Dialogues in and around Multicultural Schools 9783110933215, 9783484750296

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Beitrge zur Dialogforschung

Band 29

Herausgegeben von Franz Hundsnurscher und Edda Weigand

Dialogues in and around Multicultural Schools Edited by Wolfgang Herrlitz and Robert Maier

Max Niemeyer Verlag T%bingen 2005

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Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Bibliothek Die Deutsche Bibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet %ber http://dnb.ddb.de abrufbar. ISBN 3-484-75029-4

ISSN 0940-5992

2 Max Niemeyer Verlag GmbH, T%bingen 2005 http://www.niemeyer.de Das Werk einschließlich aller seiner Teile ist urheberrechtlich gesch%tzt. Jede Verwertung außerhalb der engen Grenzen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes ist ohne Zustimmung des Verlages unzulssig und strafbar. Das gilt insbesondere f%r Vervielfltigungen, :bersetzungen, Mikroverfilmungen und die Einspeicherung und Verarbeitung in elektronischen Systemen. Printed in Germany. Gedruckt auf alterungsbestndigem Papier. Satz: Petra Nesselaar Druck und Einband: Digital PS Druck AG, Birkach

Robert Maier The relevance of dialogue analysis in the study of multicultural schools ..................

Claudio Baraldi, Forms of communication in multicultural classrooms: A way of exploring dialogue

Willibrord de Graaf The dynamics of identity in multicultural schools......................................................

Rik Pinxten Dialogues and multiculturalism: Power and intercultural competencies ....................

Iris Andriessen and Karen Phalet Integration: The road to success in school? A study among minority youth in the Netherlands.......................................................................................................

Lawrence N. Berlin What else are students learning? A critical dialogue analysis of a multi-cultural classroom ............................................................................................

Anna Ciliberti and Laurie Anderson Metacommunication in classroom interaction............................................................

Feng-Bing and Shi-Xu The practice of relation-building by ethnic minority children: Investigation into how Chinese children in Northern Ireland deal with ethnic difference....................................................................................................................

José Antonio Flores Farfán Towards an intercultural dialogue in and around the school in Mexico: Problems, reflections and new perspectives ...............................................................

Ingrid Gogolin No penalty, but a …? – About monolingual teachers’ dialogues in multilingual classrooms ..................................................................................................................

N. Ivanova, E. Konevá, M. Lobas and I. Mnatsakanyan Adaptation of Caucasian children to multicultural Russian schools. An example from the Yaroslavl region...........................................................................................

Construction of knowledge in bilingual German-French history lessons: Interactive emergence of “common ground”......................................................

Rosa Pugliese “Constructing the other”: Discursive processes in academic and social labelling

Karl Rýdl Theory and practice of intercultural and multicultural education in the Czech Republic...............................................................................................................

Agnès van Zanten Political models and local practice: The production of ethnicity in the schools o the Parisian periphery ..........................................................................................

Edda Weigand Dialogue and teaching in multicultural settings...................................................

Ed Elbers, Maaike Hajer, Marina Jonkers and Joanneke Prenger Instructive dialogues: Participation in dyadic interactions in multicultural classrooms ...........................................................................................................

Mariëtte de Haan and Ed Elbers Collaboration patterns in a multi-ethnic classroom in the Netherlands: Differences in the reconstruction of institutional norms and ethnicity ................

Trees Pels Disengagement and teacher-student interactions in two Dutch multi-ethnic schools .................................................................................................................

Wolfgang Herrlitz Complex patterns in classroom discourse ...........................................................

List of Contributors ...................................................................................................

1. Introduction

There are many multicultural schools in Europe. More than 10% of the population is up of immigrants from non-western countries. In fact there are many more if we immigrants and migrants from other European countries are taken into account. Bec these populations have more children than the average population, the percentage of western schoolchildren is greater than 10%, and in some areas, because these popula tend to be concentrated, not to mention ‘segregated’, students who attend local schoo almost exclusively students from these immigrant populations. In the Netherlands example, the non-western migrants are mainly concentrated in the four big citi Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. Here about 50% of schoolchildre from non-western immigrant populations. In most countries, these children have a de educational disadvantage, even when compared with indigenous children wi comparable socio-economic background. As a result, the education of these childr schools is often considered to be problematic because the educational disadvantage interpreted as a sign that these populations are not well integrated in their host country. is one of the reasons why the issue of multicultural schools and the quality of these sc is high on the agenda in public and parliamentary debates. The concept of integration is often contested, with many interpretations and dilemm connotations. Even without starting a discussion on these interpretations and dilemmas in general considered to be evident that a ‘good’ education is positively relate integration. Therefore, many investigations and quantitative studies attempt to under the problems and difficulties children of immigrant populations encounter during schooling in the various host countries. The important questions are: Are there really educational disadvantages? What kind of particular difficulties do these children enco during their schooling? What is the quality of the interactions between teachers and children and between the various categories of children? This contribution is an attempt to answer the question as to how and in what dialogue analysis can make a contribution to the study of these questions. Dialogue ana is taken here to mean a rich family of methods and theories from the areas of lingui psychology and the social sciences, with the sub-disciplines of speech act th

productions (through interviews, in discussions on specific topics), dialogue analy it possible to produce data that can enrich our knowledge of multicultural Moreover, dialogue analysis makes it possible to investigate characteristics of mu schools which may help to answer the important questions formulated above. I first present one example in the justification of this thesis, and then con following points: context and identity, power constellations, co-construction of worldview of process and normative issues.

2. An example: Hennia

Hennia, a 12 year old Moroccan girl recently arrived at a multicultural school, wi reputation, with the following motivation: (extract from an interview with Hennia) to this school because at my last school there was nothing but fighting every day, h want to get my diploma.” In other words, she presents herself as being a motivated whose horizons go beyond very limited lower vocational training. Here is an extract from a general evaluation and grade-setting meeting hel teachers who teach Hennia’s class. These grade-setting meetings take place thre year, and the focus is mainly on students who are in what is referred to as the zone”, i.e. these students risk being oriented towards a low and rather practica further education. This meeting took place in April 2000, three months before th the school year. (Maier, in press).

E: I would like to discuss Hennia (others nod in agreement); Her comprehension is really afraid, really afraid that things won’t work out for her; she has low marks, and she has in her reading list yet. M: We’ll have to find something for her; maybe she should take an extra teaching, to put he P: I’m worried more about her behaviour in the future; all it takes is for just one sma happen and she gets really angry; she might soon end up beating up one of the boys, M Assad or someone else; D: Yes, as happened a few days ago with Ionica when Maktoub made a remark about the Monica’s mother and Hennia got up to go and ...! M: I think Hennia’s a really smart girl; she has some original ideas and can express them w D: Yes, a small example on the blackboard, and she applied it immediately ...

Dr: She also sucks up to me; at the beginning of the year she said: “Miss, you are so beautiful don’t you have you hair done in a different way?, and ...similar remarks (the others laugh, not a beauty); P: She gets into conflict situations quickly ...

(Abbreviations used: E = English teacher, M = Mathematics teacher, P = Handicraft teacher Dutch teacher, B = Biology teacher, G = Gymnastics teacher, Dr = Drawing teacher)

This passage is a literal translation from the part of the discussion concerning Hennia. discussing other students in the ‘danger zone’, the English teacher starts the discu about Hennia. And after the remark made by the handicraft teacher, the discu immediately moves on to another student. Other fragments from or about Hennia:

(1) Hennia is one of six children in a single-parent Moroccan family; the father left the house ago, but there is still some contact with him; Hennia is neither the oldest nor the youngest six children; (2) Hennia (in an interview): “I came to this school, because at my last school I got into a fight day, here I just want to get my diploma...”

(3) Hennia says that she does her homework on her own, but sometimes other members of the f help her, her big friend is Patricia and also Nabila, Khadija, Hannan and Ouarda.

(4) Hennia (in an interview) says that she has an older girl friend, also a Moroccan who she ‘sister’ (but she is not a biological sister), who is very important to her;

(5) M ( mathematics teacher) about Hennia: (in an interview on interactions in the classroom): “ must pick up things from the class, there are some who do this better than others; Hennia d quite well, ... whereas Nouzha for example doesn’t seem to learn anything from class discus ....

(6) M in comments on a video taken of the mathematics lesson just after the lesson has ende Fabienne participates quite well, better than she does in her other work, you never hear other Edith, Nirmala and Jeroen, how do they work? Hennia can be a nuisance at times. You ca her sometimes what’s happening, and she replies “Oh, I forgot already”, apparently ther category of girls with their hands in the air for no apparent reason.”

as interpersonal, social and physical context because dialogue analysis provides su to explore the co-text and the various aspects of the setting and of the interpers social context. The example regarding Hennia shows that the discussion in the grad meeting not only refers to Hennia as she is perceived by the various teachers, b first of all to supplementary teaching, such as a particular opportunity for suppl teaching. In general, this meeting discusses the perspectives of a number of students, and above all, of the students in the so-called ‘danger-zone’. In other pertains to school results and there are comments made by teachers referring to t schooling potential of the students. Only two other aspects of the opportunities o dialogue analysis will be discussed here as typical examples: Firstly, through the a the “voices” (Wertsch, 1993) and of “intertextuality” (with the help of discourse see Fairclough, 1995) dialogue analysis can transcend the limits of the school se bring other ‘discourses’ and ‘situations’, such as community, family or friends picture. The consequences of this are very important because answers to the cannot be found exclusively “inside” the school. For example, in an interesting st (2000) interviewed successful students with a non-western migration background. astonishing result of this study was that the successful students had been syste supported by an older sibling or friend, and also by the pedagogical attitude of t and the community. This example already shows that dialogue analysis allows o beyond the context of the school as a field or social context; and it is the school most of the traditional pedagogical researchers limit themselves, as if this field h degree of autonomy, and as if the gathering of data (in the school) does not analysis of the data in terms of what is happening outside the school. Dialogue analysis can, secondly, help to uncover the characteristics of the discourse about multicultural schools, in other words it can draw attention to th the terms, the issues and the questions that are considered relevant and important and political debates on multicultural schools; and it can also show how these terms and questions enter into discussions within the school and the classro structure the daily preoccupations of teachers and students. Indeed, there are in ea collective or country debates about the relevant or ‘just’ concept of the mu society. For example, the focus in the Netherlands has, for two years, centred in on the ‘difficulties’ and the ‘problems’ of newcomers (and in particular on th results of their children), stimulated by public debate, and by so-called ‘scientifi with ‘alarming’ results, but also by political movements and popular respons

perceived and becomes an object of pedagogical or didactic intervention. Moreover, dialogue analysis has developed subtle methods to analyse the identiti the participants in interactions (Antaki and Widdicombe, 1998, Maier, 2000). This is a pertinent possibility offered by dialogue analysis because these methods allow on investigate the identity of the participants, whether they are attributed and/or ado formed and reconstructed by students and teachers, by the analysis of the different as and characteristics of dialogues and contexts of dialogue.

4. Power constellations

All social and interpersonal interactions, including interactions in and around school place in fields of power or constellations of power. A constellation of power is a netwo a variety of different forms of power, and constitutes a dynamic context of interactions forms of power can be independent of individuals (such as wealth) or be specific hu competencies, such as the ability to argue. The constellations of power form the conte interactions between individuals and groups with specific social, cultural and psycholo identities (Maier, 1996). The constellation of power can be conceived, on the one hand system with some structural properties, but, on the other hand, as power is always a c of action and transformation, the constellations of power can never be completely s and therefore they will have to be conceived of as sets of processes. Power does not exist in isolation, and a field theory of power is called for. Power c defined as an action on an action, in other words, by the ways in which actions ca influenced by other actions; for example, by restraining an action, by accelerating action, by making the action change direction or by combining initially separate ac There are various concrete forms of power, such as power through the exercise of phy force, power as a sanction, power as status, power as charisma, or argumentative po Moreover, these different forms of power have a variety of properties, such as the do of power, the intensity of power, the cost of the exercise of power, etc. In the example of Hennia, some forms of power are quite evident. The teachers d on supplementary measures, such as remedial teaching, and they have the power to d what shape and form the further education of Hennia should take. However, there are

teachers actually defend Hennia against the English teacher as far as her compete concerned without directly rejecting this teacher’s remarks. Dialogue analysis has elaborated many specific methods for analyzing power and therefore provides extremely useful instruments when attempting to un interactions in and around multicultural schools, because it is evident that understanding of the power constellations is essential when trying to answer th problems and questions concerning multicultural schools. Because the analysis constellations is something that has only been recently developed some further rem called for. I would like to show here that the use of power will transform the socia and, in the case of individuals, the personal identity of the parties, and, therefore aspect with the possibility of analyzing the forms of identity discussed above. Ide be defined as dynamic, with social, cultural and even psychological aspects, invol identification and categorizations, with the help of discourses. My thesis is that d process of interaction, the (potential) power play will reproduce and also trans social, cultural and personal aspects of identity. Let me take negotiation as an example, which is relevant here because the exam can be understood as a discussion that involves negotiating characteristics, elab more detail in Maier (2001). During negotiations, the parties involved (as individ representatives of organizations or states) will at least specify their reciprocal ap players using (potential) power. In other words, the parties will categorize each elaborating discourses, and at the same time change their own self-identifica reaction to the categorizations imposed by other parties. Moreover, in situatio there is effective use of power, the necessity to replace the means of power from o or another will entail a somewhat detailed self-analysis. This self-analysis presuppose self-awareness, but it involves at least an internal transformation individual, the group, or the community) because the initial arrangement of the pa be altered in order to secure the replacement of the means of power already use individual, for example, this may involve new training, to enter into new coal looking for new areas of activity. For groups and communities, it can be ach raising new taxes or trying to find new partners with their own means of power. analysis and transformation will have consequences for self-identification and, as consequence, for the categorizations of the other parties. In the case of longer negotiations with phases of escalation and possible f debates, the transformations of the social, cultural and psychological identities of t

psychological aspects of their identity, and on the processes of self-identification categorization through discourses.

7. Co-construction of meaning

Dialogue analysis offers many instruments for analysing how a co-construction of mea takes place during interactions, and the many things that can go wrong during interactions, such as misunderstandings or loss of face. These possibilities presente dialogue analysis are well known, and as there are many publications on this subject, limit myself here to pointing out an instance of co-construction of meaning in the exa of Hennia. The handicraft teacher remarks that she is more worried about Hennia’s behav because she all too readily “gets really angry”; (is this also an implicit rejection o English teacher’s assessment?). The illustrations offered by this particular teacher an another one show that Hennia defended herself and a girl friend against sexist jokes by Moroccan and Dutch boys. We do not know if there are any similar examples of th whether, in general, Hennia’s reputation is that she ‘gets angry all too readily’. Durin discussion in the evaluation meeting these questions were not explored at all. In words, the real meanings of the remarks made by these two teachers were accepted at value. As we do not have a detailed psychological profile of Hennia, we can only spec about the meaning of her behaviour. Hennia has chosen this school because she wan get a diploma and she wants to avoid getting into a fight all the time. In other words seems motivated and she has made choices, and, therefore, she can be considered to be integrated in the school community. As these choices had to be supported by her paren can be assumed that her family culture is at least not characterised by clear separatio attitude which some migrants adopt in their private sphere. Hennia told us that she doe homework on her own, but sometimes other members of her family help her, which s to confirm the preceding conjecture. Moreover, in addition to having Moroccan friend also has a Dutch girl friend. In the last part of the discussion on Hennia, other points concerning Hennia are ra If these remarks are glossed over at a superficial level then they simply serve to pro

Before saying more about this, let me underline here that during this ph teacher’s interpretation of Hennia’s behaviour is politely but definitely reje corrected. One teacher thinks that Hennia feels quickly discriminated against, and an example. This assessment is subtly rejected by two other teachers. These two are convinced that Hennia jokes and teases, and that the illustration offered by on can be understood in the same way. However, the question that should be aske whether another remark made by the mathematics teacher about Hennia should interpreted in this way. Indeed, this teacher (in a simulated recall interview imm after one lesson) said that Hennia can sometimes put her hand in the air (popular ‘hold up one’s finger’) in order to get the attention of the teacher, but after some ti asked what she wants, she replies: “Oh, I forgot already”. This expression coul interpreted as being teasing because sometimes students put their hand in the air f long time before getting any attention from the teacher. Hennia appears to enter quite regularly into explorative, joking interactions wi teachers, by teasing them or by admitting that it was “just a joke”. This kind of b on Hennia’s part could be interpreted as a manifestation of her attempts to explore the possibilities and constraints of norms and values governing interactions wi teachers, and more generally with others in the Dutch multicultural socie interpretation would not only be in line with the interpretation of Hennia’s denoting a definite and active form of exploring ‘integrative’ types of interaction with the opportunities explicitly offered by the school, as a protected place for exp multicultural society of the Netherlands.

8. Worldview of process

Dialogue analysis favours a worldview of process, without excluding refer structural aspects. A worldview is a more or less systematic system of beliefs a questions such as: ‘what does exist?’, ‘with what kind of characteristics?’ And in the questions: ‘what is the world, what are humans, etc?’, and also: ‘What should A worldview of process supposes that the world consists of events or ha comprised of other events, with the characteristics of emergence and novelty, an

certain extent connected to other processes, for example through interventions. An ethical view belongs to this worldview, affirming that virtue is more complexity, novelty in the form of new connections and new processes. In the case of multicultural schools, a process view will stimulate the exploratio unsuspected connections – inside or outside the school – or of new (sub)processes su new insights, or new, meanings will be developed, such as the question ‘what are Hen real potentials and possibilities, as explained in the preceding point.

9. Normative issues

Normative issues in the case of multicultural schools raise questions concerning the qu of the interactions between teachers and different categories of students and also bet these different students. In particular, questions of open or subtle forms of discrimin will be given attention. Many investigations have shown that only in exceptional cas open forms of discrimination or racism occur in Dutch schools. This initial negative result is encouraging to some extent, but it also means that on to look for more subtle forms of discriminatory effects construed during the various of interactions that have been recorded and analysed. And if it were possible to ide such indirect discriminatory characteristics, then it would be much more difficu formula te perspectives of intervention on these subtle points. The example used here, the discussion concerning Hennia, was based on the reco of a grade-setting and evaluation meeting between teachers of one particular class an some additional data concerning Hennia provided either by herself or by the maths tea Hennia appeared to be in the ‘danger zone’, which meant that she might be advised to in lower vocational training in the future. In this discussion, the teachers seem to foll standard format, based on the identification of a problem, some background inform followed by a tentative solution. But this format does not really seem to fit very w Hennia’s case. First of all, two important teachers (the maths teacher and the Dutch tea consider Hennia to be smart and original, she is said to have good language skills, a that conflicts with the ideas of the English teacher, but does not exclude the possibility she is ‘weak’ in English. Moreover, all the other points made by the teachers that pro

attempting to find ways to function in a chosen world of multicultural interactio certainly not a girl who reproduces fixed ethnic and cultural values. And such a also involve numerous conflicts, dilemmas and misunderstandings for Hennia he also for the different interaction partners she encounters (Maier, 2000). The main problem seems to be that the teachers (at least in the discussions d meeting that was analysed, and in the further remarks made by the maths teache take into account the specific choices, actions, bids and problems Hennia is fa school assessment was apparently constructed along the lines of a standard Dutch And it is precisely this inability or lack of openness on the part of at least som teachers that can have exclusionary effects. Indeed, Hennia appears to be an example of a girl who is exploring a transcul of development (Davidson, 1996). All her bids and problems are severely miscons misinterpreted when one attempts to understand Hennia in the context of the Dutch format in terms of the intellectual and social development of the students words, with mono-cultural presuppositions that some teachers appear to use. In personal history is, in principle, well known, but in the discussion among the teach of them seem to ignore this background completely, while, without explicit r avoiding conflict with colleagues, others clearly give some space to Hennia’s background and her explorative behaviour. If no single teacher had defended knows whether the result would not have been a subtle form of discrimination Hennia.

10. Concluding remarks

To summarise, dialogue analysis has much to offer and to contribute tow investigation of the important questions about multicultural schools formulate introduction. There are many methods of dialogue analysis which facilitate the p of new data, but dialogue analysis also offers a theoretical outlook, that makes it p explore the various aspects of the context, of the identity of the participants, of t constellations and of the procedures to provide new meanings in interactions. M dialogue analysis is related to a philosophical perspective by favouring a worl

All this is certainly very interesting, but one should not conclude from this overview dialogue analysis can, on its own, answer all the questions raised by multicultural sch Some modesty is advisable. Indeed, large quantitative surveys will always be necessa order to obtain a good overview, and other methods, such as ethnographic observation also specific questionnaires should not be discarded. In this contribution, I have attem to indicate that dialogue analysis can and should contribute to the investigatio multicultural schools, and I hope that with the help of the illustrations used I was ab outline these opportunities. In this presentation, the potentials of dialogue analysis have been presented, u several headings, such as context, identity and power constellations. This was conve for the presentation, but it should be evident by now that these distinctions are r artificial. Looking back, one could say that dialogue analysis, conceived a interdisciplinary enterprise, enables the study of meaningful interactions in social organizational contexts, with the help of various methods and a theoretical world permitting the study of normative issues. Indeed, the interactions are situated in p constellations, and through these interactions the construction and transformatio meanings among the participants with their identities take place.

Crul, M. (2000): De sleutel tot success. Over hulp, keuzes en kansen in de schoolloop Turkse en Marokkaanse jongeren van de tweede generatie. − Amsterdam: Het Spinhuis. Davidson, A. (1996): Making and Molding Identity in Schools. Student Narratives on Rac and Academic engagement.− Albany: State University of New York Press. Fairclough, N. (1995): Critical Discourse Analysis. − Harlow: Longman Group Limited. Maier, R. (1996): Forms of identity and argumentation. − Journal for the theory of social 26, 1, 35−50. − (2000): Du Sujet vers les dynamiques d’identités. Pour une approche théorique adaptée multiculturelles. − In: A. Braconnier, (ed.): Différences ...indifférence. Actes du XVIe C l’Association des Psychologues Scolaires, 129−136. Champigneulles: HILT publication − (2001) Negotiation and Identity. − In: E. Weigand, M. Dascal (eds.): Negotiation a 225−237. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. − (in press): Dialogues and exclusion in multicultural schools. − In: K. Aijmer (ed.): Analysis. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Wertsch, J. (1993): Voices of the Mind: A sociocultural approach to mediated action Harvard University Press.

1. Introduction

This paper aims at illustrating a theoretical approach which can be used to ex interventions in multicultural classrooms and to do research in this field. This appr primarily derives from the combination of a social system theory (Luhmann 1984) a communication theory (Pearce 1989). In the next sections, I will present the main con included in this approach. In doing this, I will also try to clarify how the conce “dialogue” can be included in it.

2. Forms of communication

According to the social systems theory, communication is the primary social oper (Luhmann 1984, 1986a). A communication is given by the unity of an action an understanding, which together create information as a socially constructed mea Communication is reproduced in a continuous process, which generates system communications. Each of these systems has its own structure, which can be seen as a of communication (Baraldi 1999, 2003). A form of communication is a combination of structural components, orienti communication process. The three main components of a form of communication are:

( i) The basic distinction producing the meanings of information: for example, right and w truth and falsity, better and worse, us and them, and so on. Each of these distinction code (Luhmann 1986b) for a communication process, which creates the symbols embo the meanings of information. ( ii) The ways in which participants are considered in communication processes, specificall as assuming generalised roles, created for specific social functions; (b) as members specific social group generated by an Us/Them distinction; (c) as specified persons, u and autonomous from social roles or group membership. (iii) The forms of expectations about participants’ actions; these expectations can be

These structural components are the basis for other, secondary, components in a communication: (a) the ways of participants’ selections, which can be considered responsible actions or experiences of external selections, (b) the expectations abo consequences in terms of possible participants’ damages, considered as either risks or experienced dangers, (c) the symbolisation of participants’ bodies. The relationships among these components create the cultural orientations of communi

3. Education

The existing forms of communication have been historically created and their variation depends on the variation of the structure of society. We can interpret the of the contemporary European society as functional differentiation (Luhmann/D 1992). In a functionally differentiated society, each of the most important comm systems has a specific function. Among the functionally differentiated comm systems we can include politics, economy, law, religion, science, families, mass m education. Each of these systems has an essential function in the global society. In this essay, I am interested in the specific function of education, which deri the way of inclusion of individuals in society (Baraldi 2001). In a fun differentiated society, individuals have the normal status of autonomous persons, c in making their own responsible choices and in assuming different roles. In order the social conditions for this autonomous and responsible personal compe communication system specialised in personality formation is needed. This sys transform an incomplete and unskilled child in a complete and skilled person. This asks for specific organisations (schools and classrooms) and specific roles (teac students). The peculiarities of the educational function derive from an important assumpt children: children are considered as not complete persons, that is, not co responsible and autonomous persons as adults are. In consequence of this, children included in a formation process in order to create their autonomy, competence and responsibility.

as performance (code); (b) an orientation to specific roles (teachers and students), standardising the performanc participants; (c) a primary cognitive form of expectations, concerning children’s adaptation to tea perspectives (learning); (d) a secondary normative form of expectations, concerning confirmation of social rules a children.

