism and discrimination present in Switzerland—as also in the rest of the world.

#### **4 Intercultural Activities and Projects**

In this part, we will attempt to present the different educational projects and activities which could appear on the banner of intercultural education in Switzerland. It is necessary to point out to the reader that we will concentrate principally on the Swiss Romande (French-speaking) part of the country.

In the first place, mention should be made of reception classes in the Canton of Geneva intended to welcome pupils aged 7 years or more upon their first arrival who did not speak French (Rastoldo, Wassmer, Evrard and Kaiser, 2013). Upon their arrival, the primary school pupils were enrolled half-time in this system and halftime in regular classes alongside pupils of their own age, which encouraged their progressive integration into the school assisted by language support. The reception classes should basically hasten the learning of the teaching language in order to facilitate complete integration into the regular class. Generally, the time spent in the reception class does not exceed twelve months (Rastoldo et al*.*, 2013). For pupils aged 4 to 6, the Canton of Geneva foresees immediate schooling in a regular class for their age group (Rastoldo et al., 2013).

In second place, we must present the courses in the original language and culture (CLCO). This arrangement, based on the CDIP's recommendations dating from the 1970s, aims today at the development and maintenance of the link with the original culture, but is also intended to promote diversity. In 1991, during the preparation of recommendations dealing with racism at the school, the CDIP confirmed the right of children with migrant origins to speak their own language (CDIP, 1991b). Otherwise, today the CLCO are also based on the theory of linguistic interdependence developed by Cummins (1979).<sup>3</sup>

Concerning their organization, the CLCO may involve the participation of consulates from the countries of origin who, thanks to bilateral agreements, recruit

<sup>3</sup> This theory is presented in Chap. 10.

teachers to provide these courses. They may also rely upon the assistance of local cultural associations. The Swiss education system, for its part, ensures that classrooms are made available. Today, it is possible to observe that these courses remain "outside the curriculum" and that the languages of migration, despite these arrangements, have not yet entirely found their place in the Swiss Romande schools.

The integration of CLCOs into the regular school would permit this objective to be reached [assisting the integration of pupils from other cultures and their readiness for this integration (DGEP, 2008, p. 4)]. Furthermore, the collaboration taking place between regular teachers and those of the LCO could have a beneficial effect on all pupils (Radhouane, Fuentes and Akkari, 2017, p. 37).

To these two arrangements can be added extra-curricular and curricular activities having a certain influence on the inclusion of intercultural approaches into the school. Intercultural libraries providing access to the written culture in several languages are useful not only for the children but also for the parents. One of the most interesting innovations that could be mentioned is the EOLE programme (*Éveil et ouverture aux langues*—Awakening and openness to languages), which consists of an awareness about diversity of languages intended for all children. This teaching develops metalinguistic competences (see De Pietro and Matthey, 2001), assists in the learning of languages, strengthens intercultural openness for all pupils and develops their knowledge of language diversity.<sup>4</sup> The EOLE programme seeks to oppose the hierarchization of languages (Candelier and De Pietro, 2014).

Furthermore, we may mention that in numerous Swiss cantons support programmes have been introduced for pupils in difficulties usually concerning schools with a large number of migrant pupils. In Geneva, for example, a *Réseau d'éducation prioritaire* (REP—Priority Education Network) has been created to provide more resources to certain schools enrolling pupils with wide sociocultural diversity. Here, there is a better supervision rate, a higher number of teachers responsible for educational support, and more arrangements to encourage success in the school (Soussi and Nidegger, 2015).

To sum up, intercultural approaches to education in Switzerland were originally intended for the integration of migrant children. However, these approaches have progressively been aimed at all pupils. The adoption of the *Plan d'études romand* (PER—Swiss Romande Study Plan), the study programme at present in use in the Swiss Romande, is a perfect illustration since the curriculum guidelines are aimed at all pupils and some of them are oriented towards openness, tolerance, a critical approach and the struggle against stereotypes. One can note, for example, the following objectives:


<sup>4</sup> The reader may refer to Chap. 10 for a further explanation concerning an language awareness.

– […] To ask oneself questions about the relationships which form both within societies and between them and their territory (extracts from the PER (CIIP, 2019)).

This change of viewpoint on intercultural approaches is here taken from official texts. It will now be necessary to discover their impact in the classroom through research. Beforehand, Fig. 1 recapitulates the main arrangements referring to intercultural approaches in Switzerland.

**Fig. 1** The range of intercultural approaches in Switzerland

#### **5 The Place of Migrant Children in the Education System**

The evolution in the composition of the school population compared to that of the original culture reflects the migratory movements taking place in Switzerland. During the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, the origins of migrant pupils were essentially in Southern Europe (Italy, Portugal, Spain). It has progressively diversified over recent decades (the Balkans, Turkey, France, Germany, and more recently Eritrea, Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia,<sup>5</sup> etc.).

Since a large number of migrant children leave secondary education at the end of compulsory schooling to enter dual vocational training, the growth of cultural diversity affected in the first instance compulsory schooling (until 15 years of age).

For the school year 2016/2017, 937,000 pupils were enrolled in Swiss compulsory education. Eighteen percent of them were in 1P–2P (the two first years of compulsory school, formerly called the infant school); 52% of them were in the 3P–8P levels (the continuation of primary education), 26% in secondary 1 and 3% of pupils were enrolled in special education. Foreign pupils in Switzerland represent about one quarter of total enrolments of pupils in compulsory education (OFS,<sup>6</sup> 2018) (Table 1).

During the 2016/2017 school year, the proportion of foreign pupils in Switzerland reached an average of 27%. There are considerable variations from one canton to another. Thus, the Canton of Geneva numbered the highest proportion of foreign pupils (43%) and the Canton of Appenzell-Rhodes-Interior the lowest (almost 9%) (OFS, 2018). Some of these differences can be explained by the canton's characteristics: some of them, the most rural, are less inclined to receive a surge of migrant people, unlike the Canton of Geneva, historically a destination for migration.

In Switzerland, the Federal Office of Statistics (OFS) analyses the cultural composition of classes, considering both the nationalities present and the languages spoken by the pupils. In this way, the various proportions represented allow three types of class to be distinguished:


**Table 1** Evolution of the composition of pupil enrolment in compulsory education in Switzerland, 2000/2001–2016/2017

*Source* OFS (2018)

<sup>5</sup> This list is based in the main origins of people requesting asylum in Switzerland as of 30 September 2018 (Secrétariat d'État aux migrations, 2018).

<sup>6</sup> Office fédéral de la Statistique—Federal Office of Statistics.


An analysis by OFS (2016) threw light on the non-proportionality in the increase in cultural diversity and the increase in the proportion of very heterogenous classes, which reflects greater segregation of foreign pupils in certain classes.

In Switzerland, the matter of cultural diversity crosses different strata of the education system with the question of specialization seeming to be particularly sensitive. In fact, for the school year 2016/2017, the OFS's figures (2018) allow us to observe the over-representation of foreign students in the less-demanding classes. If they represent 24.6% of all students enrolled in secondary 1 (approximately up to 15 years of age), they only represent 17% of students enrolled in more-demanding streams and 34.43% of students in less-demanding streams (OFS, 2018).<sup>7</sup> It should also be noted that the presence of foreign students in more-demanding streams has dropped by ten percentage points between 1990 and 2008 (OFS, 2018). Two explanations can be offered for this evolution. On the one hand, it should be recalled that foreign students come from less-favoured social strata compared to their Swiss colleagues. On the other hand, specific action reserved for foreign students by the school cannot be ruled out.

The over-representation of foreign students in the less-demanding streams is linked to a series of factors which can be classified into two categories:


These two categories can be found in different contexts and are not restricted to the Swiss situation. However, it is useful to examine their implications. The first describes the manner in which the school reacts to the pupils' diversity. By employing its own set of codes and not those of the pupils, it creates a gulf often interpreted as learning difficulties. The second brings us back to the families which sometimes, due to a poor understanding of the institution and its functioning, cannot make their opinion known and therefore do not participate fully in their child's choice of stream.

The use of standardized tests is one factor which affects the first category, particularly during the guidance of pupils towards specialized classes. Since the pioneer work of Binet-Simon, tests have served to guide and select pupils.

<sup>7</sup> Our statistics are based on figures collected by OFS (2018).

Meanwhile, in Switzerland, we should observe that the presence of pupils in lessdemanding streams does not represent, as it does in some countries, a path inevitably ending in failure. In fact, the dual vocational system accepts young people at age 15 from all sections of compulsory schooling and is particularly appreciated. Despite more positive prospects than those in other contexts, the question of choice of stream remains a problem with regard to the distribution of foreign pupils in the education system.

If we examine the rate of access to the *maturité* (a diploma granting access to university in Switzerland), the difference between Swiss and foreign students is flagrant. We remark that 42.4% of young Swiss people obtain the *maturité* (including the *gymnasiale*, which opens the doors to the most prestigious higher studies), while only 23% of young foreigners born abroad obtain this diploma (OFS, 2018).

These inequalities can also be analysed from the aspect of school drop-out. In fact, among the pupils leaving the school prematurely, we observe that once again the foreign pupils are over-represented (OFS, 2018). Nevertheless, this incidence has greatly improved over recent years, dropping from 25% in 2003 to 12.5% in 2017 (OFS, 2018). For pupils of Swiss nationality, the rate remains stable at around 2.5% in 2017 (OFS, 2018). Twenty years ago, these analyses of the educational trajectory of children of migrant origins show outcomes that were rather disappointing (OFS, 1997), whereas the most recent ones are more encouraging but still show the persistence of a gap between Swiss and foreign pupils. Cultural diversity is often associated with the less-demanding classes and school failure. We should, however, avoid any causal and unidimensional explanation of school failure and any grouping of pupils by culture or their supposed manners of learning (Abdallah-Pretceille, 1992).

As Doudin (1999) has rightly suggested, support measures depend upon a paradox which consists of wanting to better integrate migrant pupils by excluding them from their age group, either for a brief period (support outside the classroom) or for longer period (smaller classes), even in some cases permanently (development classes). This paradox is all the more noticeable because these methods of exclusion affect precisely those migrant pupils who are trying their best to integrate into the host country.

#### **6 Conclusion**

Switzerland displays a strong cultural diversity which can be observed on two distinct levels. Firstly, the country's composition is diverse, since there are four different linguistic regions and twenty-six cantons (each entirely responsible for its education system) resulting in regional diversity. Secondly, the country's great diversity can be attributed to successive waves of migration. Concerning this diversity, Switzerland seems sometimes to fall between two stools, since it recognizes diversity but wants also to conserve its extremely decentralized political organization and its historical national identity. In our opinion, these two trends are not necessarily opposed to each other; they could also lead to policies of integration (as perceived by Berry (1991) discussed in Chap. 4, stressing the need to maintain links with the original cultures while establishing those with the host culture). Nevertheless, these two objectives confront each other when political propositions<sup>8</sup> are put to the vote. In fact, there have been a large number of popular initiatives intending to limit the rights of foreigners (or at least not extending them), which however have often been refused during popular referendums.

Within the Swiss school, tensions are also evident. The evolution in the CDIP's recommendations illustrates a change in its opinion about migration in the school context. Today, migrant pupils are considered as full members of the Swiss school. Their affiliations of identity must be recognized at the same time as their integration is facilitated. Numerous initiatives, often supported from within the education system, reflect these recommendations and recognize the cultural origins of pupils with migrant backgrounds.

Nevertheless, the statistical analysis of foreign pupils' school careers in Switzerland shows that, despite initiatives in their favour aimed at integration, their future is still frequently predicted by their origins. Through the analyses in this chapter, we have shown that these pupils are over-represented in less-demanding streams and they are more frequently at risk of dropping out (OFS, 2018). Concerning their subsequent training, Switzerland promotes particularly vocational training; however, the stakes remain high on the choice—by the pupil—of future studies.

There remain, therefore, a number of challenges to be overcome in Switzerland in order that the recognition of cultural diversity can be introduced at all levels of the education system.

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<sup>8</sup> Switzerland functions on a model of participative democracy in which numerous political proposals are submitted to a popular vote; this happens when they fulfil certain conditions that we will not discuss here.

## **Chapter 9 Intercultural Education in France**

#### **1 Introduction**

In the preceding chapters, all the countries that we have dealt with have had a federal form of government granting a large measure of autonomy in educational management to their regions. This is not the case for the French education system, which remains largely centralized with regard to strategies dealing with cultural diversity in the school.

The French school was founded on a monocultural and universalist tradition. Indeed, since its institutionalization during the epoch of Jules Ferry at the end of the nineteenth century, the school has always adopted an assimilationist approach in accordance with the role that the State has conferred upon it in the transmission of Republican values. It had to contribute to the formation of citizens who were equal so as to ensure better social cohesion and to bring forth a united nation. Public education is national, lay and directed at individuals. In fact, French law does not recognize any ethnic, community or minority group. In the name of Republican ideology, cultural characteristics are not taken into consideration (Meunier, 2007).

Since the creation of the free, compulsory and lay school, the different cultures of children enrolled in the school have never been recognized by the educational institution. Official texts did not acknowledge any specific measures for the entry of foreign or culturally different pupils.

Therefore, for a long time, cultural diversity was considered as a problem that should be overcome:

In France, the question of how to deal with cultural diversity does not exist, outside crises and controversy […] However, the school cannot remain indefinitely without direction. Systematically denied in the name of universality or, on the contrary, hypostasized in the name of difference, culture is at the heart of historic, social, ideological, affective and symbolic issues (Abdallah-Pretceille, 1999, p. 4–5).

The two terms "intercultural" and "multicultural" did not exist in French-language dictionaries before the 1990s. They became the subject of numerous ideological battles and they have acquired controversial meanings (Bourse, 2017).

In this chapter, we will analyse first the emergence of a debate on the acceptance of cultural diversity by the French education system and then the evolution of intercultural approaches in this country. In a third part, we will show that the consideration of diversity was diluted in the context of urban policies with a strong aversion to communitarianism. In the fourth part of this chapter, we will tackle the analysis of school performance of pupils with migratory origins in France.

#### **2 The Emergence of Interculturality**

Following the influx of foreign pupils arising from Southern Europe and the former French colonies in Africa, from the 1970s onwards the French school's assimilationist educational tradition began to crumble. Intercultural education in France therefore dates from the 1970s, the moment when the traditional assimilationist approach to migrant cultures in the school began to be replaced by a readiness for integration, at least in speeches, through the creation of specific structures within the education system (Bailble, 2006).

This new acceptance of interculturality by the French school resulted in the emergence of different practices (Kerzil, 2002). First, a distinction was drawn between French and foreign pupils. This move allowed the development of specific arrangements for taking care of pupils with migratory origins. The creation of "integration classes" (CLIN) and "integrated catch-up classes" (CRI) at the primary level and "adaptation classes" in lower secondary education (CLAD) were aimed at children of foreign origin so that they could learn the French language as rapidly as possible.

The purpose of setting up integration, adaptation and integrated catch-up classes was to facilitate the enrolment of pupils whose original culture and language placed them at a disadvantage with regard to the school's teaching and linguistic practices. The fact that a distinction was drawn among the pupils according to their sociocultural origins represented a complete upheaval within the school originally unsympathetic to any kind of difference whatsoever. Clearly, the emergence of interculturality in France was undertaken under the aegis of prudence and hesitation. The integration classes limited themselves to teaching literacy to the new arrivals and initiation to the French language, while the integrated catch-up courses consisted of providing the pupils arising from immigration and already following the regular teaching programme with a few extra hours of French so as to "compensate" for a proven weakness in that language. At the lower secondary level, the adaptation classes played a similar role in raising language skills.

Diversity was therefore only a transitory phenomenon, since the objective of the different arrangements was to promote success in the school thanks to a better mastery of French. These arrangements were introduced in order to respond to the educational difficulties of children with migratory origins by facilitating, through their mastery of French, both their social integration and their educational success (Meunier, 2007).

The emergence of interculturality in France was, therefore, as in Switzerland, clearly associated with the reception of immigrant workers' children. Underlying this desire to welcome them, the presence of these children could have presented a problem for the education system due to their cultural and linguistic characteristics.

#### **3 Intercultural Approaches and Their Development**

In an official report, which was a landmark for the Ministry of National Education, the anthropologist Jacques Berque pointed out the incongruity of measures at that time concerning the schooling of immigrant children. He recommended, furthermore, the reversal of attitudes towards the young people from elsewhere, but who found themselves living in French society (Berque, 1985).

One could say that the moment when, in the present report, we grasp the problem of immigration is when it is no longer the isolated socio-economic fact that it has been for so long, but a problem henceforth within French society, even within the awareness of the youngest of its population (Berque, 1985, p. 6).

Dismissing the idea that cultures associated with immigration may represent a threat for French identity, Berque suggests that they should be considered as "contributive cultures".

To treat the children of immigration as potential contributors to our cultural identity is neither to absorb them into it nor to cut them off from it by isolating them within their particular values. To accept them is neither to destroy the school nor French culture. It is to adopt a radicalism comparable to those transformations taking place in the world at this moment (1985, p. 50).

The contribution of Berque is fundamental in the origins of developing intercultural approaches in France, to the extent that his official report broke with the French school's assimilationist and monocultural traditions:

The culture in which we have formed all the pupils must henceforth, without ceasing to be our national culture, enrich itself with the contribution of other cultures, of which the children of migrants are the vectors. French culture possesses an ancient humanist tradition which consents to this opening up to prospects. The cultural benefits that will be obtained in this way will certainly go beyond the school. It thus becomes, in fact, a true national opportunity (Berque, 1985, p. 17).

The years 1975 and 1976 represented an important step in the development of intercultural approaches in France. First, the government officially authorized the uniting of families allowing thousands of children to rejoin their migrant parents and to benefit from a French education. Second, the same year saw the creation of the *Centres de formation et d'information pour la scolarisation des enfants de migrants* (CEFISEM—Training and Information Centres for the Schooling of Migrants' Children). These were small, academic cells bringing together a few people, mostly teachers or teacher-training staff, who intervened in continuing education on specific matters: teacher training for "initiation classes" or "integrated catchup courses" (CRI), receiving teachers of the original language and culture (ELCO) and supporting teaching teams on demand beyond the national education system's authorized provision.

