Intercultural Education in the Post-Primary School - National Council ...

INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION IN THE POST-PRIMARY SCHOOL 2One of the specific aims of senior cycleeducation is to• educate for participative citizenship atlocal, national, European and globallevels.Intercultural education is one way that aschool can make provision for therealisation of these aims.It can also inform and support wholeschool development planning and it cancontribute to the development of a schoolculture that is open, positive, inclusive andsensitive to the needs of all students. Theseguidelines for post-primary schools mustbe seen in the context of a longer process.Guidelines have also been produced forprimary schools and it is hoped that bothsets of guidelines will support and buildupon each other providing teachers with acoherent and comprehensive menu of ideasfor incorporating an interculturalperspective across the student’s fulllearning experience.This chapter outlines some of thecharacteristics that underlie contemporarygood practice in the area of interculturaleducation.CHARACTERISTICS OF INTERCULTURALEDUCATIONThe following seven characteristics ofintercultural education are discussed in thischapter:• Intercultural education is for allchildren;• Intercultural education is embedded inknowledge and understanding, skills andcapacities, and attitudes and values;• Intercultural education is integrated withall subjects and with the general life ofthe school;• Intercultural education requires a realworldfocus;• Language is central to developingintercultural abilities and capacities;• Intercultural education takes time;• The school as a model of good practice.Intercultural education is for allIntercultural education is based on thegeneral aim of enabling the student todevelop as a social being throughrespecting and co-operating with others,thus contributing to the good of society.Intercultural education is beneficial to allthe students in our schools, irrespective oftheir skin colour or ethnicity, since allstudents need to learn how to live withinand contribute to the evolution of ourgrowing multicultural society.As the Rampton Report in the UK hasstated:A ‘good’ education cannot be basedon one culture only, and … whereethnic minorities form a permanent andintegral part of the population, we do notbelieve that education should seek to ironout the differences between cultures,nor attempt to draw everyone into thedominant culture.All students have a culture and ethnicity.Learning to value their own culture andethnicity is central to their self-esteem andsense of identity. Intercultural educationfacilitates all students in coming to valuetheir own heritage and the heritage ofothers.Intercultural education has many benefits:• It encourages curiosity about culturaland social difference.• It helps to develop and supportyoung people’s imagination bynormalising difference.Intercultural Education in the Post-Primary School 15