Shaping the way people from different cultural backgrounds live together represents a significant challenge for modern Europe. With respect to the management of cultural diversity school plays a crucial role: we believe that both educational reforms and responsible teaching should include attitudes and teaching methods which take the cultural diversity among the students into account and foster equity for both majority and minority students.

This research project is situated at the interface of cross-cultural psychology (acculturation psychology) and educational research on multicultural schools. Studies show that teachers play a key role during the acculturation process of immigrant students in a receiving country (Haenni Hoti et al., 2015). However, it seems that some native-born teachers (of a dominant ethnic group) require cultural assimilation of their immigrant students while others foster integration and promote cultural diversity at school. In this respect Makarova and Birman (2015) conclude from their content analysis of 29 studies that the positive impact of integration, called bicultural orientation, on the academic achievement of migrant students is not entirely clear and that its effectiveness depends on a diversity-friendly school context.

Acculturation orientations consist of both attitudes and behaviours that are exhibited in day-to-day intercultural encounters (Berry, 2008). In this study we view acculturation as an interactive process between students and their teacher. We examine the acculturation orientations (majority orientation, minority orientation, multicultural orientation, indifference regarding cultural aspects) of the students and their class teachers and how the perceived match or mismatch regarding these affects the quality of the teacher-student relationship, the psychosocial adaptation (self-esteem, physical and mental health) and the educational success of the students (school satisfaction, reading comprehension in their second language and educational aspirations). 

Berry, J. W. (2008). Globalisation and acculturation. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 32(4), 328–336. HaenniHaenni Hoti, A., Heinzmann, S., Müller, M., & Buholzer, A. (2015). Psychosocial adaptation and school success of Italian, Portuguese and Albanian students in Switzerland: disentangling migration background, acculturation and the school context. Journal of International Migration and Integration. Doi: 10.1007/s12134-015-0461-x Makarova, E., & Birman, D. (2015). Cultural transition and academic achievement of students from ethnic minority backgrounds: a content analysis of empirical research on acculturation. Educational Research. Doi: 10.1080/00131881.2015.1058099.