Cultural sensitivity: American and British teacher trainees compared ‐ a response to Thomas Deering

How effectively are teacher trainees prepared for teaching ethnic minority pupils? What part does practical teaching experience play in developing the cultural sensitivity of trainees? Do American and British trainees differ in their levels of cultural sensitivity and, if so, what are the causal factors involved? This article is a critical response to Deering, who has identified these as his research questions. While welcoming the attention given to an important subject, we question the appropriateness of Deering's research procedure and challenge his interpretation and discussion of the findings.     

Deliberative theory and the legitimacy of Islamic influence in the British education system

Abstract

This article argues that deliberative theory provides an important contribution in the debate about the legitimacy of an Islamic influence within the British education system. The contribution is a timely one, in light of the tendency to view issues involving Islam and Muslims through the distorting prism of Islamophobia. The contribution of deliberative theory is developed and explained through a constructive comparison with two positions within debates about the legitimacy of religion and the accommodation of minority claims within education: ethical liberalism and ethical pluralism.     

Three educational values for a multicultural society: Difference recognition,national cohesion and equality

Educational aims for societies comprising multiple ethnic, cultural and racial groups should involve three different values—recognizing difference, national cohesion and equality. Recognition of difference acknowledges and respects ethnocultural identities and in educational contexts also encourages mutual engagement across difference. National cohesion involves teaching a sense of civic attachment to a nation and to one’s fellow citizens of different groups and identities. ‘Multiculturalism’ has traditionally been understood to support the first value but not as much the second, a charge made by ‘interculturalism,’ a newer idea in Europe and francophone Canada. But Tariq Modood, this year’s Kohlberg Memorial Lecturer, has argued that national integration has always been a goal of multiculturalism. However, neither multiculturalism nor interculturalism has placed sufficient emphasis on equality as a social and educational ideal. Equality is a complex idea that involves both equal treatment by teachers of students from different groups, and also relative equal student outcomes among different groups.     

后现代、全球化与多元文化

后现代主义是现代社会在思维方式上的一次根本性转型。以多元和差异为精髓的后现代主义思想理所当然地成为多元文化的认识论渊源和基本价值基础。多元文化的冲突、交流和融合,导致文化的不断创新,促进了人类文明的发展。在全球化的背景下发展多元文化,需要正确解决文化全球化与多元文化的悖论,做到“和而不同”。     

The vortex of multiculturalism in South Korea: a critical discourse analysis of the characterization of “multicultural children” in three newspapers

This study investigates how multicultural children have been portrayed by the Korean media, where the term is typically used to mean a child of an underprivileged Korean man and a female marriage migrant from a less industrialized neighboring country. Adopting the theoretical lens of critical discourse analysis, I examine news articles published from 2009 to 2013 in the Hankyoreh, the Hankook Ilbo, and the Chosun Ilbo: three daily newspapers representing a full range of progressive, moderate, and conservative political perspectives within society. Analysis reveals that multicultural children have been characterized as a marginalized group, as a threat to the future Korean society, or as global human resources. Given that these discourses are manifestations of underlying ideology, I also explore how these three discourses are conjoined with three competing ideologies in Korea; namely, democracy, nationalism, and neoliberalism. This study concludes by discussing how multiculturalism serves as a discursive framework through which democratic, nationalist, and neoliberal ideas gain their effectiveness.     

全球化时代背景下多元文化教育的内涵与中国特色

在很多西方国家,多元文化主义公共政策领域的重要话语,对教育领域的影响尤其深远,但这种理念也始终面临各种价值争议与实践困惑。所以,在借鉴西方经验的过程中,中国学者必须始终坚持批判与自省的立场,深入探讨多元文化教育的中国意义与中国问题。本文认为,多元文化主义的理论精髓在于强调文化的多样性、动态性与协商性,这一观点提示人们在追求公平与正义的道路上重新审视主流文化与非主流文化之间的关系。这种文化反思不仅为我国少数民族教育带来新的启示,也为中国社会现代化变革所带来的诸多问题开辟了更广阔、更深刻的理解角度。同时,多元文化主义还促使人们深入思考我国教育在西方文化帝国主义面前的立场与价值担当。     

当代西方教育与全球化理论研究评析

本文在全球化现象和全球化理论的背景下梳理教育与全球化理论的三种代表性观点,即拥抱全球化的教育全球化思想、倡导全球多元化的多元主义和辩证认识全球化的批判教育理论,对其关于教育与全球化的基本观点予以评析。     

Cultural Diversity and Civic Education: Two versions of the fragmentation objection

According to the 'fragmentation objection' to multiculturalism, practices of cultural recognition undermine political stability, and this counts as a reason to be sceptical about the public recognition of minority cultures, as well as about multiculturalism construed more broadly as a public policy. Civic education programmes, designed to promote autonomy, toleration and patriotism, have been justified as a corrective to the fragmentary tendencies of multiculturalism. This paper distinguishes between two versions of the fragmentation objection, in order to evaluate this particular justification of civic education. The cultural fragmentation version of the objection emphasises the importance of a common identity and a shared sense of belonging for political stability, whilst the value fragmentation version of the objection emphasises the importance of shared values for political stability. It is argued that neither version of the objection successfully demonstrates that multiculturalism is incompatible with political stability. However, narrow versions of each objection provide reasons to favour the promotion of toleration in public schooling, and reasons to be sceptical about the promotion of patriotism. Meanwhile, justifications of the cultivation of autonomy must appeal to values other than political stability.