Starting from this cultural form, in the last three decades, education has increas included a particular consideration for children as persons, in order both to am children’s ability to express themselves and to help children in their understandin personal needs and identities. In this way, expectations of children’s self-expression been included in many educational forms of communication. A remarkable consequence of this evolution is that communication has shifted towa more radical orientation to children’s persons and sometimes has assumed a new which I will call testimonial form (Baraldi 2003). Testimonial form is coherent with a culture of childhood, developed in the last decade, renouncing to the idea of chi incomplete person and observing children as competent and autonomous persons in s participation (Corsaro 1997; James et. Al. 1998; James/Prout 1998; Maggioni,/Ba 1997). This change of perspective is not evident in most social practices, but intere experiments in promoting children’s social participation are gaining more and more su in European society (Baraldi 2002, Christensen/O’Brien 2002; Maggioni/Baraldi 1999)

4. Intercultural communication

During the last three centuries, the structure of functional differentiation has expanded Europe to the whole world, creating the social conditions for the phenomenon gene known as “globalisation” (Robertson 1992): in fact, we can observe strongly incre global meanings of economical, political, scientific, juridical, mass media, educationa family communication processes. This globalisation of functional differentiation has produced tensions and oscillatio the relationships with different societal structures. These relationships between diff

accepted by all the participants. Communication can be considered intercultu different participants either understand or accept different sets of symbols. Cons the term “intercultural” indicates a problem in communication: it is oriented by a d among positive values and not by a single positive value, opposed to a negati There is a problem of understanding when this difference concerns linguistic From a sociological perspective, there is a much more meaningful problem of ac when the difference concerns codes, ways of considering participants, f expectations, which are not accepted by all the participants. Intercultural communication can be oriented by a gender difference, a g difference, an ethnic difference, a linguistic difference, and so on, creating problem of acceptance. Starting from similar cultural differences, communication can cont if a new cultural form can deal with them, generating new meanings for inf participants and expectations.

5. Forms of intercultural communication All forms of intercultural communication have three characteristics in common:

(a) the code includes a positive reference to an “Us”, symbolising a specific social cultural set of symbols, differentiated by other social groups or cultural sets of sym (b) participants are considered as members of either an Us (natives) or a Them (non na (c) this emphasises the normative dimension of their actions and experiences.

Historically, the first form of intercultural communication has been ethnocentris has the following features:

(a) the code is given by the difference between Us (positive value) and Them (negative (b) participants are considered members of a group, either Us or Them; (c) primary expectations are normative, concerning inclusion in Us and exclusio considered as inclusion in Them; (d) any relationship between Us and Them is considered dangerous.

relevant than normative expectations. The functionally differentiated society inspires a new observation of intercu communication, which gives particular value to the plurality of different perspectives trust in role performances in social relationships, the respect and confirmation for per expressions, and the primacy of cognitive (and affective) expectations. On one communication is considered “intercultural” when these cultural orientations are not e understood or accepted by some participants. On the other side, there is an intere “dialogue”, that is, in respect for participants’ expressions and in consideration for actions and experiences. In this societal context, a prevailing modernist form (Pearce 1989) explains divers terms of individual role performances based on personal skills. In this way, modernism to destroy the structure itself of cultural diversity, that is the primary relevance o positive value of an Us, of membership in a social group and of normative expectations Modernism is a cultural form which paradoxically denies the primacy of cu meanings. In this way, it asserts a mono-cultural value as orientation in intercu communication: the Us of modernists as performing and competent individuals. modernist perspective proposes the abandonment of all the cultural traditions and adaptation to this orientation, which is not considered as a mono-cultural perspective, b a universal value. In this way, modernism shows its blindness and, consequently reductionism in dealing with diversities. As a matter of fact, when faced with other perspectives, modernism is a for modernist ethnocentrism: it deals with cultural diversities through a combination of b request of learning and cultural adaptation, and an offer of typical rights and form tolerance. This combination is rooted in the European society’s values and differentiate Us of a functionally differentiated society from the Them of differently structured soci Though the traditional ethnocentrism is not disappeared from European society, at pr modernist ethnocentrism is much more widespread and successful, being coherent wi main values. While ethnocentrism denies the value of dialogue among different cultures, mode ethnocentrism links this dialogue to the acceptance of its mono-cultural prem considered as objectively universal values (for example, see Kymlicka 1995; Taylor 1 Traditional and modernist ethnocentrism are forms of intercultural communication w create a basic difference between an Us and a Them, that is in opposition to the positiv a negative Them. While traditional ethnocentrism is based on normative expecta

Definitely, this is not the case. In fact, alternatively to these forms, nowadays n of intercultural communication are emerging and trying to substitute ethnocentric f First, a cross-cultural form of communication aims at establishing intercultural as a primary form of communication. The term “cross-cultural” indicates that communication is reproduced “acros boundaries”, attempting “to open into each other”, to “co-penetrate” different cult achieving a fusion of different cultural symbols (Tang 1994: 87), through a cros adaptation (Kim 2001). A cross-cultural form of communication aims to create c for dialogue, through which each participant is able to “switch across differen conceptual schemes” (Tang 1994: 89). What, then, is the specific meaning of dial cross-cultural approach? First of all, dialogue requires the expression of difference (Todd 1994, 178) dialogue requires an interest for meeting, that is for “establishing a framework for openness to learn and create with each other” (Steier/Jorgenson 1994: 70). Finally, requires “intercultural learning”, that is, a mutual process through which each p learns from the others, not only practices and specific meanings, but above all the of symbols, the cultural forms of communication, and becomes able to create a ne with them (Duenas 1994). Through intercultural learning, each culture unders world by using the other cultures categories (Duenas 1994), assimilating their per (Todd 1994). A cross-cultural form of communication aims at establishing a “fusion of horiz cultural whole (Tang 1994: 89), a pattern of connection among different observation (Steier/Jorgenson 1994: 74), “new shared meanings” (Todd 1994: joint actions (Steier/Jorgenson 1994) which enable an effective communication (G 1994). In other words, a cross-cultural form of communication creates a new set of unifying or reducing the existing cultural differences. Consequently, the result o cultural form of communication is not diversity, but integration of diversities in whole. Paradoxically, “intercultural” communication disappears in a form which em cultural diversity: a successful cross-cultural communication is a mon communication. A cross-cultural form of communication is coded as a uniqu cultural Us (without any opposite value), based on cognitive expectations (r adaptation and learning).

“resolvable according to some shared criterion” (Pearce 1994: 54). Different cultures must be considered incommensurate in communication, as impossible to “translate” cultural basic symbols and values into others. Intercu communication can assume a new form only if it is possible to find ways of coordin participants “who do not and will never understand each other”, Pearce says (1994: 55 a matter of fact, the problem does not seem to be “understanding”, but a com acceptance of incommensurate sets of symbols. In these conditions, the problem is to achieve a coordination among incommens perspectives without denying their difference (Pearce 1989: 171), transformin coordination an unsatisfactory communication based on a conflict among different cu forms of coherence. Cosmopolitan communication tries to maintain a primary referen an Us and in the same time to create respect and acceptance for another Us. Differ from cross-cultural communication, a cosmopolitan form of communication avoid reduction of different cultural perspectives to a unique Us. Cosmopolitan communication makes use of intercultural learning, but it tries to avo paradox: it presupposes the ability of participant to understand and act using other cult categories, but it does not imply a shared construction. A cosmopolitan approach doe appreciate the construction of a unique set of symbols, but the maintenance of a diffe in constructing meanings. In this perspective, dialogue is respect for differences in cultural orientations, leadi coordination among them. Cosmopolitan perspective is not relativistic, as it is interest coordination, that is in finding social practices assuring the coexistence among cu orientations in communication. A cosmopolitan form of communication is coded a Us/Us difference (without a value of difference) and is based on cognitive and norm expectations (learning and respect for both Us).

6. Multicultural classrooms

In European functionally differentiated society, migration processes have created the s and cultural conditions for intercultural communication. Here, I am interested in meaning of these conditions and in probabilities of success of forms of intercu

system (the classroom), there are two different and simultaneous problems: (a) ac of personality formation and (b) acceptation of cultural differences. While education is the intentional cultural form, determined by the function, int communication is primarily an unwanted and uncontrolled process which unpredictable and risky socialisation results for students (and teachers as well). Int communication can easily weaken or destroy education, introducing orientatio have nothing to do with its modernist structure (value of performances, assum student roles, cognitive expectations). Consequently, education must necessaril account intercultural communication problems, in order to face this challenge. In a multicultural classroom, two different codes are coupled: (a) correct performances defining the meaning of education; (b) the specific code of int communication developing from the cultural difference. It is important to observe coupling is unavoidable, also when the cultural difference generating int communication is “simply” a gender difference. Obviously, problems dramatically when an ethnic difference creates the conditions for intercultural communication. In order to face this kind of problems, teachers often adopt a strict modernist ed perspective, promoting an unwanted development towards modernist ethno represented by an intentional effort to favour a cultural adaptation or adjustme members of cultural minorities. Modernist ethnocentrism is generally produced educational efforts, in the form of uncontrolled and unwanted effects. Take the following communication, observed during an interview to an Italian “Even if he is an Egyptian, he is a good boy”. The teacher’s intentions are to re encourage the Egyptian boy in a modernist form. However:

(a) the meanings of cultural differences are conveyed by a distinction between a p (good boys) and a negative Them (Egyptians); (b) participants are primarily considered as members of different cultural groups; (c) expectations are normative (to be “good boys” in the Italian meaning).

In this communication process, the teacher contributes to create an ethnocentric pe about the difference between Egyptians and Italian good boys. This is a result ro modernist comparison between values, roles and persons in a multicultural classr

_______ 1

In classrooms, it is also possible to observe forms of interpersonal communication among children, b consider here this point.

consequently it will split the Egyptian cultural group in integrated and deviant sub-gr reproducing and enforcing ethnocentrism in society. This form of intercultural communication has very few probabilities to be successf the construction of a multicultural society. For this purpose, it is necessary to fin alternative way of dealing with cultural difference in classrooms, in order to includ Egyptian children as both Egyptians and children in communication. The incre consciousness of this necessity has introduced efforts in an intentional orientatio intercultural communication in classrooms. Starting from this intention, in Italy, cross-cultural forms are becoming very popu schools which are interested in facing the problems of intercultural communica Examples of frequently practised cross-cultural forms in classrooms include narratio different cultural traditions, interventions of cultural “testimonies”, intercultural s performed by children supervised by teachers, experts or intercultural medi intercultural parties with ethnic music and dancing involving parents, initiatives invo parents in exchanges of food and traditional objects. These cross-cultural forms of communication try to promote intercultural lear starting from comparisons and meetings among cultures. However, intercultural lea requires particular communicative conditions, such as reciprocity in interaction construction of a joint cultural identity, balanced power and mutual respect (Duenas 1 Apart from the mutual respect, the other conditions are not probable in education sys in the educational interaction between teachers and students, it is impossible to c neither reciprocity and balanced power, as asymmetry is a necessary condition for teac nor the “cultural identity crisis” required for the construction of a joint cultural identi an educational mono-cultural identity is unavoidable. Consequently, in a functionally differentiated education system, it is impossible to c a real cross-cultural form of communication: education requires assimilation of childr its modernist structure. Without this assimilation, children fail in their career as stu (and probably of citizens). This explains why the boundaries between a cross-cultural and a modernist ethnocentrism (cultural adaptation) are not clear in the initiativ classrooms: the goal of these initiatives is to both integrate non native cultures, transform the native culture, in order to reach intercultural learning. The aim is to com the assimilation of minorities to roles and the acceptance of the majority of assimi minorities: a perfect example of modernist ethnocentrism, based on the open preferenc Italian (European) values.

7. Testimonial and cosmopolitan forms

The problem is if and how, in an European educational system, the prom autonomous expressions of cultural diversity is possible. Can mono-cultural educ respect for the expression of minorities be combined? Some research results may for a short reflection on this theme. Testimonial forms of communication (§ 3) have developed in functionally diffe society as a consequence of the increasing relevance given to children’s autonomous self-expression. Researches demonstrate that this form can promote autonomous expression in social participation (Baraldi 2003). In a testimonial communication, adults (a) encourage children’s autonomous expressions, (b) invit show what they feel they are, and (c) deal with their expressions as acceptable an In Italian classrooms, testimonial forms have been successful in promoting plan decisions among children. A testimonial form of communication is very similar to a cosmopolitan intercultural communication. Both forms: (1) consider each individual as pro specific cultural perspective; (2) consider individuals’ cultural perspec incommensurate and offer opportunities for their expression; (3) try to find coordinating incommensurate cultural perspectives; (4) give to dialogue the me respect for differences in cultural perspectives, leading to a coordination. Both a testimonial form and a cosmopolitan form are based on the ability to us categories in discussing, planning and deciding. Consequently, reciprocal le fundamental for both. Reciprocal learning is based on respect and balanced pow and children are considered as members of a “team”, without hierarchies), but create a joint cultural identity, as personal identities are primarily expressed. result of reciprocal learning is a coordinated plan or decision, not a shared pe However there is an important difference between a testimonial form and a cosm form of communication. A testimonial form produces a primary orientation to individuals as un autonomous persons: consequently, reciprocity of learning does not im “intercultural” dimension. Reciprocal learning is different from intercultural learni

This orientation to interpersonal coordination and personal self-expression i important component of a functionally differentiated society, while it is not importa differently structured societies. In spite of this, personal self-expression is not part modernist culture, as modernism emphasises role performances, not personal expression. The emphasis on personal autonomous expression is the result of a cu transformation in the twentieth century functionally differentiated society, leading o modernism (Baraldi 1999). In a functionally differentiated society, the interest in cu diversity is linked to this transformation, that is to the increasing relevance accord personal self-expression Testimonial forms of communication are not modernist form this is why they can easily avoid modernist ethnocentrism. Nevertheless, testimonial forms of communication belong to a specific cultural ar the world society, contrasting with other forms of communication, emphasising g membership and social identity. The status of group member and the idea of personal expression are both social constructions of the meanings of human beings, which ca adopted and used in a society. The advantage of adopting a perspective emphasising personal self-expression de from the historical development of a multicultural world society. In a multicultural soc we can never take for granted that what is expected in one cultural perspective wi expected also in other cultural perspectives. There is a high probability of a producti divergent expectations in communication. In these conditions, an effective form intercultural communication must find the way of introducing an expectation of asymm such as each participant can express her/himself, expecting that the others ex themselves differently. Only if the respect for difference in self-expression is achieved stabilised, is it possible to continue an intercultural communication. In this society, asymmetrical forms of reciprocal communication can effectively preserve diversity. An orientation to personal self-expression can create expectations of asymmetry. testimonial form of communication, personal autonomous self-expression is expected, is not expected that other perspectives expect it. The testimonial form promote opportunity for other perspectives’ self-expression, but does not impose the expectati personal self-expression on them. This opens the possibility for a cosmopolitan cu though the price for this is sacrificing the necessity of an Us orientation. Obviously, this asymmetrical form of reciprocity implies a choice, in a specific cu perspective. This is an unavoidable limitation: as any other cultural perspectiv testimonial perspective must elaborate communicative strategies to support its intere cultural diversity, which is not necessarily shared by other perspectives.

− (2001): Un bambino piange. L’educazione e la cultura dell’infanzia nella società conte Rassegna Italiana di Sociologia 3, 453–483. − (2003): Planning Childhood: Children’s Social Participation in the Town of Adults Christensen, M. O’Brien (eds.): Children in he Cities, 184−205. London: Falmer Press. Carbaugh, Donal (ed.) (1990): Cultural Communication and Intercultural Contact. – Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. − (1994): Cultural Communication and Intercultural Encounters: Personhood, Strategic A Emotions. – Teoria Sociologica 3, 17−45 Corsaro, William (1997): The Sociology of Childhood. Thousands Oaks: Pine Forge Press. Christensen, Pia, O’Brien, Margaret (eds.) (2002): Children in he Cities. London: Falmer P Dueñas, Guillermo (1994): Toward a Theory of Intercultural Learning in Organization Sociologica 3, 193–215. Gudykunst, B. William (1994): Bridging Differences. Effective Intergroup Comm Thousand Oaks, London: Sage. James, Allison, Jenks, Chris, Prout Alan (1998): Theorizing Childhood. Oxford: Polity Pres James, Allison, Prout, Alan (eds.) (1998): Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood. Falmer Press. Kim, Young Yun (2001): Becoming Intercultural. An Integrative Theory of Communic CrossCultural Adaptation. – Thousand Oaks, London: Sage. Kymlicka, Will (1995): Multicultural Citizenship. – Oxford: Oxford University Press. Luhmann, Niklas (1984): Soziale Systeme. – Frankfurt am Main: Surkhamp. − (1986a): The Autopoiesis of Social Systems. – In: F. Geyer, J. van der Zouw Sociocybernetics Paradoxes: Observation, Control and Evolution in SelfSteering Sys 192. – LondonBeverly Hills: Sage. − (1986b): Die Codierung des Rechtssysteme. – Rechtstheorie 17, 171–203. Luhmann, Niklas, De Giorgi, Raffaele (1992): Teoria della società. – Milano: Angeli. Maggioni, Guido, Baraldi, Claudio (1997): Children’s Rights and Contemporary So Perspectives of Childhood. – In: F. Van Loon and K. Van Aeken (eds.), 60 maal recht wijn. Sociology of Law, Social problems and Legal Policy, 63–74. Leuven: Acco. Pearce, W. Barnett (1989): Communication and the Human Condition. – Carbondale: Illinois University Press − (1994): Intercultural Communication and Multicultural Society: Implications for Comm teaching and Research. Teoria Sociologica 3, 46–62. Robertson, Roland (1992): Globalisation. Social Theory and Global Culture. – London: Sag Steier, Frederick, Jorgenson Jane (1994): Social Cybernetic and Constructionist Issues in In Communication. Teoria Sociologica 3, 63–77. Tajfel, Henri (1982): Human Groups and Social Categories. – Cambridge: Cambridge Press. Tang, Yongming (1994): Communication Across EastWest Cultural Boundaries. Teoria S 3, 78–93. Taylor, Charles (1992): The Politics of Recognition. – Princeton: Princeton University Press Todd, Frankie (1994): Intercultural Groups, PoliceCommunity Learning and Dialogue: A T Framework. Teoria Sociologica 3, 176–192.

1. Introduction M.: R: Y: R: M: Y: M: R: Y: M: Y: R:

But being Dutchified, what is that? You are not Dutchified then? Well, it depends. A bit, but I still know what my background is. And where I come from. Yes, such as knowing that some things are not allowed. You have in the back of your head can and this can’t be done. Like what? Yeah, like drinking beer, such a thing you don’t do in front of TV cameras. So you think you are not Dutchified? I am a Dutch Moroccan or a Moroccan Dutch, it depends on how you look at it. But Dutch no, not really. If someone asks what I am, I say just Moroccan. And it is important for you to keep it that way? Yes, exactly, I am not going eh .. to lie about what I am or so. If I say I am Dutch, then something is wrong. I am just Moroccan. (Margreet, interviewer, and Rachid and Youssef; p. 37; in: Boumans et al., 2001)

The above statements were made between a couple of Moroccan friends and a research a discussion about the question as to whether being born in Holland as a Moroccan m being Dutchified. Rachid and Youssef are members of a group of friends, consistin males of Turkish, Moroccan and Surinami descent. As a group they are active Foundation called Hard to Imagine, whose remit is the social cohesion of young p from different cultures; to this end they organise activities that involve music and danc The statements I have selected illustrate what it means to live several ethnic identit the same time and the possible solutions one may opt for. The answers are clear in respects. On the one hand, there is a certain flexibility i.e. “it depends”. This acknowle that there might be an element of mixing which leaves open which of the two e categories may come up first. But, on the other hand, there is a certain persistence wh comes to one’s own background by stating that being both Dutch and Moroccan doe necessarily mean being Dutchified, and even stronger, that being Moroccan is ‘the thing’. There seems to be some determinate indetermination, or vice versa if you like, and t the starting point for my discussion on the dynamics of identity in a multicultural so

show how the much used theory of social identity stemming from Tajfell and Turn actually wrong foots us. At the same time, the contingent character of ethnic brings to the fore the ways in which people identify themselves as belonging categories. Is the concept of ‘identifying with’, which leads to the image of inte already structured symbolisations, still sufficient in this context or do we requir active and, at the same time, distributive conception of personal identity? This becomes even more poignant when we accept that each and every formation of both social and personal, is always embedded in the dialectic of recognition an And it is here that the need for a more dialogical concept of identity becomes app live an ethnic identity that is different from the dominant identity implies all struggles, adaptations and uncertainties, especially when this particular ethnic ide been localised and politicised as a ‘social problem’. Schools are important aren these kinds of struggles for recognition take place, not only because it is at sc children and youngsters spend a considerable amount of their waking time, but also a school is an institution of selection and allocation. Schools are places where yo be someone, where you are confronted with the demands of society and where re of all aspects of identity is at stake. Having illustrated my line of argument, I wil to give it some ‘body’.

2. Social identity as reification

When talking about the multicultural society, one is immediately plunged into conversation. Sometimes the multicultural society is taken to mean the factual pres diversity of cultural groups, sometimes it is taken to mean the recognition o cultures as being equal, and yet at other times it is seen as the ideal blending and m cultures. However, whichever meaning is meant, it is still difficult to define especially in relation to ethnicity and identity. As a result, problems arise when analyse what is actually going on in so-called multicultural schools, where child minority ethnic groups tend to underachieve. How can one discern the influenc factors have on achievement? One general answer to this question has been groups according to ethnic background, and then to examine the beliefs, value

relative influence of culture and class. This discussion is, however, outside the scope o paper; I shall now dissect the procedure by which ethnic identity is construed. Ethnic identity is commonly conceived of as being a social identity, i.e. belonging category or group or community. In social identity theory, membership of such a gro primarily seen as the result of ascription and refers to the localisation or positionin people in social space. This localisation pertains to social classifications that already and to the concomitant expectations of behaviours and the inevitable inscriptio ‘belonging to this category’. This is followed by one’s actual cognitive and affe identification with the ascribed category. This identification can be a matter of degree a is possible that certain memberships are experienced as negative or positive. Conseque ascribed membership and identification together define social identity and this ide forms part of a person’s self-concept. The process of ascription and identification is se context-dependent and interwoven with aspects of power. However, it is not clear how process develops, particularly when people have to deal with multiple identities. difficulty seems to be that the constitution of categories is considered to be independe processes of identification. Categories and their cultural characteristics, however much shift in different contexts, are taken to be pre-existing entities, and external to the p who identify with them, to whatever extent that may be. Moreover, this approach ass that culture or its categories and properties are homogenous and stable, and can be ap as uncontested terms in a play of independent and dependent variables. This procedure division between a category and the identifying person (re)produces the well-known between self and society and reifies the concepts of culture and ethnicity. Therefore theory of social identity loses sight of the relational, constructed and contested natu what is to be seen as ethnic culture or ethnic groups in the context of the social and pol debate on the multicultural society and the ways in which acculturation is assumed to place. I will now turn my attention to the concept of acculturation.

3. Acculturation as free choice?

One consequence of this social identity perspective is the rather static and universal m of acculturation (Berry and Sam, 1997) which is adopted to explain the outcomes o

points to a conformist strategy; integration is identification with both the host cu one’s own culture; separation implies identification with one’s own culture and is be an oppositional strategy; finally, marginalisation refers to a loss of identifica both one’s own culture and the host culture, and is in that sense not a strategy at a four different outcomes are believed to be the consequence of individual and s universal psychological mechanisms with the normative judgment that the in strategy provides the best opportunity for successful participation in the host soc ‘ideal’ multicultural identity proposed here consists of the right mix between o culture and the host culture, and entails the smooth adaptation of newcomers, w assumed that there is equality between majorities and minorities. The difficulty, however, is that the presupposed strategies for identification are on free individual choices, but are situated in different circumstances of ethnopo are mediated by issues of gender and class. The same split between cate identifying person is at work here and ignores the fact that the formation of ethnic is a matter of negotiation and struggle and that there are no simple core elements to determine ethnic or cultural identities (see Bhatia and Ram, 2001). It is also im acknowledge that belonging to a group does not automatically lead to identifica the supposed concomitant culture of that group, and that people may have tie number of different groups. It is therefore possible to have several identificat groups and cultures which would amount to a multi-voiced identity. This notion o requires further elaboration.

