Students as a resource for introducing intercultural education in business schools

Despite a recognized need for a global mindset, opportunities for US business school students to gain hands‐on diversity training regarding intercultural issues remain rare. The reasons for this neglect include a lack of agreement on how to teach intercultural awareness and a paucity of faculty qualified to do so. In order to introduce intercultural education into a core business course, students were offered the opportunity to participate in an extra‐credit project that required the development of a proposal for an international joint venture and afforded them the chance to learn about each other while pursuing a superordinate goal of value to each. Thirty‐nine cross‐cultural teams were created, each of which had a partner from the US and a partner from a different country. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed that the value of the project was closely related to the amount of learning that reportedly took place in both the business and cultural realms. Importantly, 73% of the students reported a strong interest in meeting people from different cultures as a result of participation in the project.     

Design and implementation of a telecollaboration project for primary school students to trigger intercultural understanding

ABSTRACT

Telecollaboration involving children around the world allows them to develop international understanding (IU). This paper reports on the design and implementation of a telecollaboration project between Japanese and Australian primary school students. The main purpose of the project, which integrates the contents of Social Studies and foreign language (FL) education, is to promote student interest in learning their own and a foreign language, as well as a foreign culture, using an educational social network site (SNS), in this case Edmodo. This study focused on Japanese students in particular. The exchange of cultural information online became a meaningful and authentic activity for communication in FL. Additionally, the evaluation showed that the Japanese students became more motivated to learn English and initiate IU. A curriculum-based telecollaboration project involving a long-term plan – instead of a one-off activity – is recommended in order to develop young students’ IU in FL education.     

Social representations of diversity: multi/intercultural education in a South African urban school 1

The story of School X started in South Africa in 1875. At that time, the school was built for white children only. More than hundred years later, the 1994 elections demarcated the end of the apartheid era and the school enrolled black Xhosa‐speaking children for the first time. As a result, in 2004, 90% of the students were black Xhosa‐speaking. The theoretical perspectives of our study are based on notions of multicultural and intercultural education, and of diversity. Our study is embedded in a socio‐constructivist inquiry paradigm. Using questionnaires and interviews, we aimed to understand the social representations regarding diversity of a principal, a teacher, seven students and four parents in a K‐7 open school. We examined diversity of values, cultures, religions, languages, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, etc. regarding a multi/intercultural perspective in education. We attempted to discern what the participants’ understandings of diversity were, how they identified diversity, and why they justified their practices and actions with respect to diversity.

The song can only be beautiful if we all play the same tune. (Esmé Goosen, Multimedia, 2004)

This is the title of a painting that is part of an exhibition in Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Museum of Art, Port Elizabeth, South Africa     

Researching the links between social-emotional learning and intercultural education: strategies for enacting a culturally relevant teaching

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the links between social-emotional learning (SEL) and intercultural education. The work calls for pedagogical attention to the role of emotions in intercultural education and analyses the role of SEL within the umbrella of intercultural education. It claims that both SEL and intercultural education offer a framework for rethinking and changing curricula, school climates and relationships providing the foundation for quality of education for all. Therefore, this connection is not only critical but also inevitable and desirable. It asserts that SEL in intercultural landscapes is a human right that all students are entitled to, and argues that ignoring this right amounts to a social injustice. Some pedagogical considerations and strategies for enacting a culturally relevant implementation of SEL in intercultural settings will be provided. The purpose of the paper is to inform the debate on the role of emotional aspects in intercultural education, and how to configure culturally responsive teachers.     

A lost conduit for intercultural education: school geography and the potential for transformation in the Australian Curriculum

Globalisation has increased the importance of schools as a space for developing cultural understandings within students. However, how this is translated into curriculum pathways within schools remains a matter for debate. Using the context of the new Australian national curriculum, this paper argues that notions of multicultural and intercultural education need to be updated to incorporate transculturalism. It further posits that the use of geography as a school-based forum for cultural education within national curriculum frameworks has been diminished, and that its reinvigoration ultimately depends upon a reaffirmation of ‘place’ that highlights a positive sense of difference.     

