Cultural Diversity in the Classroom A European Comparison

The so-called nation states have created ethnical minorities. Also due to migration, cultural diversity is the reality. The multicultural society is strongly reproduced in the schools all over Europe. Cultural diversity in the classroom is increasingly re

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VS RESEARCH CrossCulture Edited by Professor Dr. Wolfgang Berg, University of Applied Sciences Merseburg

CrossCulture is committed to a new understanding of culture: individuals or communities do have in common a particular set of cultural items, but other sets of rules and tools differ. There are no cultures which have borders like territories or states. Cultural change can thus be explained as cultural exchange.

Julia Athena Spinthourakis John Lalor · Wolfgang Berg (Eds.)

Cultural Diversity in the Classroom A European Comparison

VS RESEARCH

Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.

1st Edition 2011 All rights reserved © VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften | Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH 2011 Editorial Office: Dorothee Koch | Anita Wilke VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften is a brand of Springer Fachmedien. Springer Fachmedien is part of Springer Science+Business Media. www.vs-verlag.de No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. Registered and/or industrial names, trade names, trade descriptions etc. cited in this publication are part of the law for trade-mark protection and may not be used free in any form or by any means even if this is not specifically marked. Cover design: KünkelLopka Medienentwicklung, Heidelberg Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany ISBN 978-3-531-18292-6

Preface

Cultural diversity is a fact in Europe. It is only in extreme conditions that all people living in a particular territory share the same values, norms, costumes, symbols, languages, rites, techniques etc. In the historical process of nation (state) building, however, some groups succeeded in becoming the mainstream, a majority which granted more or less rights to a “minority”. Mobility is also a fact. Only in few cases do people not leave their place or have no contact with other communities. Throughout history people have migrated, individually or in groups. States, however, have ambitions to exert control over “immigrants” (and mostly also over emigration). Hence, due to historical minorities and because of all kinds of newcomers, contemporary societies are remarkably diverse in terms of culture. The term “multicultural” is usable and suitable to describe this situation. The education system has to reflect and react to this situation, but, more importantly it is supposed to become a model for the “new” society which transforms the fact of multiculturality into a process of cross-cultural learning. All over Europe there are serious attempts to comprehend and use multicultural classrooms as resources for important learning processes. This volume makes a modest attempt to bring some of these efforts together. The c