Intercultural Education In The Primary School

Author(s):

Giuseppe Filippo Dettori(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

20. Research in Innovative Intercultural Learning Environments

Format:

Paper

Session Information

20 SES 06 A, Intercultural Learning Environments Transforming Professional Identities

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-03

15:30-17:00

Room:

B322 Sala de Aulas

Chair:

Carmen Carmona Rodriguez

Contribution

The increasing growth of foreign students in Italian schools, particularly in preschool and primary school, induced teachers to confront themselves with such an occurrence and to work out appropriate didactic strategies and specific intercultural competences. In such a view, a group of Italian researchers belonging to different Universities (Sassari, Milano, Torino, Messina,Verona) fulfilled a national research project financed by the Ministry of Education. The survey is characterised by the issues of competence, intercultural education, didactic research and practice, and intercultural research. To this end, through the document Common European Principles for Teacher Competences and Qualification, in 2005 the European Commission highlighted the need for appropriate training for the teaching body, who has the duty of educating the new citizens. School as an educational institution, thus, takes on a fundamental role in the promotion of integration processes and of cultural differences enhancement. The work accomplished by the Unversità di Sassari is illustrated in the paper at issue. The same work started from the following research question: how is the intercultural sensitivity represented by teachers’ actions and concepts in the daily school dimension? Research aims that guided the project are:

Identification of teachers’ intercultural competences and didactic practices in daily class activities, in preschool and primary school.
Comparison of the observed intercultural competences with the main models proposed in scientific and institutional literature (recommendations of the European Council).
Identification of the principal educational needs emerging from the daily teachers’ practices.

The principal theoretical framework was the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) by M. Bennet, where intercultural competence is described as ‘the capacity of acquiring sensitivity in front of intercultural differences, and to adjust your own behavior according to the cultural setting’. The author describes six stages for the development of intercultural sensitivity, divided into ethnocentric stages (refusal, defence, and minimisation) and ethnorelative stages (acceptance, adjustment, and integration). Another important model that guided the researchers’ work was the Technical Rationality model by Donald Schön, which enhances the professional’s flexibility in the course of the action, and the circular relationship between theory and practice.

Method

The research methodology was inspired by the bottom-up approach that aims at building up the theory from empirical data by means of simultaneous data collection and analysis and of the following categorisation and classification. Consistently with the described aims, the video-recorded observation of different classroom situations (reception, guided and free classroom activities, lunch time, etc.) was chosen as the investigation tool. Video recording was chosen because it gives the opportunity to read classroom practices through the observation of the situation. The work in the field started in October 2010 and ended in september 2011, and was carried out in different phases: 1. Video recordings in the classroom (both in times arranged with teachers and not); 2. Film analysis to notice strengths and critical situations, made by researchers and teachers; 3. Discussion and comparison combined between researchers and teachers on the material data interpretation; 4. Codification and categorisation of significant steps and reflection emerged by using Nvivo software, aiming at the construction of an analytical model; 5. Return of the outcomes and proposal of educational and self-evaluation paths.

Expected Outcomes

The following outcomes emerged from the research: 1. Tacit and implicit knowledge in teachers’ educational actions and improvement of professional practices emerged; 2. Teachers’ perception of cultural diversity both as an obstacle and as a resource; 3. General teachers’ tendency to simplify and to stereotype national differences to the detriment of individual specificities; 4. Need to personalise didactic and educational intervention; 5. Difficulties in collaboration and dialogue between school and families; 6. Complexity of teachers’ work. From such observations, and from the reference to the theoretical model (Bennet), it derived that in most teachers involved in the project, the intercultural didactic competences stay at the first stages of intercultural sensitivity development (minimisation and acceptance). According to the researchers, one of the factors that may affect this result lies in the rather marginal presence of the migratory phenomenon in the province of Sassari and in Sardinia in general. The main conceptual category emerging from the analysis is ambivalence, which is observable in the teachers’ attitude. On the one hand, in fact, they state that they want to nurture the others’ differences; on the other hand, they tend to normalise behaviours, especially in difficulties. The evident demand for training arises from herein. Researchers have proposed training courses aimed at teachers.

References

BENNET J.M. (2004) DEVELOPING INTERCULTURAL SENSITIVITY: AN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH TO GLOBAL AND DOMESTIC DIVERSITY, IN D. LANDIS, J.M. BENNET, M.J. BENNET (EDS) HANDBOOK, PORTLAND; BARTEL-RADIC A. (2006), INTERCULTURAL LEARNING IN GLOBAL TEAMS, MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL REVIEW, 44, 6, 647-77; DEARDORFF D.K. (2006), INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE MODEL, JOURNAL OF STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION, 10, 241-46; FLORES M.A., DAY C. (2006), CONTEXT WHICH SHAPE AND RESHAPE NEW TEACHER. IDENTITIES: A MULTI-PERSPECTIVE STUDY, IN TEACHING AND TEACHER EDUCATION, 22, 219-32, HAMMER M.R., BENNETT M.J., WISEMAN R. (2003), MEASURING INTERCULTURAL SENSITIVITY: THE INTERCULTURAL DEVELOPMENT INVENTORY, IN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTERCULTURAL RELATIONS, 27, 131-44; DETTORI, G.F., CALIDONI P., PANDOLFI L., PRATICHE DIDATTICHE E DIVERSITA' CULTURALI, CAROCCI, ROMA, 2012.

Author Information

Giuseppe Filippo Dettori (presenting / submitting)

University of Sassari

Sassari

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