Open spaces for dialogue promoting mental health as a social work education methodology

ABSTRACT

The authors discuss service user involvement as a key approach regarding training of social workers. In many European Union countries this is a stable practice with a lengthy tradition in research and application. However, in Poland it is almost entirely absent and marginalized. This article presents the results of a participatory action research project conducted at the Institute of Sociology of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, the objective of which was to identify and critically analyze the key substantive and formal aspects of training of social workers with the participation of individuals with experience of mental illness. This research project adopted an open approach to cognizing reality based on qualitative co-participatory methods. In the conclusion, the authors emphasize that the fundamental criterion for the success of this particular form of training is voluntary and differentiated participation of students—both in the role of people sharing their own experience and as learners—as well as shaping a culture of open dialogue, educational alliances of recognition and recovery, the foundation of which is axiological experience.     

Uncertainty as a common ground for a dialogue between economics and sociology

The article focuses on inter-firm relations, primarily seen as protective devises crafted for keeping at an arm's length various kinds of uncertainties involved in boundary transactions. Taking a holistic view, it proposes the notion of relational habitat, which refers to the relatively durable constellation of relations that connect a given firm to its main business partners. Performing a double-edged protective function, this constellation both stabilizes and simplifies the immediate operational domain of the firm and, thereby, diminishes to manageable levels the complexity of the relevant parts of the environment. By expanding the control of the firm beyond its organizational borders, relational habitat reduces the constraining impact of boundary uncertainty and enhances the action capacity of the firm – facilitating the materialization of its chosen line of action and its desired objectives. The article specifies this notion in detail and highlights some of its implications, both for the theoretical development of economic sociology and for its relation to economics.     

Assessing intercultural competence: a framework for systematic test development in foreign language education and beyond

The importance of intercultural competence is being increasingly recognized by educators and employers alike. Both in the professional and educational domain, ways are being sought to assess whether or not people have actually acquired intercultural competence. In this paper, a framework is presented for the systematic development of assessment tools. The paper first addresses the question of why the assessment of intercultural competence is important. Secondly, basic definitions and foundations regarding intercultural competence are outlined, and the implications for the assessment of intercultural competence are discussed. Thirdly, a framework for the assessment of test quality is presented, and a number of criteria that affect the quality of tools for assessing intercultural competence are discussed. Finally, the framework is applied to two existing approaches to the assessment of intercultural competence commonly used in foreign language education.     

Learning from weaknesses in teaching about culture: the case study of a Japanese school abroad

This paper examines education for cultural awareness in a Japanese school abroad from the perspective of the teachers. An attempt is made to identify the difficulties which might be encountered by teachers when teaching about the host society and its culture. The paper also examines how this particular school modified its existing approach to better address the dynamic and complex nature of intercultural understanding and exchange.     

Enhancing practitioner-led education in social work: developing a secondment project

ABSTRACT

This paper illustrates the development of a secondment project designed to enhance practitioner-led social work education in a Higher Education Institution. The project was developed as part of a Teaching Partnership initiative to establish joint working and standardized approaches to social work education between Higher Education Institutes and Local Authorities across a UK region. Highlighted is how the project utilized a six-stage strategy designed to gather information to produce an evidence-base to support the implementation of a pilot practitioner secondment arrangement. The paper discusses strategies used to gather information from a range of stakeholders to inform the project, the project outcome and some considerations for future secondment arrangements. Contributing to a limited source of literature, challenges and limitations of developing formal secondment arrangements and delivering practitioner-led education in Higher Education Institutes are highlighted. This paper will assist Higher Education Institutes and Local Authorities in the design and implementation of formal secondment arrangements where these are identified as in need of development.     

Teaching intercultural awareness in the English as a foreign language classroom: a case study using critical reading

This paper reports on an educational intervention study that used linguistic and rhetorical approaches to critical reading, in order to teach intercultural awareness. The intervention was implemented with a group of Mexican college students learning English as a foreign language. The study focuses on changes between participants’ pre- and post-intervention articulated understandings of the targeted cultural context, namely the USA. The data was coded and analyzed using a complexity theory perspective and directed qualitative analysis. The results indicate that drawing students’ attention to the cultural situatedness of language use can increase their awareness of the multiple ideological positions existing in a cultural context. Based on these results, the paper argues that the field of intercultural education needs to take a linguistic turn in order to further its goals.     

