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

SIMILARITY AND DIFFERENCEAll education recognises the uniqueness ofindividuals, in terms of their own personalhistory, experiences, wants and needs. Partof our uniqueness is that we are allmembers of particular social groups, whichmeans that we share some experiences,wants and needs with other members ofthose groups. Different cultural, languageor ethnic groups often have diverseexperiences and needs. A fair society is onethat can cater for both people’sindividuality and their shared identities.As the Commission on the Future ofMulti-Ethnic Britain (The Parekh Report)has noted:Since citizens have different needs, equaltreatment requires full account to be takenof their differences. When equality ignoresrelevant differences and insists onuniformity of treatment, it leads toinjustice and inequality; when differencesignore the demands of equality, thatresults in discrimination. Equality must bedefined in a culturally sensitive way andapplied in a discriminating but notdiscriminatory manner.Culture does not define us or determine us.Within the white Irish settled populationthere is a great deal of diversity of values,beliefs and ways of life. Other ethnic andnational groups also display a great deal ofdiversity. Recognising this is important inovercoming stereotyping.A person is not simply defined by oneaspect of their lives. People’s identities arecomplex and made up of many layers. Aperson can be at the same time, a mother, aTraveller, a childcare worker, an artist, asister, an Irish person, a fan of ‘anyone butManchester United’. Usually we havesomething in common with members ofother groups and should therefore be ableto relate to and empathise with them. Suchfactors need to be explored, in order tobreak down the limiting and stereotypingof people that can take place.For young children, an awareness thathumanity contains great diversity and thatthere is no one way of life that is ‘normal’will be developed through their explorationof the world around them, and throughtheir being exposed to a rich and diversemix of images and cultural artefacts. Aschildren progress through school they willbecome increasingly aware of the variouscultures that have contributed to Irishnessthrough their influence on our arts in bothIrish and English (and the interfacebetween the two), our values, ourmathematics, our technology and on theways in which we benefit from the interpenetrationof cultures.It the early stages of primary schoolchildren can come to realise the ways inwhich images and accounts are framed.During their progress through postprimaryschool this awareness can bedeveloped by enabling them to develop acritical capacity, to recognise bias andstereotyping in text and images and growto understand its effects in shapingattitudes and behaviour.54Intercultural Education in the Post-Primary School