4. Dialogical identity

The discussion of the theory of social identity and the concomitant notion of acc has resulted in a concept of personal identity as being both the imprint of culture a of self-categorisation by identification. In that sense identity is seen as a separate e as a kind of interface between the outer and inner world. But then the problem is this constitution of identity be conceived: how can the self be connected with the they are separate entities in the first place? And what consequences does this id independent self have for conceiving of relations with others? Several answers h

The modern western idea of self stems from a break with more traditional societal o in which individuals experienced themselves as part of a meaningful social whole a contributing to the maintenance of that social whole. The precise nature and time o break has been disputed, and some scholars go back to the 12th century to documen birth of the modern individual (Morris, 1972); others indicate the scientific revolution the Enlightenment as the start of a new self-definition stemming from the creation subjective and an objective realm (Taylor, 1989). The decisive point, however, i agreement on a shift in the perspective of the self as an inner consciousness as oppos the outer physical world. This inner world is seen, on the one hand, as transparent to as a source of knowledge and, on the other hand, as capable of acting in and on the phy world. Taylor (1989, 1995) conceives of this self as ‘punctual’, with three diff connotations: the first implication is the disengaged nature of the self, with no ties t outer world; the second notion refers to the self as point of observation and (self)contr instrumentally acting upon itself and the world; and the third idea involves the conce society as consisting of independent (atomistic) individuals who, only by way of con are connected to each other. A comparable description can be found in Hermans (2 who sets out this idea of self as the rational self, as context-free and detached from its history. This notion of the self as ‘self-contained’ presents considerable difficulties theorizing about the relationship to the outer world. One risk is the danger of prese identity as being overwhelmed by the outer world and then ‘losing itself’; the other r that of outlining identity as being so independent as to be almost a bodiless and a-s entity. This theoretically unsatisfying state of affairs has called for attempts to reform the relationship between self and world. The first attempt to reformulate this relationship has come from what is referred to a postmodernist or constructivist camp who dismantles the punctual self by distributi into a conglomerate of speaking/subject positions in discourses (see e.g. Gergen, 1991 this way the centre of the self is taken away and dispersed into anonymous functio systems of meaning, knowledge and power. Within this positioning, the self no longe any fixed moral ground for its choices but is conceived of as making up pragmatic temporary configurations of itself as flexible and possibly pleasurable dealings momentary constraints and possibilities. This radical dismantling of the punctual s however turning against itself because the subject has lost any point whatsoever to be

dismantling of the punctual self involves situating the self as ‘becoming’ in a pra historical positioning with others. The self is seen as social from the beginnin means that it cannot be conceived of without the presence of the other(s). W context, moral space is created for subjects to deliberate about questions of ‘the g The presupposition of this argument lies in the philosophical anthropological unde of the subject as inherently social without being delivered at the mercy arrangements which make its actions possible. The crucial difference with the fir lies in the acknowledgement of a positioning between self and others as a dynami in relations of power. While in the first attempt the subject seems to evaporate in mechanisms, even when they are seen as humanly produced, the second answer ai restoration of a dialogical positioning towards self and others with respect to contested meanings. This answer does not deny power but examines the conditio which evaluations of self and other take place, recognising the different hie confinements and openings within which individuals can give form to their lives. I seen in this concept as consisting of many voices, both within the person dialogues) as outside (dialogues with others). The theoretical undertaking is to identity not as self-contained but as distributed-in-dialogue, as storied and thus precarious: the punctuality of the self has disappeared and has been replaced by narrative and bodily accountability, by a presence of contestability. Each individu social and peculiar, both common and unique and the contours of individual exis not self-evident from the inside or the outside but are always negotiated. This d character of identity can be seen in these poles of private-public and individual(for an exposition of the terms see: Harré, 1983). It also has developmental conse identity is never something given or expressed from an inner core, but is cons relations with others and their surroundings, with the effect that each child i confronting a life course of dealing with the opportunities and limitations of the s material context of its upbringing. The end is always a story, or to put it b accumulation of stories that delineate the positions the person has been involved choices that have been made, the tragedies and hopes that are lived. From this perspective, the multicultural identity is not one to smooth itse dominant culture, but it is rather one of positing itself in a ‘diasporic’ situatio different voices and positions are possible, although ambivalent and in conf diasporic situation implies the acknowledgement that being elsewhere brings o cultural background once more to the fore. In this situation the outcome is not as

5. Identity, recognition and struggle

The concept of dialogical identity attempts to evade the split of self and world by stre the importance of mutual recognition or respect for the construction of identity. The co the argument is that dialogical identity implies narrative accountability, and that ide claims may fail, that is to say do not meet the acceptance of the other partner(s). assumption is not that recognition must be based on just the acknowledgement of the individual as a worthy entity on its own, as in the formulation of human rights. concept of rights, important as it is as a basic moral and political point of view, has its merits but does not coincide with the dynamic and historical idea of identity as a stru about human recognition and respect, which are not given with claims on ‘identity’ bu as I would like to suggest, the product of struggles about these claims. Within struggles the norms on judging about the claims are also debated and reformulated. So landscape is rather slippery, and the stake is that the social viability of identity claims a be debated in a context of power and domination, with different results. This pertains to both (cultural, ethnic) groups as individuals. From this point of view following positions can be ascertained:

− claims on identity are practically recognised and respected: recognition is followed by socia juridical consequences. This is not a static result, but the agreements and arrangements re may again be disputed at times and new regulations can be the outcome. − claims on identity are recognised ‘in principle’ but not respected in practice: social and jur consequences are not (or are only partially) taken, often resulting in ‘soft’ forms of marginalis discrimination, neglect and the like. Stated in more positive terms, one could say that a fo tolerance still exists. This outcome may fuel the debate about the necessary forms of resp relation to the acceptance of the claim. − claims on identity are not recognised: there is no affirmation of the veracity of the claim and no social and juridical consequences. This state of affairs may result in a dispute about the bas the process of claiming and recognising, with the possible recognition of the position o claimant as an outcome or the strengthening of the rejection of the claim. Nonrecognition me least accepting the claim as a rightful one. − claims on identity are malrecognised: claims are seen as not rightful, maladapted or out of Claims appear to be beyond discussion and respect. This may result in judgments abou

they do present a view on the possible diversity of the practical effects of the p identity claims and recognition (for a related view on schools and recognition see B 2001). From this point on, the problem of multiculturalism as I stated before can be anew, not as the living ‘between two cultures’ but as the living between multiple different cultures within conditions of power. The question is not of being on on another, but it is a question of managing precarious balances and conflicts. Ethni is negotiated in society and pertains to forms of dialogue which can be analysed interdependent levels:

− ethnic identity is constituted in both daily and formal dialogues, is formed ‘on the stre official and institutional contexts; − these dialogues take place under conditions of ethnopolitics and depend on the restri opportunities presented in public discourses about insiders and outsiders in nation states; − these conditions of ethnopolitics are mediated by local specificities which influence the fo of claims and the struggles about recognition.

The idea of dialogical self translates itself within a multicultural context as a ‘ self’ (Bahtia, 2002), as a self that knows several ‘I positions’ that are influ questions of race, gender and power. Acculturation processes are not u psychological mechanisms, but consist of lived experiences with identity cl struggles for recognition. With this theoretical approach in hand, it is time now the school as a specific location of identity formation.

6. Schools as a public place for identity claims

Within the three levels of dynamics of ethnic identity as described, the school is site for the ‘moulding’ of a civic identity and is therefore a crucial public arena fo claims and recognition. The formation of identity in school is processed by a multi factors, which are also known to play a greater or lesser role in the function of sele allocation that the school fulfills. Firstly, identity formation in schools cannot without taking this societal role of education into account. Secondly, identity for schools is bound to be connected with the problem of acculturation – and always

− The formal curriculum, which consists of generally formulated learning goals, texts, tests, g etc. and certain professional standards of teaching. Within this formal curriculum, there may diversity of didactic/pedagogic strategies, as long as these strategies prove that they cont towards school success. This formal face of the school is legitimised by the idea of indiv merit: within the boundaries of school diversity it is individual quality that shows itself – or n the case may be. − The informal or hidden curriculum which sustains the formal curriculum by tacit or explicit ru behaviour and talking, standards of the just learning ambitions, of cooperation in school a relations with the neighbourhood, of trust in a better future. The hidden curriculum may al characterised by different emphases between schools, but is always set up to enhance eleme the formal curriculum. − The explicit and implicit ways in which schools deal with existing and increasing ethnic or cu differences in their pupil population. School policies in this respect have to manage geograph demographic characteristics, national and municipal regulations, organisations in neighbourhood etc.. However, what is important is not the policy reaction as such but the w which it is achieved within school (by teachers and pupils) and outside the school, in relat parents and other groups and institutions involved. − The explicit and implicit ways pupils react to the formal and hidden curriculum, and the pupils develop certain ‘common strategies’. This may entail positions towards school achieve associations with other pupils (ethnic or otherwise), interaction with the teachers, relationship parents on school matters etc.. Pupils form their expectations and take their actions within relationships inside and outside the school, and learn to develop a ‘school identity’.

The first three factors can be taken as the institutional and organisational characteristi the school, but they are always mediated by the concrete practices of the teaching sta the school and the classroom, and form as such the active positioning of pupils withi school context. The fourth factor refers to the reaction of pupils to this positio reactions which may vary between the poles of acceptance and rejection of the forma informal demands of the school. It is important to note that this process of m positioning does not take place on an equal basis. The school is not an innocent pla teaching and learning, but is a very powerful institution in civic, economic and pol reproduction. Children are therefore always subjected to instructive practices which cannot escape. Within this process of positioning, children shape their ‘school identit to put it differently, their identity or I-positions with regard to school: it is possible that develop different evaluations and action patterns on matters of content, attitude to teac relationships with other pupils etc.. These evaluations and actions can be viewed as claims on identity which may to a certain extent, or may not be recognised within the l of the institutional requirements.

view of history and the civilised norms of behaviour. But the problems of multicu ‘black’) schools in relation to school success (percentage of pupils meeting the no social acceptance (multicultural school population as an enrichment) inevitably s this fundamental characteristic of the school. The starting point for counterprac then be found in the three factors described above, and would involve the eleme formal and informal curriculum and the school policy regarding cultural divers and outside the school. Teachers and school management may look to develop in and administrative practices which enhance dialogical relations amongst themsel pupils and their parents and with the school environment. This could pertain to content, testing procedures, parental involvement and so on. Counterpractices are, only effective and viable when and as long as they do not undermine criteria success: this requires a subtle balancing between radical critique and ‘suitable’ And this balancing may itself need some rules in dialogical practices. To deal contradictions between the institutional requirements of the school and the hop projected changes in instruction and content is a troublesome undertaking and considerable dedication, reflection and flexibility. In order to keep up with all the involved, especially when speech positions are not equal as between teac parents/pupils, or between parents and pupils, it might be a good idea to keep dialogical principles in order to reach dialogical practices. As an example, it inspiring to apply maxims that were developed in community building (Ros Glowacki-Dudka, 2001):

− Take care to facilitate the process and the content of the dialogue. Make time and ex matters of the debate. − Start with respect for each story or point of view and do not immediately attack each othe − Accept and respect silences, difficulties with formulating and the like. − Make no conclusive endings. This means not hurrying decision making and not p decisions.

Of course these maxims are here presented in a very shorthand form, and that ma seem ‘ideal’ in several respects, but they may none the less be taken as a con towards the difficult endeavour of creating dialogue with others and within one means of identity formation.

homogenous and static category which may explain the attributes of individua institutional contexts like schools. I have tried to show that behind this concept is a between persons and their lived world, as if persons are not social from the beginning. split is described as the historical formation of a punctual or rational self. But people their identity (who they are, were and will be) not as isolated creatures but in con interaction with others. This interaction can be grasped by the notion of dialogue, alth this does not mean that prelinguistic or nonverbal forms of interaction are excluded the formation of identity, on the contrary. But dialogue is seen as ‘the metaphor’ fo inherently interactive constitution of self in the presence of others, and even for the n of identity as a continuous and multivoiced deliberation in oneself about who one oneself to be. This dialogical concept of identity is brought forward to deconstruc oversimplified presentation of ethnic identity and the concomitant acculturation proc as a universal and social normative model. The dismantling of the punctual or rational self is fertile ground in the search fo much more diversified and ambivalent forms of identity construction in multicu conditions. It points to the dimension of power with respect to the process of integra and leaves room for the much more contested and ambivalent experience of living one’s own and the host culture. This puts forward notions of identity claims and stru about recognition and respect. Within this theoretical framework I have proposed stud schools as an important site for identity formation, in general in accordance with function of selection and allocation and specifically in relation to ethnic and/or cu differences. However, the school is not a closed institution, but has to answ developments such as cultural diversity, although its origin is definitively monocul This creates the space for counterpractices and for introducing forms that may contribu more dialogical forms of identity formation. Although there are institutional limits t expanding of these dialogical spaces, it is possible to adhere to them when dialogi accepting the limits. This may be a contradiction in terms, but it expresses the inher open horizon for future action.

Kagitçibasi (eds.): Handbook of crosscultural psychology: Social behavior and applicatio 291−326. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Bhatia, S. (2002): Acculturation, dialogical voices and the construction of the diasporic self & Psychology 12, 1, 55−77. −, A. Ram (2001): Rethinking ‘acculturation’ in relation to diasporic cultures and po identities. − Human Development 44, 1, 1−18. Bingham, Ch. (2001): Schools of recognition, identity politics and classroom practices. Rowman and Littlefield. Boumans, L., H. Dibbits, M. Dorleijn (2001): Jongens uit de buurt. − Amsterdam, Sticht IISG. Chryssochoou, X. (2000): Multicultural societies: making sense of new environments and id Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology 10, 343−354. Gergen, K.J. (1991): The saturated self: dilemma’s of identity in contemporary life. − N Basic Books. Harré, R. (1983): Personal being. − Oxford, Blackwell. Hermans, H.J.M. (2002): The dialogical self as a society of mind. − Theory & Psychol 147−160. Hermans, H.J.M. (2001): Mixing and moving Cultures require a dialogical self. Development 44, 1, 24−28. Morris, C. (1991, 1972): The discovery of the individual 10501200. – Toronto: University Press. Richardson, F.R., A. Rogers, J. McCarroll (1998): Toward a dialogical self. − American B Scientist 41, 4, 496−515. Rossing, B., M. Glowacki-Dudka (2001): Inclusive community in a diverse world: pu elusive goal through narrativebased dialogue. − Journal of community psychology 29, 6, 7 Singh, B.R. (2001): Dialogue across cultural and ethnic differences. – Educational Stud 341−355. Tajfel, H., J. Turner (1986): The social identity theory of intergroup behaviour. − In: J. (ed.): Psychology of intergroup relations. Chicago: Nelson Hall. Taylor, C. (1989): Sources of the self. The making of modern identity. – Cambridge: C University Press. − (1995): Philosophical arguments. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.

1. What do we understand by a multicultural school?

It is a truism to say that the European society of the latter part of the twentieth centur more mixed than ever. People from all over the planet came to settle in several o European countries. Some of the new groups are rich and represent the upper classes o economic globalization: business and political elites in the major cities, but also high workers from Asia. A lot of them are poor and hardly schooled: the waves of ‘ workers’ who were imported by European countries and exported by the countries of o (Body-Gendrot and Martiniello, 2000). Finally, citizens from the former colonies mov the once colonial powers in Europe. Especially in the western European nations (Germ Holland, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom) this led to a thorough increase o diversity of origins of the population. To give one example: the city services fo reception of refugees in Ghent, Belgium get people speaking over 70 different fo languages in 2001, and their counterparts in Antwerp, Belgium reach almost 100 diff languages in their clientele. Numbers vary, and it is difficult to estimate how mixe population in these countries really is, because over the past decade ‘illegal’ immigr might have grown substantially. The human tragedies caused by this mafia-contr process fill the media all too often: groups of refugees hide in containers in their attem get to Britain unseen, or they are ‘captured’ on a parking lot near a local highway to en as prisoners in a detention center. So, although it is impossible to estimate exactly many people have come into the countries of the European Union during the latest dec we can safely say that they run in the tens of millions between 1950 and 2000. The way the new composition of the population is appreciated varies according t political opinions of the European natives: the extreme right parties made it the foc their election campaigns, speaking about a threat to native identity. At the same time democrats would discuss whether Europe should adopt an attitude of immigration terr (like the USA or Canada) or propose that our society is getting multicultural in nature latter point should be looked at more closely: it has become fashionable to avoid terms as multi-ethnic, and to speak about ‘multicultural’ mixture. What this means is, of co that the groups who enter the European Union are characterized according to their cu features. The fact that race and racial differentiation is not an option anymore afte

characterizes differences between native and incoming groups in terms of a v possibly exclusivist feature of the groups involved. In another study I investigated cultural identity (and hence cultural differences) is inadvertently and uncritically p essentialistic terms (Pinxten and Verstraete, 2002), to the extent that one’s cultu than universally applicable Human Rights, for example) is actually used as the cr allow for or preclude from participation in societal and political life. In the rightist mixture of groups from different cultures and hence the ideal of a multicultural so mistake and should be combated with any means: e.g., Huntington (1996) cl multiculturalists are ‘the enemy within’ western nations. Having appreciated that on culture and cultural differences is not obvious and implies a political agen subjects are potentially differentiated in terms of their cultural features in such an a I can now move on to the issue of multicultural schooling. In his book on educational policy in Flanders and the French-speaking comm Belgium, Verlot (2001) shows how the recognition of the mixture of one’s popul lead to different policies for schooling. One can appreciate that cultural differen within the population, but that all citizens should have equal opportunities and h the cultural differences should be overcome by a laicist or mono-cultural nat education, if anything. This is the line taken by the policy makers on educati French-speaking part of Belgium, very much parallel to the laicist view on sch France. Hence, multicultural schools do only exist in the sense that the populati schools have different cultural backgrounds, but the schooling in itself differentiate between pupils or staff in cultural terms. In the Flemish community (e its relative autonomy in educational policy since 1988), a very different view Here, the school populations are seen to be differentiated from one another in culture, yielding in the facts so-called ‘white’ and ‘black’ schools at some poin That is, some schools accepted only native Flemish children, while others w exclusively with children from immigrant or refugee backgrounds which earned despicable calling name of ‘concentration schools’. In the Flemish community policy was then put in place to turn the scales and to mix every school in the co other terms, the aim of a specially designed ‘anti-discrimination’ pact was and is t schools in ‘multicultural’ schools. In a minimal definition this would mean that th population of any school should have mixed cultural backgrounds. In a maximal d this could mean that the policy would develop structures and curricula to prepare t citizens for a life in a culturally mixed society.

policy to manage or alter that situation.

2. Multiculturalism and interculturalism: factuality and competencies

In order to allow for clarity on these difficult issues, I want to distinguish bet multiculturalism and interculturality. In line with several authors in this domain of st reserve the terms of multiculturalism and multicultural school to refer to the fa composition of a particular group or institute, and the taking into account of this fa given (Pinxten and Cornelis, 2001). That is to say, if the researcher, school manag policy maker agrees that the groups dealt with in contemporary schools have mixed cu origins and that these origins should be recognized one way or another as part o makeup of the school population, then I speak of multiculturalism. The understandi that somehow the cultural differences present in the school population are relevant fo organization of the educational procedure. In the laicist or strictly mono-cultural policy cultural aspect of the pupil’s background is considered to be irrelevant and hence i addressed or used in the educational process. E.g., the melting pot idea claims tha uniform ‘americanization’ of the pupils will yield the best opportunities for all and h will equip everybody with equal chances to enter society. The multiculturalism view h that different cultural backgrounds obtain in children from different traditions in present-day world, and that these differences have impact on the way children will be to perform in school. According to this view a curriculum and even learning style never culturally neutral. For example, the dominant world view in the school curriculu the emphasis on decontextualized and textual attitudes in the learning procedures w recognized as exclusively western and white middle-class, rather than universally hu features (e.g., Said’s critique of orientalism, 1978). Disregarding the cultural specifici these features is then equal to installing a discrimination threshold for nonwestern a lower-class pupils. Multiculturalism recognizes the relevance of cultural differenc view of the development of curricula and the use of learning strategies. Moreover, it in the discussion on the choices to be made, on the cultural roots to be taken into account on the procedures to evaluate success or failure in a culture-sensitive way. In particular discussions and choices, I propose to speak about interculturality rather multiculturalism.

situation. Others believe that culture should be deleted from policy to be rep citizenship. For example: “We believe that rather than looking for an impossibl conformity, attempts should be made to unite the differences and different grou multicultural societies in another way than on the basis of culture. Social in between different groups can be organized in a social manner, without this having cultural integration...” (Dijkstra et al., 2001:75). However, having said that m authors then agree that the “growing diversity can be united in such a way tha social integration is maintained. What new cultural competencies do citizens need to live together in such a “differentiated society”? (Dijkstra, idem: 75−76). The a not reach the point where they would make an explicit statement about these ‘new competencies’. In this paper I want to do that. In our research group at the University of Ghent we became more and more c that intercultural competencies are lacking to the common European citizen. The the tools to cope in a tolerant, serene and open-minded way with the influx of gro a rather huge variety of other cultures during the latest decades (e.g., Pinxten and 2002, Verstraete et al., 2002). It is becoming clear that not ‘new cultural comp should be developed: indeed, what would they be? would they be identical fo culturally different groups? then what would be ‘cultural’ about them? and how w be taught to all citizens, except by means of ...other new cultural competencies? I the majority cultural group in Europe at present does not have adequate ways to c diversity. At the same time anxiety is installed through uncontrolled globalizati financial and economic sphere, and the powerlessness of governments is attacked and systematic campaign of the New Right throughout Europe (Pinxten, 2002). T explicitly recognizes the difficulty of the diversity of cultural groups in the pr European space, but it opts for isolation and cultural ‘cleansing’ rather than acce challenge of a ‘differentiated society’. Stolcke (1995) has coined a new term to ideology: ‘cultural fundamentalism’. Whether or not this constitutes a (new) form is besides the question here. What Stolcke means by cultural fundamentalism cap refusal of differentiation and diversity beautifully: ‘a cultural “other”, the imm foreigner, alien, and as such a potential “enemy” who threatens “our” national-cum uniqueness and integrity, is constructed out of a trait which is shared by th (Stolcke, 1995: 7−8). My claim is that such an ideology, which is expressed treatises on communitarianism and in racist exclusivism (Evens Foundation, eds., a consistent narrowing down to monoculturalism in the face of factual multicultur

can be taught to cope with the new situation, i.e., with the factual multicultural compos of the European population without reverting to extremism. In other words, communitarianism at the least points to a real incapacity in the common citizen to with the diversity s/he is confronting lately, and the monocultural/national model o nation-states does not offer a viable means to do the job either. Hence, one needs to about the necessary identity vehicles and procedures which would enhance the compe of the common citizen to adequately and serenely deal with growing cultural diversit order to do that I use three contrastive models to graphically represent current alterna on this scene.

3. Unity and diversity: 3 models

In the political debate the communitarian and the interculturalist positions are oppos each other, and they are often seen as the basic alternatives in this field. I am wary o simple dichotomy, and I think the present one needs to be fought as well.

Free civic space

Continuum

Minimal ba Figure 1a

Figure 1b

Figure 1a represents the neo-communitarian or monocultural perspective: the firm squ the cultural-national definition of ‘us’ and the small area within the outside broken li what ‘others’ may be allowed to have as cultural identity for themselves. In this mode ‘other’ is expected to ‘integrate’ or ‘assimilate’ as much as possible. What the w

recognized or allowed for because the conceptualization of it is reached from the view of ‘us’ only.