These arrangements were created with the objective of responding to the educational difficulties of children with migrant origins by supporting both their social integration and their educational success through their command of French.

Then, from 1975 onwards, France progressively introduced "teaching language and cultural heritage" (ELCO) within the framework of uniting migrant families and the agreements signed with the principal countries from which the migrants came (Algeria, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Spain and Tunisia). Behind it was the idea that knowledge of the original language and culture was not likely to be a factor that could harm the pupils whose parents were immigrants, but could easily be a means which would encourage their educational integration in France or their eventual return to their parents' country of origin. This having been said, just as we observed in the Canton of Geneva, the "native" pupils did not have access at this time to teachers of original languages and cultures, which contributed to the marginalization of these courses or at least to upholding their extra-curricular nature.

The introduction of ELCOs represented a distortion of the Republican school's neutrality and presented it therefore in the form of a differentialist approach. It was one of the first times that an aspect of the pupils' cultural identity was accepted within the French education system by authorizing, according to the pupil's origin, the teaching of a language other than French.

It was during this same period that the homogenization of compulsory schooling was achieved (1975), with the creation of a single *collège* (lower secondary education), which brought together both the pupils finishing their compulsory schooling and those continuing on to the *lycée* (upper secondary)*.*

In 1978, interculturality was accessible to all pupils. The circular of 25 July 1978 broadened ELCO's activities to all of them, and this in an intercultural perspective. For the first time in France, the term "intercultural" was used for the entire educational enterprise in an official text. The Ministry of National Education launched the first activities under the sign of interculturality, of training and of dialogue with, for example, from 1978 to 1980, the "National Week of Dialogue between the French and the Immigrants" (Keyhani, 2012). This innovation resulted from the influence of the Council of Europe's work, which inspired European education systems to develop an intercultural approach within the school and to encourage in this way an awareness of the interest in reciprocal contact on cultural identities. However, despite this invitation to openness, it should be understood that the ELCOs were concerned largely with pupils whose cultural origin was associated with the languages being taught.

Over time and ever since their creation, the ELCOs in France were the subject of numerous reproaches, the most important being those accusing the teachers of strengthening communitarianism among the populations with migrant origins and thereby hampering the integration process. For this reason, the Haut Conseil à l'intégration (HCI—Superior Council for Integration) recommended in its first report in 1991 the suppression of this initiative since it seemed contrary to the objectives of integration.

Likely to strengthen communitarian positions, the ELCOs may lead to communitarianism while the Republicanism that should be taught cannot be created from a conglomeration of different groups. Some of our contacts fear that some ELCOs would become "Islamic catechisms" (HCI, 2010, p. 29).

However, the HCI did not propose a complete break with the original culture; on the contrary, it suggested integrating and developing the languages of migration in a common teaching course on modern languages.

It should still be noted that, even if the ELCOs in France provided courses in several languages (Spanish, Italian, Arabic, Turkish), it was often Arabic and the threat of the "Islamization" of these courses that became the target of accusations. The fear of a communitarian backlash and, to repeat the phrase of the *Le Monde* newspaper, "the suspicion of religious proselytism" (Collas, 2016) encouraged some political decision-makers to bring a halt to these arrangements (Table 1).

In 2016, the Ministry of National Education carried out a transformation of the ELCOs on the basis of a critical evaluation of their procedures, which brought to light the uneven quality of teachers who were not always well trained, spoke French imperfectly and were not properly supervised. A French public TV (*France 24*) then described the ELCOs' final stages: in 2016 they had been labelled "international teaching of foreign languages (EILE). Today, the Minister foresees a necessary reform of these courses".<sup>1</sup>

At the end of the 1990s, there was a return to a reinforced secularism which was associated with the raising of questions about interculturality (Coq, 1995; Baubérot, 1996). This evolution was the result of several phenomena:


In this movement, educational policies favoured a return to the newly decentralized Republican model with the installation of the *Contrat éducatif local* (CEL—Local Education Contract).

The reform of national education introduced by Claude Allègre (1998) encouraged a contractual policy for education based on a "town contract". Furthermore, considering that "indifference between men" (HCI, 1993) is the fundamental justification for the universalist call for Republican ideology, the integration model promoted by HCI rejects all difference. To put it another way, all cultural and linguistic differences are effaced or confined to an individual's private life.

<sup>1</sup> https://www.france24.com/fr/20180912-france-education-blanquer-ministere-enseignement-lan gue-arabe-elco-polemique.


**Table 1** Intercultural approaches introduced in France (1975–2015)

(continued)


**Table 1** (continued)

(continued)


**Table 1** (continued)

#### **4 The Fear of Communitarianism: Interculturalism Watered Down in the Locality and in Urban Politics**

Since the recognition of cultural communities is not foreseen, cultural plurality in the school would be gradually defined as a local scheme for integration. By confronting national cohesion with the cultural plurality of French society, this new approach reduced interculturality to local contexts and the initiative of individuals, in consultation with local communities (Lorcerie, 1993).

Vermès (1997) makes a distinction between the "official logic" and the "basic logic" in intercultural education. Concerning official logic, three types of intercultural education existed at that time in France: (a) the schooling of foreign children; (b) teaching in the original language and culture; and (c) the Europeanization of the school. The basic logic consists of: (d) language courses provided by associations connected with immigration; (e) pressure from regional movements on French national education; and (f) the vitality of bilingual education. The division observed in France between, on the one hand, educational practices focused on the children of migrants and, on the other, actions oriented to regional minorities and the Europeanization of the curriculum, are harmful for intercultural education. As a result, the division towards openness to other cultures between a European and another non-European element strengthened the feeling of exclusion affecting some ethnocultural minorities and particularly those originating in former French colonies.

Even if the conceptual and regulatory barriers were maintained for a long time in France, institutional structures evolving from closed ones (CLIN and CLAD) towards open ones (educational units for non-French-speaking arrivals and for children of Roma communities) are evidence of the public powers' confidence in the need to include all pupils in the education system. However, the paradigm of inclusion did not encounter the same success in all regions (Rigoni, 2017).

After the 1990s, it is possible to observe in France a marked return to laicity, the remobilization of citizens' power (Guerraoui, 2015) and the calling into question of the school's mild opening to interculturality. As Schnapper (1995) has emphasized, the school in France was at the service of citizenship:

The public school's organization, both as an instrument and an expression of this policy, took no notice of regional characteristics, nor of national origins, nor of the pupils' religious beliefs. It treated them all uniformly and equally as future citizens by giving them exactly the same education (Schnapper, 1995, p. 148).

Recently, religious differences have drawn the attention of political and educational decision-makers to the wearing of the Islamic veil in the school and the danger that this represented, especially for the maintenance of a lay school and Republican values (Fath, 2006; Gaudin, Portier and Saint-Martin, 2014). Constantly, the discussion on the management of cultural differences in France has been focused on the need to reject the Anglo-Saxon model of communitarianism. However, this latter model may be considered, at least in part, as a French device intended to distance oneself more than a historic reality from Anglo-Saxon societies whose ethnic divisions were not created by multiculturalism.

#### **5 The Educational Performance of Migrant Young People**

International studies, such as PISA (OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment), tend to show that the French education system is frequently awarded the classification of "average" while preserving inequalities. Thus, the data gathered by OECD in 2016 provided evidence of an unequal system with a wide margin between the most successful and the least successful pupils (OECD, 2016).

Even though socio-economic differences are the cause of numerous inequalities observable in the French education system, the status of migrant may also have an impact on a pupil's school career.

In 2003, the situation is relatively classic: the higher the parents' diplomas, the higher the pupils' score independent of their migratory status. However, the pupils of the first and second generation—"all other things being equal"—achieve poorer scores than the natives, which may be due to attributes not featuring in the analysis. An unusual situation should also be noted concerning second-generation pupils whose parents graduated from higher education: their scores were lower than those of first-generation pupils in comparable family situations. What happened in 2012? The situation for native pupils whose parents had an intermediate or higher-level diploma remained stable. For the others (natives with a poor cultural background and first- and second-generation pupils), the level of learning drops dramatically, to the extent that the effect of the parents' diploma on the score in mathematics becomes very weak for the first- and second-generation pupils. It was as if their learning stagnated without going beyond a score of 480, quite independent of the level of their parents' diploma (Fouquet-Chauprade, Felouzis and Charmillot, 2016, p. 23).

This analysis shows that the cultural capital of families is the most important element, but that migration might explain certain inequalities. Furthermore, it seems that the decline of quality in the education system had a greater impact on the pupils of migrant origins than on the native pupils (CNESCO, 2016). On this subject, the authors explain that two theories enable the inequalities of the French education system to be explained:

1. "Cultural discontinuity": "the pupils arrive unequal at the school in terms of their cultural background, their language level, and their familiarity with the qualities appreciated at the school" (CNESCO, 2016, p. 17).

2. "Systematic discrimination": "in fact, educational provision is not 'indifferent to differences', since it gives more to pupils who already have more" (CNESCO, 2016, p. 17).

CNESCO (2016) demonstrates that, in France, migratory origin and status (particularly whether first or second generation) have an important impact on school achievement: "Thus, the Turkish and Sahelian immigrants' children have an average mark lower than the children of natives, while the children of Chinese and South-East Asian immigrants have a higher mark" (CNESCO, 2016, p. 48). Evidently, one could imagine that the dramatic change of culture would have had a greater impact on families coming from certain contexts, while it was less so for those whose way of life was closer to the French school culture. Nevertheless, one should take note of these two theories attempting to explain inequalities and include in our analysis the matter of "systemic discrimination" (CNESCO, 2016, p. 17), which does not always permit the pupils having the most difficulty and the most remote from the school culture to keep up and to enjoy the same opportunities as the native pupils.

It also seems worthwhile for us to examine another analysis of the French school. In this case, it is the study by Felouzis (2003), which gives us an opportunity to look beyond the legal status of pupils (national versus non-national) and to pay attention to their original culture. Based on a classification of origins, Felouzis reached a series of conclusions that sustain the idea of a French education system that was unequal:


The educational inequalities in France are also reflected in school enrolment. Felouzis (2003) reveals that some schools are segregated and have a very high proportion of pupils with migrant origins. He says on this subject: "Only 10% of establishments enrol 40% of these pupils [from the Maghreb, Black Africa, Turkey group], which is eight times more than the regional average!" [for the Bordeaux region] (Felouzis, 2003, p. 429). The problem is not so much to identify the pupils' nationalities in each school, but how this lack of heterogeneity influences their school careers. For Audren and Baby-Collin, the most segregated secondary schools "frequently suffer from a tarnished image and obtain educational outcomes inferior to those of colleges in the middle-class districts" (2017, p. 1). The Republican ideal of equality is therefore badly shaken by the geographical and socio-economic distribution of school achievement. Even though initiatives, such as the priority education zones, have been launched in France (Audren and Baby-Collin, 2017), there are numerous challenges that remain to be overcome. Indeed, CNESCO (2016) explains that these establishments are not the most suitable for learning, offering shorter teaching periods and a school climate unsympathetic to the pupils …

The absence of social heterogeneity is associated with a lower degree of citizenship, less tolerance, the powers of communication and thinking less profound, a more defiant attitude in these institutions … (CNESCO, 2016, p. 33).

Evidently, the pupils' educational outcomes are an essential element to be considered in the analysis of inequalities. However, the well-being of the school climate, one's self-esteem or even the perception of one's origins seem to us to be equally important aspects that should also be considered. Segregation associated with inadequate school achievement (preventing access to the same possibilities as the other pupils) can communicate a negative image of oneself and of one's group membership. These distinctions between national and non-national residents or those with different cultural origins can have an incidence on social solidarity and the exercise of citizenship.

Considering the diversity of experiences at school brought to our attention, notably by Qribi (2016), it would be useful to analyse the schooling of young people originating from post-colonial immigration in France according to different methodological and theoretical perspectives and by listening to different partners in the educational enterprise.

#### **6 Conclusion**

Among the five countries that we have dealt with in the second part of this book, it is in France that intercultural approaches seem the most disputed or even rejected. In the name of a sometimes-sacred laicity and a neutrality—forgetting that the French State finances Catholic schools generously—and a fear of Muslim communitarianism (which would have been the result of applying Anglo-Saxon multiculturalism), educational policies in France hesitate to recognize cultural and linguistic differences openly. It is in this way and on several occasions that the expression "indifference to difference" has been used to describe the French education system's attitude towards cultural affiliations. As we will see in the chapter on religion, the French system sometimes seems little receptive (even though it can be nuanced in some ways) towards the issues of identity affiliations which, despite their importance in society, are largely designated as private affairs and do not concern in any way the State framework into which the school fits.

Besides, this indifference to difference has been called into question by recent research on inequalities in the school. The French education system is no longer indifferent, but seems to direct its activities in favour of pupils who are already in possession of a cultural capital enabling them to access numerous educational opportunities. Inequality is growing, socio-spatial segregation is becoming a fixture (CNESCO, 2016) and the pupils with migrant origins often suffer (due to their socio-economic status) in these unfavourable conditions.

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## Synthesis of Part II

From the five national case studies presented in the second part of this book, it becomes clear that the development of intercultural approaches is closely linked to the exercise of democracy. Whether it is through the conduct of citizenship or awareness of social problems, the question of cultural diversity makes its presence felt in public discussions. From the 1960s for the United States and the 1970s for Europe and Canada (and then the 1980s for Brazil), the development of intercultural approaches has intensified in the contexts studied and becomes inescapable when considering "equality and education". Difference becomes legitimate in education, recognized or simply accepted; it enters little by little into the school.

The case studies presented here show that this inclusion of cultural diversity in new educational situations has evolved to different degrees, and above all it must be considered as a polymorphic phenomenon. From thematic days to "compensatory" initiatives, the range of educational projects capable of being described as "intercultural approaches" is particularly vast. It is therefore necessary to interpret these situations from a critical point of view, but also with the assistance of the theoretical and conceptual approaches presented in the first part of this book. These allow light to be thrown on the educational contexts displaying tensions, such as those between: the conservation of national identities/recognizing the pupils' cultures; recognizing the pupils' languages/the need to acquire the teaching language; the struggle against inequalities/compensatory teaching, etc.

Finally, the reader must also take account of the structural, political, economic and social evolution of the contexts presented here. If the analyses described have revealed true progress during the second half of the twentieth century on the subject of intercultural approaches, it should be understood that they are related to favourable circumstances (Brazil's passage to democracy, the widespread claims for civil rights in the United States, the Council of Europe's work which has been influential in Switzerland and France, etc.). Even if we have attempted to consider the present reality of the contexts studied, it is clear that new events are going to modify the relationship of States to intercultural education. The extreme right in power in Brazil, the Trump presidency in the United States and the debates between extremist parties in Europe would appear to be major obstacles in its development. Nevertheless, intercultural approaches have shown that their force does not come exclusively from political leaders and that they can also arise easily within civil society and educators actions. Nothing is settled and the continuity of their development is obviously still possible despite the scenarios of tension.

## **Part III Debates and Educational Actions**

The first two parts of this book gave us an opportunity to present the key concepts in intercultural approaches and to compare different national experiences in implementing these approaches. This third part is more oriented towards educational actions and a discussion. It is a question of examining the way intercultural openness at school can be introduced into educational practices. To translate theoretical concepts into practice, teachers are invited to include intercultural approaches in their teaching programmes, the classroom, their guidance to pupils, the classroom climate, the evaluation of performances and the relationship with parents. In this way, they can then incorporate multicultural content, prospects and experiences into their teaching (Gay, 2004).

In this third part, we will first examine the way in which linguistic diversity can contribute to the application of intercultural approaches in the school. Then, we tackle the theme of how to take religious diversity into account in the school. The current period favours the growing visibility of religious affiliation in society. We analyse the challenges presented by this visibility within the school. Next, we devote a chapter to the idea of education for global citizenship. Indeed, intercultural approaches inevitably imply a discussion of citizenship. Finally, we will complete the third part of the book with an analysis of the teacher's role in implementing intercultural approaches.

## **Chapter 10 Awareness and Appreciation of Linguistic Diversity**

#### **1 Introduction**

In his book*Anthropologie structurale* [Structural anthropology], Claude Lévi-Strauss (1958) considered that language represented both the perfect cultural component but also that of the intermediary through which all forms of social life establish, transform and perpetuate themselves. In this chapter, we will attempt to synthesize the role that linguistic diversity can play in intercultural approaches in education.

In the first place, we will present the international discussion on multilingualism. Next, we will analyse the importance of the mother-tongue in learning at school. Then, awareness about language and teaching in the heritage language and culture (ELCO) will be discussed. Finally, in the last part of the chapter we will give examples of the teaching potential of bilingual education.

#### **2 Multilingualism and Bilingualism Under Discussion**

If multilingualism has often been a focus for discussion, it is because it called into question beliefs concerning the acquisition of language; it called into question the historical monoculturalism of formal education and, finally, it also posed questions about the decline in speakers that certain minority languages are experiencing. We have chosen to begin this chapter by returning briefly to the discussion on bilingualism and the tensions that arise between the development of multilingualism and formal education.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the discussion on multilingualism was very intense because of a number of scientific studies on bilingualism. Doubt was thrown on numerous myths about poor cognitive and linguistic development among bilingual children. Peal and Lambert (1962), for example, showed that the two linguistic systems used by a bilingual child are interdependent components of an enriched form **Table 1** The advantages of bilingualism • Understanding, tolerance and an open mind


*Source* Lavallée and Marquis (1999)

of cognition. Cummins (1979), for his part, formalized the notion of linguistic interdependence by stating that the positive conclusions of scientific literature about bilingual children only made sense if one accepted that proficiency in the first and second languages was interdependent and they mutually reinforced each other. Compared to monolingual children, the bilingual ones seemed to possess more mental agility, a greater capacity to understand concepts and a wider diversity in their mental (Diaz, 1985; Hakuta, 1984) and metalinguistic skills (Perregaux, 1994a). Research also brought to light the fact that the performances of bilingual children were superior to those of monolingual children in some school tests, as long as they could profit from teaching in both of their languages. Beyond the cognitive benefits, various advantages of a "social" type were identified by researchers among bilingual children. One can particularly mention openness to the world and tolerance, which were more common among bilingual people. Table 1 recapitulates these social advantages.

