European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

218 EUROPEAN IDENTITY. INDIVIDUAL, GROUP AND SOCIETYprocess of adaptation to culture in Britain entails alterations to one’ssocial and academic behaviour. It is however important to emphasisethat Sarah viewed these changes in identity crucially depending uponthe individual students need to fit in. The role that the host schoolcommunity may have had on the girls feeling the need to behave as ifthey need to fit in is absent from Sarah’s discourse. This view totallylegitimates the one-way adaptation. It is the newcomer that needs toadjust to the school. However, the Portuguese girls’ narratives suggestthat their experiences are a two-way process. As Carmo argued theywould like to see a bit more cultural awareness from the colleagues.Marion one of the school teachers who for some years has receivedseveral Portuguese students in her class, recognized this dual-processand used it as a strategy to help them feel accepted in the school.However, as we can see in the following extract she had concerns thather effort could be erased by the attitudes of her colleagues.They come in and they are just bombarded with just everythingand I think it’s er, it’s great if they make it each day to school. And Ithink with teachers you’ve got to be aware of this as well. Youknow, that it’s one step to have them in full school uniform forinstance. And then you don’t want other staff members saying,“why haven’t you got shoes on today?”, “why are you wearing yourtrainers?”. Whereas I know perfectly well that there’s a very goodreason for that. That perhaps they haven’t had time to sort it out. Ithink everyone has got to be very very … kind.Marion seemed to be aware that not recognizing the differenceand difficulties involved in the transitions between cultures couldindeed be the source of resistance for the girls’ adaptation. When sherefers to apparently banal things like the shoes one wares to go toschool, she is in fact showing a deep appreciation of differences in theway different cultural groups organise their practices. Using schooluniform is a taken for granted practice in England, but it is not in thecountry of origin of the children. This level of cultural awareness is justa starting point to enable the children to gradually make sense of theirnew school without the need to feel that their ways of doing things intheir previous community is inadequate.Development of cultural identities and the implications for teachertrainingIn sum, it is apparent that the adaptation of the Portuguesestudents to England significantly impacted on their sense of self and