Figure 1b depicts the conceptualization of a mixed society by the multicultur cultural identities of all different groups should be safeguarded to the maximu another position would disregard cultural identities of any of the groups invo would be considered to be culturally disrespectful. If this position is pursued in a c way, the picture emerges of a society of factual apartheid, where each cultural gro on its own because of its cultural specificity or difference vis-à-vis the next negotiation, if any, is then about the broken-line area outside of one’s monocul which is considered to be the common base for all. In this case, it is not clear on w this common space can be decided on, since the primacy of cultural identity in precludes the recognition of common rules and aims of organization. To refer Dijkstra et al. (2001): what new ‘cultural’ competencies can be found and how then be installed within this frame of mind? As is illustrated by the graph this pe yields apartheid or what I would call ‘multiple cultural fundamentalism’ in multiculturalism.

Minimal basis

Figure 1c

Figure 1c depicts the conceptualization we advocate in our research group: a firm, minimal common basis of citizenship or societal organization should be subscribed members of a population occupying one space, regardless of the cultural feature and every singular group. This common basis will be agreed upon after negotiation be up for renegotiation at certain intervals in time. However, cultural specificiti

values and rules respect the agreements of the common basis. So, in a nutshell, we plea a firm transcultural common societal basis with a minimal but binding nature, a maximal freedom for cultural identity forms beyond that level. Within this perspective aborted discussion on integration is emptied out: the binding common basis is subscrib by all regardless cultural identity and differences, and the cultural specificity is max beyond it. In other words, no group is forced to become ‘like the other’ (to some exte completely), but every group and individual is obliged to partake in the same way i common ground of citizenship. Within such a perspective two areas remain for intercultural competencies to be at w that of the relationship between the common basis and each culture-specific manifesta and that between different culture-specific manifestations within the factually m society.

4. Intercultural competencies and dialogues 4.1 Power differences and schooling

The multicultural school does not in and of itself produce emancipation or opportunities for all pupils (and in the long term for all citizens). The fact that monocu schools (so-called ‘white’ versus ‘black’ schools) are fought against is certainly a thing. The benefit of multicultural co-education is that children of different cultural gr come to know each other and hence may be less likely victims for racist or exclu propaganda. Yet, as with gender issues, I do not believe this automatically y harmonious intercultural coexistence. In practice schools tend to change their popul over a period of a few years, leaving the personnel with the impossible task to cope w drastic change in diversity for which they have no means (e.g., Verlot 2001). Si putting children or teachers from different cultural backgrounds together may yield problems than it solves, certainly in the short run. On top of that, the power differences of all concerned have to be recognized. dominant culture pushes the incoming immigrant and refugee groups in a subord position in the monocultural school: to have to assimilate to the dominant culture. power imbalance is clear in this situation and is not contested. However, the mere fac

approach. In my view the differences of a cultural nature between groups are a because of the inequality of the groups in society. I am aware that this is a delic the new right in Europe focuses on exactly this point, albeit in a very one-sided w position is that the dominant community has a right to privileges and to the contin the inequality, which is beneficial for it precisely on the basis that its culture superior to that of the incoming groups (Pinxten and Cornelis, 2002). Hence, the justifies the power inequality, against the Human Rights for that matter, in term supposedly superior quality of the culture of the autochthonous group (e.g., extre politicians such as Fortuyn in Holland, Haider in Austria and De Winter in Belgiu international concern in 2002 by their insistence on this point against the alleged i of muslim culture). Of course, I do not side with such views; I combat them possible. However, the fact that they flourish more than before (and seem to f appeal with young voters) at the least indicates that the mere multiculturalist com of schools does not solve the problem of power inequality. Rather, it can trigger to continue or even enhance this inequality. In that perspective, one can speak growth of ’new’ racism I am inclined to say (Evens, 2002). My suggestion then is that multicultural schools should be organized in such a they offer and train intercultural competence, which yields more equality i relationships between citizens, regardless of cultural differences. In practice, th that pupils will have to be allowed or even invited to use their particular competencies within the multicultural group: knowledge about each other should explicit, attitudes should be named and used in group behavior and intercultural ne should be taught and trained. On top of that, I suggest that some means to evalua equality should be designed and practiced in the schools. The format of a parliam be in order, but it should have a permanent and a persistent character, I feel.

4.2 Mediation and dialogue

In the literature one finds the mediational pedagogy of E. Cohen to be presented as for multicultural schools. The procedures of this educational programme hold that take turns in adopting different roles in the educational process: they become fa mediators or adopt yet another role in the classroom. The belief is that children wi cope with cultural diversity and hence be able to live in an emancipated way

status for a while. The contrary may be true. On the other hand, the powerless wi considered ungrateful or socially unwilling when they insist on changing the p imbalance, rather than being content with the roles they can occasionally adopt (Verlo Pinxten, 2000). A similar perverting effect may occur when dealing with dialogue. Elsewhe developed the point that dialogue is not a neutral type of communication: when two p engage in dialogue it is taken for granted that each knows what the format and the rul dialogue amount to. One of the main references is the Platonic dialogue, where partici are expected to share the common value that merciless critique of logical inconsistenci reasoning is an uncontested good (Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca,1957). I think it is f say that in an intercultural setting this notion of dialogue installs a power imbalance cannot be overcome during and by means of the dialogue, because of the mere structu the dialogue itself. Indeed, the value of logical consistency regardless of practical nee contextuality in principle precludes that an adaptation in power relations will be rea precisely because such aspects are contextual and hence fall outside of the dialogue pr That is why I proposed to aim for intercultural negotiation within the constraints provisional ‘entente’ between the communicating parties (Pinxten, 1999): in a first rou communication the parties agree on a provisional platform of shared values and proced None of the latter are given in the format of the communication (like in dialogue) and h equality is more guaranteed or can be explicitly inscribed in the interaction proces different intervals the values and the emancipatory effects of the communication ca evaluated.

4.3 Suggestions

In my view such a procedure should be translated in educational formats for multicu schools. In other words, a constant training in knowledge about all different compete involved in a multicultural setting should be organized in the multicultural school. A same time, the regular renegotiation of the power balance should be an intrinsic part o educational setup in order to guarantee a genuine emancipatory process of educatio means of intercultural competencies.

intercultural competence. The claim is that multicultural schools will not in th yield democratic emancipation, but that a particular training in intercultural compe needed combined with a continuous evaluation and negotiation of power difference

Body-Gendrot, S., M. Martiniello (eds.) (2000): Minorities in European Cities. The dynam social integration and social exclusion at the neighbourhood level. − London: Macmillan. Dijkstra, S., K. Geuijen, A. de Ruijter (2001): Multiculturalism and Social Integration in Euro In: International Political Science Review 22, 55−84. Evens foundation (eds.) (2002): Europe’s New Racism? – Oxford: Berghahn Publisher. Huntington, S. (1996): The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order. − York: Simon and Schuster. Perelman, C., S. Olbrechts-Tyteca (1957): La nouvelle rhétorique. Traité d’une théorie d’argu ation. − Paris: Presse Universitaire de France. Pinxten, R. (1999): Négotiations de conflits: dialogue ou entente? − Afers Internacional 255−264. − (2002): Identité, diversité et nécessité d’un projet social commun. − In: Une Europe creation. Ed. Wilquin: Hannut, 207−226. −, M. Cornelis (2002): Interculturalism as a solution for racism. − In: Evens Foundation (2001), −, G. Verstraete (eds.) (2002): Culture and power. Identity dynamics. − Oxford: Berghahn Publ Said, E. (1978): Orientalism. − London: Penguin. Stolcke, V. (1995): Talking Culture. New Boundaries, New Rhetorics of Exclusion in Euro Current Anthropology 36, 1−24. Verlot, M. (2001): Werken aan integratie. − Leuven: Acco. −, R. Pinxten (2000): Intercultural education and Complex Instruction. Some remarks and que from an anthropological perspective on learning. Intercultural Education S 2000, 7−14. Verstraete, G., M. Haertjens, N. Demoor, V. Donceel, A. Taelman, P. Van Ael, T. Verbis Cornelis (2001): Onderzoek naar de finaliteit van het Vlaamse inburgeringsbeleid. − Cici, and Flemish Government.

At the start of the year 2000, publicist Scheffer fuelled the political and societal d concerning the multicultural society in the Netherlands by pointing out the lack of ade Dutch policies to prevent the arising of an ethnic underclass (Scheffer, 2000). Since his for more active and fundamental integration policies, political leaders compete with another to stress their party’s involvement with the persistent under-achievement of va ethno-cultural groups in important societal domains, such as the labor market, educ and housing. The magic word in this debate is integration. With the coming of the populist political party ‘Lijst Pim Fortuyn’ the conviction that integration is the ro success seems only to have strengthened. The election programs 2002 of the four la political parties (res. social democrats (PvdA), liberals (VVD), christen-democrats (C and the right populist party (LPF) ) all speak about integration of ethnic minoriti relation to their relatively unfavorable positioning in crucial social domains. However, of the programs is explicit on the way in which integration and participation in the so are linked. Moreover what is meant by integration remains implicit and unclear. confusion within the notion of integration seems to complicate the question to what d integration and success actually have to do with one another and hence stands in the w developing effective policies. This article is one step more in answering that question more scientific basis. On the side of integration we take a look at different attitudes tow acculturation, whereas the success side takes the form of performance and well bei secondary education. The study compares three groups of ethnic minorities residing i Netherlands: Turkish and Moroccan labor migrants and Christian-Turkish refugees.

________ 1

A different version of t h i s study has appeared before in Intercultural Education, vol. 13, no. 1, 2002, pp. 2

refugee students2, who are attending secondary school in the Netherlands. Severa lay behind the choice of these groups. First, the school performances of Tur Moroccan youth lag behind most dramatically in comparison with native Dutch and with other (post-colonial and refugee) types of settled migrants, and as such sensitive explanations and remedies for the educational problems of these gr therefore most urgently needed. Secondly, Turkish and Moroccan groups are comp their history of labor migration and they face similar problems of social disadvan ethnic discrimination in Dutch society. Therefore, ethnic differences in the process of Turkish and Moroccan youth are most likely to be based on di acculturation rather than pre-existing structural or cultural conditions. Typically migrant communities across host countries show higher degrees of cultural rete social cohesion across generations than Moroccan migrants (Phalet and Schonpflug In addition, we have included a comparison group of second-generation refug We have chosen to work with Christian-Turkish refugees, because they are a settle community with roughly the same duration of stay and a similar disadvantaged p the Netherlands as both other migrant groups. A first reason for this comparative is that very little is known about the educational adaptation of refugee you Netherlands. Secondly, we wanted to explore similarities and differences in acc and adaptation in school across labor and refugee types of migration.

2. Two sides of success in school

Educational research most often focuses on differential attainment only. Thu groups have been compared on basis of attainment levels as measured by droptests of academic progress, and overall GPA (i.e. grade point averages in the US ________ 2

The refugee group in this study is part of a Syrian-Orthodox (or Suryoye) diaspora. Most refu Netherlands came from the eastern part of Turkey. Hence, they are commonly called Christiandistinct from the majority of Turkish migrants who are Muslim. They fled for ethnic-religious r majority came to the Netherlands in the second half of the 70s and obtained a permanent residenc humanitarian grounds. It is estimated that approximately 15.000 Suryoye are now living in the Nethe

refugee students in Dutch schools. In the present study we included multiple out measures so as to incorporate teacher and student perspectives on school success. Th important, as the degree of experienced success in school does not only depend on obje school careers or grades but also on the subjective aspirations/expectations of student teachers within relevant contexts of social comparison. Thus, the usual objective mea of school performance, based on more or less successful school careers, are combined teacher ratings of academic motivation and achievement and with student self-repor their academic involvement. Next to school attainment measures, we argue that there is yet another side to succe school, which we refer to as school adjustment. This concept denotes the sens belonging or the affective attachment of students to the school environment (Good and Grady, 1993; Hagborg, 1998; Voekl, 1996). For minority students, the lack of ling or culturally valued social skills and the failure of mutual social support in interper relations with peers and teachers may hamper their personal sense of school belon Moreover, multi-ethnic schools may vary in the degree of (real and perceived) e segregation and/or discrimination in relations between minority and dominant cu groups. Hence, the perception of open (or closed) ethnic boundaries by minority stude included in our study as a measure of their collective sense of school belonging. As opposed to the extended body of knowledge on the school performance of mi youth in the Netherlands, systematic research about their school adjustment is r limited. A notable exception are a number of cross-cultural studies in Dutch schools, w have related minority status and ethnic self-identification to measures of personal being and self-esteem in ethnic youth (Phalet and Verkuyten, 2000). The findings qu general expectations of psychological adjustment problems among minority y Apparently, the subjective salience and valence of minority cultures and identities v across persons and contexts. Moreover, a positive ethnic identification is more often not related to a heightened sense of psychological adjustment.

concerning ethnic minorities, it remains unclear what is precisely meant by this te within the scientific literature various definitions of integration exist (for example 1993; Reinsch 2000). It takes too far for the purposes of this article to go into these various definitions. Suffice it to say that here we take the path of e acculturation processes, which come into play in intercultural relations betwe minority and majority groups in multi-ethnic classrooms. Acculturation can be defined as the psychological adaptation to culture c migration situations. Berry (1980) has based his two-dimensional acculturation two questions every multicultural society is confronted with. The first question the desirability for migrants or minorities of maintaining (or reinventing) ethnic characteristics. The second question concerns the perceived importance of adaptat dominant culture in the receiving society. These two questions lead to a two-dim model with four types of acculturation attitudes. In the first type, which i ‘integration’, migrants desire to both maintain ethnic cultural characteristics and the dominant culture in the host society. The second type, called ‘separation’, im migrants wish to maintain ethnic cultural characteristics, while considering int contact undesirable. Conversely, ‘assimilation’ refers to migrants who prefer int contact but do not wish to preserve ethnic cultural characteristics. ‘Margina finally, applies when neither intercultural contact or culture maintenance is important. In general, the integration mode of acculturation was found to be popular and also the most adaptive one in terms of successful psychological ad (Berry and Sam, 1997). This general typology should be further refined, as acc attitudes may vary in private and public contexts. Indeed, a study by Phalet, van L and Entzinger (2000) showed that Turkish and Moroccan youth in the Netherlands open to intercultural contact in the school context than in the private context. A m these youngsters opt for separation in the private domain. In the public domain ho majority chooses integration. It must be noted that acculturation attitudes and n cultural skills or competence are considered here. However, cross-cultural stud clearly shown that acculturation studies are associated with more or less behavioral outcomes (Berry and Sam, 1997).

Netherlands (PvdA, VVD, CDA and LPF) link their notion of integration with succe societal participation. Also in societal debates, people often hint at the association bet a successful integration in Dutch society and societal positioning. A detailed view on linkages is, however, lacking. Therefore, our study questions the impact of accultur attitudes on the educational adjustment and attainment of minority students. As to adjustment side of educational outcomes, evidence exists that in particular ethnic cu maintenance may enhance subjective well being in culture-contact situations (Berry Sam, 1997). A strong sense of relatedness to one’s ethnic culture and community has associated with higher levels of self-esteem, social support, and life satisfaction. O other hand, the psychological impact of intercultural contact on psychological adjust naturally varies with the more favorable or adverse quality of intercultural relations. In with a stress-and-coping approach of acculturation, students who invest more in e culture maintenance at home and/or in school, are therefore expected to experience adjustment problems. As to the educational attainment of minority students, surprisingly little research related acculturation attitudes to academic performance measures (Phalet and Verku 2000). However, there are some promising new developments in recent accultur research. Thus, the predominant stress-and-coping approach has been complemented different strand of research, which conceives of migration and culture contac opportunities for culture learning. In acculturation studies among sojourners proponen a culture-learning approach have shown that intercultural contact plays a major role i acquisition of culturally valued skills and social competence (Ward and Kennedy, 1 Conversely, it seems that culture maintenance is not systematically related to more o successful performance in social and task situations (e.g. Phalet and Hagendoorn, 199 sum, distinct dimensions of the acculturation process appear to predict affective well b or adjustment on the one hand, and effective learning or competence on the other ha follows from an alternative culture-learning approach of acculturation that min students who invest more in intercultural contact, should also be more likely t successful in school. In sum, we arrive at distinct hypotheses about the adaptive im acculturation attitudes on school success, depending on whether we focus on copin learning theories of acculturation. In terms of Berry’s typology of acculturation attitudes we thus expect a preferenc integration to lead to a high score on both school attainment and school adjustm Preference for assimilation should lead to high scores on school attainment, but n

5. Research design and method 5.1 Participants

One hundred Turkish students, 180 Moroccan students, 101 refugee students, Dutch classmates participated in the study. A student was identified as a mem ethnic minority on basis of self-identification. In each ethnic group almost an equa of girls and boys were included in the study (Turks: 49 % girls, Moroccans: 51%, 43%, Dutch: 52%). Students were drawn from 16 multi-ethnic schools in five sized Dutch towns. The age of the participants ranged from 12 to 18 years, w students between 13 and 16 years of age. Most participants were in their second fourth grade (Moroccans: 78.9%, Turks: 74.5%, Suryoye: 68.7%, Dutch: 86.4%). The Dutch secondary-school system roughly divides students into vocational vocational tracks (with lower middle school used as a cut-off in this study). Non-v forms of training are aimed at preparing students for higher forms of profes academic education. The majority of Dutch participants in our study was in non-v tracks, whereas minority students were most often attending vocational (Moroccans: 66%, Turks: 76%, refugee: 49% as opposed to Dutch: 21%). The distribution reflects in part the educational disadvantage of minority studen population, and in part the selection of participants so as to include sufficient nu each comparison group in vocational and non-vocational tracks. Most minority stu unschooled or low-schooled parents. Using completion of primary school as a cut of Moroccan mothers, 38% of Turkish mothers, and 79% of Refugee mothers did primary school in the country of origin, as opposed to 7% of the mothers in t comparison group. (For the fathers, the respective figures were 51%, 23% and opposed to 6% without a primary school diploma.) In multivariate analysis, the ed status of the mothers was used as an indicator of parental education, because the of the mother has been found to be most influential in terms of educational inve the children (Kagitcibasi, 1990). The validity of student data on parental educa checked in separate interviews with the mothers at home.

background, each participant rated items on school attainment, school adjustment acculturation attitudes (see below). All questionnaires were presented in Dutch.

5.3 Measures

Acculturation attitudes were assessed with an adapted measure of Berry’s (1 Acculturation Attitudes. Four items were used to measure attitudes towards ethnic Cu Maintenance and Intercultural Contact at Home and in School. The order of present was fixed, so that the family context preceded the school context: ‘Do you think (minority group) should maintain the minority culture at home?’ ‘Do you think (minority group) should adapt to the Dutch culture and society at home?’ ‘Do you that (minority group) should maintain the minority culture in school?’ ‘Do you think (minority group) should adjust to the Dutch culture and society in school?’. Resp categories ranged from (1) ‘no’ over (2) ‘sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t’ to (3) ‘ On the basis of these four items two typologies were constructed.3 The first typo categorizes students into integration, separation, assimilation and segregation typ acculturation in school; the second typology refers to integration, separation, assimil and marginalization types at home. School adjustment. Three types of outcome measures were used to assess stud school adjustment. First, a 5-items scale was constructed to measure Feelings of Belon and included questions about students’ satisfaction with social rules and relations in and their experience of support and understanding from teachers; for example ‘To extent do you feel at home in school?’ 4. The items were scored on a 4-point scale from ‘not at all’ up to (4) ‘very much’. Second, three items were added to measure Perc ________ 3

4

Criteria for the ‘assimilation’ category are: to adapt totally to the dominant culture, and to give up the m culture, either totally or in part; for the ‘separation’ category: to maintain totally the minority culture adapt to the dominant culture, either totally or in part); for the ‘integration’ category: all participant attached equal importance to both cultures; for the ‘marginalisation’ category: the remaining participan did not attach much importance to either culture. The questions measuring Feelings of Belonging were: ‘How much do you like to go to school?’, 'To what do you feel at home in class?’, ‘Do you think that the lessons are clearly explained?’, ‘Do you think th teachers are strict when you break a rule?’ ‘Do you think that most teachers are understanding when you personal problem?’.

example ‘In this school (minority group) and Dutch youngsters mostly form sepa groups’.5 Items were scored on a 4-point scale from (1) ‘completely disagre ‘completely agree’. Simultaneous Component Analysis (see Kiers, 1990) with items in the four comparison groups supported the cross-cultural equivalenc distinct factors of school belonging at the level of interpersonal and intergroup labeled respectively Feelings of Belonging and Perceived Ethnic Boundaries ( variances for Dutch students: 46%; Moroccans: 44%, Turks: 45% and refugees 37% Thirdly, teacher ratings of behavioral problems of each individual student were as an external criterion of adjustment. Concretely, class teachers who knew the well (usually language or mathematics teachers), were asked to judge the pre absence of Behavioral Problems of individual students. Response categories wer from (1) ‘very easy’ to (4) ‘very difficult’ to handle in class. School performance. Multiple outcome measures were used to asses performance, combining an objective index of school failure with student an evaluations of task motivation and achievement. First, a composite index serv objective measure of more or less successful School Careers. The index was bas number of times students had repeated a class, and the number of years they were school as a function of their age, so that a high score indicates a poor academ (correlation between both indicators: Dutch: .81, Moroccans: .59, Turks: .53 and 46). The second measure of school performance was a composite index based o ratings of Academic Achievement. Concretely, teachers rated students’ motiva performance on academic tasks on a 4-point scale from (1) ‘low motivatio performance’ to (4) ‘high motivation/good performance’. (correlation betw indicators: Dutch .73, Moroccans: .69, Turks: .73 and refugee: .68). Thirdly, a 4-item Intrinsic Motivation scale was adapted from Maehr and M (1997) PALS (Patterns of Adaptive Learning Survey). The scale measures the value attached to academic tasks in the eyes of students; for example ‘I think mos in school are important to me.’6 The items were rated on a 3-point scale from (1) ________ 5

The items measuring Perceived Ethnic Boundaries were: ‘In this school (minority group) and Dutch mostly form separate peer groups’, ‘(Minority group) and Dutch people are too different from one they can never really understand each other’, ‘If something goes wrong in this school, (minority almost always involved’.

5.4 Analyses

Firstly we examined ethnic differences in school adjustment, school attainment acculturation attitudes. To this purpose a series of Analyses of Covariance was cond across the four comparison groups. In a first step, Gender (Male vs. Female) and E Group (Dutch, Moroccan, Turkish or Refugee) were entered as independent varia while Educational Track (Vocational vs. Non-vocational) was included as a covariate controlling for the unequal distribution of minority and majority students between l and higher tracks. In addition, we compare school performance mainly across ethnic gr within the same educational track, so that design-based effects, as well as the com selection effects leading to the over-representation of minority students in vocational tr are taken out as well. In a second step, Parental Education, based on the educational s of the mother (No Diploma vs. Primary School or Higher), was added as a se covariate, so as to test whether ethnic effects remain significant after controlling for s disadvantage. To answer the research question about the impact of acculturation attitudes on sc attainment and adjustment, a series of one-way Analyses of Variance was performed fo three minority groups separately. The four Acculturation Types (Integration, Separa Assimilation or Marginalization) served as an independent variable, while mu measures of school attainment and school adjustment were entered as a dependent var Post-hoc comparisons of means were based on Scheffé’s test (Tacq, 1996).

_______ 6

The items of the Intrinsic Motivation scale were ‘ I like most subjects in school’, ‘Mostly I am interested content of the lessons’, ‘It is important for me to make progress in my lessons’ and ‘Most subject that I le school are important to me’.

Table 1 shows the adjusted means and standard deviations for both school adjust school attainment measures in the four comparison groups. All group means are c for Educational Track and Parental Education. Of all six measures only fe belonging failed to reach significance. Apparently, the four ethnic groups do not the level of positive affective attachment to the school environment. Considering the two other measures of school adjustment, the means in Tabl significant differences in the perception of ethnic boundaries (F(491,1)=5.37, While group means attest to shared perceptions of relative openness in ethnic Moroccan students perceived most openness in ethnic relations, followed b students, while Turkish students and especially refugee students experience boundaries as least open. As for the teacher ratings of problematic behavior in cla in Table 1 indicate that teachers consider Dutch students as rather ‘easy’, and students as rather ‘difficult’ students (F(538,1)=3.76, p

Chr: ..)) P: Chr: P: Si: Fr: P: Chr: P: Chr: P: Chr: P: Th: P: Chr: Fr: P: Fr: P:

pourquoi, et pourquoi recrute-t-il maintenant, (.) d’autres représentants dans le parlement; wieso kann der das jetzt einfach so machen, c’est lui qui est le chef d’état hm hm alors il dissout le/ tout le parlement, hm=hm pourqoui, c’est une bonne question oui mais c’était/ c’était le parlement qui eh qui a qui contrô[lait, le ] roi mais c’était pas le roi qui contrôlait [très bien] le parlement, très bien et alors, et lui chef d’état il dissout maintenant le parlement, pourquoi peut-il le faire, lui qui n’est pAs roi; parce qu’il y a rien d’écrit, (.) probablement il n’y A [rien d’écrit ] [premièrement;] oui, on n’a pas de constitution c’est ça (.) on n’a pa:s (.) on n’a rien d’écrit, il n’y a pas de charte concernant la dissolution du parlement; (.)