The second discussion concerning multilingualism relates the origin of formal education. Throughout its history, the latter has functioned with a single teaching language. The persistence of monolingualism in the school results from two principal factors. First, we may recall that compulsory education was set up during the second half of the nineteenth century to reinforce and consolidate the nation-State. This entity generally decided to impose a single teaching language that was not necessarily the one spoken by a more or less large part of the population. Second, the choice of a single language made it possible to standardize and accelerate access to schooling. Teacher training and the printing of school textbooks in a single language resulted in the school's rapid expansion. While it was itself monolinguistic, the school authorized the teaching of foreign languages likely to support finding employment and economic expansion. A tension was created therefore because the pupils brought several languages with them into this frequently monolingual school space. Modern migrations have resulted in the arrival in the classroom of linguistic, cultural, ethnic and religious diversity. The kindergartens of Toronto are a good example of this phenomenon confronting the monolingual universe and the children's linguistic diversity, since 58% of them came from families where English is not the usual language of communication (Cummins, 2001).

Finally, the question of multilingualism is closely linked to that of maintaining minority languages and questions about their status. It should be said that the majority of human societies use several languages (or dialects) in their daily affairs. Their use varies according to the context and the functions attributed to them. Despite a huge diversity on a global scale, a certain number of languages dominate due to the number of speakers. Thus, despite the existence of several thousand languages in the world, it is estimated that the ten1 most spoken are the mother-tongues of nearly one-half of the world's population. The question of these languages' status can explain why certain of them dominate others. In fact, even if there are 8,000 languages for some 200 countries, very few of them have the status of "official language" and are therefore little used as teaching languages, which can have an impact on the evolution in the number of speakers using that language.

In relation to these discussions, intercultural approaches suggest that the linguistic diversity arriving with the pupils is far from being a problem at the school; it could represent an educational resource, symbolic and instrumental in making schooling more relevant. The difficulty is to convince the educational partners of the relevance of this resource, given that they are themselves mainly the product, the actors and the agents of monolingual education. Intercultural approaches in education also oppose the hierarchization of languages and suggest that all forms of multilingualism could be authorized within the school—as also in society.

#### **3 The Importance of the Mother-Tongue in Learning at School and in Linguistic Interdependence**

For many years, research has been confronted with a negative image of mothertongues within the school. They were believed to prevent the pupils from learning the teaching language properly. The strongest reservations about using the migrants' or minorities' languages came from the teachers and the parents. The former, perhaps believing these languages to be competitors, feared that the mother-tongue would weaken the learning of the teaching language, which they considered indispensable both for learning and social mobility. The parents, who were concerned about the success of their child in the teaching language, thought wrongly that the mothertongue did not have any effect upon the child learning other languages. They could have chosen not to accept (or only modestly) the development of the mother-tongue.

On the subject of these negative points of view, Cummins (2001) explains that the school places itself in a position to block all pupils' linguistic diversity, which is treated as if it were a problem to be overcome. Today, these words deserve to be more nuanced, since teachers very often have the opinion that the pupils' languages should be promoted, without ever actually knowing/recognizing that they could have a positive impact on the learning of the teaching language (to be explained in the following pages). The school, as a monolingual institution, therefore offers very little choice to pupils who do not speak the teaching language.

<sup>1</sup> http://fr.babbel.com/fr/magazine/les-10-langues-les-plus-parlees-au-monde/.

Yet, scientific research adopts a very clear position on using mother-tongues for both the general and educational benefit of bilingual pupils:

Bilingualism has positive effects on children's linguistic and educational development. When children continue to develop their abilities in two or more languages throughout their primary school years, they gain a deeper understanding of language and how to use it effectively. They have more practice in processing language, especially when they develop literacy in both, and they are able to compare and contrast the ways in which their two languages organize reality (Cummins, 2001, p. 17).

Fifteen years after Cummins wrote these words, the international *Education 2030 Agenda* endorses once again the importance of the mother-tongue for the first years of schooling and calls on all countries to take the necessary measures to make its use possible. Indeed, among the strategic targets and options of this fundamental text, it is indicated that: "In multilingual contexts [it is necessary to] foster bi- and multilingual education, starting with early learning in the first or home language of children" (UNESCO et al*.*, 2016, p. 38).

These recommendations concerning the use of children's first language are based on scientific findings, especially on those of Cummins. He explains that "Children who come to school with a solid foundation in their mother tongue develop stronger literacy abilities in the school language" (Cummins, 2001, p. 17). He also stresses the fact that the teaching of a minority language in the school does not hamper the learning in other disciplines that are taught in the teaching language (Cummins, 2001). In fact, the learning of a minority language is not reduced simply to the discovery of a specific vocabulary; on the contrary, through the development of language competences, children "are learning concepts and intellectual skills that are equally relevant to their ability to function in the majority language" (Cummins, 2001, p. 18).

The scientific explanation for the importance of the mother-tongue arises from the theory of linguistic interdependence developed by Cummins. This theory is based on a few key concepts, particularly:


To understand this reinforcement that the two languages can exercise on each other, the theory of linguistic interdependence has often been illustrated by the image of an iceberg (Fig. 1).

Figure 1 draws attention to the overlap between the different languages mastered by a bilingual person. Obviously, the proficiencies are specific to the use of certain languages (writing when the alphabet is different, the phoneme/grapheme correspondence, the use of the neutral gender in certain languages, etc.). However, the

**Fig. 1** The model of a dual iceberg (linguistic interdependence) according to Cummins. *Source* Adapted from Cummins (1984)

conceptualization of reading, writing and counting/numbering is itself a skill transferable from one language to another. Thus, once pupils continue to progress in their mother-tongue, it reinforces the proficiency available to them in the second language.

Cummins (2000) also developed a threshold hypothesis that even he judged to be a speculative and vague theory. This one suggests that the development of languages must reach a "threshold level" in order for the cognitive or linguistic benefits to be reaped (Cummins, 2000). Cummins (2000) explains that this hypothesis could sometimes be badly interpreted: he described the use that had been made of it in the United States and in New Zealand:

For example, some educators in the United States and in New Zealand have employed the "threshold hypothesis" as a justification to reject the introduction of literacy in English for a considerable period of time. They assumed that the minority language should reach a threshold level before literacy in another language was introduced [in teaching]; they assumed that the transfer of academic knowledge and competences would be automatic (Cummins, 2000, p. 176).

Following these observations concerning the wrongful use of the threshold hypothesis or of linguistic interdependence, Cummins (2000) stated that neither of these two hypotheses foresees a rule about what is the correct language to begin learning to read in a bilingual programme or an appropriate moment to teach reading in the (school's) dominant language.

In conclusion, it seems essential not to consider "the children's linguistic and cultural differences as 'a problem to be overcome' and, instead, [to open] one's eyes on the intellectual and cultural resources that the children bring with them, both in the schools and in society" (Cummins, 2001, p. 20).

#### **4 Language Awareness and the Teaching of the Heritage Language and Culture**

In this section, we will present two pedagogical approaches promoting languages in the school: language awareness and courses in the heritage language and culture (CLCO).

According to De Pietro and Matthey (2001), language awareness is an educational technique which appeared in the 1980s in the United Kingdom, especially under the impetus of Hawkins' work (1992). Originally, this method was part of a procedure in favour of integration and the educational success of pupils with migratory origins. It aimed at promoting the learning of foreign languages among all pupils and supported knowledge of the teaching language through the development of metalinguistic proficiency (De Pietro and Matthey, 2001).

Language awareness (Hawkins, 1992, quoted by De Pietro and Matthey, 2001, p. 33) takes the form of activities focusing on "observation, analysis, comparison" (De Pietro and Matthey, 2001, p. 33) of languages. These activities reinforce an interest in language by developing skills likely to support learning. Concretely, it is necessary to think about languages, their similarities and their differences employing audio and written materials. As an example, we present in Table 2 an EOLE activity (*éducation et ouverture aux langues*—education and openness to languages) employed in Geneva.

De Pietro and Matthey (2001) describe two ways of employing language awareness. The first is cognitive, since these activities include work on languages, their functioning, their composition, etc. On this subject, the theories of language awareness assume (and for this purpose often make reference to the work of Cummins (1984, 2000) mentioned previously) that the pupils' language skills will be enhanced.

The second potential use is integrative (De Pietro and Matthey, 2001). In fact, language awareness "participates in the development of positive representations about languages and provides in this way a space to develop language learning in a

**Table 2** Presentation of an EOLE activity (summary and key stages)

#### **The Papagei**

*Main objective*: "to go from one language to another, to discover 'bilingual speaking'" (SG-CIIP, 2003, p. 2)

*Age*: 4–6 years

*Context*: The pupils will meet a puppet (a parrot) who is multilingual

*Lesson summary including the activity "The Papagei"*:

The pupils make their own parrot puppet and give it a name in whatever language they choose (a list of translations for the word *parrot* is made available by the teacher) Thus, simply by making their puppets, the pupils attention will be drawn to the way *parrot* is written in various languages The pupils listen to a poem spoken by the parrot. This poem is bilingual—the French contains German words. The pupils have to identify them

The pupils listen to a series of words; they must make their puppet react when they hear the word *papagei* (German for parrot)

*Source* SG-CIIP (2003) (Activity Le Papagei)

harmonious way" (Lory and Armand, 2016, p. 29). Also, these activities allow the pupils to think about the ranking of languages in society (Lory and Armand, 2016). In this way, these activities provide an opportunity to work on the pupils' cultural openness and accept the languages of migration (amongst others) by placing them on an equal footing with the languages taught in the school.

To sum up, language awareness gives priority to the global nature of multilingual skills. It develops positive attitudes towards linguistic and cultural diversity by employing the capacities of listening, observing, comparing and thinking about languages. The recognition of and knowledge about other people's languages is an exercise that provokes a decentred attitude with a strong added-value for education. The use of languages carried out by the pupils in the classroom has a positive effect on their self-esteem and on their motivation to learn languages.

The second pedagogical approach will be presented more briefly, since it has already been mentioned several times in this book (see Chaps. 1, 8 and 9). It is courses in the heritage language and culture (CLCO). These courses, originally intended for migrant pupils, sometimes with a view to their return to their parents' country of origin, today form part of numerous education systems that recognize the languages and cultural origins of the pupils with migratory origins. These courses also had as their objective the strengthening of the pupils' linguistic skills (in their first language). They are mostly provided outside regular school hours and are taught by teachers coming from the pupils' country of origin.

These courses are themselves an appropriate illustration of the implementation of theories on linguistic interdependence and on metacognitive competences. In fact, they aim at the development of literacy competences in the pupil's heritage language which may be transferable to a second language. Furthermore, these courses have an intercultural aspect since they contribute to the recognition of the pupils' cultures in the school (even though they might take place outside regular school hours).

Today, numerous challenges remain to be overcome in order for these educational courses to become part of the school's regular programme:


Since languages are transmitted with more or less success from one generation of migrants to another, it is appropriate to abandon the expression "original language and culture". In truth, it is principally the question of origin which is questionable in intercultural approaches. It recalls an externalization and an otherness in relation to societies affected by diversity following migratory movements. The languages spoken by the pupils should above all be considered as a resource by host societies and by their education systems. The expression "heritage languages" is beginning to emerge in the literature and in educational practice as an alternative to the term "languages of origin" (Brinton et al*.,* 2017).

#### **5 Bilingual People and Bilingual Education**

In this section, we are going to deal with bilingual people2 and more precisely features typical of a bilingual person. Then, we will examine briefly how some of their skills develop. Finally, we will present the main models of bilingual education.

Describing a bilingual person, as Abdelilah-Bauer (2015) has done, should not be limited to the idea that it is a matter of possessing two languages and to speak each one of them in the same way as a person who only speaks one. Grosjean (2008) adds that a bilingual person "is not the sum of two monolinguals" (p. 13). On the one hand, even two monolinguals have different levels of proficiency according to their specific needs and their socio-cultural environment. On the other, balanced bilingualism is rare since the opportunities to use one or the other language equally in all situations of daily life are practically non-existent. Ultimately, it should be recalled that bilingualism is not simply the juxtaposition of two linguistic proficiencies; it is a particular state of linguistic proficiency which cannot be evaluated using the monolingual norm's terminology.

To understand the bilingual individual's characteristics, it is appropriate to take another look at the numerous erroneous ideas circulating about them (Table 3).

By crossing cultural, social and linguistic frontiers, bilingual pupils develop variable capacities for resolving problems and tackle learning at school from a transcultural point of view. These learners acquire proficiency at school in the two languages, which becomes a useful resource throughout life. They also learn to appreciate knowledge and the experience of other people's lives (see Table 4). Dutcher and Tucker (1996) also draw attention to several other facts concerning the acquisition of language proficiency in bilingual people:


Due to the increased interest in bilingualism, in the consideration of pupils' languages in the school or even in reinforcing the teaching language, different models of bilingual education have been developed. We describe them below.

<sup>2</sup> Our words in this section are focused on bilingual people, even if our analyses could just as easily apply to trilingual or multilingual people.


**Table 3** Discrediting erroneous ideas about bilingualism

*Source* Grosjean (2015)


**Table 4** Different models taking account of linguistic diversity

*Source* Brohy and Gajo (2008)

Transitional bilingual education represents the most common model in the world given the diversity brought to the school by linguistic minorities and migrant pupils. It has been massively introduced in the United States and in the countries of the South containing large linguistic minorities. The transitional bilingual model is a programme in which minority language pupils are taught initially in their mothertongue for a few years. Their mother-tongue has no intrinsic value but serves uniquely as a transition vehicle enabling the children to better learn the education system's dominant language. The length of transition may vary between three to five years (Skutnabb-Kangas, 2000). The value accorded to the minority language is therefore of instrumental value during the transition. It is an approach to linguistic diversity

**Fig. 2** Diagram of transitional bilingual education. *Note* The more schooling advances (T = the period of schooling), the less Language 1 is employed; it finishes by disappearing altogether to the benefit of Language 2

seen as a short-term investment and a hindrance to learning in the school. As a result, transitional bilingual education contributes to the ranking of languages and cultures, even if one cannot rule out its positive role in the transition from family milieu to school milieu (Fig. 2).

On the contrary, other bilingual education programmes are based on recognizing all the languages spoken by the pupils. One finds, for example, dual immersion programmes whose approach consists of using two teaching languages with an equal share of the school timetable. What is more, it is recommended in these programmes to have almost the same number of pupils in the classroom who speak each of the two languages used. The key to success for these programmes is the fact that the two languages exist side-by-side throughout the school day, each supporting the other. Learning from their peers stimulates the natural acquisition of the language for both groups of children, because it maintains the level of complex cognitive interaction (Akkari, 1998). The literature shows clearly that the pupils' academic performance is positive for all groups of participants, compared to groups that receive their teaching in just one language. Even more importantly, these performances remain good even for pupils of poor socio-economic status and for migrant children (Brisk, 2006; Lindholm & Aclan, 1991; Thomas & Collier, 1997) (Fig. 3).

On this subject, we should note that few studies are available in Europe on the situation of speakers of a third language in bilingual programmes. In Luxembourg, the structurally bilingual education system is faced with the massive presence of migrant children principally coming from Portugal. Their school results seem to be inferior to their Luxembourger comrades (Lebrun and Beardsmore, 1993).

**Fig. 3** The model of dual immersion (with Spanish and English as teaching languages). *Source* Adapted from Howard and Christian (2002), Howard et al. (2005)

In the United States, Chuong (1988) has reported the positive results of dual bilingual education programmes into which the speakers of a third language were introduced but their language was not used in the classroom. The first experience concerned some recently arrived Vietnamese children who were placed in an English/Spanish bilingual education programme. Some convincing results were also reported in two studies carried out by Rolstad (1997, 1998), who demonstrated that pupils speaking other languages and enrolled in a Korean/English programme did not suffer in their cognitive development or in their school performance compared to that of the pupils whose language was employed in the programme. Nor did these pupils suffer any particular difficulties at the level of forming their own cultural identity.

If the cognitive gains contributed by bilingualism and bilingual education are hardly contested today in the scientific literature, the same is not true for the evaluation of bilingual education programmes. After decades of studies on this subject, the principal difficulty in drawing clear conclusions from this literature is associated with a methodological question. Thus, it is possible to observe that the majority of evaluations carried out in the United States during the 1990s relied upon questionable methods; studies were lacking control groups or failed to take the children's socio-economic status into account (Brisk, 2006). Moreover, many specialists propose going beyond the debate on the choice of languages in bilingual education programmes in order to question the educational approach used in the classroom (Cummins, 2000; Garcia, 2011).

To sum up, the development of bilingual education has true potential; nevertheless, it is necessary to consider the sometimes assimilationist, sometimes integrative dimensions that may form part of different development models (Table 4).

#### **6 Towards Multilingual Education for All Pupils**

In order to develop bilingual education for all children, and particularly those whose parents are of foreign origin or belong to a linguistic minority, it is useful to conduct work in parallel on three levels: the institutional choice of teaching languages; teacher training; and finally the way languages are viewed and ways of overcoming institutional resistance to multilingualism (Akkari & Coste, 2015).

At the level of institutional change, it seems important to us to emphasize that the societies that recognize cultural diversity and the rights of minorities offer the most fertile ground for the development of bilingual education for everybody. Thus, despite the crises and disagreements surrounding North American multiculturalism, one is obliged to admit that the United States remains a context in which bilingual education is developing with the aid of public funds (Krashen, 1996).

