“ Working with and from what we have ” : Teachers as the drivers of Intercultural Education

1. The International Conference on Bilingual Education: Good Practices across the Four Educational Stages, Córdoba, 17th – 20th November, 2015 “Working with and from what we have”: Teachers as the drivers of Intercultural Education Richard Fay (Manchester Institute of Education, The University of Manchester) richard.fay@manchester.ac.uk

2. Initial Comments Intercultural Education / Bilingual Education Teachers’ opportunities for shaping education (English language) teachers and IC specialists Teachers: some from UK, a few from other EU countries … the majority from e.g. China “Intercultural education?” 1) some comments about IcEd 2) some examples of teacher-initiated practice (Bulgaria, Greece … Mexico, Thailand)

3. The need for Change: Manchester Case Study The University of Manchester / MA IC Guest lecture from Head of Equality & Diversity “Gender and race inequalities in Higher education: how can we make a difference?” Diversity / Representativeness Equality & Equity 12,000 staff (52/48% male/; 15% BME; 5% with disabilities) 40,000 students (25% international, 18% UK BME)

4. Senior Leadership Team

5. Heads of School

8. Sexual orientation Disability Age Religion and belief Race Sex Pregnancy and maternity Gender reassignment Marriage and civil partnership The Equality Act 2010 prohibits discrimination on the following grounds:

11. Intercultural Education Focusing on intra-national / internal diversity (and inequity?) e.g. UoM Equality & Diversity Focusing on new arrivals / challenges to the status quo / apparent social equilibrium Focusing on international differences, issues etc Language awareness day, citizenship education, elements of PSHE, etc …. PREVENT strategy, mapping the world in the school

12. A social transformative agenda A celebration of ‘diversity’(maybe tokenistic, culturally-static, simplistic, essentialist) A commitment to exploring the role of education in ‘making a difference’(transformative) Intercultural education as transformative: “IcEd – one means of beginning to address inequity in our local, national and global communities” Teachers as agents of change / drivers of IcEd

13. My ‘definition’ of intercultural education IcEd aims to use educational processes, curricula, materials, examinations, teacher education practices, teaching methodological possibilities, etc … …. to inculcate a critical global-and-local mindedness in students towards (their engagement with) accepted and transmitted knowledge about the world so that … … both within their complex and emerging national social context(s) and beyond it/them, … they are able to approach diversity, complexity, and contested aspects (of history, etc) with a habit of mind of considering multiple perspectives (i.e. meaning attribution) on what they are learning.

14. Bulgaria Helpdesk Case Study Bulgaria = a small-ish (7-8 million) in SE Europe, ‘the Balkans’ Now EU member state, previously part of Soviet Block has a significant (25+ %) ‘ethnic minority’ population, e.g. Turkish-speaking muslims, Roma, Sephardic Jews, etc), educational policy frames a notional, singular construct of Bulgarian identity (Bulgarian-speaking, Orthodox Christian) policy devalues the contribution to the cultural richness of Bulgaria (and all those for who do not share that singular, national cultural identity) Education supports a centralised discriminatory policy vis-à-vis ethnic identity Helpdesk challenge - exploring the contribution (or otherwise ) of all officially approved school texts towards the objectives of Intercultural education.

15. World Music for Citizens of the World Being a universal language, music is a key element both in building bridges between differences and in imagining communities without borders. What is more, the young people who grow and study in Bulgaria today are the future citizens of the world and should be able to actively engage in communication without prejudices. Thus, the learning materials in this subject should, on the one hand, reflect and construct the social diversity of societies and, on the other, promote to the learners acceptance of diversity in the spirit of equality. Our analysis focuses on the issues of diversity and equality in the ways they appear on all levels which contribute to the learning experience of the young people in music classes. We also offer suggestions for ways in which the intercultural potential of the 9th grade teaching materials can enhanced.

16. The content of the textbook possesses considerable potential for developing the idea of social diversity through musical diversity. For example, Unit 1 considers the varied uses over time of folklore (labour, holiday, wedding) … Despite the declared multiperspectivity of the content, a lack of equality in the representation of the diversity of societies can be observed. The emphasis falls primarily on the musical culture and heritage of Europe … This tendency, however, deprives the young Bulgarian of the opportunity to discuss, for example, the influences on such impressive popular music markets as Russia or India … The one-sided representation of ethnic diversity in Bulgarian society in this context allows for inequality and does not promote tolerance to, and acceptance of, different musical cultures within students’ own culture …

17. MATE in Greek Primary Schools

18. Two Primary Schools St James’ CE (Manchester) - Ethos = ‘love their neighbour’ = respect the cultural other - 240 pupils, almost 75% ‘ethnic minority’, - 15 main ethnic groups (largest = Pakistani heritage) …. mostly Muslim - 40+ languages - 50% ‘EAL’ ….. 25% = EMT, 65% multilingual, 10% = EMT St Helen’s Catholic (Essex) - Ethos = respect - 210  420 pupils, 75% ethnic minority - Filipino, Polish, Spanish, various African … mostly Catholic - 30+ languages - 60% ‘EAL’ (parental classification)

19. Two Issues and a Story • British democratic values - via school ethos (respect + Catholicity / Christian-underpinning) • “Prevent” strategy (to prevent radicalisation) • The Global School – mapping origins Considering the characteristics of a critically-edged intercultural orientation to education

20. Bulgaria Helpdesk Case Study Bulgaria = a small-ish (7-8 million) in SE Europe, ‘the Balkans’ Now EU member state, previously part of Soviet Block has a significant (25+ %) ‘ethnic minority’ population, e.g. Turkish-speaking muslims, Roma, Sephardic Jews, etc), educational policy frames a notional, singular construct of Bulgarian identity (Bulgarian-speaking, Orthodox Christian) policy devalues the contribution to the cultural richness of Bulgaria (and all those for who do not share that singular, national cultural identity) Education supports a centralised discriminatory policy vis-à-vis ethnic identity Helpdesk challenge - exploring the contribution (or otherwise ) of all officially approved school texts towards the objectives of Intercultural education.

21. And beyond Developing FL pedagogy under siege conditions (online Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language in Gaza) MATE (multicultural awareness in Greece where ‘to be Greek, is to be Orthodox) Generic Cultural Awareness (post TEFL criticality intercultural awareness in Mexico) Discourses of Intercultural Communication and English as a Lingua Franca(Thailand and ‘the West’) the politics CLIL (Indonesia) CLIL + EAL (Manchester and Essex)

22. MATE (Greece - Multicultural Awareness Through English) IC Awareness through Encounters with ‘otherness’(Cordoba’s Saharan practicum) Helpdesk for Intercultural Materials (Bulgaria  Balkans) Comments? Questions?