Thus, for the construction of knowledge, it is irrelevant how many actants are engag the process and which activity they fulfil. It is however important that particular acti are performed and that special tasks are thereby fulfilled. But in all cases of my corp organises the interaction and controls whether the activities have been successf unsuccessful. That leads to the conclusion that in all groups − especially in those in w the interactants differ in their state of knowledge − special competences exist. If the g activates these competences in terms of corresponding activity roles, they can be profi and effectively used for the joint action. If one further takes in consideration that material resources (like texts, pictures, stat etc.) often play an important role in knowledge constructional processes16, the analy perspective of task orientation and the group’s capacity of establishing “common gro ________ 16

For this perspective see Krafft (in print).

control of the constructional activities.

5. Conclusion

In the course of this study some important procedures of the joint constru knowledge in classroom interaction have been demonstrated and analysed analytical perspective of task orientation (chap. 2). In this context, the role of resources for the constructional process in bilingual classroom settings has been e (chap. 3). The foreign language turned out to be a functional instrument for inte working on complex constructional tasks: in the 12th grade, references to the moth occur very scarcely − and when they do occur, they have got a real functional ro joint activity. In chapter 4 the adopted perspective of task orientation has conseque enlarged by the concepts of Luhmann’s systems theory. Thus, material resources be integrated in the analysis of classroom interaction.18

________ 17 18

The consequences and implications cannot be detailed here. This multimodal aspect of classroom interaction is in the centre of interest in my current PhD-pro am pursuing at Bielefeld University (Germany).

Alfons di Luzio (eds.): The contextualization of Language. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 1−38. Becker-Mrotzek, Michael, Rüdiger Vogt (2001): Unterrichtskommunikation. Linguis Analysemethoden und Forschungsergebnisse. − Tübingen: Niemeyer. Butzkamm, Wolfgang (1998): Code-switching in a Bilingual History Lesson. The Mother Tong a Conversational Lubricant. − International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 81−99. Clark, Herbert (1996): Using language. − Cambridge: University Press. Drew, Paul, John Heritage (1992): Analyzing talk at work. An introduction. − In: Paul Drew, Heritage (eds.): Talk at work. Interaction in institutional settings, 3−65. Cambridge: Univ Press. Diegritz, Theodor, Heinz S. Rosenbusch (1977): Kommunikation zwischen Sch Schulpädagogische und linguistische Untersuchungen. Didaktische Konsequenzen. − Mün Urban and Schwarzenberg. Edwards, Derek, Neil Mercer (1987): Common Knowledge. The development of understanding classroom. − London: Routledge. Ehlich, Konrad, Jochen Rehbein (eds.) (1983): Kommunikation in Schule und Hochs Linguistische und ethnomethodologische Analysen. − Tübingen: Narr. −, (1986): Muster und Institution. Untersuchungen zur schulischen Kommunikation, Tübi Narr. Ministerium für Schule und Weiterbildung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen (ed.) (1 Empfehlungen für den bilingualen deutsch-französisch Unterricht in der Sekundarstufe Gymnasien des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen. Geschichte, Frechen: Ritterbach. Gülich, Elisabeth (1999): Les activités de structuration dans l’interaction verbale. − In: Jeanne-M Barbéris (ed.): Le français parlé. Variétés et discours, 21−47. Montpellier: Praxiling. Kalthoff, Herbert (1995): Die Erzeugung von Wissen. Zur Fabrikation von Antworte Schulunterricht. − Zeitschrift für Pädadgogik 41/6, 925−939. Krafft, Ulrich (in print): La matérialité de la production écrite. Les objets intermédiaires da chantier d’écriture de Pedro et de Michaela, in: ... −, Ulrich Dausendschön-Gay (1993): La séquence analytique. − In: Bulletin CILA 57, Nu Spécial “Approches linguistiques de l’interaction. Contributions au 4e Rencontres régiona linguistique. Bâle 14−16 septembre 1992”, 137−157. −, 1999): Système écrivant et processus de mise en mots dans les rédactions conversationnel Langages 134, 51−67. Kress, Gunther et al. (2001): Multimodal teaching and learning. The rhetorics of the sc classroom. − London: Continuum. Mehan, Hughes (1979): Learning lessons. Social Organization in the Classroom. − Cambridge Havard University Press. Mercer, Neil (1995): The Guided Construction of Knowledge. Talk Amongst Teachers and Lea − Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Mondada, Lorenza (1995): Analyser les interactions en classe. Quelques enjeux théoriques et re méthodologiques. − Travaux neuchâtelois de linguistique 22, 55−89.

unpublished. Selting, Margret et al. (1998): Gesprächsanalytisches Transkriptionssystem (GAT). − Lin Berichte 173, 91−122. Sinclair, John, Malcom Coulthard (1975): Towards an Analysis of Discourse. The Englis teachers and pupils. − London: Oxford University Press.

Once we label a person, it affects how we act and toward that person. With labels, we don’t have to know the person. We can just assume what the per like’. (Tauber, 199

1. Introduction

This contribution consists in a case study of a language arts lesson recorded in an It classroom as part of a national inter-university research project, of which Anna Cil and Laurie Anderson have already illustrated the theoretical bases. The project, as have mentioned, focuses on links between the discursive and participatory prac activated in classrooms and pupils’ learning and social outcomes. My paper today pre a paradigmatic situation, which exemplifies the way in which discourse practices “cons reality”. In this specific case, the “reality” in question is a boy’s identity in a multicu educational context. Assuming that the educational process is carried out through a constant inte between the academic and social dimensions (Mehan 1979; Sarangi 1998), my ana links aspects of classroom discourse with labelling of students. Specifically, I will att to show how metacommunication, a pervasive characteristic of teachers’ language w usually contributes positively to the management of classroom activities, can in some accomplish negative functions related to students’ academic achievement and classroom participation, and, in a larger sense, to their social categorization. It is undeniable that in the classroom setting differences in cultural background origin play a role in determining discourse practices. The data I will present documen progressive accentuation of modes of talk that metacommunicatively convey teac expectations about students and the relative “labels” that they assign to them, expecta and “labels” based on appearance, ethnicity, aspects of personality, language, s economic level and so on.

behaviour itself. This activity, whether it remains tacit or surfaces in various sh forms in ongoing talk, is part-and-parcel of all communication. Philosophers, psyc linguists, sociologists have underlined the important role reflexive activity everyday verbal interaction. Jakobson (1960), as is well known, has defined the ca metacommunicate as an integral part of linguistic competence. Watzlavick, Beavin (1967) have viewed it as the conditio sine qua non for effective communication linked to a knowledge of oneself and others. For Garfinkel (1970), metacommun one of the key ways in which speakers manifest their “common-sense knowledg language-in-use – that is, the set of procedures that as members of a society they o communicative exchanges. Bateson (1972) and Goffman (1974) have highlight primary function of metacommunication that of providing a guide to interpretation of reference within which it is possible to make sense (for example) of a statements or shifts of register. Many recent studies have considerably enriched our understanding metacommunication − or reflexive activity − manifests itself in everyday in These studies have provided considerable insight into its fundamental characteri only in the various disciplinary areas already mentioned, but also in the fields of teaching and second language acquisition. For our present purposes, it is important to recall here the distinction, c recognised in the literature on the topic, between “metalinguistic” acti “metacommunicative” activity. In the first case, the focus is on the code: gr phonemes, words, sentences, utterances, texts and discourses. In the second case, is on communication, a focus that manifests itself through the comments, evaluations, etc. that participants produce with respect to the interaction itself, to t (and non-verbal) actions currently “underway”. In classroom settings, and in particularly in language arts classes (wh “language” involved is the students’ mother tongue or a foreign language), this t of reflexivity are both present and, for the most part, intersect and overlap. T continual passage from one level of discourse to another, often within the same for example, a metacommunicative parenthesis during a metalinguistic reflecti may embrace an entire lesson; the use of metacommunicative utterances to org manage the various activities of which a lesson is made up (cf. Anderson/Cilib volume). For this reason, it is not always easy to untangle the two. In spite of “metalinguistic” and “metacommunicative” activities appear to be sufficiently diff

of linguistic meaning: phonological, morphological, lexical, syntactic, textual, discu Metalinguistic activity can regard single, microlinguistic elements – groups of sylla words, phrases – but also macrolinguistic elements such as textual genres, focusing, in latter case, for example, on the underlying rules governing their use or on general princ that guide their (oral or written) production. In such cases, metalinguistic activity ca considered as “doing grammar”, if this expression is taken in a broad sense to in questions of textuality. Reflecting about language as communication, as talk about talk-in-process, man itself through utterances that are closely tied to the context in which this communicati produced. Such metacommunicative utterances construct a “second level of discours progress” because they take as their thematic content the verbal interaction that preced follows them. During a lesson, for example, the teacher may produce a comment that r back to something that the pupils have previously said or he/she may announce a ling activity that is to follow. It is such comments that characterise a metacommunic dimension that is formally separate from communication itself and which is expl expressed: in such “metacommunicative sequences”, as Franceschini (1998) notes, spe refer to the ongoing interaction with “a maximum degree of explicitness”. At other times, however, the metacommunicative dimension cannot be locate specific utterances but instead remains implicit; in such cases it can be recognised thro global analysis of an interaction: it is implicitly signalled by the façon de (Véronique/Vion, 1998). In the extracts of an Italian lesson videorecorded in a secondary-school classroom we will now examine, the various levels I have just described are condensed intertwined; it is within the last of these dimensions indicated – the dimension of im metacommunication – that the labelling of the foreign student takes place.

3. Metacommunication and labelling in classroom discourse: A case-stud

The lesson, recorded in a secondary-school classroom, consists in a reflection on the nature – both objective and subjective – of descriptive texts, a reflection that takes largely through the production of an sample description text.

activity, in fact, regards more than one ongoing linguistic action, given that the to which classroom communication is focused is precisely a specific communicative textual genre whose underlying principles of construction must be illustrated and students are to acquire them and become proficient “text-producers” in their own order to reach this learning objective, the teacher structures and “directs” a dialo the class in which the characteristics of “objective” and “subjective” descrip pointed out. In order to control and manage the pedagogic interaction, the teacher make certain points, of “metacommunicative parentheses” that perform specific f defining what the participants are doing (What? Yes, page fift-seven. We’ve alre that. We’ve talked about that); specifying the topic of current interaction (How describe an object? Can I use those little rules that we’ve been studying until n subjective and objective descriptions?); signalling progressive stages in ongoing ta about this type, this type of discourse we’ve been using up to now? Can it be a val describing other objects?); commenting on students’ responses (That transi horrible, if you will pardon me for saying so); making explicit whose turn it is to s (No, Cancelli, be quiet), and so on. In order to facilitate the pupils’ comprehension of the definitions and examples in the textbook, the teacher involves them in the description of “realia” in the c setting – including, in what initially appears to be an attempt to favour h participation in the discussion, the description of a non-native pupil present:1 ________ 1

The transcription conventions for the classroom extracts are as follows: T teacher P pupil Pn non-native pupil PP pupils (more than one) C whole class (or almost) + short pause (less than one second) ++ longer pause (but less than one second) (n) long pause (n = length in seconds) : lengthening of previous sound or syllable textsyllable cut short text - tone group interrupted TEXT loud tone of voice [ … ] overlap

23 24 25 26 27 28

PP T PP T A T

29 P

(laughter) Marco fai sa − seguendo questa scaletta che c’è qui una veloce veloce descrizione di And (pupils turn around to look at Andrew; they talk amongst themselves) Andrew alzati in piedi che Marco ti deve descrivere. (non-native pupil, Andrew, stands up) Allora noi abbiamo Andrew. Fai conto che ci devi mandare a tutti noi una descrizio questo ragazzo che è arrivato nuovo in classe. Bene? Vediamo un po’. Intanto si chiama (XXX) non è italiano, ma :: è slavo è del Kosovo. Ehm ha quindici a un maschio e ::: (3) è arrivato (XXX.) sulla seconda media in classe (XXX.)

English translation 22 T Important. Because if I describe a monument, I’ll do a certain type of research, if I ha describe a person, I’ll do another type of + research. (4) Okay, let’s hpoe that you confused about this. Shall we make – Okay, for example, go quickly to page a hundre sixty, writing in Italian. With this outline in from of you let’s take for example I don’t (XXX) 23 PP (laughter) 24 T Marco you do it – following this outline that’s here a very quick description of Andrew 25 PP (pupils turn around to look at Andrew; they talk amongst themselves) 26 T Andrew stand up because Marco needs to describe you. 27 A (non-native pupil, Andrew, stands up) 28 T Okay we have Andrew. Let’s imagine that you have to send all of us a description of thi boy in class. All right? Let’s see a bit. 29 P Well first of all his name is (XXX) he’s not Italian, but:: slavic and he’s from Kosovo he’s fifteen years old, he’s a boy and::: (3) he arrived (XXX.) in second grade of m school in our class (XXX.)

From this point onwards, the pedagogic interaction about descriptive texts develops on levels because it also functions metacommunicatively as a vehicle for the teac representation of the non-native student. At the same time that on the surface of tal teacher is exemplifying the characteristics of a text type, woven implicitly into the te ________ = (text) (text) (XXX) ? . ,

latched to previous turn comments (annotations about rhythm; information about gestures, actions, events in context) tape unclear: tentative transcription tape incomprehensible rising intonation falling intonation suspended intonation

The objective and subjective description of the non-native pupil is only a produced conjointly by the pupils and teacher. The teacher’s contribution to this in fact prevails; it is heavily slanted, a fact that emerges clearly from the extreme f with which he uses the attribute “normal”:

Original 48 T [E’ di ] corporatura normale ehm :: è normodotato oppure ha qualche dotazione corporea normale, rientra nei canoni normali, o è troppo magro:, troppo cioè ha una corporatura del tutto normale ( ). 49 P Atletico::: (6) 50 T Su. 51 P (3) 52 T Per esempio, gli occhi il naso la bocca le orecchie i capelli le mani, per non m descrizione tipo (4) (l’elenchino.) Vedi di di fare una descrizione (XXX) ha un viso bene? Con bocca (3) giusta, normale 53 P ehm 54 T Normale va bene? I suoi lineamenti rientrano più o meno nella normalità. (loud orecchie leggermente a?

English translation 48 T [He has ] has a normal build um:: he’s of average intelligence or normal body shape, he’s in the norm as far as height and weight are concerned, o thin:, too chubby, that is, he has a completely normal body build ( ). 49 P Athletic::: (6) 50 T Go on. 51 P (3) 52 T For example, his eyes, his nose mouth ears hairs hands, so that you don’t just description that is just (4) a laundry list. Try to do a description that (XXX) he h face, right? With a mouth that’s (3) fine, normal 53 P um 54 T Normal right? His features are more or less in the norm. (louder) He has ears that sli

(Among other things, note the improper use of the term “normodotato” ( intelligent), which in psychology is used to refer to an individual whose IQ is normal range, here used to describe the boy’s physical build). This high inciden adjective “normal” can be linked to an underlying presupposition on the teach revealing, to a certain degree, the teacher’s intentions and mental attitude. “Presu can be defined “as a tendency to behave, in using language, as if one had certain b knowledge” (Bertucelli Papi 1993:232); in what is said (that he is a “normal contained what is presupposed (the expectation that one might need to describe a

inherently problematic. In a pragmatic perspective, presupposition – viewed as a relationship between spe context and utterance – has significant effects on one’s interlocutor (Sbisà, 1999 Bertucelli Papi (1993:234 ) has stressed, “by introducing certain presuppositions one l one’s interlocutors freedom by obliging him/her to take them as a frame of referenc his/her reply”. In the sequence analysed, just before concluding the “objective” descri of Andrew, a native student takes up the adjective used with such insistence by the tea formulating it as a superlative: Original 80 T Quindi ha un’andatura? 81 P Normalissima. 82 T Normale. Senza − non rivela particolari modi di camminare va bene? Okay? English translation 80 T So his way of walking? 81 P Absolutely normal. 82 T Normal. Without – he doesn’t have a way of walking that is somehow characteristic Okay?

Now, the important point to make about these various turns produced by the teacher i the presupposition being taken for granted (and highlighted above), although in realit teacher’s own, is attributed to the class. This fact is made explicit, in a certain sense, i utterance with which concludes the objective description: “quindi è un ragazzo m simile a voi anche se viene da dove...” (so he is a boy quite similar to you even if he c from where?). The expression anche se (even if) qualifies the first part of the utteran un ragazzo molto simile a voi – he is a boy quite similar to you) as if it were a strange which clashed with expectations. To recognise his normality, his similarity to ourselves – we, who instantiate this no is something that to the native students may appear unexpected, unforeseeable. Her teacher signals to the class the negative expectation about the diversity of the foreign as if it were an expectation of the class itself, elaborating it – at least apparently – positive sense through the concept of “normality”. It appears, in other words, tha teacher wishes to convince the students that their expectations are not justified: the least, are the premises upon which his line of reasoning logically and argumentatively descriptively) depends – a line of reasoning which has as its aim that of demonstratin

language learning and language arts, the other formative and ethical in the broad the word. The whole dialogue that the teacher conducts with the class, up until th utterance, “he is a boy quite similar to you even if...”, a dialogue whose mos feature consists in attributing to Andrew the status of normal, can be characteri example of labelling: the implicit discursive construction of a prejudice which, tak on a second level with respect to the communicative activity being carried out at in the lesson (the oral construction of an objective descriptive text) and thereby op a metacomunicative dimension. As he participates in the description of the foreign pupil that the Italian class called upon to produce, the teacher in fact controls that description: he decide structure it, deciding, among the myriad aspects, images, traits that the boy p which ones to ignore and therefore treat as secondary and which ones to highligh he regards them as significant. By referring to Andrew with a term as de connotations as “normal” implies that he has decided that “normality” is releva specific context, a context in which what counts as a frame of reference – at lea teacher – is negating, neutralising otherness, minimising differences and, on the exalting similarities. Categorising the non-native pupil as similar to us, in spi different ethnic/cultural background, reflects – at least apparently – an intent to him (and perhaps, also to exhibit a positive public self-image, that of a teacher not harbour prejudices). That this intention is only apparent emerges clearly in the second part of the s where everything contributes to explicitly enunciating a negative representation of native pupil. If what we have so far analysed is one of those cases in which “a which does not assume the apparent form of a prejudice can carry out discr functions” (Caronia 2000:177), in the second extract from the lesson the teacher’s discursively assumes an explicit form (reaching the extremes of “this poor wr discourse which places the pupil quite strongly in a position of inferiority, dequali depersonalising him. Considering the process of social categorisation that can take place in a school c through the lens offered by discourse analysis makes it possible to unders phenomenon as “the product of situated and variable discourse” (Caronia 200 allows us, in other words (to quote Caronia yet again) to observe

images, but rather according to a variation within an interpretative repertoire. S categorisation, and the phenomena of prejudice linked to it, is variable, vague, modifie modifiable according to aims and circumstances (ibidem).

In the light of these considerations, we can explain the apparent contradiction w globally characterises the teacher’s discourse: the initial intent to enhance the status o non-native pupil – categorising him as similar to you (an intent which is not real, a description of the discourse has permitted us to point out) is replaced by a manifest d not only to define Andrew’s otherness, but to define it negatively, as an otherness situated on the outskirts of society, in contrast with that normality which the teacher h insistently initially attributed to him. In this final segment the teacher focuses the class to adopt a negative mod description (describe the defects), a mode justified by the fact that the text genre on w the metalinguistic activity focuses requires a certain objectivisation (the pros and con the level of objectivity: “Positive qualities. What positive qualities might he have? De What defects might he have?”). In this endeavour, however, we might argue tha teacher’s efforts fail on both the level of content and metalinguistic intent, sinc subsumes under the category of defects aspects which are not defects at all (“he is no able to communicate with others, hardly a defect, given that he has only just begun to Italian). What is presented as a form of objectivisation required by a given text type reality an objectivisation of the non-native pupil, accomplished by negating him a chan speak: the teachers does not address him directly, but merely expects to order him to around the classroom; he does not give him part of the description to carry out; he doe ask him if he agrees with the description that his classmates make of him. What actions towards and what interpretations of the foreign pupil does the teac behaviour make pertinent on the part of his classmates? The negative representation labelling set in action through his words cannot avoid exerting an influence on pedagogical relationship and on the expectations of all of the participants. The teacher’s linguistic choices construct a negative identity in this context (he smil spite of what… he can’t find … he can’t manage… one might say that all in all he is n he sits still. His stare and the look in his eyes and his immobility … he doesn’t speak he is completely isolated in his world); the students’ linguistic choices seem to ai definitions which describe him in positive terms: the adjectives used carry po connotations, express appreciation (athletic, smiling, good at sports, good at baske really cool-looking), their formulations seem aimed at minimising, attenuating diffic

Original 38 P Perché probabilmente anche durante la lezione i libri non li può seguire perché non e; ++ e poi non riesce più neanche a chiacchierare con gli altri compagni perché nella lingua, 39 T Parla (XXX) quindi è completamente isolato nel suo mondo.

English translation 38 P Because probably even during the lesson the books he can’t follow them because understand, and: ++ and then he can’t even chat with his classmates because he doe the language 39 T He speaks (XXX) so he is completely isolated in his own world.

If we apply to the data analysed the perspective according to which “the sense t individual has of him/herself is the emergent product of his/her interpersonal relat (Pontecorvo 1999:32), this self-fulfilling prophecy seems to emerge as a determining not only of the pupil, of his success/failure in the school setting, b person. What is lacking, in the didactic interaction analysed here, is both the recognition” of the other, and the collective intersubjectivity that is the necessary for creating a real teaching-learning situation (ibidem). This case-study, it seems to me, provides evidence of, and to a large extent what has been underlined in various reflections on multicultural contexts and on i the foreigner:

Il discorso non è tanto il luogo in cui si riflettono le somiglianze e le differenze ogge persone né uno strumento per designare identità e caratteristiche delle persone . E’ il p strumento attraverso cui esse vengono costruite e prodotte come realtà autoevidenti, oggettive[...]In altre parole, un discorso, una strategia di categorizzazione non ri-flette n né un pensiero o un atteggiamento verso essa: esso produce l’uno e l’altro in modi p flessibili, revocabili e localmente situazionati (Caronia 2000:180 ). (Discourse is not so much the place in which objective similarities and differences ar nor is it an instrument for signalling/signifying people’s identity and characteristics. It i powerful instrument through which self-evident, natural and objective realities are const produced […] In other words, a discourse, a categorisation strategy do not reflect real they reflect thoughts about or attitudes towards it: they produce both one and the other less flexible, revocable and locally situated ways). (Caronia 2000:180).

Bertuccelli Papi, Marcella (1993): Che cos’è la pragmatica − Milano: Bompiani. Caronia, Letizia (2000): Costruire le differenze. Immagini di straniero e situazioni educative. − Nigris (a cura di): Educazione interculturale, 144−197. Milano: Bruno Mondadori. Ciliberti Anna/Anderson Laurie (this volume). Franceschini, Rita (1998): Riflettere sull’interazione. Un’introduzione alla metacomunicazi all’analisi conversazionale. − Milano: Franco Angeli. Garfinkel, Harold, Harvey Sacks (1970): On formal structures of practical actions. − In: McK C., Tiryakian E.A. (eds) Theoretical sociology: perspectives and developments, 337−366. York: Appleton−Century−Crofts. Goffman, Erving (1974): Frame analysis. − Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Jakobson, Roman (1960): Saggi di linguistica generale. Milano: Feltrinelli [1981]. Mehan, Hugh (1979): Learning lessons. − Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Pontecorvo, Clotilde (1999): La psicologia dell’educazione oggi. Una nuova concezione apprendimento e dell’insegnamento. − In: C.Pontecorvo (a cura di): Manuale di psico dell’educazione, 9−40. Bologna: Il Mulino. Sarangi, Srikant (1998): ‘I actually turn my back on (some) students’: the metacommunicative r talk in classroom discourse. − Language Awareness 2 and 3, 90−108. Sbisà, Marina (1999): E’ implicito.Quindi è importante. − Italiano e oltre 1, 16−25 Tauber, Robert (1999): Good or bad, what teachers expect from students they generally get! − Digest 97−7. Véronique, Daniel/Vion Robert (1995): Presentation. − In D.Véronique, R.Vion (eds.): Modè l’interaction verbale, 5−10. Aix-en Provence: Publications de l’Université de Provence. Watzlawick, Paul/Beavin, J.H./Jackson, D.D. (1967): Pragmatics of human communication. A of interactional patterns, pathologies and paradoxes. − New York: W.W.Norton.