From the same institutional point of view, one relevant change could be the issuing of directives which propose to consider minority languages in the same way as the second foreign language used in the school. One could imagine, for example, in a region like French-speaking Switzerland that the languages of migration were treated in the same way as German or even English.

As far as courses designed to teach children the heritage language of their parents are concerned, it would be wise to grant the educational, organizational and financial responsibility to the host country and not to the country of origin, as is still the case in some national situations. There is also a call to open their enrolment to all pupils in the school, independent of their origin or mother-tongue.

The second level on which we propose to work is that of teacher training. This could be the vehicle of change by favouring the recruitment of bilingual teachers so as to increase their presence in those education systems that contain a large number of heterogenous classes.

Finally, it seems that work should be carried out in order to transform teachers' images and opinions about languages. Far from limiting the possibilities of migrant children or representing a handicapping cognitive burden, bilingualism and bilingual education give them the possibility of participating actively in the learning process, even when their mother-tongue is not used in the classroom (Baker, 2001). Furthermore, reflection on representations that also affect the status of languages should be encouraged. Some languages are particularly appreciated in the economic world (English, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, etc.) and are therefore strongly promoted in the school, while, on the contrary, other languages spoken by linguistic minorities have a negative association. To give all languages equal merit within the school would require a fundamental change on the part of the educational partners (teachers, heads, parents, educational decision-makers, etc.).

While it is common to appreciate those languages with a high added-value in the work market, it is rare to hear of education systems recognizing languages spoken by certain migrant peoples or linguistic minorities. This results in typical negative classifications: non-English/French/Spanish-speaker:

The pupils who do not speak the teaching language, should they leave some of their languages by the school gate as one would a scooter, or can multilingualism enter into the building? Opinions are divided between those who think that there should be only one language employed in the school and those who search for a way to exploit their potential resources, being able to move from one language to another, by employing their reference languages, their linguistic biography (Perregaux, 2005, p. 37).

Authorizing the presence of all languages in the school would only be possible if there were a change in attitude by the teachers, school managers and the entire society.

From the formal point of view reflected in European linguistic policies, multilingualism finds a primary place in the *Common European Framework of Reference for Languages* (Council of Europe, 2001). This document proposes constructive recommendations concerning the teaching/learning of languages:

The plurilingual approach emphasises the fact that as an individual person's experience of language in its cultural contexts expands, from the language of the home to that of society at large and then to the languages of other peoples (whether learnt at school or college, or by direct experience), he or she does not keep these languages and cultures in strictly separated mental compartments, but rather builds up a communicative competence to which all knowledge and experience of language contributes and in which languages interrelate and interact (p. 4).

The learning of one or several languages can no longer be envisaged in a monolingual concept, that is to say as a collection of distinct, independent linguistic systems, sometimes placed in close proximity for the acquisition, even the "mastery", of languages. They should no longer be considered in binary relationships, dichotomic face-to-face as in the past, but rather like elements acting together within a complex system reflecting several languages in an individual's repertory (Ducancel & Simon, 2004; Perregaux, 2004).

To accept multilingualism or to encourage its development is justified for several reasons. One can immediately think of professional situations: to work in a linguistically diverse environment is becoming more frequent and requires multilingual competences. Nevertheless, these matters do not dominate the arguments in favour of multilingualism. They "[guarantee] mobility, [ensure] communication and [allow] access to information and knowledge in several languages" (Brohy & Gajo, 2008, p. 2). Thus, multilingualism can represent a tool for the development of a multicultural society built on the foundations of interaction, sharing and participation, and based on open and easy access to knowledge.

#### **7 Conclusion**

Today, bilingualism and multilingualism seem to benefit from a much better reputation than they did in the past. With the support of the studies presented in this chapter, it is interesting to observe that a profound change has taken place with regard to these subjects. Nowadays, from several points of view linguistic diversity is considered as a resource. Firstly, for the pupil: the studies mentioned have drawn attention to the positive rewards of multilingualism for the children's cognitive skills, as well as on their metalinguistic competences (thinking about languages). Secondly, in the school, linguistic diversity must be considered as a resource. It enhances teaching by its capacity to raise notions about the world through the languages of which it is composed. Approaches, such as language awareness or the language courses on the culture of origin show that possibilities exist for the school to take possession of languages and make use of them as a tool in the service of intercultural openness.

In some ways, one could say that the school, to a certain extent, has seized upon the matter of languages, but principally through the implementation of bilingual education. Through the different models presented, it is essential to remember that bilingual education does not necessarily support the objectives of intercultural openness mentioned previously. If some of these projects recognize numerous languages, others mobilize two of them, frequently chosen on the basis of the family's purchasing power and its need for bilingual education.

Today, in order that educational institutions may claim to be multilingual or partners in the development of the pupils' multilingualism, it is necessary to combine the possibilities for bilingual teaching with awareness-raising activities and openness to languages. Two further facets would then be accessible: the first aims at the development of intercultural competences and the second the development of language skills.

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## **Chapter 11 The Difficulty of Integrating Religious Diversity into Intercultural Approaches to Education**

#### **1 Introduction**

It is difficult to consider religious diversity within the general framework of intercultural approaches in education. On the one hand, the school cannot ignore the permeability of the school precincts to the pupils' religious beliefs. On the other, religion, as one of the dimensions of culture, can tend to adopt a hegemonic attitude not very reassuring for cultural relativism. In fact, taking religion seriously within the school means not underestimating its private and personal nature, which is likely to conflict with the public character of the educational institution.

Following the numerous terrorist attacks that have taken place in the world, especially those of 11 September 2001, international and intergovernmental organizations, such as UNESCO and the Council of Europe, have issued various recommendations stressing the importance of understanding religion as an integral part of multiculturalism. In these documents, education is considered as the key to reaching better knowledge and understanding of different visions of the world and religions in order to promote peace in a plural society (United Nations, 2004; Council of Europe and Keast, 2007).

The objective of this chapter is to explore the ways in which schools in different contexts take religious and spiritual diversity into consideration. In the first place, we are interested in the challenges posed by this theme within the school. Next, we pay attention to four key concepts, namely: spirituality, secularism, education about religious traditions and interreligious dialogue. Thirdly, we present different ways that countries have dealt with religion within the school. Finally, we offer an analysis of some critical incidents connected with the pupils' religious affiliations.

#### **2 Why is Taking Religious Diversity into Account Difficult for the School?**

When the subject of religion within the school is mentioned, everybody knows that it may lead to a great deal of squabbling and arguments. We should anticipate these emotional outbursts, but above all understand the reasons for them in order to better comprehend religious attitudes within education. For these reasons, we have identified six possible sources of problems about how the school confronts religious diversity.

Firstly, even if certain principles to be mentioned later in this chapter seem to correspond to the existing situation in several education systems, it still seems important to pay attention to each particular context when dealing with religion in the school. In fact, important differences could exist between two education systems. For example, to understand the relationship between the French education system and religion, one must go back to the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, for it was at this time that the French school declared itself as "The School of the Republic", rather than a religious school. The 1905 Law marks a turning point for the school. This moment is founded on three principles: the State is neutral as far as religion is concerned; freedom of conscience for all; and neutrality in the service of pluralism (Chauvigné, 2017). Thus, the school separated itself from the clergy, but also from any form of spiritual involvement. This lay rupture marked a first separation between the *public* school and *private* life, supposed to be governed by laicity (Balibar, 1991). A first tension arises here for: "The school is politically sensitive because it is the place par excellence for this connection, since in itself it is neither purely 'public' nor purely 'private', yet without any contact between these two fictionally disjointed spheres" (Balibar, 1991, p. 76). In other words, the separation of the State and religion made the school a meeting point between the private individual and the public and neutral character of the institution.

In other education systems, history has also had an impact on the place granted to religion in the school: Quebec, for example, has only recently separated itself from religious governance of the school (until the 1960s, school commissions<sup>1</sup> were either Catholic or Protestant and were responsible for organizing and managing the education system); the United States, Spain and even Italy have education systems in which religion forms a regular part of the public school.

Evidently, these different conceptions of the place and legitimacy of religion in the school raise questions, since today this institution is confronted with a vast range of religions (Willaime, 1995).

The second potential source of tension is found precisely in the individual, communitarian, varied—in a word, heteroclite—character of religious practice. While there are religious faiths consisting of institutions, the way in which a person chooses to live his or her faith remains personal. Therefore, despite the ceremonies and rites attended by large numbers of people, varied practices may nevertheless arise

<sup>1</sup> Regional institutions for the management of education systems in Canada.

within particular religious communities. Lamine (2018) has drawn attention to a trend among researchers who consider that all practising religious believers are "100%" so, without any possible variation. His analysis draws attention to the possible uniqueness of an individual's faith, but also to the fact that numerous matters may influence religious experience. Thus, it is possible to have two Catholic believers who do not experience their religion in the same way, yet they belong to the same "classification" as members of a given religious group. The school itself must then take note of this inconsistency and should not consider groups and practices to be invariable. In fact, religion, like culture, is a dynamic process and is open to different interpretations.

The third source of tension presented here could be entitled "religious ethnocentrism". Indeed, Lamine (2018) draws attention to a Western conception of spirituality:

The definition of religion as it has emerged in the Western world, influenced by the Age of Enlightenment and by Protestant reforms, is intolerant of intense bodily practices (fasting, daily prayers) and visible signs of faith (religious insignia, assertions) as has been demonstrated at length by Talal Asad in his historical anthropology of secularization (Asad, 2003; Lamine, 2018, p. 4).

Thus, it is possible that numerous individuals or institutions view participation in religion through this cultural filter and are therefore tempted to express a negative opinion about non-conformist practices. There would therefore be a "good religion" (Lamine, 2018, p. 5), or at least a good practice of the religion and its rites. This arbitrary and ethnocentric differentiation is likely to banish rites that are considered unorthodox. In contrast to this form of ethnocentrism, it will still be necessary to develop the religious relativism required for living together.

The fourth source of tension that we have identified is the fear that can be provoked by the presence of religion in the school. The fear of dogmatism, fanaticism and extremism arising from a tense international situation, cannot however be a reason for excluding the Other considered to be different or rather too closely associated with the origins of our fears. There are other fears about religion. For example, the confrontation between science and belief might give the impression of a desire for one of them to dominate the other. According to Lamine (2018), this opposition is not, however, realistic since, in fact: "one of them deals with cognitive rationality while the other relies on the symbolic" (Lamine, 2018).

Next, the fifth tension is speculative. Indeed, it seems that today the resolve to pay attention to religion/spirituality in the school is faced with the decline in religious practice or of belonging to a particular religion. There is, however, still a need to take religious diversity into consideration in the school even in situations where the majority of the population does not practice any kind of religion.

Finally, the sixth tension targets not the school but religions. On the one hand, one could assume that the dogmatic vision of truth prevents any form of interaction between religions; this first assumption could be a major stumbling block in the development of intercultural approaches in the realm of religion. On the other hand, if intercultural approaches came to the fore in the 1950s and 1960s, it is because they represented a useful tool when demanding rights (on gender equality, on the ending of discrimination based on ethnicity, on sexual orientation, on the right to voluntary abortion). However, to varying degrees, religions did not actually support the majority of these social revolutions. On this subject, it is normal in an intercultural perspective to retain a certain scepticism about the entry of religions into the school. Nevertheless, as has already been mentioned, religious practice is diverse, so "religion" cannot be entirely limited to the attitudes adopted by institutions representing religions.

In this case, "tension" should not be simply understood in a negative sense. It represents above all the issues raised when considering religious diversity in the school. To understand the different ways they overlap, one must grasp this theme as a whole by looking at different aspects, such as: the difficulty of religious neutrality2 within the school; the universalism or the dogmatism of monotheistic religions; the diversity of spiritual practices; the wariness associated with certain religious affiliations3; and the fear of separatism and communitarianism. To deal with religion within the school or at least to raise questions about it requires adopting an attitude of openness, tolerance and relativism to what, for some people, seems incomprehensible. However, it is important to be aware of the risks of absolute cultural extremism, which would mean accepting everything in the name, for instance, of religious tolerance.

#### **3 Key Concepts: Spirituality, Laicity, Religious Traditions and Inter-Religious Dialogue**

An analysis of concepts such as spirituality, laicity, education about religious traditions and interreligious dialogue seems necessary for an understanding of the place of religion within the school.

Very often, the terms "religion" and "spirituality" are used as interchangeable synonyms. However, it seems to us important not to confuse them. Indeed, when one speaks of "religiosity", one immediately thinks of the institutional or, more particularly, the monotheist religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). Spirituality has two functions: it directs our regard to the world and it determines people's ultimate goal. Animist and "free thinking" societies have a spirituality that must be recognized in the same way as that of the institutionalized religions. In other words, when time is devoted to religious beliefs and religious faith in the school, it is reasonable to devote some of it to non-religious beliefs and to different forms of spirituality.

Laicity is a concept that may take different forms according to the epoch, the context and the definition attributed to it. In fact, even if the word has remained the same over time, its actual meaning can "be interpreted differently according to the social context and the philosophical and political position" (Lavoie, 2018,

<sup>2</sup> The pupils do not leave their religion at the school gate.

<sup>3</sup> At the time of writing, some religious affiliations arouse more fear than others: in this respect, Islam is the most censured. The tense international climate and the demands by certain extremist groups contribute to augmenting and fortifying these fears. Unfortunately, these attitudes sometimes become sweeping generalizations employed to discriminate against all Muslims.

p. 30). Therefore, the first aspect to be recalled concerning this concept is that it incorporates a flexible definition depending on the context, but also in the way that those involved interpret it. In this book, we have decided to present a definition of laicity essentially based on the French context, a place where the debate is often very fierce. Not widespread, this definition does however allow the reader to identify the issues and tensions associated with the implementation of such a concept.

One can place the origins of laicity at the moment when France adopted the Law of 1905 laying down the terms for the separation of the Church and the State. At this time, the principles respected were freedom of conscience, the religious neutrality of the State and neutrality in the service of pluralism (Chauvigné, 2017). This means that laicity allowed each individual to choose *freely* their affiliation. This form of laicity is also called the laicity of neutrality or of separation (Chauvigné, 2017).

Between 1989 and 2003, laicity became a "laicity of conciliation" (Chauvigné, 2017). In fact, following the *affaire des foulards* (the headscarf affair),<sup>4</sup> the French State maintained the "spirit of 1905" and therefore the idea of liberal laicity: the "users" had the right to wear a sign reflecting a religious affiliation in public outside the school (Chauvigné, 2017).

In 2004, there was a similar debate, but the tone of the discourse had changed and so, once again, had the meaning of laicity. Chauvigné (2017) called it "the laicity of neutralization or of unification". Religious symbols said to be ostentatious were banned (in the name of State neutrality and therefore of the school). This renewed laicity then found itself isolated between the respect of religious faith and complete ignorance of it (Chauvigné, 2017).

Finally, between 2000 and 2016, this author mentions a laicity for living together. The State imposes its Republican universalism, which throws doubt on its supposed neutrality (Chauvigné, 2017). Indeed, in the name of this universalism, individuals' particularities (in this case religious ones) are consigned to a simple private space. Furthermore, a norm established by the State is not automatically neutral, since it may reflect some cultural characteristics more than others and therefore establish different thresholds of tolerance. Equality in the name of universalism could therefore be a source of inequality between individuals and cultural or religious practices. Gaudin et al*.* (2014) speak of an intelligent laicity to emphasize a certain flexibility.

The evolution of the concept of laicity in France draws attention to its plasticity and its numerous interpretations. It is then valid to ask: what is laicity? On several occasions in the literature, we find two main meanings, which may also reflect what has taken place in France (Table 1).

To sum up, liberal laicity leaves a wide prospect for individuality and is based on its acceptance within a society united by its diversity. As for laicity considered as "universal", it is based on an egalitarian ideal in which private and public are completely separate and religion is reserved for personal practice.

In discussions concerning the place of religion in the school, one often finds the concept of education about religious traditions (*fait religieux*) (Gaudin et al*.*, 2014).

<sup>4</sup> The headscarf affair took place in 1989; it was the first time that the matter of the right to wear a veil within the school appeared in a public debate.


**Table 1** Two models of laicity

Its definition allows the fantasies and the imaginary surrounding the field of the sacred to be clarified when it enters into the school. In fact, particularly in France, "education about religious traditions" is the only way that the spiritual dimensions may be incorporated into teaching.

In countries like France, where a strict definition of laicity applies, religions do not have a place, or only a very small one, in the school. The inclusion of education about religious traditions does allow their histories to be taught. It is, furthermore, the extension of teaching religious traditions in the same way as other disciplines (for example: the history of art, French, literature, philosophy, etc.) which has resulted in the use of the term "education about religious traditions" (Carpentier, 2004). But then, if we intend to examine closely the work of Chrétien de Troyes, or if we analyse "Pascal's wager" (*le pari de Pascal*), or again if we study the rites of ancient Egypt, what exactly are we going to teach?

In order not to end up teaching religion, it is necessary to define "traditions". Several signposts reveal its structure: in this case "traditions" does not designate any particular religion; it is observable and evolving (Debray, 2002). To sum up, the introduction of the concept of "education about religious traditions" leaves a place for religion in the school, as long as it is dealt with in a neutral way and particularly if it describes how religion has had an impact on human beings and their civilizations. Education about religious traditions is, in this case, quite separate from religion: it deals with its social aspects but not its spiritual or theological content.

Increasingly, questions concerning religion lead to the idea of interreligious dialogue. Promoted by organizations such as the Council of Europe or UNESCO, it is interesting to understand what lies behind this approach to religions and to understand its roots as far as intercultural approaches in education are concerned.