Programmed case material as an aid in teaching ego psychology: A methodology for clinical social work education

Four specific problems inherent in the relationship between the theory and practice of contemporary ego psychology limit the effective transmission of ego psychological concepts and principles in clinical social work education. These problems are further conceived as impeding the student's ability to integrate theory and clinical reality, and ultimately reduce the quality of the student's facility with practical technique. As one approach to these problems, this article presents the rationale and design for a teaching aid utilizing programmed case material and self-assessment modules as a methodology for enhancing the integration of theory and the clinical realities explicated by theory. The programmedCasebook and its implementation are illustrated. The values of theCasebook for classroom learning are discussed, relating the anticipated educational experience to the four specific problem areas outlined.     

Making It as a Dual-Career Family in Germany: Exploring What Couples Think and Do in Everyday Life

This qualitative-explorative article is about meanings and coordination of work, home, and their interrelationship in dual-career families. The study was conducted in a German company by interviewing couples working at the production level, in research and development, middle management, and administration. Data were gathered in narrative interviews and 1-week journals filled out by each interview partner. The results confirm four observations: persistence to traditional gender roles, the indispensable role of grandmothers in enabling mothers to pursue gainful employment, the prevalence of part-time work for mothers, and the “spillover” thesis, indicating that it is predominantly work that spills over into family rather than family that intrudes into work. In the discussion the German social system is included as an explanatory approach to these findings.     

From non-cultural to intercultural principles: a proposal for English classes in Brazilian public schools

This article focuses on English language teaching in Brazilian public schools, based on experiences in primary and secondary education, as well as in Teaching Practicum courses at a university. Through these experiences, the article critiques the overemphasis on grammar and the lack of an intercultural approach. The author engages the reader with a theoretical discussion regarding the connection between language and culture and the possibilities for the implementation of intercultural principles. The article closes with some reflections on what intercultural language learning looks like in practice.     

The temporal gaze: the challenge for social theory in the context of GM food

The temporal gaze in socio-environmental theory can take many forms. Time may be added to existing approaches without disturbing the status quo of theory and methodology. Alternatively, focus may be on the time–space of socio-environmental existence or typologies constructed of the complexity of socio-environmental time. Finally, phenomena, processes and events may be conceptualized as timescapes. Through the focus on genetic modification of foods, the paper demonstrates the pertinence of this timescape perspective for social theory and socio-environmental analyses. A thorough-going temporal gaze is important because a) such reconceptualization forms an integral part of rethinking the social sciences' relationship to nature and environmental matters; b) the implications at the level of theory tend to be glossed over and ignored; and c) it is central to changing practice at the level of public and personal action. The paper thus uses a timescape perspective to set out substantive and conceptual issues that present some of social theory's challenges for the new millennium.     

Blurring boundaries: the promise and challenge of a district-community action plan for systemic high school change in Worcester,Massachusetts

The Worcester, Massachusetts, district-community plan for reinventing high schools shows how learning can be enhanced and transformed through intentional connections to community.     

The right to intercultural education: students’ perspectives on schooling and opportunities for reconciliation through multicultural engagement in Bosnia and Herzegovina

ABSTRACT

In post-conflict societies, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, education is recognised as a key factor in reconciliation. Yet the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement set in process arrangements that mean that Bosnia and Herzegovina’s three constituent ethnic groups (Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs) are educated separately. This paper examines students’ right to integrated schooling and an intercultural education, in keeping with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It reports on small-scale empirical research on the impact of integrated and segregated education on students, focusing on the experiences of students who have had access to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s only fully integrated school. There are tensions between the competing educational rights of students and the cultural rights of ethno-cultural communities. Since entrenched political problems hinder the reestablishment of integrated public schooling, the paper considers the potential of service-learning and multicultural community engagement to challenge ethno-nationalist ideas promoted through segregated schools and enable peace and reconciliation.