European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

220 EUROPEAN IDENTITY. INDIVIDUAL, GROUP AND SOCIETYThere was no evidence they had the resources to incorporate theseconflicts into a wider framework re-constructing themselves asEuropeans. Was this a product of their very concrete experiences? Or,was this a product of European identities not being fostered in thesocial practices of the schools they attend? These are issues that needto be addressed in further research.The common assumption that the desire of all the children is to fit incannot be taken for granted. The cultural models of developmentunderlying this assumption need to be examined. A key question thatteachers and curriculum developers need to address is the extent towhich this model is a result of mainstream practices (see also Campbell,2000). The place of Portuguese language and culture in the officialcurriculum is one of such issues. Why do Portuguese students havevery limited opportunities to study the Portuguese language as part oftheir “normal schooling”? Why do schools that have on roll asubstantial proportion of Portuguese students (e.g. 20 %) not providesupport in their first language? 8One key implication of the above is that teacher-training programmesneed to address the impact of cultural diversity in the developmentof cultural identities in the context of schooling. Both initial and inservicetraining need to develop multi-cultural competence andawareness in teachers. In addition, for the case of the Portuguese inEngland, issues related to valorisation and opportunities to developadvanced competencies in their language and culture need to beaddressed. This could be addressed in various fronts, such as the curriculum,in-set training for teachers and community-school relationships.ReferencesABREU, G. d. (2002) Towards a cultural psychology perspective on transitions inmathematical learning. In G. d. Abreu, A. Bishop, & N. Presmeg (Eds.),Transitions between contexts of mathematical practices. Dordrecht: Kluwer.ABREU, G., SILVA, T., & LAMBERT, H. (2001a) From crying to controlling: howPortuguese girls adapted to schooling in England. Paper presented at theWorking conference: Portuguese children in British schools, University ofLuton.8This support has been provided by the Department of Basic Education Portugal forthe last 25 years. However, the programme only runs in certain areas of the country andas an after school option. This creates a sense of separation. Furthermore, theprogramme faces enormous challenges due to financial constraints.