Original: 1 T Allora vediamo un po’ bene. Per esempio tu devi descrivere + una persona. M dico descrivimi Giulian. (XXX) ++ CHE cosa andrai ad osservare prima di tu devi fare questa descrizione io non la conosco non l’ho mai vista, e dalla tua d devo immaginare Giulian. 2 P E’ io prima di tutto descriverei: com’è fatta fisicamente, poi: si insomma mi so che ne so nei capelli gli occhi, com’è fatta se [alta bassa ] 3 T [secondo me] 4 T va cominciato dall’età. 5 P (XXX) Se io ti devo presentare qualche vostro (amici) so che gli dico che h Prima di tutto il profilo. Allora, descriveRO’ questo soggetto, dirò come si chiam è importante? Perché se si chiama − bene? ti dirò: che cosa quanti anni HA, 6 T Quanti − no farò una descrizione del (XXX) bene? Tutte le sue cose. Farò una d abbastanza gene −? 7 PP −rale. 8 T −rale. Per darti un primo (XXX). POI cosa sceglierò? 9 P (XXX) 10 T Penso l’aspetto fisico (XXX.) fisicamente. Mettendo che cosa [Anche le mie?] 11 P [impressioni ] 12 T Le mie impressioni. Perché sono io che devo descrivere. Quindi te riceveRAI l’ di Maliscia attraverso? (the bell rings) 13 P (XXX) 14 T (XXX) passerò a descrivere il suo aspetto? ++ Psico? Psicologico. 15 P Psicolabile. 16 T (XXX) il suo modo di fare, il suo modo di rapportarsi con gli altri, quindi io dir descrivere (altre) cose che devo fare? 17 P E’ devo: devo dire cioè devo descriverla però mettendo (anche le opinioni.) 18 T No, ma cosa devo fare? Non posso utilizzare sempre lo stesso metodo, per d Cosa dovrò utilizzare, metodi diversi. Cioè andare a cercare che cosa (Frullini che devo descrivere. 19 P (XXX.) 20 T Le particolarità più impo−? 21 P (softly) Importanti. 22 T Importanti. Perché se io descrivo un monumento, farò un certo tipo di ricerc descrivere una persona, farò un altro tipo di + ricerca. (4) Allora, speriamo che fatta confusione. Vogliamo fare − ecco per esempio, velocemente andate centosessanta scritto di italiano. Con la scaletta davanti uno di voi prendiamo pe che ne so (XXX) 23 PP (laughter) 24 T Marco fai sa − seguendo questa scaletta che c’è qui una veloce veloce desc Andrew 25 PP (pupils turn around to look at Andrew; they talk amongst themselves) 26 T Andrew alzati in piedi che Marco ti deve descrivere. 27 A (non-native pupil, Andrew, stands up) 28 T Allora noi abbiamo Andrew. Fai conto che ci devi mandare a tutti noi una des

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(laughter) (laughs) Ha :: i capelli + [marroni scuri ] [passa poi vediamo] te mi devi descrivere, ancora descrivere [collega questa] [passo ora ] a descrivere il suo aspetto (XXX) E’ orrendo questo passaggio scusami. (laughter) (XXX) Passo [ora a de] [sembra una scheda] del del del computer (pupils are talking amongst themselves) Bisognerebbe fare un passaggio fra quello che hai detto adesso, + la presentazio generale, a una presentazione tipica. Allora, uhm (7) Su per quanto riguarda il suo aspetto fisico che possono − il punto di vista. (loud voice; faster) Allora per quanto riguarda il suo aspetto fisico è: un ra abbastanza alto, intorno a un metro e settanta, e settantacinque(5) Va bè anche uno e settanta settantacinque su. Uhm :: [occhi (XXX)] [E’ di ] corporatura normale ehm :: è normodotato oppure ha qualche una dotazione corporea normale, rientra nei canoni normali, o è troppo magro:, tr cicciotto, cioè ha una corporatura del tutto normale ( ). Atletico::: (6) Su. (3) Per esempio, gli occhi il naso la bocca le orecchie i capelli le mani, per non mi far descrizione tipo (4) (l’elenchino.) Vedi di di fare una descrizione (XXX) ha un viso va bene? Con bocca (3) giusta, normale ehm Normale va bene? I suoi lineamenti rientrano più o meno nella normalità. (louder) orecchie leggermente a? Sventola. Sventola. [Un po’ (XXX)] [(laughter) ] Il naso è prominente, va bene? Quindi fisicamente Ha il doppio mento. Poi questo va messo. (speaking deliberately) COME si muove, come si vede ++ C sua andatura è un’andatura caratterizzata da qualche particolarità quando cammina (XXX.) Cammina un po’ Andrew (Andrew sits down) No No (XXX) (Andrew stands up again and goes near the teacher) Puoi camminare da qui a là per favore?

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desk) Molto (figo). Quindi ha un’andatura? Normalissima. Normale. Senza − non rivela particolari modi di camminare va bene? Okay? (XXX) OH: poi qui dice qui. Il suo abbigliamento è come? sportivo Rientra in quell’abbigliamento normale dei giovani d’oggi, che generalmente tute, va bene? Le scarpe di una certa consistenza, eh? (laughter) Quindi è un ragazzo molto simile a voi anche se viene da dove? (XXX)

English translation: 1 T Okay let’s go into this a bit. For example you have to describe + a person. Let that I tell you to describe Giulian to me. (XXX) ++ WHAT are you going to g first of all. You have to produce this description for me I don’t know her I’ve her, and from your description I have to be able to imagine Giulian. 2 P And I first of all I would describe: what she’s like physically, then: yes we FOCUS on I don’t know her hair, her eyes, what’s she like [tall short ] 3 T [In my opinion] 4 T you should start from her age. 5 P (XXX) If I have to present some (friend) of yours I’d tell him that I have (XXX all a profile. Then I’ll desCRIBE this subject, say what his name is, wh important? Because if he’s called. Okay? I’ll tell you how old he IS, 6 T How many – no I’ll describe (XXX) right? All his things. I’ll make a descriptio rather gener: 7 PP -ral. 8 T -ral. To give you a first (XXX). THEN what will I choose? 9 P (XXX) 10 T I think his physical appearance (XXX.) physically. Putting what [Also my? ] 11 P [impressions] 12 T My impressions. Because I have to describe. So you’ll reCEIVE Malisci through? (the bell rings) 13 P (XXX) 14 T (XXX) then I’ll go to describe her aspect? ++ Psycho-? Psychological. 15 P Psychically unstable. 16 T (XXX) her way of acting, her way of relating to others, so I’d say I have t (other) things what do I have to do? 17 P And I have to: I have to I mean I have to describe her but also put (my opinions) 18 T No, but what do I have to do? I can’t always use the same method of description I have to use, different methods. In other words I go look for what (Frullini) have to describe.

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confused about this. Shall we make – Okay, for example, go quickly to page a hu and sixty, writing in Italian. With this outline in from of you let’s take for example I know (XXX) (laughter) Marco you do it – following this outline that’s here a very quick description of Andre (pupils turn around to look at Andrew; they talk amongst themselves) Andrew stand up because Marco needs to describe you. (non-native pupil, Andrew, stands up) Okay we have Andrew. Let’s imagine that you have to send all of us a description o new boy in class. All right? Let’s see a bit. Well first of all his name is (XXX) he’s not Italian, but:: slavic and he’s from Ko Um he’s fifteen years old, he’s a boy and::: (3) he arrived (XXX.) in second gra middle school in our class (XXX.) Certainly. :: (XXX) in the summer that is (laughter) (laughs) He has dark::: [brown hair ] [go on to let’s see] You need to describe him to me, still describe him [link this ] [Now I’ll go on to] describe his ph appearance (XXX) That’s a horrible transition pardon me for saying so. (laughter) (XXX) I’ll go on [now to des] [it sounds like a menu] on the on the computer (pupils are talking amongst themselves) You need to make a transition from what you just said now + the general introducti a typical presentation. Well, um (7) Come on as far as his physical appearance what can – the point of view (loud voice; faster) Well as far as his physical appearance he’s a relatively tall around a metre sixty, sixty-five (5) A metre sixty sixty five come off it. Um :: [his eyes (XXX)] [He has ] has a normal build um:: he’s of average intelligence or he a normal body shape, he’s in the norm as far as height and weight are concerned, o too thin:, too chubby, that is, he has a completely normal body build ( ). Athletic::: (6) Go on. (3) For example, his eyes, his nose mouth ears hairs hands, so that you don’t just give description that is just (4) a laundry list. Try to do a description that (XXX) he has an face, right? With a mouth that’s (3) fine, normal um Normal right? His features are more or less in the norm. (louder) He has ears that slig

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He has a double chin. And then this needs to be put in. (speaking deliberately) HOW he move, as y Whether his way of walking is a way of walking which is characteristic in when he walks (XXX.) Walk a little Andrew (Andrew sits down) No No (XXX) (Andrew stands up again and goes near the teacher) Can you walk from here to there please? (laughter) (gives Andrew a pat on the shoulder, encouraging him to walk) Andrew str walking motions with his fingers) Andrew (laughter) (Andrews puts his hands in his pockets, walks around the class and then retu desk) Very (cool-looking). So his way of walking? Absolutely normal. Normal. Without – he doesn’t have a way of walking that is somehow character Okay? (XXX) OH: then here it says here. What are his clothes like? Sporty. It’s normal clothing for young people today, who usually wear sweat suits, shoes are rather substantially looking, right? (laughter) So he’s a boy quite similar to you even if he comes from where? (XXX)

Second extract:

Original: 1 T Poi che dice? Facciamo − questa è la parte più complicata, ++ la parte del psicologica. Il carattere (XXX) difetti simpatia gli interessi le abitudini i comp che visione ha lui della (lingua). Vediamo un po’, quella magari sarà diffici Però intanto possiamo vedere quali sono − è importante secondo te. E’ un caratt un carattere calmo tranquillo, oppure rivela degli atteggiamenti a volte poco: 2 P A:Ah è:: (XXX) abbastanza calmo, molto so sorridente e scherzoso e:: 3 T E’ sorridente. 4 P Sì. 5 T Qui + tu potresti mettere in luce qualche cosa di tuo, di personale proprio “sorridente” + in contrasto con che cosa? 6 P (XXX)

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[Forte. ] E quindi diamo − che cosa Dai una descrizione del suo carattere, fedele, (XXX) però ci metti anche una osservazione. Per quale motivo è necessario mettere l’osservazione? Per rendere più completa la descrizione. Per rafforzare esaltare dare forza anche al suo + modo di affrontare la vita, cioè q modo che lui (parla) in maniera sorridente − in rapporto − mettendo in contatto quello che gli è successo. POI le qualità. Che qualità può avere? E’ molto bravo in tutti gli sport. (the pupils talk amongst themselves) Perché è bravo in tutti gli sport? ++ Quale può essere − perché perché ha doti f particolari, o perché ha un’attrazione particolare per lo sport? Non so nemmeno (saprà fare) tanti sport non lo so, penso di sì. (the pupils talk amongst themselves) E’ bravo a basket. A basket, a pallavolo. (the pupils continue to talk amongst themselves) Difetti. No, Cancelli dice i difetti No il Cancelli sta zitto (inc) (XXX) le parolacce in lingua straniera ( ) Non è vero a me non mi insegna niente. Sch. Basta. A voi non vi pare il vero di conoscere parolacce (XXX). Le uniche paro gli avete insegnato a questo disgraziato sono le parolacce. Non è mica vero. Non è vero. Allora, (XXX) (all speaking in overlap; laughter) (loud voice) Signori! Un difetto quale potrebbe essere. Vale anche per te, questo esempio di essere molto? Chiuso. Perché non trova perché non riesce anc comunicare? Non alla perfezione (qualcosa) Comunicare con gli altri. Non riesce ancora a comunicare con gli altri. E’ dovuto (a cosa? A una non conoscenza della lingua, ma anche a che cosa? ++ perché lui è arrivato quest’anno e pu- pu- ha in rapporto peggiori di quelli di :: in ponesse noi (XXX). Cioè non conosce l’ambiente – (XXX) Simpatia! (4) E’ simpatico o non è simpatico. A: E’ per quello che ci riesce :: a capire In relazione le difficoltà che ci SONO per lui e per voi, per avere un rappoRTO, s dire tutto sommato che è simpatico, quali sono le sue abitudini, comportamenti che notato più consueti? ++ Cosa fa lui (XXX) (pupils talk amongst themselves; laughter) Sta fermo. Lui sta fermo −+ Perché per noi è importante che sta fermo? La sua visi sguardo degli occhi e la sua immobilità. ++ Per quale motivo? + Lui sta sempre imm fermo. Perché probabilmente anche durante la lezione i libri non li può seguire perché n capisce, e; ++ e poi non riesce più neanche a chiacchierare con gli altri compagni p

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psychological part. Personality (XXX) defects, pleasant aspects interest habits what vision does he have of the (language). Let’s see a bit, that might be difficu To start with we can which are – is important according to you. He has personality, his personality is calm, tranquil or does he have attitudes that are bit: A:Ah he’s:: (XXX) pretty calm, sm- smiles a lot and jokes and:: He smiles Yes. Here + you could per a personal touch, a consideration of your own as re “smile” + in contrast with what? (XXX) No in contrast with HIS with how he ended up in Italy. He left (XXX) were he before, so therefore + (XXX) It was because a personal choice, but due to – in spite of this what In spite of all the problems he’s had to face he’s:: [still] [Strong.] And therefore we’r what are you giving? You’re giving a description of his personality, faithful, ( you’re also putting in your own + observation. For what reason is it necessary t observations To make the description more complete. To reinforce exalt add force to his + way of facing life, that is, this way of speak smile – in relationship – comparing it – with what has happened to him. THE qualities. What positive qualities might he have? He’s very good in all sports. (the pupils talk amongst themselves) Why is is good in all sports? ++ What might be – why why is he particularly because he particularly likes sports? I don’t know really (it might be because he know how to play) a lot of spo know, I think so. (the pupils talk amongst themselves) He’s good at basketball. At basketball, at volleyball. (the pupils continue to talk amongst themselves) Defects. No, Cancelli (name of another student) can describe the defects No Cancelli’s going to keep his mouth shut (XXX) (XXX) swear words in a foreign language ( ) That’s not true he hasn’t been teaching me any. Sh:: that’s enough. You’d like nothing better than to know some swear words words you’ve taught that poor wretch are swear words. That’s not true at all. That’s not true. Well so, (XXX) (all speaking in overlap; laughter) (loud voice) Ladies and gentlemen! What might be a defect. It could be a defec

32 P 33 T 34 P 35 T 36 PP 37 T 38 P 39 T

because he just arrived this year and can- can- his worst relations (??) that those in w we find ourselves (XXX). In other words he’s not familiar with the setting – (XXX) Nice! (4) Is he nice or is nice? Uh: He is as far as we can:: tell. Considering the difficulties that he HAS for him and you in establishing relationshi can say that all things considered he is nice, what are his habits, behaviour that you noticed as most characteristic? ++ What does he do (XXX) (pupils talk amongst themselves; laughter) He stays still. He stays still − + Why is it important for use that he stays still? His and the look in his eyes and his immobility. ++ For what reason ++ He always re immobile, still. Because probably even during the lesson the books he can’t follow them becau doesn’t understand, and: ++ and then he can’t even chat with his classmates becau doesn’t speak the language He speaks (XXX) so he is completely isolated in his own world.

1. Ethnic, national and religious minorities in the Czech Republic

The movement of individuals, groups or entire nations is a historical phenomenon tha influenced whole epochs (the movement of nations, the invasions of the Tatars and Tur south east and central Europe, following wars etc.). In 1951 the UN accepted Convention for the Conditions of Refugees (the Geneva Convention), which consoli the status of refugees for the whole world and the establishes a minimum standar dealing with refugees. The Czech Republic accepted and ratified the Convention in 1 but it did not become valid in the Czech Republic until 1993, when it was made pub the Law Digest. The delay was caused by the division of the state, and followin transfer of international guarantees for the two new states: the Czech and Slovak Repu The Czech Republic has been preparing its own refugee law for a number of years (w would replace the unsuitable Asylum Law No. 498/1990 Coll. which has been in forc 10 years), similar to the practice in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In January 2001 the nationality of refugees had radically changed. Of the 1228 p involved, a third were from India and the Ukraine, and many were from Mold Afghanistan, Vietnam, Armenia, and Sri Lanka. Only 8 people were actually gr asylum. For most of these asylum seekers we are merely a transit country on route t EU. This is an uninvited phenomenon for the Czech public (a certain closedness xenophobic mood dominates from the former political regime), which is accepted more necessary political phenomenon of the political and economic convergence with “o Western Europe. Slowly but surely European legal standards are being accepted, as th still only very slow development of communication with Europe-wide attempts to f solution to the migration problem of official, though mainly unofficial and illegal, pol and economic refugees. Politically motivated refugees appeared in Czechoslovakia in the early 60s from Gr and later also from African countries. There was a further wave of politically moti migration after 1990 in response to the Balkan conflict, from former Soviet Republic from the Near East. Economically motivated migration of young people from Viet

experienced a strong migration wave of Slovak citizens searching for bett conditions in the Czech Republic. The following table presents an overview of the numbers and structure of im into the Czech Republic between1993 and 1998:

Table 1: Immigration from Abroad Year 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998

total

%men

12,900 10,207 10,540 10,857 12,880 10,729

52.2 50.8 54.9 58.6 55.0 53.5

age 0-14 1,871 962 916 1,140 1,359 1,478

age 15-59 9,789 8,221 8,566 8,885 10,616 8,563

age over 60 1,240 1,024 1,058 832 905 688

% 0-14 14.5 9.4 8.7 10.5 10.6 13.8

% 15-59 75.9 80.5 81.3 81.8 82.4 79.8

Table 2: Immigration from Abroad Over 15 Years of Age by Level of Education year

total

1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998

11,029 9,245 9,624 9,717 11,521 9,251

primary 2,170 1,733 1,921 1,973 2,224 1,843

second. - grad. 3,034 2,511 2,765 2,869 3,276 2,837

second. + grad. 3,404 2,858 2,774 2,721 3,347 2,571

higher

% prim

2,421 2,143 2,164 2,154 2,674 2,000

19.7 18.7 20.0 20.3 19.3 19.9

% sec. - grad 27.5 27.2 28.7 29.5 28.4 30.7

% sec. + grad 30.9 30.9 28.8 28.0 29.1 27.8

Table 3: Immigration from Abroad by Country of Origin year 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998

total 12,900 10,207 10,540 10,857 12,880 10,729

CDN 421 443 390 296 234 187

FGR 1,391 1,374 1,198 942 859 688

PL 1 223 307 221 175 136

A 108 134 241 201 178 144

RUS 27 368 364 480 759 593

SK 7,276 4,076 3,845 3,450 3,088 2,887

CH 404 371 315 202 196 153

UKR 279 456 846 1,381 1,524 1,595

USA 314 361 372 343 388 255

complicated, rather than easing their situation. However, what was welcome was the id temporary asylum, which allows a visa to be granted for a period of one year. Furtherm in the course of the 90s, the Czech Republic concluded a range of re-admission agreem with Romania (1994), Germany (1994) and Slovakia (1996), under which states re-a citizens from third states if they entered the territory of the agreement countries illegall The following nationality minorities currently live in the Czech Republic: Slo (320,000), Poles (59,000), Germans (48,000), Romany (33,000 registered in 1991, tho in reality, there are about 220,000 living here), Hungarians (20,000), Ukrainians (9, Russians (5,000), Bulgarians (3,500), Greeks (3,400), Romanians (1,300), Vietna (500), Austrians (500), Jews (218) and about 12,000 residual nationalities. These num do not include members of ethnic groups living here illegally – it is estimated that ther around 100,000 of them. As a whole, nationality minorities make up about 6% of the population. Until 1989, the state recognised only the organised activities of two mino (the Polish Culturally Edifying League from 1948 and the Cultural Association of Cit of German Nationality from 1968). Major changes in the lives of minorities took following acceptance of the new constitution in 1991, part of which was the Chart Basic Rights and Freedoms. Protection of the rights of minorities now includes: − − −

mother tongue education (there are Polish, Romany and Slovak nationality schools with grants); cultural activities and development of national culture with state grants; propagation and acceptance of information in one’s mother tongue (radio, television, book publications).

In 1994, the Refugees Counselling Centre of the Czech Helsinki Committee (Senováž 110 00 Prague 1) was established to promote better communication with refugees. non-governmental organisation regularly sends its voluntary workers to camps. At camps, education in the Czech language, cultural and social programmes, and pol courses of education for democracy, human rights, interpersonal relations and so fort organised. The young volunteers (students) look after the children of asylum seeker whom the most pressing problems are linked to matters related to health, family education. These volunteers help protect these “foreigners” against discrimination by people and the administration. In its Evaluation Announcement of 1999, the European Commission states tha situation of ethnic minorities in the Czech Republic is satisfactory. However, this is sti

2. The problem of the educational care of children of refuge foreigners in the Czech Republic

The educational conditions for the children of foreigners and refugees is leg ensured by the following means: School Law (no. 29/1984 Coll.) on the System of Primary, Secondary an Educational Establishments in the wording of Reform no.138/1995 Coll. talks in pupils belonging to nationality minorities. “Pupils belonging to nationality mino the extent of adequate interest in their nationality development, are guaranteed th education in their mother tongue.” In June 1993 the Ministry of Education, Youth and Physical Training of th Republic requested local school councils, if they were interested and had suitable to organise in 1993/94 so-called preparatory classes for Romany children. After e the results with Romany children, the reason for the existence of these preparat was justified and their continuation was proposed. Between 1. 9. 1997 and 30. 6. 2000 the Ministry of Education, Youth and Training of the Czech Republic (hereinafter MEYP and CZE) implemented a pilo for the officially recognised preparatory classes for children with sociochallenged backgrounds. On its conclusion, the experiment was fully evaluated a decided that it should continue. Conditions for the organisation of preparatory classes are as follows: − − − − − − − −

preparatory classes can be arranged by schools, educational facilities, the church or subjects; the relevant school councils must approve of the organisation; preparatory classes can be organised at primary schools, special schools, and excep nursery schools; children are admitted to the scheme who have been granted deferred school attendanc their social and communication skills are insufficient; generally these children are a years old and show promise when it comes to working on their development; the minimum number of pupils in a class is 10, and the maximum is 15; the methodological material “Preparatory Classes for Children from socio-culturally C Backgrounds” is used; an assistant to the class teacher with a good knowledge of the background of the child preparatory class can be appointed; the headmaster of the relevant school is responsible for the pilot course.

issued a directive and established conditions for the organisation of such courses (the min number of attendees is 5) in April 1994. The MEYP CZE covers the costs of the organi from means provided from the state budget. b) Education of foreigners in primary and secondary schools for the school year 1994/95 acco to the directive of the MEYP CZE.

The following categories of children of foreigners are distinguished: -

Children of foreigners who have been granted a permanent residence permit for the CZE. Children of foreigners who have been granted a long-term residence permit for the CZE. Children of foreigners who have been granted temporary asylum in the CZE as a result of m conflict in their country of origin or if their country of origin has been affected by natural dis Children of foreigners who apply for refugee status in the CZE or who were granted re status in the CZE. Children of foreigners who have permission for a permanent stay in the territory of imm camps. Children of people who cannot demonstrate citizenship of any state. Children of foreigners who enjoy diplomatic privileges and immunity. Foreigners who are educated within the framework of pupil exchange programmes.

Children of foreigners in categories 1−5 and 7 are provided with free education fo period that education is compulsory. Children of foreigners with permission for permanent stay in the territory of the children of foreigners who were granted refugee status, and foreigners educated withi framework of pupil exchange programmes finish compulsory education at secondary sc under the same conditions as the children of Czech citizens.