Religiousness, either in order to understand its place within the public arena or its "actual" objectives, is frequently studied from a teaching point of view. Interreligious dialogue allows a first appreciation of these academic studies of religion; without actually refuting them, it seeks to compare them. It is, in fact, with the intention of understanding the subjectivity of the practices and interpretations of faith that religious people are invited to describe them (Basset, 1990).

The specificity of the dialogue approach depends basically on the fact that it leaves to the faithful the possibility and the task of defining themselves and expressing the meaning of their faith in their comprehension of existence and their commitment to the world. Clearly, we have here a profound methodological mutation to the extent that attention is not paid exclusively to the objective data represented by the texts, the beliefs or the rites of a particular religious tradition, but just as much to what such a text, such a dogma or such a practice mean for the believers (Basset, 1990, p. 30).

Thus, just as in Chap. 4, we promote a dynamic approach to culture leaving room for individuals' subjectification of liberty; interreligious dialogue pays attention to its interpretation, and that with a comprehensive goal (Basset, 1990). Basset (1990), while developing key concepts for an understanding of interreligious dialogue, highlights some characteristics of this concept: (1) it involves a personal viewpoint that comes from first-hand experience; (2) it requires that the participants in the discussion have a common point of view: humanity or the belief in the existence of a superior being; (3) it assumes a belief in the faith; (4) it considers difference as a positive resource for each person involved in the dialogue; and (5) the interreligious dialogue is personal and should allow questions concerning the meaning of existence to be dealt with (Basset, 1990).

Interreligious dialogue seems to us to be an interesting tool in an educational context; however, it is necessary to reflect upon the five characteristics proposed by Basset (1990). It is possible to imagine exchanges between pupils on the subject without any of them actually possessing any religious affiliation. Spirituality can be dealt with in a critical manner—open, appreciating difference. It can also deal with different themes, such as inter-individual relationships, respect, tolerance, benevolence; in short, intercultural competences useful for living in a diverse world.

#### **4 Different Contexts, Different Approaches to Religious Diversity**

Addressing religious diversity is not the same everywhere in the world. It depends upon the choice of national policies, the international situation, the history of each nation and, as we will see below, the present conception of cultural and religious plurality. To understand the differences that may exist between States, we will present three situations (France, Quebec and the Canton of Geneva) where religion in the school has been dealt with in different ways. By taking inspiration from various research and professional works on this subject, we will attempt to reply to two questions: what is the place of religious diversity and what form does it take in the school?

In France, the approach to religious diversity is mainly constrained by the Republican conception of laicity. As we have seen earlier in this chapter, this conception implies a universalism towards which each person should (and would) attempt to reach. The initial idea being that since the school trains all citizens to be members of the same nation, the religious aspect is reduced to the strict minimum so as not to antagonize any particular group. Nevertheless, the French model of considering religion should not be reduced to universalism. It is complex and other aspects remain to be analysed.

Firstly, concerning a universalist vision almost oblivious to diversity (Chauvigné, 2017), there is a wish to liberate young people from potential family influence (Estivalèzes, 2009). It is as if the universalist lay framework should allow other possibilities to be explored and, in this way, by erasing differences, to make it open to all interpretations. Nevertheless, the denial of religious otherness can, for some people, have something in common with ignorance about one's faith and can then be interpreted as the rejection of an aspect making up one's cultural identity.

Secondly, the French model is not, despite its sacred Republicanism, opposed to dealing with certain particular demands (for example, through providing an alternative menu for pupils with dietary restrictions connected with their religion) (Estivalèzes, 2009).

Thirdly, from the point of view of school curricula in France, it seems that religion has its own unique place. According to Estivalèzes (2009), the study of education about religious traditions is not included in the curriculum for civic education. Nevertheless, it is clearly through this discipline that the pupils are introduced to the principle of laicity (Estivalèzes, 2009).

One of the pivots of this model, laicity, should be understood as transcending all religious affiliations, which requires beliefs and practices to be relegated to the private sphere. It is an expression of the wish to make the public domain neutral, at the religious level, to all citizens, whatever their convictions (Estivalèzes, 2009, p. 48).

Thus, the teaching of laicity provides an opportunity to demonstrate that national identity is more important than individual identities. In France, the concept of *education about religious traditions*, defined above, is often the way religion enters the school, because it allows the historical and cultural aspects to eclipse the spiritual aspects (Estivalèzes, 2009).

The French model is therefore complicated because of its wish to consider religion, while only devoting a place for it that precludes it from competing with national citizenship. There is therefore no competition between the State and religion; thus, the French model of laicity implies a form of ranking which places being part of the nation above any religious affiliation in the school.

The second model that we will present of religion being considered within the school is that of Quebec. A few comments on the context are necessary prior to its analysis. Firstly, it should be made clear that the present identity of the province was created on the basis of a strong diversity (this includes First Nations peoples and migrations). Next, note should be taken of recent history, particularly the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s. This event allowed society to free itself from the dominant religion (Catholicism), which today plays a much more marginal role and is no longer "a common and obligatory reference" (Cornellier, 2012, p. 132). Our analysis of the Quebec model takes place therefore in a society that has recently rejected religion and is particularly varied from a cultural point of view.

Nowadays, the place of religion within the school forms part of the teaching of ethics and religious culture (ERC). These courses, introduced in the curriculum in 2008, represent the high point of the deconfessionalization of education because they require a total neutrality on the part of the teaching staff with regard to religious questions (Duclos and Poellhuber, 2017).

The principal objective of this teaching does not aim at religion as such but at living together. The idea is to make ERC a tool for strengthening democracy by making it more open and more tolerant (Leroux, 2007, quoted by Duclos and Poellhuber, 2017). On this subject, the Ministry of Education considered ERC as a true addedvalue in respecting diversity (Duclos and Poellhuber, 2017). In this way, educating pupils about religion is one way of training them for active citizenship in a plural society:

Through proficiency in ethics and in dialogue, the Ethics and Religious Culture Programme has become above all education for living together understood as an education for active citizenship as Martineau and Laville (1998), for example, intended; in other words, "that of a free and critical being, ready for reflective social participation" (p. 62) (Bouchard, Daniel, and Desruisseaux, 2017, p. 78).

Two guidelines give structure to this ethical and cultural religious teaching: they are the common good and the recognition of the other (Cornellier, 2012). However, Bouchard et al*.* (2017) draw attention to the domination of the "common good" orientation over that of recognizing others. These two axes are carried out through three key competences:


The criticism of Bouchard et al*.* (2017) focuses on the connection with the competences inculcated, because they reproach this programme for its overly phenomenological approach and its lack of distance from the religious models presented. They even mention a risk of absolute relativism (Bouchard et al*.*, 2017).

Through this second approach, one observes that the application of the principle of laicity may be totally different from one context to another. In Quebec, it is through the idea of citizenship that religious otherness is recognized, while in France, on the contrary, it is the notion of citizenship that allows "national" individuals to be separated from their "private" religious particularities.

Geneva, as the most culturally diverse canton in Switzerland, is faced with a multitude of religious plurality<sup>5</sup> (even if those inhabitants without any religion are in the majority). It should be noted that it is the only canton in the country that has included laicity in its constitution (a law voted in 1907) (Cuénod, 2018). As was explained at the beginning of this section, we decided to ask ourselves how religious diversity is considered and what form it adopts within the school. We will attempt to reply to these questions using four approaches: teaching; the school and laicity; the pupils; and school disciplines.

In the Canton of Geneva, teachers are subject to a ruling of neutrality. As representatives of the State and of a lay institution, they may not display any confessional affiliation within the school (DIP, 2016) and cannot therefore wear evident religious insignia in the classroom (DIP, 2016). However, the Department of Public Instruction declares that the neutrality of "State agents" should not prevent them from dealing with controversial, sensitive subjects—in other words, those that trouble:

To affirm that the school is lay is not to renounce dealing with certain subjects which may cause anger, for this would be to forget the school's mission—which is particularly to make the pupil aware of the respect for others and the tolerance that our society sorely needs. A laicity of ignorance, a laicity that is afraid of contact and which refuses discussion, only encourages obscurantism. This is not the laicity that we want (DIP, 2016).

Laicity *à la genevoise* is not therefore a laicity excluding or neutralizing religion. It would seem rather to aim at its inclusion so as to encourage the learning of apprehension and coming into contact with sensitive matters at the school. Laicity, as it features in the texts of the Geneva Department of Public Instruction, is not the ultimate goal but rather a means of introducing into the school a discussion of sensitive issues. The school gives itself the objective of taking difference (in this case religious) into account in order to avoid a breakdown between families and the institution (DIP, 2016): laicity is a tool, a guide, but does not set boundaries. Furthermore, the State of Geneva completely rejects an assimilationist approach to laicity: it must be a way of encouraging interaction but "it does not intend at all to erase ethnic, linguistic, cultural or religious characteristics for the benefit of a total adherence to the codes of the majority" (DIP, 2016, p. 6).

The application of the principle of laicity in Geneva varies according to the target public. If the teachers must remain strictly neutral, the pupils do not have to follow this same rule. The regulations concerning them foresee that they may wear insignia of religious affiliation, as long as they do not disturb the educational establishment, do not represent a danger for the pupil, allow the satisfactory participation of the pupil and do not assume the attitude of proselytism (DIP, 2016).

In practice, the State of Geneva seems to insist upon offering religion a true place within the school. While this cannot be ignored, it is nevertheless restricted:

<sup>5</sup> Roman Catholics: 37.2%; Protestants: 10.2%; other Christian communities (including Orthodox churches and Christian catholic churches): 5.7%; Muslims: 6.1%; Jews: 1%; without religion: 38.3%; other religions (Buddhists, Hindus, etc.): 1.6% (Cuénod, 2018, p. 11).

#### 4 Different Contexts, Different Approaches to Religious Diversity 157


In Geneva, the teaching of religious education does not have a separate place in the curriculum, as in Quebec. It forms part of the "history" discipline but may also be touched upon during other lessons, for example when examining works of art:

To abstain from showing them (works of art with religious themes) in the name of laicity is equivalent to forbidding oneself from studying the essential elements of humanity's cultural and historic heritage. The school would then have failed to transmit the knowledge necessary to "make the pupils gradually aware of their relationship with the surrounding world, by awakening in them the respect for others, tolerance of difference, the spirit of solidarity and cooperation" as the Law on Public Instruction requires (DIP, 2016, p. 14).

The Canton of Geneva appears to be developing a very consensual policy on laicity in the search for a balance between the neutrality of the State and inclusion or respect for affiliation or personal beliefs. Religious liberty is given minimal restraint and then only when it may harm public health (the obligation to follow educational courses on sexuality) or in the greater interest of the child (religious rules should not interfere with learning).

Despite seeking an apparent consensus and the claim of laicity/neutrality within the school, the religious dimension remains influenced by the respect of local historical festivals. With regard to religion, not all the pupils are equal, since the child who celebrates Christmas benefits from holidays coinciding with this cultural/religious event, whereas those who wish to participate in other religious celebrations (Eid or Hanukkah, for example) have to make a request and await an official permit before absenting themselves. It follows that there is a legitimate historical argument for the ranking of practices and the authorization to practice a religion. This observation arises from our analysis of the Genevan system, although the same situation must exist in numerous other countries where the school holidays are structured around historical religious events.

Our analyses of different education systems and their relationship with religion face a first limit by stopping at this prescribed stage. Indeed, we are basing ourselves here only on texts recommending or authorizing the inclusion of the religious dimension in the school or on research concentrating on this theme. It would be appropriate to take an interest in the teachers' classroom practices in order to know the way they actually function on the subject of their pupils' religious diversity.

Nevertheless, this analysis, even at this prescribed stage, allows the true complexity of the interpretation and the implementation of the concept of laicity in the school to be described. Indeed, the three contexts studied claim to be lay, but they all tackle religious questions from different approaches and angles.

#### **5 The Return of Religions to the School: Between Recognition and Intolerance**

The different interpretations of the concept of laicity presented in this chapter show that the school is permeable to religion. If religion were institutionalized or if it were invited in by the pupils themselves or the different partners in the educational milieu, it cannot be detached from the school. In an attempt to clarify certain idiosyncrasies about the school/religion duality, we have decided here to look at the questions raised by a group of trainee teachers during a course that we organized on this subject.<sup>6</sup> Even though there were a very large number of questions, we have grouped them into two major categories: religiously inspired festivals within the school; and the religious significance of certain choices of clothing.

We will begin with the matter of religious festivals. Numerous schools celebrate Christmas and Easter, festivals of Christian origin, by involving the pupils in handicrafts, songs and drawings on this theme. The questions by our future teachers focused principally on the desire for justice: can it be correct to do this in a classroom shared by numerous confessions? Are we respecting laicity by decorating a Christmas tree and opening an Advent calendar? Firstly, it seems to us essential to take these questions seriously, since they involve as much the neutrality of the school and the teacher as the pupils' and their parents' freedom of belief. In order to propose a reply, our thoughts are organized into two themes: arguments based on the key concepts of intercultural approaches; and arguments based on questions about the present significance of religious festivals.

As far as concepts are concerned, Geerts (2012) proposes to analyse religious festivals through cultural relativism and cultural imperialism. These two concepts throw light on different dangers concerning how to deal with religious diversity in the school. Firstly, cultural relativism, pushed to extremes, would bring "as an inevitable consequence, either a total deconfessionalization of the calendar or a rapid expansion of public holidays and other festivals with the intention of satisfying everyone without favouring anyone" (Geerts, 2012, p. 28). In contrast, cultural imperialism would mean imposing one dominant religious culture without considering other people's affiliations and without bearing in mind the dynamism of cultures and religions (which would then be considered as immutable) (Geerts, 2012). If neither of these solutions is workable, they do at least highlight the tensions involved when considering religious diversity in places already permanently marked by their history and their cultures, but affected by on-going developments.

<sup>6</sup> The students' questions are a source of inspiration; they may have been reworded or modified for the purposes of this chapter.

To allow the trainee teachers to pursue their reflection, we proposed to them to weigh up the value of religious festivals today. For example, the Advent calendar, even though it once represented the expectation of the coming of Christ, is today a cultural and commercial practice very often without any religious significance. For Switzerland, it is a marvellous occasion to sell more chocolate. Moreover, if today an Advent calendar in the classroom has nothing Christian about it (in its design, etc.), this does not throw any doubt on its origin: inspired by this object, the teacher might then propose a critical analysis comparing religious celebrations. Without proselytism, once it has entered the classroom it is possible to tackle religion by making it a subject of knowledge. To speak about Christmas in a town blazing with seasonal decorations is not without sense. It is an opportunity to understand the history of the place where one lives, to understand the behaviour of those surrounding the pupils, to share one's own practices (a child who does not celebrate Christmas could use the occasion of a discussion on this subject to describe other religious celebrations), and to extend critical reflection to the whole world. Concerning this reflection on the present meaning of religious festivals, Geerts (2012) explained that:

It seemed interesting to us to think about the meaning of such and such a festival. Not its traditional meaning but its meaning today, taking place in the daily life of our society, while accepting the idea that every society contains a cultural dimension that it would be useless to want to eradicate but also that culture is an evolving process, in which every expression ought to be evaluated by the extent to which the majority of citizens appreciate it today (Geerts, 2012, p. 31).

Then comes the question of the pupils' choice of clothes. When they convey religious meaning, they may even compromise the teacher's actions: what can one say? What can one do when a pupil arrives at the school wearing a veil or when she only has the right to swim in a burkini? Given that we have mentioned the veil in the on-going discussions dealing with religious questions within the school, it is normal that the trainee teachers' questions focused on this item. Nevertheless, their proposals led us to examine closely clothing choices with religious meanings and those with artistic, political, cultural, etc., meanings.

In order to reply to their questions, let us take the example of a swimming lesson in a burkini: does it enable the child in question's rights to be protected? On one side, the pupil maintains the association with the class, the teaching and the family values; on the other, a different outfit is imposed on her likely to create a barrier between her and the group. Firstly, in reply to this question proposed by a future teacher, we do not have information about the family's attitude available: does this attitude form part of the family's global religious withdrawal placing the child and her development in danger? Or is it situated in a context where the link with the school is sufficiently important for the family to seek a possible compromise? Secondly, we may ask ourselves questions about the preparation of the class group; it is entirely possible that such a costume draws astonishment, curiosity, shock or sometimes even derision. Nevertheless, if an attitude of openness to otherness has been cultivated in the class, the situation will not be the same and will not give rise to the same reaction.

Obviously, laws and recommendations exist issued by the existing State/national institutions; despite all their good intentions, they still provide the teacher with a fair amount of liberty. In the Canton of Geneva, they are told that the wearing of the veil is possible as long as it is not associated with a proselytizing attitude and does not "interfere with public interest, and the rights of children and others" (DIP, 2016, p. 22). It is up to the teachers to decide what to do about the veil and to adjust their attitude accordingly. It is therefore essential that teachers have the ability to analyse these situations so as not to react too hastily. Three guidelines might assist them in this analysis:


These three lines of approach allow a situation to be analysed, but it is obvious that one must abandon any idea that a perfect answer exists. This is also one of the issues typical of intercultural approaches in education: they are dynamic, subject to numerous tensions and therefore equally subject to numerous interpretations. It is for these reasons that our intention here is to provide the keys for interpretation which seem to us justified in the name of the approaches defended in this book, but we are not in any way proposing ready-made responses to questions associated with religion within the school.

#### **6 Conclusion**

In this chapter, we have drawn attention to the difficulties when considering religion within the educational institution. Intercultural approaches in education provide numerous opportunities for reflection on this subject. They particularly allow us to reaffirm the necessity of avoiding any essentialist definition of culture and, in this case, of religion. However, among the numerous components of culture, it is religion, which represents the greatest temptation towards essentialism. Religions appear as millennial, immutable and pure, and sometimes safeguard the monopoly of divine truth. To consider religion as a fixed entity gives an illusion of coherence and may lead to adopting behaviour on the basis of a religious affiliation. Further to this risk, one must consider religion as at once developed, visible, public, but at the same time as something personal, private that may be interpreted in a thousand different ways.

