1. “Education and Cultural Diversity in Europe: John Dewey’s Legacy”
Dr. TAMAR SHUALI TRACHTENBERG
Universidad Católica de Valencia ‘San Vicente Mártir’
Valencia - Spain
RATIONALE:
Theories of Multicultural and Intercultural Education are considered as recent contributions to – and of – the modern philosophy and practice of education.
A closer study of JOHN DEWEY’S work provides us with the following evidence:
Much of the concepts that now conform the basics of both multicultural and intercultural education are already present in DEWEY’s thought.
AIMS OF THE STUDDY:
This study suggests that DEWEY’S observations regarding the goals of education in plural societies, i.e.
Pursuing equality
Seeking social change
Recognizing cultural diversity
Enhancing participation
are embedded in the theoretical constructions of both multicultural and intercultural education
METODOLOGY:
This paper is based on a comparative study of JOHN DEWEY’S early works and the most prominent literature in the field of multicultural and intercultural education, i.e.:
BANKS, J (1989)
ABDALLAH-PRETCEILLE (2001)
AGUADO (2003)
MODOOD (2006)
also:
UNESCO (2006)
COUNCIL OF EUROPE (1996)
DEWEY´S PEDAGOGIC
CREED:
I. Principle of equality
I.1. DEWEY encourages individuality – as opposed to individualism – and aims at achieving equality.
Individuality means recognition of the uniqueness of each human being.
I.2. “In order to have a large number of values in common, all the members of the group must have an equable opportunity to receive and to take from others. There must be a large variety of shared undertakings and experiences. Otherwise, the influences which educate some into masters, educate others into slaves.” (DEWEY, 1916)
II. Education as an agent for social change and justice
II.1. “Education is the fundamental method of social progress and reform.” (DEWEY, 1897)
II.2. “I believe that the individual who is to be educated is a social individual and that society is an organic union of individuals. If we eliminate the social factor from the child we are left with the abstraction, if we eliminate the individual factor from society, we are left only with an inert and lifeless mass.” (DEWEY, 1897)
III. Recognizing cultural diversity
The curriculum should be based on a “common intelligence” (DEWEY, 1916), by means of a process of continuous dialogue between the different members of society, in order to convert it into a community.
IV. Participation
IV.1. DEWEY considers democratic society that one “which makes provision for participation in its good of all its members on equal terms, and which secures flexible readjustment of its institutions through interaction of the different forms of associated life.” (DEWEY, 1916)
IV.2. DEWEY’s two defining elements of a democratic society:
a) “the extent in which the interests of a group are shared by all its members” and
b) “the fullness and freedom with which it interacts with other groups.”
IV.3. On the contrary, an undesirable society is that one “which internally and externally sets up barriers to free intercourse and communication of experience.” (DEWEY, 1916).
MULTICULTURAL &
INTERCULTURAL
EDUCATION:
I. Principle of equality
I.1. Intercultural education scholars (ABDALLAH-PRETCEILLE, 2001; AGUADO, 2003; MODOOD, 2006) sustain that education should avoid “forcing” individuals to choose an affiliation to only one of his/her communities of reference; instead, propose an approach that would allow individuals to feel part of society without renouncing to any of his/her affiliations – to his/her plural identity.
I.2. BANKS states that multicultural education should be “[a] total school reform designed to increase educational equality” (BANKS, 1989).
II. Education as an agent for social change and justice
II.1. Multicultural education seeks goals that “can never be fully attained” and which, therefore, require that “we should work continually to increase educational equality for all students” (BANKS, 1989).
II.2. “… all students – regardless of their gender and social class and their ethnic, racial, or cultural characteristics – should have equal opportunity to learn in school” (BANKS, 1989).
III. Recognizing cultural diversity
III.1. Intercultural education “aims to go beyond passive coexistence, to achieve a developing and sustainable way of living together in multicultural societies through the creation of understanding of, respect for and dialogue between the different cultural groups.” (UNESCO, 2006).
III.2.“[T]he solution to further integration lies on widening and adapting the national culture to include the relevant minority ones, not on rejecting or ignoring them.” (MODOOD, 2006).
IV. Participation
IV.1. Multiculturalism, properly construed implies that “participation in the public or national culture is necessary for the effective exercise of citizenship” (MODOOD, 2006).
IV.2.“Intercultural education provides every learner with the cultural knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to achieve active and full participation in society.” (UNESCO, 2006).