Beatriz Malik

Cultural Diversity and School Equity. A Model to Evaluate and Develop Educational Practices in Multicultural Education Contexts

Social change and migratory movements over the last decades have deeply and extensively modified social structure and school populations all over Europe, and more recently, in Spain. Only recently has Spanish society faced this phenomenon of immigration. Formerly a country of emigrants, Spain is now a receptor of immigration from other countries. However, cultural diversity is not new, it has always existed as a result of gender, social class, rural/urban settings, ethnic minorities—for example, gypsies1 (Roma)—and very clear regional and linguistic differences. In spite of this diversity, only recent immigration from other countries has elicited reflection, legislation, and educational concerns on these issues, raising two important elements in education: culture as a variable and heterogeneity as a norm. Cultural diversity in society is reflected in our schools but it is seldom taken into account as an influential variable in the personal and social development of our students. School culture transmits specific socio-cultural values (those of the dominant group), excluding other cultural features that are not in accordance with it. Certain educational practices maintain, stress, and legitimize social inequalities for some students by not recognizing and valuing their cultural differences. Hence, many students are denied the possibility of achieving the same educational results as their peers from the major-

Cultural diversity and school equality: Intercultural education in Spain from a European perspective

Formerly a country of emigrants, Spain has now become a receptor of immigrants from other countries. In spite of the great diversity that existed in our countrys past, reflection, legislation and educational concern pertaining to cultural pluralism developed only after this phenomenon. In this paper we examine the adoption of the intercultural perspective in education in Spain, and the relationship between policy and practice. We first discuss the theoretical framework that we use. Second, we look at European policies in this area and finally we describe how cultural diversity is dealt with in Spain, both from a legislative and a practical point of view.

Intercultural Education: Teacher Training and School Practice, UNED, Madrid, 15-17 March 2006.

The organizers of the INTER Project1 are grateful to have the opportunity to report on the project in this focus issue of Intercultural Education. This paper gives an overview of the INTER Project, which was the starting point of the Conference, then it describes the INTER Guide as its main output and the Conference held to present the project results. We have also selected two keynote speeches from the conference and two additional presentations that we felt would be of interest to the readers of Intercultural Education.

Orientación para el desarrollo de la carrera en internet

Resumen es: El articulo recoge una descripcion y valoracion en torno al potencial que representa Internet para la practica orientadora en el desarrollo de la carrer...