By posing different questions, this chapter shows that taking religion into account within an educational institution is marked by a robust complexity and ambiguity: What is important? How should it be tackled? What limits should be set for dealing with religious diversity? The definition of the key concepts required for an analysis of this theme demonstrates the tensions generated by this complexity—and this already from a semantic point of view. Laicity and its numerous interpretations, as well as the many ways it is implemented (illustrated in our analysis of the three national contexts) is a true example.

But then, one could conclude that this chapter has not replied in any way to the expectations of a school searching for answers on the religious question. Indeed, the unique answer that we can (and wish) to express here is the need for constant questioning. Intercultural approaches are on the move, both subject to changes in the world and inspired by them. Therefore, this chapter is designed to stimulate educators' thinking so that they develop a thoughtful practice when taking religion into account in the classroom.

However, as has been mentioned in this chapter, several lines of thought can be pursued. Firstly, one of them is considering the diversity of visions of the world, of life and of spiritualities: "The advantage of this option is, through intercultural approaches, to introduce the pupils to a religious relativism. Religious otherness becomes possible and contributes to struggling against the restriction of religious certainties transmitted by families and original communities" (Akkari, 2016, p. 44).

Secondly, on the basis of the analyses proposed in this chapter, a second line to be explored would be how to include religion in the school. By routinely taking it into account, it may be possible to control it (and not reject it as a prohibition likely to be contravened) and studied in an open and critical way. Its theoretical inclusion in the school would enable a calm discussion to take place manifested by respect and consideration. The need to establish limits (the rights of the child, a critical spirit (particularly concerning male/female equality) and living together) will be strengthened so as to guarantee respect for each person's cultural and religious identity.

Today, if we examine the discussions in the media, it would seem that it is the ostentatious display of religious convictions and the demand for (un)reasonable exceptions that are the most difficult issues. To incorporate religion into the school would require adopting a clear position on these matters: should obvious signs of religious affiliation be considered as a fixed representation of a conviction? Could they be viewed as diverse and personal expressions of faith? Here, once again, the three guidelines mentioned previously could be useful in reaching a judicious decision.

Finally, it should be recalled that, as far as intercultural approaches are concerned, social justice, harmonious living together, interactions and experiences across cultural frontiers are the most important objectives. They should always be borne in mind if we wish to take religion into account in an intercultural perspective.

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## **Chapter 12 Global Citizenship Education**

#### **1 Introduction**

The school has an indisputable role in the preparation of future generations for the exercise of citizenship. This responsibility goes well beyond the traditional national frameworks of civic instruction or education for citizenship. On the one hand, various threats which trouble our planet (ecological, economic, extremist, etc.), without precedent for some peoples and renewed for others, require that education should tackle the interdependencies and cohesions bringing all peoples and countries of the world together. On the other hand, the flow of global migrations and the increasing mix of diverse national populations requires that citizenship, political participation and democracy should be reconsidered. In this chapter, we will attempt in the first place to define the concept of Global Citizenship Education (GCE). Next, we will draw attention to the passage from civic instruction to citizenship education and then, more recently, to GCE. We will finish by presenting a certain number of on-going discussions about the implementation of GCE within the school.

#### **2 Exploring Global Citizenship Education**

The idea of global citizenship education featured prominently in the 2030 Agenda for Education, as well as in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) adopted by all the countries in the world under aegis of the United Nations. This idea also figures in executing the guidelines inspired by international organizations, particularly UNESCO. Moreover, for Oxley and Morris (2013), it is particularly the United Nations and the European Union that have participated in and motivated the development of a citizenship described as supranational, based on shared values. Despite its ideological foundations, this idea is nevertheless controversial and functions with difficulty in national education systems (Akkari & Maleq, 2019).

Even so, the concept of GCE is auspicious. It reflects the need to provide learners with the tools to understand global issues and to become responsible and active citizens in a globalized world. It transmits the values of respect, tolerance and solidarity; it is, moreover, for these reasons that one can observe linkages in the literature between GCE and education for human rights, peace education and even intercultural education (see, for example, Bourn et al., 2017).

Despite the universal spread of these humanist values, the conceptions and exercise of citizenship are even more closely associated with specific national situations. Indeed, the actual concept of citizenship is historically linked to belonging to a nation as well as to its internalization (Tawil, 2013). As a result, it is necessary to adapt GCE to the national contexts in which it is located, as well as to the regional, national and global dimensions of citizenship. This adaptation will not take place without difficulty given the issues that it raises: recognition of minority populations (what citizenship?); the lack of a "legal" space concerning global citizenship (how can one be a world citizen without any legislation on the subject?), etc. (Tawil, 2013).

Beyond the issues raised by the implementation of such a notion, one should be aware of the complexity of evaluating the objectives that GCE intends to achieve. How then to guarantee development and follow-up? The measuring instruments, as well as the specificity of national educational curricula, make any form of comparison complicated, despite the lobbying of institutions like UNESCO.

#### **3 Global Citizenship Education Within the International 2030 Agenda for Education**

It was from 2012 that GCE began to occupy a central place in the field of international development. It already occupied an important place in the three priorities of the Global Education Initiatives. The former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, is the instigator of the concept's dissemination:

We must foster global citizenship. Education is about more than literacy and numeracy. It is also about citizenry. Education must fully assume its essential role in helping people to forge more just, peaceful and tolerant societies (Ban Ki-moon, 2012, cited by UNESCO, 2014, p. 11)

GCE, even though a recent occurrence in UNESCO's discourse, can trace its origins to the organization's founding documents. Indeed, the initial objectives of UNESCO, as described in its Constitution (1945), and those intended for GCE have numerous points in common, such as peace, human rights and equality.

The purpose of the Organization is to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion (UNESCO, 2018b, p. 6).

Already in 1974, the "Recommendation on Education for Comprehension, Cooperation and International Peace" foresaw an education that developed the attitude of social responsibility, while solidarity with the least-favoured groups, links between peoples and the idea of solidarity seemed at that time to be arguments that supported education for global citizenship.

In 1987, during an international congress "Peace in the Minds of Men" in Côte d'Ivoire, the concept of a "culture of peace" emerged. This concept reappeared again in 1999 in the form of the resolution "Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace". It was in this domain, among other places, that GCE began to emerge. Education is henceforth approached in a global perspective which defends not only civic education, education for democracy, human rights education, intercultural education and understanding, but militates in favour of all of these dimensions in a global perspective, in other words, with an awareness of global interconnections (Wintersteiner et al., 2015).

Since 2012, we have seen a change intervene in this paradigm. Education is conceived in a more comprehensive manner, aiming to provide learners with the tools for understanding the global issues and to develop modes of action. In fact, "this investigation of the relationship between micro- and macro-level issues and developments is a critical element in equipping learners to fulfil their potential in a fast-changing and interdependent world" (UNESCO, 2015b, p. 16).

Today, GCE appears among the official priorities of UNESCO. In the framework of its strategy for education 2014–2021, it represents one of the principal objectives designed to give learners the means to be creative and responsible world citizens (UNESCO, 2014). UNESCO has dragged the international community in its wake. Thus, one of the most striking innovations of the Incheon Declaration and the 2030 Education Agenda is the commitment of UNESCO's member states to promote and implement GCE. In order to guide countries when introducing the 2030 Education Agenda, UNESCO has developed a framework for action. This contains targets as well as the means to implement, coordinate, finance and evaluate them. The GCE forms part of the objectives in the Sustainable Development Goals, target 4.7:

By 2030 ensure all learners acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including among others through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship, and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture's contribution to sustainable development (United Nations, 2015, p. 19).

Target 4.7 presents a list of ambitious objectives to promote sustainable development without any pattern or ranking enabling the educators to grasp the order of importance and convert them into action. Even more important, the way target 4.7 is expressed implies a universal validity. However, each term will be understood, employed and defined in a specific way in each national context. For example, the promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence will not be understood in the same way in a country that has not experienced war for decades and another country just emerging from a civil war or an armed conflict. Similarly, the concept of human rights needs to be interpreted according to each national context.

In short, we observe that the idea of education for global citizenship is not new and represents one of the founding rationales of the UN and UNESCO. However, what is new is that its implementation should be subject to indicators and measuring instruments at the level of each country. Then, as complete as it seems, GCE requires more conceptual consolidation, a true agreement between States and countries on its exact meaning and, above all, that the educational partners should appropriate it in local and national educational initiatives.

Beyond the United Nations and its agencies, the Council of Europe's North-South Centre was founded in 1990 with the objective of encouraging dialogue and solidarity, and to raise people's awareness about global interdependencies through intercultural dialogue and education for democratic citizenship. In 1997, the Centre published a Global Education Charter for the Council of Europe's member states, as a result of the recommendations arising from the international seminar on "Partnership on Education for Global Citizenship—education for global citizenship in secondary schools", Athens, 1996. This was the first reference text in the field of GCE (North-South Centre, 2012).

In 2002, the Council of Europe published a second reference text, the Maastricht Declaration, a European strategic framework to improve and strengthen GCE between that date and 2015 (North-South Centre, 2012). There followed two congresses, 2012 in Lisbon and 2015 in Zagreb, to review the work that had been accomplished in the field of GCE and to suggest strategic recommendations. The 2015 congress also gave itself the task of delineating the objectives beyond 2015 and of establishing connections with the concept of GCE as defined by UNESCO (UNESCO, 2015a).

In parallel with the work achieved in the field of global citizenship, in 2010 the Council of Europe adopted a charter on education for democratic citizenship and human rights education (EDC-HRE). The principal objective was to train citizens for democracy and living together in a multicultural society. This type of education was presented as "a way of combatting the rise of violence, racism, extremism, xenophobia, discrimination and intolerance" (Council of Europe, 2016). It is noticeable that the Council of Europe did not align itself with the 2030 Agenda by adopting its conception of democratic citizenship, even though the North-South Centre in Lisbon, as a subsidiary organization of the Council of Europe, had published a report on global education (North-South Centre, 2012).

The history of the Council of Europe, as an international organization that has fought to support human rights and democracy in Europe and elsewhere in the world, has resulted in it maintaining the two pillars of its educational approach to citizenship: democracy and human rights.

#### **4 From Civic Education to Education for Global Citizenship**

Citizenship is not a new concept in the school. In fact, since the inception of compulsory schooling, curricula have often included a discipline designed to develop the civic spirit and the commitment of future citizens to political participation. Most often, civic instruction was a matter of inculcating the rights and duties of a citizen and increasing the pupils' knowledge about political institutions and the way they functioned. Tawil (2013) described this form of civic education as rooted in a conservative type of paradigm. He does not contrast it with citizenship education, but explains that the latter forms part of a progression moving on from the first paradigm by adopting a more critical perspective.

It was in this way that citizenship education took over from civic instruction by incorporating—among other things—the necessity to oppose incivility and violence at the school. In this way, the school became a place to learn about democracy (Feyfant, 2010; Akkari, 2002).

As shown in Table 1, education for global citizenship differs from civic instruction and citizenship education in that it places the citizen's commitment on a global and interdependent scale.

What this table does not show is the interdependence and exchanges between these two columns. Today, some of the activities described in the left-hand column would seem perfectly appropriate for the development of global citizenship. For example, to encourage the pupils' democratic participation and commitment, even that of the youngest ones, through such arrangements as the class council, seems to represent a first step towards the exercise of citizenship and, ultimately, global citizenship. The objective is, in our opinion, learning to analyse and to reflect upon the world, to work towards changing it and to make a commitment as an active citizen: changes of scale can take place later on during schooling. This educational technique (the class


**Table 1** From civic instruction to education for global citizenship

council), while rooted in the domain of civic or citizenship education, seems to us capable of "setting the scene" for global citizenship education.

Even if the concept of GCE is relatively new, it is relevant to seek a way of connecting it with earlier activities typical of the education system. Inspired by various authors who have referred to the links between different fields of education and the development of GCE (see, for example, Tawil (2013) or Bourn et al. (2017)), we have attempted to implement this concept by combining three approaches: education for sustainable development; education for citizenship; and intercultural education. It seems to us vital to develop these three domains within the school context and, even if GCE is a new concept, it is important to understand that it can build upon the disciplines already forming a solid part of the educational landscape; in other words, they should be modernized and adapted to the world's present issues it is not necessary to reinvent the wheel. Figure 1 develops this idea that GCE has

**Fig. 1** Ways of implementing Global Citizenship Education

many foundations on which it can base itself, and that it seems necessary to exploit it through the curriculum, through teaching techniques, teacher training, etc., so that this concept can be implemented in different education systems.

For its own part, the Council of Europe (2016) proposed the implementation of global citizenship education through the construction of competences permitting living together on an equal footing in democratic and culturally diverse societies. These competences draw on (1) values, (2) attitudes, (3) aptitudes and (4) knowledge and critical understanding. Values consist of cultural diversity, democracy, justice and the rule of law. Attitudes include openness to cultural otherness, respect and tolerance of ambiguity. Aptitudes refer to the abilities of analysis and critical reflection, as well as those of communication, language and multi-languages, and empathy. Knowledge and critical understanding cover knowledge and critical understanding of oneself and of the world. If some of these elements are already present in national curricula, GCE allows them, in our opinion, to be impregnated with this global dimension and by the interdependencies typical of the world in which the pupils live.

Another concept that can be observed in this Council of Europe model is the centrality of matters concerning democracy, human rights and justice. Similarly, the recognition of "tolerance of ambiguity" in people's attitudes draws attention to the need to accept otherness and multiple identities.

#### **5 On-Going Discussions**

Even if it has appeared as an innovative concept and, in certain respects, pertinent, GCE has provoked numerous discussions.

In the first place, as we have already shown in Chap. 2, international migrations have aroused increasing anxiety and rejection in public opinion, which favoured the rise to power of xenophobic political movements and their occupation of the political limelight. These movements make the rejection of globalization and a return to a narrow and exclusive conception of citizenship their trademark. Is it possible to speak of education for global citizenship in a world where frontiers and minds are increasingly closed, taking the form of a swing to the extreme right in numerous national contexts?

In the second place, the countries of the North seek to increase the effectiveness of their education systems through comparative international surveys based on standardized tests focused on the principle educational disciplines: maths, science, languages. While the PISA 2018 international survey attempted to measure the pupils' overall competences, the place devoted to education for global citizenship, as for many other "educations for …", was not particularly remarkable.

The countries of the South that have education systems under construction or consolidation may feel that education for global citizenship is not a priority and they may ignore this innovation on the pretext that they do not wish to disturb the school and the teachers.

In the third place, it is teacher training that for us appears to be the most challenging aspect. If the elements that make up GCE are already present in their training programmes (as with intercultural education) (Bourn et al., 2017), it remains that the lack of a shared definition of the concept and ways of implementing it do not encourage teacher trainers to take an interest in it, nor the teachers themselves. It is therefore crucial to establish concrete projects that would support education systems so as to make GCE a vital part of the school's daily routine. Moreover, we believe that it is also necessary to establish the true teaching practices that would correspond to the objectives of GCE (for example: during one of our research projects, we met a teacher so much in favour of global education that she included it in the planning of the pupils' lessons; another example would be the creation of a class newspaper, reflecting human rights education and freedom of expression; these two examples could have been understood as activities supporting the development of GCE).

Finally, it seems that the supranational conception of GCE, particularly as conveyed by organizations such as UNESCO, must find a partner in the national context; this may represent yet another challenge for implementing this theme. On this subject, UNESCO (2018a) has suggested three fundamental concepts for GCE: (1) respect for diversity; (2) solidarity; and (3) a shared feeling of humanity. In addition, this organization has observed that already in numerous countries and societies, there are national/local/traditional concepts whose purpose was to promote ideas resembling those of GCE, such as *Liberté, égalité, fraternité* in France, *Hongik*-*Ingan* in the Republic of Korea, and *Ubuntu* in South Africa. It could be useful to mobilize these national concepts so as to situate the global dimension of GCE at the local level.

As shown in Fig. 2, it would be useful to overcome resistance to the utopian idea of global citizenship education by articulating it with the more well-known concepts of civic education and citizenship education. Moreover, higher education seems particularly suitable for implementing learning projects using global citizenship.

**Fig. 2** Articulation between civic education, citizenship education and global citizenship education

#### **6 Conclusion**

Global citizenship education, combining and placing the three notions of globalization/citizenship/education in tension, is a risky exercise due to the difficulty of their juxtaposition. Formal education and citizenship often have the national or local context as their primary setting. Their linkage with globalization poses a challenge.

The concept of global citizenship education confronts two unfavourable currents present everywhere in the world. In the first place, there is a certain scepticism or even a certain hostility with regard to the construction of multicultural societies open to otherness (not forgetting religion). On this subject, it should be stated that there is no place for GCE in societies that refuse to recognize pluralism and cultural diversity. In the second place, there is an increase in defending one's identity, a rise in populisms, ethnic conflicts, religious extremism and the rejection of some peoples due to their differences. Nevertheless, the concept of global citizenship education could be a fruitful source for intercultural approaches in education, since the majority of contemporary societies are multicultural and display multiple identities. Globalization and the actual or virtual mobility of ideas and people provide us with an unprecedented opportunity to introduce and promote GCE projects.

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## **Chapter 13 The Role of the Teacher in Promoting Intercultural Approaches**

#### **1 Introduction**

To complete this book with a chapter devoted to teachers is justified for several reasons. Firstly, the quality of a school is closely connected to the quality of its teachers. Their intellectual, moral and academic capacities are essential in our search for a more just and effective intercultural school. Then, our experience with different school systems encourages us to think that the school is more likely to introduce intercultural approaches when the attitude of the teachers combines "ethnocultural diversity seen as a problem to be overcome" with "ethnocultural diversity considered as an opportunity to teach and learn in another way and in a context valuing social justice". Only the teacher can decide on this change of attitude and of paradigm, but it is evident that training as well as the school itself have their part to play in offering the teachers the possibilities to pursue these indispensable changes.