2.1. Education of foreigners in primary and secondary schools in the 199 school year in accordance with the directive of MEYP CZE.

The directive discharged in 1995 distinguishes the abovementioned categorie foreigners, with the exception of categories 5 and 6. The directive on free education is identical with the one for the preceding year. However, what is new is the obligatio school councils, within whose regional districts there are facilities from the Minist Interior for refugees, to establish direct contact with these facilities in connection wit fulfilment of the compulsory school attendance of children located in these facilities.

−

Czech language and literature; unsatisfactory knowledge of this subject during the first t of attendance, having been granted permission for long-term stay or permanent stay, is a reason for which a student need not be classified for this subject. Other foreigners with a serious lack of knowledge of this subject can be rele classification at the end of the first half year of the first school year; at the end of the s year the pupil, in view of his language handicap, can be excused from taking the subjec language and literature. If, for the aforementioned objective reasons, the pupil classified, he repeats the year. (The school is not obliged to teach the pupil the Czech through special forms of study.)

On acceptance of pupils and applicants for study in secondary school, the headm not impose an entrance exam in the Czech language, but the pupil demonstrates capable of reacting fluently in Czech to questions relating to common everyday sit Since 1st January 2000, the Law on the Residence of Foreigners (No. 326/19 and the Law of Asylum (no. 325/1999 Coll.) has been in force in the Czech Rep addition to its new regulations, a directive from the Ministry of Education on the of foreigners in Czech schools has been prepared. A range of independent projects have been organised in Czech schools, e.g. the International Class in Brno, whose guarantor is the Čejkovická Primary Scho classes should create suitable conditions for the children of foreigners so that the possible for classes to be taught in the foreign language in every subject apart fro and art; the subject of “European Studies” is also integrated into the school cu Children of foreigners in such classes will learn Czech as a foreign language. One particular problem is working with children of refugees awaiting asylum This pedagogical activity is organised voluntarily by the Advisory for Refugees i whose four teachers are active in the camps, teaching Czech, preparing children f attendance, leading courses on citizen education which includes matters relating understanding, hygiene, tolerance etc. They also organise outings, and acquaint the with Czech customs in an authentic setting. Financial resources are obtained various charity events, concerts, bazaars etc. organised by the Advisory.

2.2. The Social Situation of the Romany Ethnic Group and its Edu Perspectives in the Czech Republic

The Romany are the largest minority in Europe without their own territory, number almost seven million people. In the Czech Republic there are about 22

and there is a strong aversion to Romany in general, together with strict repression o part of the state. (Accurate statistics are not available since Romany have the un ability to live in semi-legality i.e. “just visiting” in overcrowded flats; and, on the hand, only a small section of Romany actually declare their nationality). Analysis of the current situation shows that there are signs of further escalation i problems surrounding Romany ethnicity and the consequences for the body corpora which the most marked are:

(a) The absolute and relative increase of the numbers of Romany, i.e. their percentage of the Czech population is on the increase. Claims for tolerance on the part of the major intensifying and ever more demands are being made on the capacity of the relevant professi who will find it difficult to meet the faster growing demand for professional care. A perfun look at the problem of children’s homes will suffice to illustrate this problem. (b) Unemployment levels among Romany, which, for example reached over 90% in Kladno a Ústí. Even if unemployment remained at the current level, its demoralising and crimina effect will gradually fully assert itself. Unemployment levels among the whole populatio expected to increase beyond the European average. This is the result of certain econ developments and will, of course, lead to a situation in which the first to be laid off will be Romany who have worked up until now. The number of Romany parents who live as parasi their own children will also increase. These parents use their children for their own fin needs, whilst the state continues to provide them with care for their children. This parasiti already leading to a population explosion among the Romany ethnic group. (c) Romany will, on the whole, not be able to pay the current market rate for rent. Lower quality or ‘holobyts’ are already being built for them as “maladjusted citizens”. These are blocks o of the estate type, and they will move here together with other chronic debtors. (d) There is a general refusal to respect public order coupled with an unusual ability for Roma escape the police by ‘reciprocal cover’. This means that Romany are led into mass involvem the powerful web of organised crime. (e) The low respect and ineffectiveness of the police and courts when it comes to Romany crime seriously irritates the public and increases aversion towards Romany. An increasing nu of citizens are the victims of or witnesses to unpunished crimes committed in broad dayl street crime committed by children under the guidance of their parents etc.. (f) Children who have gone through children’s homes find it very difficult to form strong f relationships. They give birth to more wards of children’s homes. Generally, this deteriorat on the increase. (g) Another adverse factor is the growth of the devastating influence of audiovisual med Romany culture and language. Watching a screen precludes group singing, tale telling and traditional forms of communication. The result is cultural, ethical and spiritual deterioration.

the spread of aggressive computer games among the young population also has an u influence.

There is no doubt that the situation of the Romany ethnic group is bad and is gettin Our republic is often the subject of criticism on the European forum just becau Romany problem, and we can foresee further criticism. The inability to solve the problem can be interpreted as an inability or unwillingness to maintain de principles when it comes to minorities as a whole. How can we solve the Romany problem at the present time? Above all, it is nec admit that we lack a solid viewpoint. When democracy was demanded in the Romany, it was surprising than when it was given Romany sighed for the old t voted communist. It was predicted that the Romany would behave like a normal n minority, that they would vote for their own competent representation, wh acknowledge and support them; this should enable Romany to follow their own l interests, both at local and at state level. These hopes no longer exist. Roma splintered group, and they are represented by some 40 different organisations. H these organisations have, so far, been totally ineffective for the normal Romany, are not recognised by the people they are supposed to represent. Typical Romany do not behave according to the model of liberal political ph they are ignorant of the health and education they are entitled to for their children not aspire to a socially acceptable path to improve their financial situation and so and neither do they take part in cultural and political life. Local administratio necessity, returned to the former racial protectionism, though without the ethnic o which was perpetrated by the communists. This is a situation that does, in fact, co the law. For example, the redemption of family credits for school attendance though understandable. The government hopes that gradually a group will emerge from the Roman group who show willing towards the social rise and, as far as the remainder are ________ 1

The more usual term is too broad for our needs, as it is understood to be animosity based on preconc mainly the preconception of the superiority of one’s own race. Ethnic aversion on the part of Roman the majority has more elements to it. Furthermore, Romany belong to the same race as ourselve therefore possible to talk about a different anthropological type. In addition, the attitude of the majo Romany is not only negative − a deeper psychological view exposes influence, sympathy and env xenophobia is also used, but again this is also too broad to delineate differentiation. After a interethnic views are not only based on fear.

they eat on a daily basis; however, these family credits are usually used for diff purposes. It is not possible to understand the obviously defective socialisation of most Rom merely as a result of their sociocultural backwardness.2 A significant role was playe Hitler’s “racial purification” of Europe, during which nearly all the Romany living i then Czech lands disappeared altogether. The post-war Communist policy was strongly oriented towards assimilation. Rom were accepted as a socio-culturally backward population, whose situation could on improved through systematic education and involvement in working activities, even was against their will. The nomadic way of life that many of them led was unaccep because it complicated their social manipulation, and it was therefore forbidden an maintenance was brutally enforced. Their language was considered to be an unnece complication for education and communication, and their particular lifestyle and cu had to surrender to the uniformity of the socialist model in line with the Soviet pattern very existence of the Romany nationality was not accepted. Romany gradually lost the positive elements of their ethnicity, whether we are ta about traditional craft skills (which were no longer needed), their excellent musical ta their language and unique culture, the warmth of their interpersonal relations, especiall relationship with children, or their strict sexual morality3. Negative elements cam dominate more and more – Romany exhibited increased hostility towards non-Rom there was little constancy in work, very little ability to plan and work for a future objec they exhibited a lack of self-control when it came to alcohol (to which they already easy access), and tendencies towards impulsiveness and aggression. A deep feelin ________ 2

3

In recent times attempts to explain interethnic or interracial differences by psychology and the behavi biological factors have been revived. For example, differences between the results of intelligence te American Blacks and Whites, repeatedly establishing in a wide range of research, that it is partly explain genetics. One of the foremost tasks of genetic psychology is to investigate the inherited principles differences between the individuals of one race and among individuals of different races. As far as Roma concerned, it is not possible of course to consider them as being of a different race, but only an anthropo variation. Generally anticipated is their psychogenetic print, particularly with respect to their congenital g music and dance. The differences between their results and those of the majority in intelligence and psychological tests (which are significant) are, however, influenced to such an extent by massive diffe between living conditions among Romany and non-Romany children, that a conclusion based on con factors would be unsubstantiated. This tradition is affirmed by Romany scholars as substituted sexual promiscuity from early adulthood, an between too close relatives, which could also jeopardise the Romany gene pool of endogamy.

do not accept our values and norms; they are totally indifferent to the destiny of de and they view the state as more of an enemy than as a protector. They have consumerism as their dominant life interest. However, in no aspect whatsoever display a feeling of consistent, planned, disciplined activity, which in the ma societies is the traditionally respected way of achieving these interests. The return of democracy in 1989 presented Romany with a great opportunity. It of all, to the acceptance of the Romany nationality, it gave them a right to t language and support for a specific national culture. Many Romany scholars (in of them were non-Romany) attempted to form and develop a specific Romany Romany started to write poems and prose, organise cultural and social meetings, subsidized Romany print, and television and radio broadcasting. Romany lang culture are studied at university. The fact that the Philosophical Faculty of University has a number of Romany studying Romany studies can be seen a success. Some Romany scholars hope that they will succeed in awakening the i Romany in their own culture, that the Romany language will spread and again (even though the state cannot introduce Romany as a general means of commu that the Romany will again be seen as a nation. A favourable condition for this i easing of international contacts. 2. 2.1 Romany (Sinthi) Childhood

The social adulthood of Romany children is necessary in order to understand the r the Romany community, not to society as a whole. If a mother is imprisoned twelve-year-old daughter is able to look after younger children, then, from the poin of her world, it is a demonstration of maturity, even though she receives m subsistence. It is a similar case with a twelve-year-old Romany boy, whose fathe in the activities of adults, the aim of which is financial gain. For him it is a signif towards adulthood, whether it involves a legal activity or otherwise. Teachers talk of a malignant failure, which is sometimes something that can be in Romany pupils. The dear, cuddly and meek child suddenly becomes insubord reserved towards the teacher, refusing and rejecting the values to which the leading him. Rather than a “blood calling” it probably has something to do with that the child has gained a new status within the Romany community, an event totally separate from anything to do with the male teacher − or even female t

first year of primary school this is something that can be statistically demonstrated. A course even at nursery school a Romany girl can hear: “I won’t play with you, you’v fleas”! In special schools the reaction of majority children to Romany classmates is favourable, which is probably because of the higher intelligence of Romany chi (especially the social element of intelligence). Whilst majority children mainly com special schools because they have special needs, Romany children are usually placed as a result of a lack of intellectual stimulation in their family environment − intelligence is otherwise structured, and is not in any way defective. 2.2.2 Principles of a Systemised Solution

The priority obligation of the state is to guarantee Romany (as with non-Romany) chi the rights as intended in the international Convention on the Rights of the Child. It i necessary to create a law especially for Romany children, a law concerning children socially unsuitable environments in general would suffice, i.e. those children whose pa are not − for whatever reason − able, or willing to ensure minimum reasonable ca sustenance, clothing – and, of course, school attendance. The required legislative amendment will be costly and its consequences unpopula emendation requires a considerable amount of professional work. At present there is no “political will” for it. In essence it would involve ensuring that family credits be invest the care of children. Children from unsuitable family environments should also re munificent stipends – again, of course, as a way to make it impossible for irrespon parents to use the resources for other things. The communist government provided Romany children with free day care ce nursery schools, school meals, summer camps etc.. The abolition of these advantage reality the advantages for children from unsuitable family backgrounds were not substi for any nationalities) is an incomprehensible mistake on the part of the relevant bodies. The first year of primary school provides Romany children with nursery schoo introduces them to the teaching language and instils them with some basic habits, whic ________ 4

Against this, the research did not show significantly higher aggressiveness of Romany children. If they are aggressive to their classmates than non-Romany, it is generally accepted that it is the result of the simp that they must repeat the year - they are older and therefore have greater physical advantage. It is also th for non-Romany children - repeaters are more aggressive.

the communist government where children were actually taken away from their undervalued the significance of the family environment for the development of and overvalued the level of children’s homes. In the current period, Romany (a parents endeavour to sabotage the school education of their children, and in esse are not penalised for doing so. The relevant section of the penal code is simply ign argued that the Romany ethnic group has a “right to its own way of life”. This does not stand up. From all that we have learnt so far, it is clear that there is no s alternative, which would sidetrack standard school attendance, for Romany childr country at the end of the 20th century.5 School attendance is therefore simply req compulsory in law. And therefore, in extreme cases, children (Romany and non alike) can be placed in boarding schools, from which they are released home at w and in the holidays. At what price? 2.2.3 The Concept of Romany Nationality Schooling in the Czech Republic

Nationality schooling in the Czech Republic is an organic component in the s pedagogy and education, both from the point of view of structure and orga constructions, and in individual pedagogical, educational aims and pedagogica tasks. In the spirit of the principles of coexistence included in the Charter of Bas and Freedoms (Constitutional Law No. 23 of 9th January 1991), the task of n schooling is to develop an awareness of nationality and, at the same time, to contribution towards the rapprochement and integration of the citizens of our Through nationality schooling the pupil is guaranteed education on a level that cor to other schools of this type. The aim is to equip the pupil with such knowledge as him to integrate into practical life or to continue to study further without difficulty. The principle legal recourse for this area is the wording of § 3 of the Educat which has been reformed in line with the Charter of Basic Rights and Freedoms. L No. 564/1990 Coll., on State Administration and Internal Administration in Scho § 6 establishes that, according to local needs and conditions of pre-schooling schools and school facilities, the school council should ensure education in a langu than Czech. ________ 5

If a Romany journalist sees ethnic oppression in the fact that the majority demand that Romany “ pay taxes and send children to school”, it is merely an immature pout against necessity − it is a w these opinions can spread from state money.

schooling is the MEYP CZE Commission for Matters of Nationality Schooling, in w the Polish, Slovak, German and Romany nationalities are represented. The unsatisfactory current state of the Romany population, including its educat level, has unwelcome consequences in many social, economic and cultural areas, deepens group and social conflicts and creates significant problems from the point of of understanding nationality. One of the basic conditions for the removal of s differences of Romany is a change in the philosophy of the school system, which sh accept the presence of Romany children in the educational process, with their et cultural and social differences. Of particular significance is the responsibility placed o school for the quality of the pedagogical elements in the educational process with the of preparing Romany children for full citizenship and the positive emancipation o current efforts being made towards a systematic orientation of all children towa tolerant coexistence. The fundamental tasks include: − − −

confronting the early failure of Romany pupils from the very first year of primary schoo result of a lack of language skills and their unique social situation; working methods must be attuned to the situation of Romany pupils in order to motivate them to develop a positive attitude among pupils and their parents towards education; using, as far as is feasible, the natural talents and abilities of Romany pupils for sp preparation for employment and life as a citizen.

3. Conclusion

The problem of refugees and asylum seekers applies to the population of the C Republic as it does in many other countries, and brings with it a whole range of po and negative attitudes according to what is felt and noticed and by whom.

minorities at the same standard as applies in neighbouring EU countries (G Austria), as well as joint migration policy with EU countries, which should come i in 2005. The Czech Republic has accepted a range of laws and measure significantly and untraditionally change the conditions for the residence of foreig ethnic minorities to their advantage, even when, from the economic point of view, is significant tension. This is something that is criticised by a large sectio population. A serious problem for the future will be the possibility of official recognition o of religious groups who want to educate their children in their own schools. This p has already been granted experimentally to the Hare Krishna sect who run a Chotýšany; to the Czech Jewish community which has its own primary school i and vainly makes attempts at recognition. On the other hand, the Muslim communities have, until now, had to undertake illegal activities in matters relati education of their children. The schooling of various religious and church councils has, of course, develope the Czech Republic the Salesian, Jesuit, Ursuline, Dominicans and Be denominations in particular have renewed their pedagogical activities. One big problem in the interdepartmental communication of the Czech gove making a concerted effort regarding the legislative conditions for the resi foreigners, schooling and social policy with the needs of ethnic minorities and re accordance with the easing of the legal norms in the EU. Without regard for the range of demonstrations of racist violence, the Czech has, over the past 10 years, become an open country and it is gradually ceasing to b a transit country but a country of permanent residence. The Czech Republic is exposed to problems arising from racial and n intolerance, from a lack of tolerance towards other cultures and ways of life. In th the experts, the most effective action against these displays is to raise aware change opinions. What is lacking most of all is objective information, particularly Romany ethnic group. As a result of immaturity and misunderstanding, the most varied attempts at assimilation, insensitive administrative interference and crimes committed in the more recently against this ethnic group, the Romany of today are the socially we most poorly educated group of the population.

the contemporary situation of this group of people.

− Briefing Paper 12. Bruxelles: CCME. Česká republika v hodnocení Evropské komise 1999. Praha: MZV ČR 1999. (The Czech R the Evaluation of the European Commission 1999.). Freiová, M. (1993): Uprchlická otázka a my. – Praha: Občanský institut. (The Refugee Qu Us Prague, Citizens Institute 1993). OECD (2000): Migrations Policies and EU Enlargement: The Case of Central and Eastern Paris: OECD. Prúcha, J. (2001): Multikulturní výchova. Teorie – praxe – výzkum. Praha, Portál (Mu Education) Přistěhovalectví v České republice. − In: Veřejná správa, 2000, 47 (Immigration in Republic. In: Veřejná správa, 2000, no. 47). Rýdl, K. (1998): Multikulturní výchova. − In: Moderní vyučování IV, č. 1, 4−5. (Mu Education. In: Moderní vyučování IV, 1). Řícan, P. (1997): Socializace romských dětí ve škole. − In: Pedagogická orientace (Brno) (The Socialisation of Romany Children in School) Šatava, L. (1994): Národnostní menšiny v Evropě. − Encyklopedická příručka. Praha. (N Minorities in Europe) Šiskova, T. a kol. (1998): Výchova k toleranci a proti rasismu. − Sborník. Praha, Port Education Towards Tolerance and Against Racism). −, (2001): Menšiny a migranti v České republice.− Praha, Portál. (Minorities and Immigr Czech republic). Šotolová, E. (2000): Vzdělávání Romů. – Praha: Grada. (The Education of Romany). Trends in International Migration. Paris, OECD 2000 Zpráva o lidském rozvoji. Česká republika 1996. Praha, UK 1996. (Report on Human Deve the Czech Republic in 1996). Zpráva o stavu lidských práv v České republice v roce 1997. − Praha, Český Helsinský vý (Report on the State of Human Rights in the Czech Republic in 1997. Prague: Czec Committee 1998). Zpráva o stavu lidských práv v České republice za rok 1999. − Praha, Český Helsinský vý (Report on the State of Human Rights in the Czech Republic in 1999. Prague, Czec Committee 2000).

France seems to stand apart from many comparable countries in the Western world multicultural society that refuses to see itself as such. The dominant political model, w gives schools a central role in the integration of individuals, does not recognise existence of different groups in society and thus, ignoring social, cultural and e differences, relies on universal values and bureaucratically centralised modes of contr ensure social cohesion. Changes in the immigrant population but also in French so have however been undermining the basis of this model for the last thirty tears. Alth national political discourses have not changed dramatically, important adjustments taken place at the local level, especially in the urban peripheries of big cities whe important proportion of the immigrant population is concentrated. Still perceived a main agents of normative and functional system integration (Lockwood, 1992), sc seem both to be producing some non-purposive forms of local social integration immigrants and lower-class pupils in these areas, while contributing, also non-purposi to their exclusion from the social system at the national level. In order to understand processes, I focus here on three levels of analysis: the state, the school and its surroun community, and the classroom.1

1. The Republican model, educational policies and educational results

In order to understand the specific relationship between immigrants or minority group host societies through schools, it is necessary to focus not only on detailed analys educational trajectories or situations but also on national ideologies. A national ideolo a set of values and beliefs that frames the political thinking and action of agents of a na state at a given point in time. Although ideologies develop in interaction with parti

________ 1

This paper is based both on the synthesis of the schooling of immigrant in France presented in van Zanten (1997) and on the research conducted in the Parisian periphery presented in van Zanten (2001).

internal cohesion and external influence. This is the case in France where a nation called the Republican model because it was constructed during the Third (1871−1944) and strongly associated with the Republic as a political ideal and government, has dominated for more a century. In order to be fully understood, the rise and development of this model must an relation to France’s economic, political and cultural internal situation and to its policy of colonisation and cultural imperialism during that period. Among characteristics are the emphasis put on “high culture” (considered not only as sup also as universal) and the importance given to individual rather than group particip integration (Layperonnie, 1993). Other distinctive features are the central role attr rational and political factors (instead of to cultural and socio-geographic factor construction of citizenship and the unifying function assigned to state institu particularly to the school (Schnapper, 1991). As concerns immigrants, this transla specific French vision of the “melting pot” where individual workers of foreign or supposed to integrate into the economic and social system through work, prog assimilate into the cultural system through institutions such as the school, and ear nationality and political rights as a reward for many years of effort and goodwill 1988). Advocates of the Republican model, who are still the more visible on public sph its more discreet detractors agree that transformations in the immigrants’ situ perspectives present new challenges to the model’s integrative capacity. On question is how long will a model developed to integrate regional groups and im coming from countries where the national culture was either relatively close t culture or partly dominated by it be able to integrate immigrant populations increasingly diverse and distant from French culture. A second question con degree to which an individualistic and ethnocentric mode of integration can persons who are no longer “guest workers” but who belong to immigrant groups been born and raised in France. A third important challenge is related to th economic integration of immigrants in a period characterised by economic stagna levels of unemployment and growing competition for jobs. A fourth transformation concerns the increase of ethnic segregation in stigmatised neighb and schools and the fostering of racist discourses and practices by nationalist move How do these changes affect educational policies that have traditionally oc central place in the integrative policies of the French nation-state? For a long per

and to integrate economically and socially into French society through the common pri school. As immigration developed and changed in the 1970s and 1980s, some spe measures were taken to address the specific problems of foreign children. A first one the creation of specific “adaptation” classes in both primary and secondary urban sch A second one was the offering of some courses (not included in the official curriculum after school hours) in the children’s native tongue and culture. A third one was the cre of special centres in each of the Academies (regional educational authorities) to pro teachers with information and relevant educational materials on immigrant gr Although these measures reflected an ideological shift from the traditional assimilati perspective toward a pluralist perspective, their practical impact has been quite lim because of lack of institutional legitimacy, financial means, relevant teacher training follow-up and evaluation. Many of them have in fact contribute to the stigmatisation relegation of immigrant children (Lorcerie, 1995). A more radical departure from the Republican model in educational policies wa creation in 1982, by the newly elected Socialist government, of Educational Priority Z an ambitious compensatory program modelled after the British Educational Priority A This program represents the first explicit acknowledgement from national educat authorities of the existence of socio-geographic inequalities in schooling and of the ne give different kinds of treatment to different school populations. Although, as in Br educational authorities refused to explicitly designate immigrant pupils as targets o policy, the zones were chosen using the percentage of foreign children at school as o the main criteria. Moreover, the action programs that have been elaborated by tea working in these areas, especially those centred on giving different kinds of academic (“soutien scolaire”) inside and outside the school have frequently had immigrant childr their main target. However, although this policy has been implemented for twenty now in the first zones, its impact has also been quite limited. Existing research show there might be some effects on the reduction of violence in schools but none of significance as concerns academic achievement except in a limited number of sc (Ministère de l’Education, 2001). Some have even shown that pupils with lea difficulties have more chances of success in schools that are not part of educational pr areas than in those that are supposed to have implemented that policy (Meuret, 1994). Immigrant children encounter indeed more difficulties than French pupils do in school careers. In primary schools, children of foreign origin do not achieve as well as French classmates in national evaluations. They have also more chances of repe

school trajectories and experiences of immigrant pupils to those of working-clas pupils, recent research has shown important differences, especially in secondary The analysis of the school careers of immigrant and lower-class French children and upper secondary schools (“collèges” and “lycées”) shows that the first frequently oriented toward academic tracks than the latter. This result, which app more strongly in the case of immigrant girls, is not however strongly related achievement on tests and examinations. It is much more the result of higher ed aspirations among immigrant parents and children who show more ambition educational and professional projects (Vallet and Caille, 2000). Although these results may be interpreted as showing that “foreign status” is n a handicap as far as schooling is concerned, their significance should not be overe Most immigrant children come from disadvantaged homes and have difficu experiences, not only because of their social background but also because th schools in the urban periphery which offer a poorer educational context than schools. These schools concentrate pupils with learning difficulties from p immigrant backgrounds and usually have a bad reputation. They have high rates and teacher mobility and attract less qualified teachers who tend to adapt to the learning level of pupils. They suffer from discipline problems that may lead t incidents that affect children as well as teachers and they have a less diversifie provision as concerns linguistic or cultural options. In addition to this, although th of immigrant children with secondary and higher education qualifications has co increased in the last thirty years, the impact of schooling on immigrants’ social should not be overestimated either. Immigrant youth, and especially those Algerian, Moroccan, Tunisian or African background are persistently subject t forms of discrimination and to a “glass ceiling” in the labour market.

