| Summary: | <p>This thesis explores the ways in which schools accommodate the national vision of a multicultural society, specifically focusing on Indonesia’s national vision of “Bhinneka Tunggal Ika” (Unity-in-Diversity). Employing a multiple-case-study research approach, it examines the ways head teachers, teachers, students, and parents from six state and private schools with different mixes of student ethnicity and religiosity promote this national vision in terms of educational practice. The research considers the perspectives of education stakeholders on the meanings of Unity-in-Diversity and their responses in promoting Unity-in-Diversity in schools and classrooms in contemporary Indonesia, drawing data from observations, interviews, photos, and documentary analysis.</p>
<p>Using multicultural education as a conceptual lens, this research finds that promoting religious diversity is key to achieving Unity-in-Diversity in religious and democratic Indonesia, and schools generally have demonstrated some commitment to promoting inter-religious harmony as mandated. Yet, it argues that the discourses of diversity, particularly of religious diversity, continue to be spaces of complex interpretation, rather than settled policy positions. In schools, this process of interpretation is manifested in the school policies, school cultures, and teaching across subjects in classrooms. The strong narratives of religiosity and piety in the current education system, which are found to privilege the dominant religious culture(s), have ramifications in the accommodation of Unity-in-Diversity in practice. In response to the different schools’ demographies, the nuanced accounts regarding the implementation of Unity-in-Diversity suggest the importance of considering identity and power dynamics, positionality, and contextuality in the school accommodation of the vision of diversity.</p>
<p>In light of this research, this thesis also presents the usefulness and challenges of applying a theory of multicultural education, which has focused mainly on ethnic and racial diversity, in researching the issue of religious diversity. Based in the largest Muslim country in the world, this thesis offers a critical insight into the complex role of education in the development of an inclusive, religious society.</p>
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