Of course, a large number of teachers are tempted by the attitude "I do not pay attention to cultural or social difference" by asserting that they treat all children just the same. However, research has brought to light that teachers have perceptions, bias, expectations, choices and behaviours associated with their pupils' cultural origins.

Furthermore, the development of intercultural education should be based on a solid theoretical foundation that we have already dealt with in the first part of this book. Nevertheless, it would remain pointless if it were not accompanied in its implementation by the appropriate teaching methods and also forming a regular part of the school's daily life. The teachers are the principal agents in this process of educational transposition. Thus, by placing this responsibility on them, we plead in favour of reinforced initial and in-service training in this domain, as well as the contribution of specialists in reflecting on their journey towards diversity, difference or otherness and in the way they are employed in the classroom.

In this chapter, we will deal firstly with the need to change the way the teaching body interprets cultural diversity. Indeed, even if it would seem that the general attitude towards cultural difference is positive, some issues associated with the way the practitioners perceive it remain unresolved. In the second part, we will present different theoretical frameworks in which diversity is used as a resource and social justice becomes a principal objective of the school. These frames of reference represent resources on which teachers can base their intercultural teaching techniques. Finally, we will present recent work concerning the educational added-value deriving from the recruitment of teachers from diverse cultural backgrounds.

#### **2 Modifying Teachers' Perspectives on Language and Cultural Diversity**

One of our recent research projects has shown that teachers are in general open to diversity, seeking to accept it and at first glance not intending to avoid it (Radhouane, 2019). However, certain ways of looking at difference, multiculturality or at taking diversity into account lend themselves to confusion. For example, the question of identity is always ambivalent. One finds in some teachers' words elements indicating a stable conception of it, whereas the conversation of other teachers depicts an dynamic conception of it (Radhouane, 2019). We have also asked ourselves questions about the relevance of dubious expressions, such as "to be half-and-half" or "between two stools" when describing multiple affiliations (very often associated with double nationality or with a very diverse urban setting). This language aspect seems to betray an ambivalent attitude towards diversity, which we propose to examine here. Could these children who are labelled as "half-and-half" not be two wholes? Does their multiple identity have to be amalgamated to make just one? In the final analysis, does cultural identity have to be reduced to the mathematical unit of "one"? If one must actually consider identity as a coherent whole made up of several elements, this does not diminish the problems that multiple identities might lead to (misunderstandings between the school and the home, conflicts of values, etc.). Therefore, since culture is dynamic, it seems to us more relevant to recognize the plasticity of identity, the flexibility of affiliations, while, on the contrary, it seems counterproductive to want to "protect" children by limiting them to a single language and culture (Abdelilah-Bauer, 2015).

Some authors (Blaisdell, 2005; Sleeter and Grant, 2009; Boutte et al., 2011) have even used the term "colour-blindness" when considering the perception of the pupils' identities by the teacher. This term is employed to describe an attitude when the colour of the pupils' skin is not perceived and, by extension, neither is an individual's origin. Even if, according to Blaisdell (2005), very few teachers claim to assume this attitude, they often develop an egalitarian-style discourse (we are all equal) treating all pupils in the same way:

They view equality and fairness in treating their students exactly the same way regardless of racial background and the adherence to this view prevents these teachers from acting on the racial difference they see (Blaisdell, 2005, p. 34).

Based no doubt on good intentions aimed at equal treatment, this attitude can however be detrimental, to the extent that intercultural education for social justice does require considering differences, since the pupils, according to their origins, the colour of their skin, the languages they speak, etc., do not all enjoy the same experience of the school. Obviously, there should be no temptation to fall into the opposite situation and to give cultural justifications to every one of the pupils' actions, very often in such situations resorting to a compensatory attitude resulting in a deviation, a failure and shortfall in relation to the educational expectations. There is, therefore, a real uncertainty between taking cultural origins into account, ignoring them and wildly exaggerating them. Examining this inconsistency is necessary when asking questions about the implementation of relevant intercultural approaches.

Then, we should come back to the effects of labelling of which certain pupils are the victims. Several studies, especially the famous *Pygmalion in the classroom* (Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968),1 have drawn attention to the effects of the way in which the teachers perceive their pupils' school performance: "I believe you are capable of succeeding and therefore I push you to succeed; on the contrary, if I believe you are heading for failure, (subconsciously) I push you towards it." Teachers must be familiar with this compact reformulation of what is known today as the "Pygmalion effect". Indeed, their appreciation of the pupils' potential may influence their expectations and therefore have an impact on their pupils' educational achievements. The study by McKown and Weinstein (2008) in the United States has shown that what is expected of children may, in some cases, depend upon their ethnic origins. It is therefore essential to be aware of the effects of labelling so as to counter them and in this way contribute towards a more just education.

Thus, the complexity of matters of identity, the impact of categorization, the failure to take the issues of cultural affiliation into account and the persistence of stereotypes in schools are among the reasons to insist upon the need to pursue efforts concerning the way teachers consider the diversity of languages and cultures.

#### **3 Working with Difference and Cultural Diversity: The Example of Culturally Relevant Teaching**

Cultural differences represent a challenge for the education system, particularly for the teachers. They work in a system that has historically been monocultural but which, despite its efforts towards openness, has to cope with the conservation of local/national unity and taking diversity into consideration through an integrative rather than an assimilationist approach. These tensions, typical of culturally diverse

<sup>1</sup> The name "Pygmalion" is taken from the legend bearing the same name. Pygmalion, the King of Cyprus, sculpted a statue with which he fell in love. The goddess of love transformed it into a woman. The traditional explanation is that it was the perception of this statue influenced by a feeling of love that gave rise to its transformation. It was therefore the expectation that foretold the outcome.

education systems, come to the fore in the teacher's work. Thus, the question that we will attempt to answer here is: "How does one connect the values of openness and citizenship with sometimes heterogenous affiliations, beliefs and identities?"

The theory of culturally relevant teaching seems to be particularly useful in facing these tensions, while making them effective within the school. This conception of teaching, developed in the United States, is based on a critical vision of the world (Schmeichel, 2012). This pedagogy aims at three main objectives: the success of all pupils; the development of their cultural competence; and a critical approach to the existing social order (Ladson-Billings, 1995). Already, in this brief description, it is possible to appreciate that culturally relevant teaching is based on critical pedagogy and forms part of the resistance movements to oppression experienced by some groups within society. This critical conception allows diversity to be understood with all the complexity that it merits. Even when it is not considered as a problem, this does not mean that different cultural groups have not been the victims of various injustices. Culturally relevant teaching goes against the grain and proposes to deal with the problems experienced by cultural groups or individuals with diverse backgrounds rather than to treat these groups as problems in themselves.

Implementing culturally relevant teaching is based on different principles ranging from the recognition and legitimation of the pupils' cultures in the classroom to achieving the objectives of autonomy and social change (the pupils should be ready for role-playing) (Gay, 2010). Furthermore, it remains important to remember that this teaching has two facets. It is based on the theories of social justice for the pupils in order to combat unequal opportunities, potentials, school careers, etc., that might exist. But it is also rooted in social justice through the pupils themselves, since by the end of such teaching, they should be motivated agents working to reduce inequalities and ready to oppose various injustices (see Gay, 2010).

Moreover, Gay (2010) recommends the multidimensional implementation of culturally relevant teaching. For this purpose, the aspects mentioned previously must figure in all modes of teaching: evaluation; interactions between the pupils; with the teacher; with the parents; following the curriculum; classroom activities; etc. All of these aspects should, according to this theory, be influenced by a critical view of education, of inequality and therefore be employed in favour of greater justice in the school. Table 1 resumes the characteristics of teachers who apply the theory of culturally relevant teaching.

The interest of this theory is that it does not recommend miraculous solutions. It is based rather on existing educational objectives and practices that are exploited in the context of a recognition and a legitimation of the pupils' cultures and the struggle against inequalities. Finally, culturally relevant teaching is a useful framework for reflection on the organization of school work and interactions. For the teachers, it raises questions about their teaching methods rather than presenting a precise list of recommendations.


**Table 1** The qualities of teachers applying the theory of culturally relevant teaching

*Source* Adapted from Ontario Schools (2013)

#### **4 Cultural Diversity and Its Interactions**

Even though culturally relevant teaching tackles the question of inter-individual interactions, it seems necessary for us to examine this dimension more closely. Indeed, as we have seen previously, some teachers are tempted to adopt negative attitudes towards certain pupils from culturally diverse origins. However, these attitudes should be called into question so as to avoid setting in motion a vicious circle in the relationship between the teacher and the pupil or of perpetuating negative reinforcement as shown in Fig. 1. When confronted with labelling and the Pygmalion effect, the negative educational dynamic can quickly take hold and be difficult to reverse.

Given the harmful consequences of a negative educational situation, it seems to us indispensable to move towards a dynamic of positive reinforcement in the relationship between the teacher and the migrant pupil. This dynamic is illustrated in Fig. 2.

**Fig. 1** The dynamic of negative reinforcement

**Fig. 2** The dynamic of positive reinforcement

It is, of course, the acceptance of cultural difference that differentiates these two figures. Educational professionals, even if they are shocked, dismayed or concerned about a cultural practice or a particular affiliation, should acknowledge their feelings so as to overcome them and not let them influence their teaching activities. It is natural to go through periods of uncertainty when faced with the unknown/otherness. However, awareness and an examination of one's own perceptions represent important steps in developing harmonious intercultural relationships.

On this subject, the work of Cohen-Emerique (2015) has demonstrated the different aspects of intercultural interaction. Firstly, she presents the professional (i.e. the teacher) as well as the Other (i.e. the pupil) as individuals distinguished by their culture, their religion, their social origins, etc. Secondly, she presents the reference framework for these two individuals (a professional reference framework for the teacher and an "Other" reference framework for the pupil). The interactions between these individuals and their reference frameworks are at the origin of an interface permitting negotiations and therefore an intercultural rapprochement. Three important aspects should be borne in mind concerning this approach developed by Cohen-Emerique (2015): decentration, required by professionals wishing to understand the attitude of an Other who is different from them; the desire to enter into the Other's system, required by the pupil to multiply interactions; and, lastly, the context. Indeed, in an intercultural relationship, Cohen-Emerique (2015) lays stress on the need to take into account the individuals concerned: are they in a dominant/dominated relationship? former colonizer/former colonized? etc.

The approach proposed by Cohen-Emerique (2015) seems very interesting to us inasmuch as it allows the relationship between a teacher and a migrant pupil to be analysed. However, it should be observed that the reference frameworks of the two protagonists may be ambiguous and hybrid. For instance, teachers may remain faithful to the reference framework of their profession but, at the same time, come from mixed-race ethno-cultural origins.Meanwhile, the migrant pupils are influenced by the reference framework of their family and their country of origin. Nevertheless, they may choose to distance themselves from this reference framework. For example, adolescent migrant pupils may resist a traditional practice from their culture of origin in order to follow another reference framework.

According to Lemoine (2018), the concept "intercultural" consists of four elements of foreignness/otherness concerning languages or other matters. *The first element* is the relationship with foreigners; *the second element* would be the relationship with classmates conducted in the teaching language; *the third element* concerns the relationship with oneself—not only understanding oneself, but asking oneself about the attitudes that *I* have towards others; finally, *the fourth element* concerns the situations proposed by the teacher using stereotypical cultural content. These four elements could be an interesting avenue of reflective thinking for professionals wishing to understand the approach to otherness and the relationships that develop in an intercultural context.

#### **5 The Added-Value of Teachers from Diverse Backgrounds**

Repeatedly, research on intercultural education has deplored the lack of diversity within the teaching body (Akkari, 2003). The basic idea is that the pupils could relate to adults that resembled them (in other words, shared similar experiences concerning their multiple cultural affiliations) and that their identities could be accepted and recognized within the school. For these reasons, research on teachers with culturally diverse backgrounds has expanded considerably, particularly in the United States, then in the remainder of the English-speaking world, and subsequently in the Frenchspeaking world (see, for example, Hess & Leal, 1997; Cherng & Halpin, 2016; Atkins, Fertig & Wilkins, 2014).

The general hypothesis for this field of research is that teachers with a diverse culture/origin/ethnicity compared to that of the school in which they are teaching are likely to bring an educational added-value, especially when this school serves an ethnically diverse population. We will examine this hypothesis from different angles: firstly, what motivated these teachers to enter this profession; and secondly, the benefits of their identity to their teaching practice.

In the first instance, it is necessary to dwell on the professional motivations for this type of teacher. If they differ in the way they entered the teaching profession, it is perhaps because these teachers with culturally diverse origins were not always motivated by the same reasons as their peers from the dominant group. Their potential familiarity with the pupils' experiences (Magaldi et al., 2018) or their own experiences with schooling troubled by discrimination and racism (Su, 1997) may have had an impact on the way some of them conceive their role as teacher. In contrast with their peers belonging to the majority group, they are as a rule more familiar with the issues associated with social justice and inequality experienced by poor or minority populations (Su, 1997; Magaldi et al., 2018). Some of them express reproaches about the inequalities of educational opportunities, the lack of relevance of the curricula or the way pupils with culturally diverse backgrounds are taught (Su, 1997). It was as a reaction to these shortcomings that they chose the teaching profession so as to become change agents in their pupils' lives (Su, 1997; Magaldi et al., 2018) but also in society (Su, 1997). Some of these teachers, inspired by their own experiences, demonstrate the resilience that they have acquired from it and are therefore more likely to transform their personal experiences into educational resources of benefit for their pupils.

A Swiss research project has also shown that some young people from diverse origins may choose the teaching profession as a way of countering "identity assignation" (Changkakoti & Broyon, 2013, p. 104); in other words, they wanted to demonstrate their capacity to succeed despite the stereotypes attached to their culture of origin.

In the second approach, it was a question of analysing the effect that the identities of the teachers with culturally diverse origins might have on their teaching practice. On this matter, Villegas and Irvine (2010) made a list of several studies that showed the positive impact that these teachers could have on the educational achievement of pupils belonging to cultural minorities. One could believe that their resort to culturally relevant teaching (Villegas & Irvine, 2010) was at the origin of their pupil's proven success.

Moreover, in the classroom, these teachers will be more susceptible to understanding the pupils' experiences and may develop a feeling of empathy for them (Magaldi et al., 2018).

In their words, one can discern that the educational institution is kept at arm's length. In their eyes, it is too ethnocentric and does not take the pupils' cultural origins into account. The teachers questioned by Kohli (2009) challenged the invisibility of their cultures in the curriculum:

By prioritizing European history, and ignoring or tokenizing the contributions and experiences of non-White people, Kimmy's social studies class affirmed a racial hierarchy. Subtle or not, she was sent the message that White culture and history are important and that the identity, culture and the history of her people are unimportant (Kohli, 2009, p. 242).

The author explains next that this acquaintance with the racism and discrimination present in educational institutions that teachers with culturally diverse origins may have experienced when young could be a force to be exploited during their training (Kohli, 2009). This would be of considerable benefit to those pupils from similar culturally diverse origins. In fact, one could imagine that these experiences create an understanding with the pupils and strengthen the sentiment of empathy that these teachers may possess (Magaldi et al., 2018).

The added-value of teachers with culturally diverse origins is also present in their teaching practice. Firstly, they are most likely to teach in a culturally relevant manner (Villegas & Irvine, 2010). In this way they may be able to create links between the school and the home, which may contribute to strengthening the meaning of learning.

Secondly, various studies have shown a correlation between the presence of teachers with culturally diverse origins and the outcomes of their educational performance (Pitts, 2007; Villegas & Irvine, 2010; Farkas et al., 1990). The study by Pitts (2007) brought to light a statistically significant link between teachers with culturally diverse origins and the educational achievement of pupils from cultural minorities. Farkas et al. (1990) have shown not an impact on the pupils' school marks but rather on their working habits. A teacher with diverse origins could have an influence on them and also contribute to academic achievement. In general, the scientific literature draws attention to a trend among these teachers who have higher expectations with regard to all of their pupils (Villegas & Irvine, 2010).

Thirdly, Meire (1993, quoted by Villegas & Irvine, 2010) has observed that the numbers of pupils redirected to special education drop when teachers of diverse origins are more numerous in the school.

To summarize, Villegas and Irivine (2010) identified a list of five characteristics of these teachers:


Thus, there are numerous positive outcomes resulting from the presence of teachers with diverse cultural origins. However, the reader should beware of two important factors. Firstly, the majority of the studies mentioned are taken from English-speaking contexts and may have been influenced by this context. Secondly, we have drawn attention here to trends that were often the outcomes of qualitative research. It is necessary in this case to consider the flexibility and the diversity that may include "teachers with culturally diverse origins". Furthermore, the research by Radhouane (2019) shows that within the sample, even when statistically adjusted, not all teachers with culturally diverse origins corresponded to the features established here and that disparities associated with personal experiences as well as their identification with a professional identity existed. From this same research, the study of literature on teachers with diverse cultural origins allowed three reservations to be identified when working on this theme: firstly, the group of "teachers with culturally diverse origins" is not homogenous; secondly, one should not award these teachers responsibilities that go beyond their functions (to diminish all the inequalities at the school); and thirdly, one should not neglect the intercultural competencies of teachers who are neither of migratory origins nor from ethnocultural minorities (Radhouane, 2019).<sup>2</sup> One should then adopt a relativist attitude typical of intercultural approaches, as well as developing a dynamic conception of identity allowing teachers with diverse cultural origins either to identify themselves with this category or not and therefore to remain entirely responsible for the definition of their own identity.

<sup>2</sup> The author draws largely on the works of Bressler and Rotter (2017), Santoro (2016), Legendre (2004) and Georgi (2016).