2. Local norms and practices in schools

This global picture already gives some idea of the growing gap between an ideal m changes in social dynamics, but a more concrete sense of the need for new addressing the situation of immigrant pupils can only be gained from analysis

Africa, China and South East Asia. The important concentration of immigrant pupils i school reflects the concentration of immigrant population in this lower-class commu and especially in its social housing areas. However, ethnic segregation is higher i school than in the surrounding community for two reasons. The first one is tha catchment area of the school has been designed by educational and political authoriti such a way as to exclude the more middle-class areas in the immediate neighbourhood second one is that an important fraction of French parents, although school choice i officially permitted in the public sector, avoid the local school areas and send their chi to Parisian public schools with better reputations or to private schools (Broccolichi and Zanten, 2000). The concentration of local immigrant adolescents creates a specific climate in the sc Pupils seem to “colonise” the school by the way they dress and do their hair which re different ethnic traditions and reinterpretations of those traditions, by they way they using a variety of slang words and ritual insults mostly unknown to teachers and by the they move and interact with each other in a seemingly aggressive manner. They per the school as a central element of their social life in the community and in many way not make any neat distinctions between their behaviour at school and outside. They teachers by their first name, use the familiar “tu” and bad words when they talk to t shout and push other pupils in the corridors and the courtyard. Many think, however the school is a more secure place than the surrounding neighbourhood and that important that educational professionals sanction deviant behaviours. Most educat professionals, especially teachers, react very badly to this new situation which contra the Republican ideal of the school as a secular “sanctuary”, totally isolated from the community, and able to impose its universal culture and norms on all social groups. Nevertheless, educational professionals are unable to provide a coherent, united against what the see as an “invasion” from an unstructured and potentially dangerous community. The lay ethic, which replaced religious values in public schools at the century, has slowly lost its internal cohesion not only because of the increasing e heterogeneity of the population but also because of the growing penetration of cu relativistic values and social reflexivity in French post-modern society (Giddens, 1 Moreover, important cleavages exist between the older and the younger teachers becau differences in social origins, family education, formal training and professional vis These differences will probably become more important in the next years as a large fra of the older teachers come to the age of retirement. They are moreover reinforced b

investment and their contacts with other teachers. There are also important differences among teachers of the same generation more to do with social background and professional careers. Old teachers from a class background who have taught in more selective schools tend to be very toward immigrant youth language and culture and very reluctant to adapt their pr they still believe in the value of universal culture and norms. Pupils frequently that these teachers seem to despise them and a small minority may accuse them racist. Other old teachers from working-class background who have lived in t periphery and have taught in urban schools for a long time tend to develop attitudes and behaviours. Having lost faith in the capacity of abstract rules equality of treatment and order, they emphasise the importance of local knowled local pragmatic solutions to everyday problems. As concerns immigrant pupils t way to modes of reasoning based on personal experiences that frequently giv cultural stereotypes such as “all Asians are calm” or “in Algerian families, boys and girls are victims”. It also leads to “overadaptive” practices that anticipate on i pupils’ inability to learn or to obey school rules learning. Beginning female teachers from middle-class backgrounds and who are not fam the Parisian periphery tend to be scared by immigrant adolescents who enjoy mak cry or get angry. Many of these teachers do not manage to ensure order in the clas that some teaching and learning can take place. If they do not receive any h colleagues or other educational professionals, they usually ask to transfer to othe Nevertheless, other young teachers, male and female, especially if they co working-class backgrounds or if they have lived and gone to school in the urban p develop strategies of “fraternisation” (Woods, 1977) with pupils based on closene and on similar tastes in clothing or music. Sometimes these may entail refe immigrant pupils’ cultural in educational projects. Pupils, nevertheless, do not alw to appreciate these initiatives. Many of them feel that in doing so teachers are pe their private individual spheres, reducing their possibility to negotiate different their identities and perhaps, in a way, making fun of them. In that sense, it interesting to analyse to what extent French youth has internalised the French dealing with difference as compared to youth from other countries. These process of “balkanisation” among professional communities inside the s the urban periphery is reinforced by the fact that, as secondary teachers in F strongly academically oriented, other kinds of school personnel (educational co

Differences are particularly marked between teachers, who have high unive qualifications and are recruited at the national level, through very compe examinations, and who must follow national programs and directives in the conduct of work, and educational aids who have frequently been unemployed before getting thei who are recruited locally and sometimes in the surrounding community and whose wo defined locally and situationally. Cooperation between these groups and among teach also problematic because in France, as a result of the persistence of bureaucratic tradi but also of the new constraints of decentralisation, head teachers are very exceptio good pedagogical leaders (van Zanten, 2002). This lack of coherence on values and norms and of organisational coordination educational professionals is thus the consequence both of a model of schooling centre the promotion of universal norms through centralised, bureaucratic rules and of effo adapt to the new problems created by the massive influx of immigrant pupils in secon schools. It has profound consequences on the school experience of immigrant chil some positive but many negative. On the one hand, it permits a more or less pea coexistence of various kinds of cultural norms and allows immigrant pupils to make lig divergences between adults to preserve their moral autonomy. On the other hand, drift and internal disorganisation do not promote pupils’ social integration. School n are still respected by a majority but mostly by fear of sanctions. Because they do not to relate directly to a value system respected by all adults, these norms are not interna and carried over to other contexts. Value drift and internal disorganisation do not f learning either, although many forms of “occupational therapy” (Woods, 1977) may place in classrooms. In fact, although schools of the urban periphery may contribute t local integration of pupils, the school being the main social agency for youth in community, most of them do not work any more as agents of integration in the wider s system and thus reinforce the social exclusion of immigrant children.

3. School organisation and ethnic dynamics in “bad” classes

In order to understand school processes in the urban periphery it is nevertheless nece to get down to the level of classroom processes and particularly to processes in “

their children to the school of their catchment area in communities where th majority of lower-class and immigrant pupils, frequently ask to have their allocated to a “good” class with children of his or her own academic and soc Because many of these parents threaten to flight to other public or private schoo better pupil intake if their wishes are not satisfied, head teachers, who are afraid school might become an academic, social and ethnic “ghetto” frequently give in. B also used for organisational purposes, as it is easier for head teachers to put children who are following the same linguistic or cultural “options” in the schoo teachers also prefer banding. Knowing that most of the time they have to d “difficult” classes where much energy has to be devoted to disciplining and m pupils, they demand to have at least one “good” class where they can relax and “normal” teaching. This policy has a considerable impact on classroom processes. Given the number of pupils with a good profile, creating one or two “good” classes at eac level means that automatically all other classes become “bad” classes. It is imp note, however, that classes are not only differentiated according to pupils’ results and perhaps chiefly, according to pupils’ behaviour. “Good” classes are in fac context, classes composed of pupils who might have some learning problems severe ones, and who are calm and pay attention to teachers. “Bad” classes ar characterised by the presence of “disturbing” pupils and of some pupils wi learning problems. In allocating pupils to classrooms, school factors play a centra sexual and ethnic factors do so too. As girls are frequently perceived as calmer attentive than boys are, they have more chances to be assigned to “good” classe they are not very good pupils. This might be one of explanations of the greater success of lower-class girls as compared to lower-class boys. The same is true pupils as compared to other immigrant pupils. At each school level, it appeare research that these pupils had far more chances than pupils of Algerian, Mor African descent to be assigned to “good” classes. On the contrary, the latte because of the bad reputation as “disturbing” pupils, had much greater chances allocated to “bad” classes. Pupils are very much conscious of the existing hierarchy between classes and i see it as “normal”, the school clearly appearing for them as prefiguring and rep divisions that exist in the “real” world. The internalisation of the normal nature of of differentiation is clearly encouraged by teachers who frequently compare the

time, they seem less conscious of the sexual and ethnic segregation between cla Strained relationships between classes have been reported in other studies and som them have shown a strong correlation between violence and bullying in schools and social, ethnic and academic segregation between classes (Debarbieux, 1999). In our s conflicting relations between pupils of different classes were relatively rare, especial the lower grades where segregation was less pronounced. Some tensions were neverth apparent in the 4th year level, mainly between the pupils of the “sports” class and the o These pupils, mostly white boys coming from other schools, were seen as enjoying u privileges concerning their working schedules, help from teachers and admiration girls, and when matches with other schools took place two different lunch services provided to avoid insults and fights between pupils. The grouping of immigrant children in “bad” classes produces ethnic dynami different kinds. Teachers tend to develop an ethnic reading of pupils’ academic failur disruptive behaviour, sometimes bordering racism, while pupils tend to interpret teac attitudes and behaviours as based more on ethnic stereotypes and racism than on acad expectations and school norms applying to all pupils. Teachers also develop feelings o from some immigrant pupils as pupils tend to assembly more and more together on e cliques. Observations conducted out of the classroom in the courtyard or in the cafe confirmed that there was a lot of ethnic mixing in the school, but that the ethnic m pupils’ social groups tended to diminish from the lower to the higher grades. Pupils the last two school years tended to interact more frequently with pupils from their ethnic group or from groups suffering from similar forms of stigmatisation. Asian p tended to gather together more as well as African girls, but the more visible groups those that were more frequently sanctioned were those composed by Algerian Moroccan boys with learning difficulties and a reputation of disruptive behaviour. T groups became more and more closed to other pupils and more and more disruptive a school year went on. Ethnic dynamics can nevertheless vary from one classroom to another. My collabor and I observed two different classrooms during one year each. The first one, a class of 5, was perceived by many teachers as a dull classroom with no motivation for work an leaders. Neither the best pupil, nor the most disruptive pupil in the classroom, both were very popular. The first was considered “effeminate” by the other boys whil second was perceived as “dangerous” by most of the other pupils. Interaction in classroom was marked by a total separation between boys and girls and the progre

On the contrary, in the second classroom of level 4 there was a very good rel among pupils who exchanged school supplies, homework and classroom exercises spent a lot of the classroom time joking and playing with each other. This classr characterised by the dominance of a group of seven boys, all Algerian or Moroc were very active in the classroom and who appeared very attractive to other pu wanted to work with them and to be their friends. This group is similar to the one by Andrew Pollard (1985) as “jokers”, that is pupils quite capable of making comments and asking relevant questions during lessons but also quite capable o uproars and incidents. These pupils had in fact being assigned to this classro because of their real or supposed disruptive behaviour than of any serious problems and were thus able to switch continuously from an “academic” to a “di perspective and to carry other pupils along in one sense or the other. Nevertheless, in both classrooms, these ethnic dynamics interacted mostly in a way with the teachers’ attitudes and practices. In the first classroom several teac to stimulate pupils by playing on the rivalry between groups. However, as most pu not interested in learning, this strategy only led to a further degradation of the c climate, as it reinforced the strained relationship between sexual and ethnic gr between pupils and teachers. In the second classrooms, teachers tended to ada dominant Algerian and Moroccan group who set the pace: if that group decided some teaching and learning could take place; if it didn’t, most lessons were tra into a growing uproar that neither the teacher nor the students could control. Nev most of the time teachers were not able to canalise the energy of this group p Because they were male, Algerian or Moroccan, and very expressive and outspo when these pupils showed interest in the content of lessons, asked questions positive reinforcement to teachers, the latter frequently tried to stop them because threatened. Some referred to them as the “lobby” from Maghreb and most of them that they preferred to teach in quieter classroom environments even if pupils h learning difficulties.

________ 2

These were the names given to the groups by the pupils themselves.

in the family, the community and society − are thus producing ethnic dynamics contradict the basic principles of the French Republican model of integration. Som these ethnic dynamics may have positive consequences in the constitution of immi youth identities. As opposed to their parents who could only express their cultural iden in the private world of the home, immigrant youth are now allowed to put forward elem of their ethnic origins and creatively reconstruct and reinvent ethnic identities in the p sphere of the school. However, these ethnic dynamics are more frequently conducive t social exclusion of immigrant youth because they are perceived as dangerous sanctioned by educational professionals with low grades, assignation to “bad” cla orientations out of the academic tracks and exclusion from school. Educat professionals are only partly conscious of the growing importance of these proce Because they have been trained to get detailed instructions from the top that have become more rare and less relevant and to relate to their work and to society as iso individuals they are not accustomed to take local decisions collectively. In a system tha become — purposively and non-purposively — much more decentralised in the last tw years, it is more than ever necessary to develop new forms of local organisation and modes of relating local norms to national ones. Not everything however can be solv the local level and at the level of the school and the integration of immigrant youth depends on the state’s will and capacity of reducing urban ethnic segregation, ethni discrimination and diverse forms of institutionalised racism in French society.

Journal of Education Policy 15, n° 1, 51−60. Debarbieux E. (1999): Désigner et punir. Remarques sur une construction ethnicisante au In: D. Meuret (ed.): La justice du système éducatif. Bruxelles: De Boeck-Université, 19 Giddens A. (1990): The Consequences of Modernity. − Cambridge: Polity Press. Layperonnie D. (1993): L’individu et les minorités. La France et la Grande-Bretagne fa immigrés. − Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. Lockwood D. (1992): Solidarity and Schism. The Problem of Disorder in Durkeimian an Sociology. − Oxford: Clarendon Press. Lorcerie F. (1995): Scolarisation des enfants d’immigrés. Etat des lieux et état des qu France. − Confluences 14, 25−60. Meuret D. (1994): L’efficacité de la politique des zones d’éducation prioritaires dans les c Revue française de pédagogie 109, 41−64. Ministère de l’Education nationale, Direction de la Programmation et du Développeme L’éducation prioritaire. − Education et Formations 61. Noiriel G. (1988): Le creuset français. Histoire de l’immigration XIXe − XXe siècles. − Par Payet J.-P. (1995): Collèges de banlieue. Ethnographie d’un monde scolaire. − Paris: M Klinck-Sieck. Pollard A. (1985): The Social World of the Primary School. − London: Holt, Rinehart and W Schnapper D. (1991): La France de l’intégration. Sociologie de la nation en 1990. − Paris: G Vallet L.-A., J.-P Caille (2000): La scolarisation des enfants d’immigrés. − In: A. van Za L’école. Etat des savoirs. Paris: La Découverte, 293−301. Woods P. (1977): Teaching for survival.− In: P. Woods, M. Hammersley (eds.): School E Explorations in the Sociology of Education. London: Croom Helm, 271−293. Zanten, A. van (1997): Schooling immigrants in France in the 1990s: Success or fail Republican model of integration? − Anthropology and Education Quarterly 28, n° 3, 35 −, (2000): Le quartier ou l’école? Déviance et sociabilité adolescente dans un collège de b Déviance et société. 24, n°4, 377−401. −, (2001): L’école de la périphérie. Scolarité et ségrégation en banlieue. − Pari Universitaires de France. −, (2002): Educational change and new cleavages between head teachers, teachers an Global and local perspectives on the French case. − Journal of Education Policy. 17, 28

1. The multicultural society

In recent decades, our societies have been rapidly changing and becoming more and multicultural. There are strong tendencies, on the one hand those of immigration, o other hand those of internationalization and globalization, which inevitably make multicultural. The question of European identity in particular has to be settled reference to cultural diversities. For the future, multiculturalism therefore will be a ce issue in various respects on the political as well as scientific level. It may be referred the issue of minorities and be dealt with in terms of power; however, it is also a ge issue dealing with all the questions that result from the influences which different cul bring to bear on dialogic interaction. Everyone who wants to keep up with cu developments has to be familiar with different languages, sometimes mixed together especially English expressions embedded quite naturally in the use of other languages wider general sense, not restricted to problems of minorities, ‘we are all multicultur now’ (Glazer 1997). As dialogue analysts we know that dialogue takes place in settings, within cu frameworks. The interrelationship between verbal interaction and cultural backgr therefore represents a central issue of dialogue analysis. This however does not mean dialogue can be equated with the dialogic text put to use in a specific situation. It is hu beings who make the dialogue, interact in dialogue according to their abilities, among their abilities as multicultural beings. It is not the situation which is multicultural, human beings who are the carriers of different cultures and who, living together and ha multiple exchanges with one another, make the world a multicultural world. Every therefore depends on human beings and their knowledge of different cultures languages, i.e. on our interactional competence-in-multicultural performances (Wei 2001a). Learning foreign languages includes getting to know the characteristics and peculia of other cultures and their way-of-life. Native language use implies a specific att towards life insofar as language use is intrinsically entwined in the stream of life a instance, Wittgenstein told us and as we know living in a multicultural society. European citizen you are, for instance, confronted with the following situation American, who, to you, is a foreigner, is sitting on a bench in the garden district of

Living together with other multicultural people presupposes knowledge and tol different ways of life. Trying to understand and to interact with each other is bas negotiation of culturally dependent meanings. To give a simple example: the m the word family, in German Familie, in Italian famiglia. What the Italian word means for Italian people is often difficult to understand for German people. In th the two cultures have different traditions. Meanings are not defined; they are depe the cultural units in which the words are used and they are dependent on the i view of the speaker. These different meanings and understandings are negotiated in interaction. Dialogue is not the opposite of negotiation, dialogue is ne (Weigand/Dascal 2001, Maier 2001; Pinxten in this volume). The issue of a multicultural society is, in my opinion, to be understood as the complex unity emerging or being constructed from cultural diversities. There is level on which we can observe cultural diversities, for instance, the many differen from which Europe is thought to arise. The first step to be made is oriented understanding and respecting cultural differences. However, we often do not have experiences of these cultures. The way we arrive at an understanding of them is influenced by other people and the media. There are in principle no clear facts ab cultures, no reality as such, only images which are transmitted and even construct media. We should ask what lies behind these images of a culture, what are the in behind the general view like. However, observing and respecting cultural diversity is not yet sufficient. Th step has to be oriented towards constructing a picture, a mosaic in which the cultures find their specific place. It is right but not enough to emphasize or mer that European identity will emerge from diversities. In order to substantiate the c identity, we have to ask for its goals. The goal will determine the structure. Wh expect from Europe? Are we expecting it to be a political unit or only an econo Such expectations and goals will in part limit national power and sovereign determining structure and identity of the complex unit. The limitations mus considered as disadvantages; they become advantages on a higher level. Wh emerge in the end can be best illustrated with the picture of streaks of differen forming a plait. The colours represent the different cultures, the structure of indicates how different cultures can join and work together according to a supe plan.

schools and their way of teaching are of primary importance for this process. Surprisi in didactics the issue of teaching or the question of what makes up the specific did point often is not even posed. Teaching is dealt with as some sort of information tran However, not every person who transmits information can be considered to be a tea Transmitting information is one thing, enabling a person to know and understand an things better is another thing. In language use we are engaged in different dialogic action games (Weigand 2000a) can structure these games according to a few global types, among them the represent one with the subtype of transmitting information. Transmitting information however characterizes the activity of the speaker without taking into account the leve understanding of the interlocutor. Considering the teacher to be the person who tran information either neglects the students or simply presupposes what cannot be presupp namely that the students are able to understand this information. Information is not a of parcel which is wrapped or encoded and sent by the speaker and then arrives a interlocutor who decodes and thus understands it. Dialogue is a process of negotia Teaching primarily refers to this point of negotiating meaning and understanding. Te and students enter the dialogue with different horizons, intellectual and personal. The thing which has to happen is that the teacher attempts to comprehend the horizon o students, that he/she guides the students from their initial point of understanding and b them into the process of negotiation. We can thus contrast two types of dialogue bet teacher and students at school: the type of informing and the type of teaching: Fig.1

dialogic action games at school

INFORMING Giving new Information

TEACHING Informing by comprehending the horizon of the students, by guiding the students, by negotiating meaning and understanding

………

Not every teacher seems to be aware of this difference between informing and teac even if it has already been emphasized some decades ago in a study on the teachin English: ‘how the teacher behaves must affect how and what the pupils learn’ (cf. Barn al. 1969:11). For instance, the corpus of the Dutch project on ‘Inclusion and exclusi

teacher whom Herrlitz calls the educator always tries to address the horizon of the The difference between the teacher’s and the student’s understanding has to be a both have to cooperate in order to achieve a better understanding on the stude Teaching in general requires a process of negotiation between different ho knowledge. The didactic question in principle therefore is a question of negotiation Neglecting this essential point has serious consequences for the multicultural education. Understanding depends on cultural background. In this respect, the tea has to learn. If he takes only his own point of view into account he cannot compr horizon of students coming from other cultures and backgrounds. He will inevitab fulfil the claim of teaching in multicultural settings. Let us now have a look at the above mentioned sample of an authentic tex opgave 8: Niels en Diane Kl/W1/101199/, here in English translation, for the Dutch text see the appendix)

(The teacher is explaining two curves in the book, one for Diane and one for Nie

demonstrate the relationship between age and weight indicated on the two axes. F

demonstration he draws curves on the board, one for himself, han, and one for his wife tinny 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489

D d

with – I – must now must just repeat the question. just like Diane and N points to the board looks at the class points at the board

(1.2) D

well if you say (2.0)

D

So this is han and my wife is called tinny >that’s the abbre leontien>she’s actually called writes on the board

490 491 492

d

493 494 495 496 497 498

d L L

leontien but that’s so long so everyone calls her tinny°how high it goes up.
can you see the chalk?< points at the board looks at the class

LL D

think of ski

↑m↓yees

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(1.0) D d

it runs− it goes higher more steeply than this one points at the board

(0.5) L D d L LL

yees° now if you now look at the little piece between six and eight years goes to the class gesticulates with his hands I can’t ( ) ..........((whispering)).....

(0.2) D d

at the curve. gesticulates with his hands

(0.2) D d

the red and the green points at the class

(0.2) D

in your book°
dat is de afkorting< van leontien, >die hee tekent op bord

D d L L

leontien maar da’s zo lang dus iedereen noemt haar tinny°< e:h als je nu zegt e:h han gro gebaart met handen wijst naar bord kijkt naa m(h) (h)a leontien ( )

D

hardst (0.4)

D d L2

want die is overal hoger, da’s niet waar = gebaart met handen Nee

L hennia

=°°nee°° vinger op (0.5)

D da’s niet waar maktoub vinger op (1.3) D e:h ik zit wel hoger, d wijst naar bord maktoub vinger neer (1.0) D d hennia

maar ik ben niet meer gegroeid. mijn vrouw is meer gegroeid. kijkt naar klas vinger neer (1.0)

D L3

dus waar moet je dan naar kijken? niet hoe hoog is die grafiek naar de lengte

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(1.0) D d

hoe stijler die is hoe meer die om↑hoog ↑loopt, hoe meer die groeit. wijst naar bord

(0.5) D d

bij mij loopt die minder stijl >zien jullie dat k-rijtje?< wijst naar bord kijkt naar klas

LL D

=denk ‘es aan skies

↑m↓ja:=

(1.3) D d

dit is een ski wijst naar bord (1.0)

D d

die loopt- die gaat stijler omhoog dan deze. wijst naar bord

(0.5) L D d L LL

ja::h° nou als je nou d- in dat stukje tussen zes en acht jaar kijkt. loopt naar klas gebaart met handen ik kan niet ( ) ..........(( gesmoes))..........

(0.2) D d

naar die grafiek. gebaart met handen

(0.2) D d

die rooie en die groene wijst naar klas

(0.2) D

in je boek°
nou dan moet je naar< [weight who grows most between the age of six and eight ok then you ma kijkt op naar rechts

nirmala

vinger op [raises finger] D een stukje grafiek tussen zes< en acht en dan krijg je een antwoord en e:h dat wil jij zeggen d kijkt in boek kijkt naar Ionica [looks into textbook] [looks to Ionica] D Ionica>nee hooren dan ki->dan zie ik