Intercultural Education in Spain and Switzerland: a Comparative Approach
Intercultural education during the last two decades in Spain and Switzerland can be understood as balancing acts because policymakers in both countries saw their school systems enrolling a growing number of immigrant and minority students. While solutions were formulated and adopted in response to e...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies
2001-09-01
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| Series: | Migracijske i etničke teme |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/184764 |
| _version_ | 1797283386446839808 |
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| author | Ferran Ferrer Abdeljalil Akkari |
| author_facet | Ferran Ferrer Abdeljalil Akkari |
| author_sort | Ferran Ferrer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Intercultural education during the last two decades in Spain and Switzerland can be understood as balancing acts because policymakers in both countries saw their school systems enrolling a growing number of immigrant and minority students. While solutions were formulated and adopted in response to each country's unique problems and political tradition, they were also driven by forces that fostered a restrictive immigration policy toward immigrants from third world countries. This article examines the emergence of intercultural education and compares diverse practices linked to this process. Some similarities were found in both socio-cultural contexts. The use of compensatory education with culturally diverse children contributes to school segregation. Although cultural and linguistic diversity is a structural and historical component of Spanish and Swiss identities, there is a clear separation between "internal" and "external" diversity in educational policy. It is interesting, for instance, to observe that the concept used in addressing regional identities in Spain and Switzerland is "bilingual education" while the theme used for immigrants is "intercultural education". We also identified some important differences between the two contexts. The number of immigrant youth is much more important in Switzerland. On the other hand, the presence of Gypsy students is a central issue of cultural diversity in Spain. The paper also reports on the general lack of teacher education departments to prepare their pre-service students for diverse schools. Most teacher education programs acknowledge in principle the importance of pluralistic preparation of teachers. In practice, however, most teacher education programs actually represent a monocultural approach. Continuing education in the field of intercultural education is linked to individual initiatives rather than to an institutional awareness of the importance of cross-cultural training. In order to understand the barriers to educational equality faced by low-income cultural and linguistic minority youth in Spain and Switzerland, we need to understand the ways in which social class and ethnicity interact with language and culture. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T17:31:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-87a53f6200514655a7ed01709c821007 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1333-2546 1848-9184 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T17:31:11Z |
| publishDate | 2001-09-01 |
| publisher | Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Migracijske i etničke teme |
| spelling | doaj.art-87a53f6200514655a7ed01709c8210072024-03-02T17:57:40ZengInstitute for Migration and Ethnic StudiesMigracijske i etničke teme1333-25461848-91842001-09-01173239264Intercultural Education in Spain and Switzerland: a Comparative ApproachFerran Ferrer0Abdeljalil Akkari1Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, SpainUniversity of Fribourg, Fribourg, SwitzerlandIntercultural education during the last two decades in Spain and Switzerland can be understood as balancing acts because policymakers in both countries saw their school systems enrolling a growing number of immigrant and minority students. While solutions were formulated and adopted in response to each country's unique problems and political tradition, they were also driven by forces that fostered a restrictive immigration policy toward immigrants from third world countries. This article examines the emergence of intercultural education and compares diverse practices linked to this process. Some similarities were found in both socio-cultural contexts. The use of compensatory education with culturally diverse children contributes to school segregation. Although cultural and linguistic diversity is a structural and historical component of Spanish and Swiss identities, there is a clear separation between "internal" and "external" diversity in educational policy. It is interesting, for instance, to observe that the concept used in addressing regional identities in Spain and Switzerland is "bilingual education" while the theme used for immigrants is "intercultural education". We also identified some important differences between the two contexts. The number of immigrant youth is much more important in Switzerland. On the other hand, the presence of Gypsy students is a central issue of cultural diversity in Spain. The paper also reports on the general lack of teacher education departments to prepare their pre-service students for diverse schools. Most teacher education programs acknowledge in principle the importance of pluralistic preparation of teachers. In practice, however, most teacher education programs actually represent a monocultural approach. Continuing education in the field of intercultural education is linked to individual initiatives rather than to an institutional awareness of the importance of cross-cultural training. In order to understand the barriers to educational equality faced by low-income cultural and linguistic minority youth in Spain and Switzerland, we need to understand the ways in which social class and ethnicity interact with language and culture.http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/184764comparative educationintercultural educationmulticulturalismmigration policyethnocentrismteacher education |
| spellingShingle | Ferran Ferrer Abdeljalil Akkari Intercultural Education in Spain and Switzerland: a Comparative Approach Migracijske i etničke teme comparative education intercultural education multiculturalism migration policy ethnocentrism teacher education |
| title | Intercultural Education in Spain and Switzerland: a Comparative Approach |
| title_full | Intercultural Education in Spain and Switzerland: a Comparative Approach |
| title_fullStr | Intercultural Education in Spain and Switzerland: a Comparative Approach |
| title_full_unstemmed | Intercultural Education in Spain and Switzerland: a Comparative Approach |
| title_short | Intercultural Education in Spain and Switzerland: a Comparative Approach |
| title_sort | intercultural education in spain and switzerland a comparative approach |
| topic | comparative education intercultural education multiculturalism migration policy ethnocentrism teacher education |
| url | http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/184764 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ferranferrer interculturaleducationinspainandswitzerlandacomparativeapproach AT abdeljalilakkari interculturaleducationinspainandswitzerlandacomparativeapproach |