This paper explores the students' experiences of studying in culturally diverse primary school classrooms in Cyprus. Embedded in a broader doctoral study on the topic of multiculturalism in primary education in Cyprus, this paper attempts to provide an answer to the question: ‘How are the students’ experiences shaped by cultural diversity?’ By looking at the way children were talking about the nature of their classrooms and behaving with their classmates, it examines issues of diversity, acceptance and friendships and how these are affected by the contact with people from diverse cultures. The purpose is to draft an understanding of the way Cypriot and non-Cypriot students are experiencing the cultural changes occurring in their schools and the impact this has on the relationships between them. 

Cyprus is an interesting example in the study of cultural diversity. Despite having an indigenous culturally diverse population (Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Armenians and Latins), it appears to be very reluctant to respond to the recent cultural changes occurring due to the increased immigration (ECRI, 2001), which was boosted significantly by the country’s accession to the European Union in 2004. Specifically in education, the limited existing research reveals negative and discouraging findings. Within the context of a monocultural and monolingual educational system (CER, 2004), the concept of intercultural education has only been introduced very recently (Panayiotopoulos and Nicolaidou, 2007), mainly with sporadic and isolated attempts to provide multicultural education perspectives (Angelides, Stylianou and Leigh, 2004). The Greek-Cypriot educational system was unprepared for the recent demographic changes and has appeared very slow and reluctant in accommodating the needs of its increasingly diverse student body (Nicolaou, Nitsiou and Charalambous, 2007). The educational system faces difficulties in addressing such challenges as xenophobia and racism (CER, 2004; Philippou, 2007). Previous research indicated that some children experience considerable marginalization (Angelides, Stylianou and Leigh, 2003) and racist attitudes exist between or within cultural groups (Hadjitheodoulou-Loizidou and Symeou, 2007).

This paper seeks to fill the gap in the existing literature, by exploring the experiences of Cypriot and non-Cypriot students in culturally diverse primary schools – that is schools that have a significant number of non-Cypriot students. Being a narrative inquiry, this study does not have a conventional theoretical framework. However, the concepts of cultural diversity and multiculturalism are core and predominant, thus the study will be drawing upon them (e.g. Banks and Banks, 1995; Cummins, 2000; Banks, 2009) and presenting the children's conceptualizations and understandings of these concepts. For the analysis of the data, a broadly interpretative stance, informed by post-modernism and post-structuralism, will be taken.

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