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

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PLANNING THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT OFTHE CLASSROOMThe messages that are communicatedthrough the physical environment of theschool and classroom are important. Theyare often the first messages that parentsand pupils receive in a school, and theyremain as a constant reminder of theperson’s place in the school. Interculturalclassrooms are characterised by learningenvironments that reflect and show pridein the language, ethnic and culturaldiversity that characterises Ireland. Theyshould provide a support for the positiveself-image of all students, irrespective oftheir ethnicity, as well as reinforcing thenormality of diversity for all children.Some of the key issues involved inplanning the physical environment of theclassroom are• representing diversity as a normal partof Irish life and human existence• ensuring that representations of minoritygroups do not focus on ‘spectacular’ or‘colourful’ events• ensuring that all students irrespective oftheir colour, religion, ethnic group, orability can feel at home and representedwithin the classroom.Some areas for attention include• classroom displays• textbooks and other resource materials• classroom behaviour and structures.Classroom displays should representdiversity in Ireland in a positive way.• Images displayed might includerepresentations of people from diverseethnic and cultural backgrounds.Sufficient images from minority ethnicgroups should be used to ensure that thedominance of the majority ethnic groupin images of Ireland in everyday life isbalanced. Care should be taken toensure that there are also balancedrepresentations of different age, gender,and social class and ability groups.• The images should be chosen to reflectaccurately people’s current daily lives inIreland, rather than focusing solely oncolourful events like feasts or festivals orover-relying on images from othercountries. This will help to overcomestereotypes.• Class displays might represent positiverole models drawn from the diverseethnic, cultural, gender, social class andability groups that make up Ireland.• Artwork and cultural displays, includingthe students’ own work, should bedrawn from a range of culturaltraditions.• Writing signs and notices in both Irishand English has long been commonpractice in many Irish schools.Expanding this practice to recognise theother languages of the school in this waywill be of value.• Signs, notices and announcementsshould reflect and affirm the languagediversity of the class and should supportthe needs of second language learners.As such, notices may be in a range oflanguages (Irish, English and, asappropriate, Cant/Gammon,Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian or Yoruba,for example).Choosing textbook and otherresource materialsThe influence of textbooks on studentattitudes is well documented. It has beenfound that the words and pictures not onlyexpress ideas-they are part of theeducational experience that shapes ideas.For example, how members of minoritygroups or women are treated in textbooksinfluences student attitudes and values.Favourable stories engender more positive38Intercultural Education in the Post-Primary School
CLASSROOM PLANNING 4attitudes; unfavourable stories engendermore negative attitudes. Bias in textbookscan be conveyed in a number of ways. Thefour most common forms of bias areinaccuracy, stereotyping, omissions anddistortions and biased language usage.Developing the ability to recognise bias is akey skill for helping students becomecritical readers for life. This skill should befostered not just in relation to readingtextbooks but also in relation to using theinternet, films, videos and other media.There are a growing number ofintercultural education packs available inIreland as well as resources in the relatedareas of human rights, conflict and peaceand development education. TheDevelopment Education Unit ofDevelopment Co-operation Ireland (Dept.of Foreign Affairs) produces an annualguide to available resources that may be ofuse to teachers. Pavee Point also produceslists of resources that promote equality anddiversity in schools. (See the resource listfor an extensive list of resources.)In many cases teachers do not need to lookbeyond their existing texts and curriculumdocuments to find the necessary resources.Where existing resources offer limitedopportunities to explore difference, topromote equality or to develop criticalthinking skills, this can, in itself be turnedinto a resource. Through questioning whatperspectives are missing and how the samematerial or event might be presented orviewed differently or though comparingtexts with other possible source materials,teachers can use limited material to developpupils’ capacity to think about the way inwhich information is presented to them.The following checklist will be of use inchoosing and using texts or resources foruse in the class. These issues apply equallyto fictional and factual resources. Forexample, questions regarding therepresentation of a diversity of ethnicgroups apply as much to an Englishlanguage reader as they do to a Geographytextbook.The resource should make realisticassumptions about the backgroundknowledge of the learners.• Does it choose examples, stories orillustrations, which are predominantlydrawn from one culture, or does it usestories, examples and illustrations thatmight be familiar to different groups ofchildren from their home life?• If the material is biased, how can theteacher mediate this to bridge the gapbetween the starting point of the pupiland that of the resource?The resource should realistically andpositively reflect a diversity of ethnicgroups in its text, illustrations andexercises.• Are there sufficient representations ofmembers of minority ethnic groups usedto ensure that the dominance of themajority ethnic group in images ofIreland in everyday life is balanced?• Are the images chosen to reflectaccurately people’s current daily lives?• Are minority ethnic groups or peoplefrom other countries represented instereotypical ways (for example, areAfricans largely depicted as living inpoverty and in need of aid, are NativeAmericans depicted largely in terms offrontier wars and struggles, are membersof minority groups depicted largely interms of their feasts or festivals)?• Are particular groups represented onlyin terms of their membership of thatgroup (for example, are Travellersrepresented in ‘ordinary’ mathsquestions or stories, or do they onlyappear when minority issues are underdiscussion)?Intercultural Education in the Post-Primary School 39
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GLOSSARYPositive profilingA form of
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BIBLIOGRAPHYIreland, Department of
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CLASSROOM RESOURCES FOR INTERCULTUR
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CLASSROOM RESOURCES FOR INTERCULTUR
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NCCANational Council for Curriculum
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