#### **6 Conclusion**

Today, it would be an exaggeration to say that cultural diversity is perceived as a problem within education systems, since the teachers, in general, accept it and have positive attitudes towards the contribution of diversity. However, even if it is not a problem within the school, one must nevertheless address its complexity. Cultural diversity is not only an auspicious resource for extra-curricular activities; it has a social dimension with an impact on the life of the pupils and their parents. From this point of view, it seems important to us that teachers are aware of the issues concerning such themes as integration, openness, social justice and equality. Otherwise, it should be said that a certain number of stereotypes persist and their effects should be thoroughly examined within the school.

One of the theoretical foundations which seems productive for us in promoting cultural diversity is culturally relevant teaching. Indeed, further to exploiting otherness as a resource, it subjects it to critical analysis and in this way addresses inequalities connected with cultural, social, ethnic, religious or sexual affiliations. This form of teaching addresses inequalities, but also takes the form of an approach to combat them.

Finally, research has demonstrated the advantage of opening the teaching profession to people from diverse origins. Indeed, their knowledge and the resemblance between their own experiences and those of their pupils, particularly those with cultural minority origins, contribute an educational added-value. Furthermore, we believe that the experiences of these teachers may represent a resource for the educational enterprise, while accepting its limits: the need for each individual to choose their own affiliation and not to be assigned an identity that could be detrimental.

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## Synthesis of Part III

Intercultural approaches have available today a theoretical base and relevant research works. Nevertheless, their credibility as innovations in education systems depends to large extent on their implementation in educational practice. The third part of this book has drawn attention to the potential offered by language as one aspect of pupils' cultural diversity which may be employed to introduce intercultural approaches. A variety of possibilities is therefore offered, ranging from the pedagogical usefulness of maintaining minority languages to experiences using bilingual or multilingual teaching. Religious diversity is itself a much thornier subject. Indeed, the school, responsible for the inculcation of scientific knowledge, adapts itself with difficulty to religious convictions, perceived by some believers as fundamental and undisputable. The concept of global citizenship education is equally promising, but is at present not widely employed in educational practice. Whatever the paths for implementing intercultural approaches in the school and educational practice, all observers agree that the role of the teacher is indispensable; hence, the importance of pre-service and in-service teacher training giving them the skills to reflect upon and work with cultural diversity. Teachers' pedagogical practices cannot be understood outside the inequitable power relations that define the socio-political context of teaching. From this viewpoint, teachers' multicultural practices, even when they put forth their best efforts, are necessarily fragmented and incoherent, rather than static assemblages of pure pedagogical practices (Pimentel, 2017).

## **General Conclusion**

In the first part of this book, we attempted to draw attention to the emergence of intercultural approaches in education and the principal concepts justifying the need for a positive attitude to culture in modern education systems. As an institution that has taken a century and a half to impose itself everywhere in the world, since its beginnings the school had been allergic and hostile to diversity in general and cultural diversity in particular. It is therefore perfectly natural that today it retains traces of this monocultural attitude towards the educational world and its learners. Migratory movements, intensifying over recent years, have called for a much greater cultural openness on the part of the school. Nevertheless, even if they have sometimes been received with benevolence and openness, these migratory movements have eventually been confronted with hostile attitudes towards the migrants or their descendants. While an economic free market encouraged by globalization inspires the opening of frontiers to goods and capital, it is not necessarily the same thing for human-beings.

Historically, the emergence of multi/intercultural approaches in education can be associated with the decolonization and civil rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s motivated by various mistreated groups. Initially taking form in the United States and promoted by international organizations such as UNESCO or the Council of Europe, this formal education reform movement has gradually spread throughout the world. It aims to introduce into education and the classroom the diversity and plurality typical of pupils' ethnic origins and to oppose the structural educational inequalities that minority and migrant populations have had to face. An enormous diversity can be observed at the international level in this domain. Given the historical and institutional monocultural character of most education systems (one nation-State, one religion, one teaching language, one national curriculum, etc.), a great deal of opposition emerged to confront these innovative approaches and to limit their impact.

To implement intercultural approaches, it is necessary to be clear about the concepts. Thus, if culture is a central concept allowing the need for intercultural approaches to be understood, it is important to adopt a non-essentialist conception of it and to consider that it only makes sense if one takes three precautions into account. The first one consists of understanding that individuals' cultural affiliations are a mobile dynamic connected to the context in which they function. The second

A. Akkari and M. Radhouane, *Intercultural Approaches to Education*, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70825-2

precaution states that culture only has meaning when it is compared to other cultures. The third precaution is that all cultures have an essentially hybrid character. In other words, any culture borrows from other cultures and is in perpetual evolution.

To summarize, the following quotation from Horst (2016) highlights these precautions and reinforces the dynamic aspect of the concept of culture:

The concept of culture in multicultural and intercultural education has changed with the 'cultural turn' in post-modernity, with increased migration, settlement of new ethnic minorities and the development of hybridity, creolization, etc. Theoretically 'culture' is no longer understood in classical anthropological versions as definable entities, but as a concept which reflects transient and dynamic developments in which the individual is both a participant and a product in the ongoing (re)production of meaning and symbols in different social fields (Horst, 2016, p. 77)

The concepts of ethnocentrism and cultural relativism have come into contact with intercultural approaches through anthropology. Ethnocentrism is a "natural" strategy resorted to by cultures, groups and individuals to perpetuate themselves and to differentiate themselves from others. The search for knowledge and the spread of scientific study have always represented a way of distancing oneself from ethnocentrism and assuming a readiness to accept otherness. This openness to otherness is associated with an attitude of cultural relativism. This concept consists of avoiding any value judgement with regard to other cultures based on the familiar model of one's own culture. It means considering cultures in all their diversity and avoiding any attempt to impose a hierarchy. Nevertheless, we have warned the reader of the dangers of absolute cultural relativism involving the acceptance of all forms of behaviour, simply because they happen to be present in one or another culture. This could bring the positive evolution of social behaviours to a halt. For example, gender inequality, typical of many cultures, cannot be justified in any way by cultural relativism. Furthermore, it is important to consider that the best way to manage our divergences on the political, philosophical, cultural or social level is to base ourselves on the rule of law and the respect of democracy.

Otherwise, it is essential to establish the elements that define the different processes supporting intercultural approaches. Thus, integration, even if it is a long and uncertain process, remains the best way to organize the modalities of living together both within the school and in society. The temptation epitomized by the processes of separation, marginalization or of assimilation is a movement in favour of identity denial and individual and collective suffering, and represents a serious threat for social cohesion.

In the second part of this book, we presented different national experiences dealing with cultural diversity in the school. One of the most interesting observations concerning the analysis of national reactions to cultural diversity is to acknowledge that, despite a certain number of similarities concerning the concepts used and the structures created to deal with cultural differences, the way diversity is actually dealt with may vary considerably from one system to another. One concern, however, was shared by all education systems: cultural difference is a challenge and a destabilizing influence both in the school and in society. As Memmi (1982b) has stressed, what differentiates one person from another spreads alarm. We are apprehensive about everything that is unknown—it seems strange, disturbing, a threat to us.

On the whole, we may observe the existence in the world of considerable differences in the emergence of the theme of cultural diversity in the school between the countries that have chosen to use the term multicultural education and other countries that have opted for intercultural education. The first group, among whom we find the majority of English-speaking countries, concentrates on the necessary recognition and the appreciation of cultural differences. The second group, among whom are the French-speaking countries, have a preference for the term intercultural education, since it allows interactions, exchanges and the co-constructions resulting from contacts between cultures to be highlighted. This separation affects more the choice of paradigms to be used and to be mobilized in situations of cultural plurality rather than any real differences about how cultural diversity is managed in the classroom and in the school. In addition, beyond the terms employed, all education systems are faced with tackling—and even the deterioration of—socio-cultural inequalities within the school. It should nevertheless be said that beyond the terms used in different contexts, the activities conducted dealing with cultural diversity lend themselves to analysis. Indeed, they bear witness, more than the paradigms chosen, to the way in which education systems perceive Others, recognize them, grant them a place or, on the contrary, keep them at a distance. The analysis of these situations also gave us an opportunity to pinpoint common issues and occasionally similar solutions in countries that have not dealt with intercultural approaches in education in the same way.

The multiplication of terms used in intercultural approaches in education is an important obstacle encountered by any educator or teacher wanting to keep abreast of cultures in the school (Sleeter & Grant, 2003). We have observed a confrontation between those supporting multicultural education and those in favour of intercultural education.

Behind the term multicultural education, there is the idea of a multitude of cultural perspectives to be promoted in education. It is an approach that represents a total break with traditional teaching practices, where education was above all conceived as monocultural socialization shunning any cultural difference and diversity. The reproach that one can legitimately direct at multicultural education is that it harbours the danger of separating different cultural communities. For instance, the Englishspeaking origins of multicultural education have led to the production of a certain number of textbooks on multicultural education where each chapter presents a homogenous ethnocultural community and the educational measures appropriate to it.

As Nieto (2000) has so clearly pointed out, American multicultural education has gradually undergone a transformation. At the beginning of the 1980s, it was basically a question of opening the school to diversity. Christmas celebrations around the world were a typical example of what multicultural education was all about. According to Nieto (2000), "diversity was little more than window dressing". Thereafter, the commemoration of the birth of Martin Luther King or the employment in the classroom of some minority literary works were included in American multicultural education. However, as Nieto (2000) and Grant and Sleeter (2007) have all emphasized, the majority of multicultural approaches dodge the difficult issues associated with inequality, educational access, equity and social justice. Multicultural education cannot limit itself to being the cherry on the cake of monocultural and unequal schooling or, to recall the expression of Derman-Sparks (1989), to be the vector of a tourist approach to diversity.

The expression "intercultural education", most often used in French-speaking countries, attempts to go beyond the hiatus of multicultural by promoting the idea of interaction and the meeting between two or several cultural groups. Behind the idea of interaction, there are exchanges which could be either antagonistic or harmonious. Intercultural education places stress at once on the need for a common experience by different cultural groups. According to Lorcerie (2002), intercultural education is an on-going construction site. A troublesome construction site, however, since it implies a critical approach on at least three levels:


According to UNESCO (2013), interculturality presupposes multiculturalism, which refers not only to cultural diversity—ethnic or national culture—but also to other elements including linguistic, religious and socio-economic diversity. The key feature of interculturality is that it allows space for multiple perspectives and voices.

Each of these terms (multicultural, intercultural) has its advantages and its drawbacks. One could even say that a multicultural approach in education is a necessary preliminary to any approach considered to be intercultural. It seems to us that the term "a transcultural approach in education", less frequently employed in the educational literature than the other two, is quite capable of radically transforming our relationship with difference and diversity, since it is a fundamental element in the school's environment. "Transcultural" emphasizes not only the need to work on the basis of the learners' affiliations and cultural identities, but also and probably particularly to go beyond them. It is furthermore in this sense that the philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment and their modern successors, as well as those originating in the countries of the South, have located the role of education: to produce the universal and to bring out the Global humanity that is lurking in each one of us. In other words, it is necessary to define education as a triple process of humanization, socialization and singularization—three processes that are at once indivisible and always under stress (Charlot, 2002). If the cultures that exist and react together encounter favourable educational and social circumstances, they will amalgamate under the sign of accumulation, of hybridization but not of subtraction. Transculturality favours a universal perspective which goes beyond local cultural particularities (Dinello, 1977; Harvey, 1991; Nava, 1990). The transcultural approach assumes that cultural frontiers will be crossed in the search for social equality (Guilherme & Dietz, 2015).

The third part of this book presented the discussions and the educational approaches enabling intercultural approaches to be implemented in the school.

One of the most appropriate ways to give life to intercultural approaches within the school is to recognize all of the pupils' languages. This recognition could have very varied ambitions according to the context, which may range from the recognition of maintaining the mother-tongues of pupils who do not speak the teaching language to the introduction of bilingual education incorporating minority and migrant languages. The power of language in intercultural approaches is connected with the interdependence among all the languages spoken by the learners. On the basis of this proposition, multiple pedagogies become possible. Otherwise, the enthusiasm for learning languages required by the global economy may open up interesting prospects but also includes such risks as being restricted to just a few hegemonic languages.

The religious diversity that the pupils bring with them raises a number of qualms in the school. An institution founded relatively recently on the separation of the Church and the State, on scientific rationality, on the imperative of proof and a critical attitude, the school is a very unfavourable place to foster religious beliefs and convictions, which are, by definition, undisputable. Nevertheless, the pupils do not leave their religious beliefs at the school gate. It is therefore important to address teaching about religions in the school in a historical and anthropological manner by encouraging the pupils to respect both religious and non-religious convictions, as long as this respect does not threaten the basic values of the education system. The accommodations that the school is prepared to make with regard to religious diversity could be useful. Nevertheless, it would seem essential to us to make the school a place where, as a priority, the children discover values, rules and points of view different from those conveyed by their families. The school should rather provide them with critical thinking to make the most favourable choices for them and for society.

Arising from proposals made by international organizations, particularly in the framework of the 2030 Education Agenda for sustainable development, global citizenship education would seem to be a potential resource for constructing education systems open to all diversity and all differences. What is more, global citizenship education incorporates an ecological dimension and pursues sustainable development—essential issues for the future of the planet.

We have also considered it essential to devote a significant place to teachers by assigning an entire chapter to their role in intercultural approaches. Their work is at the heart of the educational enterprise and they can then be the principal partners when dealing—or not—with diversity. Several avenues appeared to us as promising. The first consisted of analysing the attitude of each teacher to diversity and difference represented by the pupils. It was necessary to examine the expectations that they have regarding pupils from different cultures and the potential impact of their attitude on school careers. The second approach was that of culturally relevant teaching. Its implementation enabled each of the pupils' cultures to be considered at different levels of teaching and contributed in this way to the creation of a school open to diversity and committed to social justice. Finally, the third approach identified dealt with teachers with diverse origins. Their experiences and their life stories enable 190 General Conclusion

them to be *the vectors of important intercultural messages about the opening up of the school.* It is not a demographic similarity between the teaching staff's and the pupils' origins that we are proposing but simply the need to diversify the sociocultural origins of the whole teaching profession.

Indeed, it seems important to us to consider that the added-value of intercultural approaches is located at the level of inequality and social justice. This means that it is important to analyse educational policies and practices (the curriculum, school textbooks, the involvement of the parents, the assignment to school streams, etc.), which diminish the cultural identities of some pupils and overemphasize those of others (Akkari, 2013). Furthermore, to celebrate difference and diversity, to host intercultural meals or ethnic festivals are activities with a limited scope if they are not accompanied by a serious examination of structural inequalities and discrimination, which exist in schools everywhere in the world. To be concerned with social justice in the school means examining in a critical manner how and why schools and teachers may adopt questionable attitudes towards certain groups and their cultures (Au, 2014).

Bhabha (1994) suggests a change of paradigm in the way cultural differences in the school are managed by mentioning a third space where cultural attitudes not corresponding to "them/us" can be located. It is a space in between, evidently hybrid, in permanent negotiation between several worlds, separate from any duality where cultures in their original form can be found. This could allow us to display "the others of ourselves". A true education for otherness may then take root (Groux, 2002).

Even if it did not tackle interculturality directly, the work of the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire allows us to understand the difficulties and the resources of considering cultural and social inequalities in education. On this subject, the critical consciousness inspired by Freire should be located in a context that transforms an unequal society through educational and social actions (Sleeter & Grant, 2003). The objective of critical consciousness is to reduce the gap separating the theoretical and ritualistic recognition of cultural diversity and the reality of inequality and discrimination being maintained in the educational field (Adams et al., 1997). For Freire (1971, 1972, 1974), education is never neutral and every educational action is inherently political, in the same way that every political action is educational. Educational actions are political because they always contain values, systems, utopias that reproduce, legitimatize, question or transform power relationships operating in society. Education is never neutral because it encourages the domination or the emancipation of individuals and groups. Education for freedom includes, according to Freire, at least four dimensions: (1) a critical understanding of social reality; (2) commitment in the name of the utopia of social change; (3) the training of individuals capable of bringing about this change; and (4) a dialogue between the partners of educational interaction. Thus, critical consciousness considers educational inequalities as the outcome of an institutionalized oppression and refashions the status of the marginalized learners into a source of vitality and change (Sleeter & McLaren, 1995).

In addition, the management of cultural differences in the classroom would appear to be one of the major preoccupations of the teachers, the pupils, the parents and the school administrators (Audet, 2011; Peters-Davis & Schultz, 2015). However, the educational means to implement this diversity are always the subject of controversy. Intercultural approaches could contribute a revolution in thinking capable of radically transforming our vision of the world and of education: "Today, the philosophical question that should be asked of every human-being is to choose either intercultural change, meaning the actual recognition that we are all related, all different—or conflict. In other words, it's interculturality or war" (Asgarally, 2005, p. 115).

Furthermore, it is necessary to recall that intercultural approaches are not simply a means for recognizing pupils who are different (Rothstein-Fisch & Trumbull, 2008) in a world that is increasingly interdependent (Grant & Portera, 2011). It is the requirement to recognize both their differences and their similarities. Difference is only a right if it is confirmed on a basis of similarity, of the universality of the human-being (Charlot, 2002). Multiculturalism embodies one of the characteristics of the modern world: the acceleration of contacts between cultures, their changing character and the internal plurality of each cultural identity.

Ultimately, intercultural approaches in education demand the simultaneous mobilization of three fundamental concepts. Firstly, the positive acknowledgement of cultural difference. The recognition of the right to a cultural identity unique to each individual/group is one of the pillars of pluralist and democratic societies and of their educational institutions. Secondly, equality is one of the conditions of intercultural approaches. This signifies that the learners have the right to equitable treatment protecting them from discrimination and opening for them the way to learning and success. To attain equality, it is imperative to go beyond the principle of formal equality and envisage giving extra learning support to the most vulnerable. Finally, the third concept, indispensable for intercultural approaches in education, is cultural diversity as an added-value. Put another way, it is indispensable to break with the school's monocultural tradition, which considers diversity as a troubling element in learning. Cultural diversity is not only a natural component of any learning community, but it opens the way to a better access to knowledge.

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