1. Dr. TAMAR SHUALI TRACHTENBERGDr. TAMAR SHUALI TRACHTENBERG
Universidad Católica de Valencia ‘San Vicente Mártir’Universidad Católica de Valencia ‘San Vicente Mártir’
Valencia - SpainValencia - Spain
RATIONALERATIONALE::
 Theories of Multicultural
and Intercultural Education
are considered as recent
contributions to – and of – the
modern philosophy and
practice of education.
 A closer study of JOHN
DEWEY’S work provides us
with the following evidence:
 Much of the concepts that
now conform the basics of
both multicultural and
intercultural education are
already present in
DEWEY’s thought.
AIMS OF THE STUDDYAIMS OF THE STUDDY::
This study suggests that
DEWEY’S observations
regarding the goals of
education in plural societies,
i.e.
 Pursuing equality
 Seeking social change
 Recognizing cultural
diversity
 Enhancing participation
are embedded in the
theoretical constructions of
both multicultural and
intercultural education
METODOLOGYMETODOLOGY::
This paper is based on a
comparative study of JOHN
DEWEY’S early works and
the most prominent literature
in the field of multicultural
and intercultural education,
i.e.:
• BANKS, J (1989)
• ABDALLAH-
PRETCEILLE (2001)
• AGUADO (2003)
• MODOOD (2006)
also:
• UNESCO (2006)
• COUNCIL OF EUROPE
(1996)
““Education and Cultural Diversity in Europe:Education and Cultural Diversity in Europe:
John Dewey’s Legacy”John Dewey’s Legacy”
DEWEY´S PEDAGOGICDEWEY´S PEDAGOGIC
CREEDCREED::
I. Principle of equality
I.1. DEWEY encourages
individuality – as opposed to
individualism – and aims at
achieving equality.
Individuality means recognition of
the uniqueness of each human being.
I.2. “In order to have a large number
of values in common, all the members
of the group must have an equable
opportunity to receive and to take
from others. There must be a large
variety of shared undertakings and
experiences. Otherwise, the influences
which educate some into masters,
educate others into slaves.”
(DEWEY, 1916)
II. Education as an agent for
social change and justice
II.1. “Education is the fundamental
method of social progress and
reform.” (DEWEY, 1897)
II.2. “I believe that the individual
who is to be educated is a social
individual and that society is an
organic union of individuals. If we
eliminate the social factor from the
child we are left with the abstraction,
if we eliminate the individual factor
from society, we are left only with an
inert and lifeless mass.” (DEWEY,
1897)
III. Recognizing cultural
diversity
The curriculum should be based on
a “common intelligence” (DEWEY,
1916), by means of a process of
continuous dialogue between the
different members of society, in
order to convert it into a community.
IV. Participation
IV.1. DEWEY considers democratic
society that one “which makes
provision for participation in its good
of all its members on equal terms, and
which secures flexible readjustment
of its institutions through interaction
of the different forms of associated
life.” (DEWEY, 1916)
IV.2. DEWEY’s two defining
elements of a democratic society:
a) “the extent in which the interests of
a group are shared by all its
members” and
b) “the fullness and freedom with
which it interacts with other groups.”
IV.3. On the contrary, an
undesirable society is that one
“which internally and externally sets
up barriers to free intercourse and
communication of experience.”
(DEWEY, 1916).
MULTICULTURAL &MULTICULTURAL &
INTERCULTURALINTERCULTURAL
EDUCATIONEDUCATION::
I. Principle of equality
I.1. Intercultural education scholars
(ABDALLAH-PRETCEILLE, 2001;
AGUADO, 2003; MODOOD, 2006)
sustain that education should avoid
“forcing” individuals to choose an
affiliation to only one of his/her
communities of reference; instead,
propose an approach that would allow
individuals to feel part of society
without renouncing to any of his/her
affiliations – to his/her plural identity.
I.2. BANKS states that multicultural
education should be “[a] total school
reform designed to increase educational
equality” (BANKS, 1989).
II. Education as an agent for
social change and justice
II.1. Multicultural education seeks
goals that “can never be fully attained”
and which, therefore, require that “we
should work continually to increase
educational equality for all students”
(BANKS, 1989).
II.2. “… all students – regardless of their
gender and social class and their ethnic,
racial, or cultural characteristics –
should have equal opportunity to learn
in school” (BANKS, 1989).
III. Recognizing cultural
diversity
III.1. Intercultural education “aims to
go beyond passive coexistence, to achieve
a developing and sustainable way of
living together in multicultural societies
through the creation of understanding
of, respect for and dialogue between the
different cultural groups.” (UNESCO,
2006).
III.2.“[T]he solution to further
integration lies on widening and
adapting the national culture to include
the relevant minority ones, not on
rejecting or ignoring them.”
(MODOOD, 2006).
IV. Participation
IV.1. Multiculturalism, properly
construed implies that “participation in
the public or national culture is
necessary for the effective exercise of
citizenship” (MODOOD, 2006).
IV.2.“Intercultural education provides
every learner with the cultural
knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary
to achieve active and full participation in
society.” (UNESCO, 2006).