Belén Ballesteros Velázquez

Diversidad cultural, eficacia escolar y mejora de la escuela: encuentros y desencuentros

Educational actions to address cultural diversity are based upon identifying specific groups defined using socio-cultural differences; in doing that, they essencialize, classify and hierarchize these characteristics, due to principles of cognitive and organizational simplification, on the one hand, and, on the other, to the fact that schools have to accommodate to the dominant socio-economic context who is -in turn- reproducing the social structure of inequality. This type of approach to diversity is in fact maintained because it is useful to educational institutions. Nevertheless, research shows that success or failure in the education system is strongly tied to socio-economic variables, and this fact challenges the influence of school in educational results. Since one of their main objectives is to provide equal opportunities for all, schools are facing a difficult paradox, and this paradox is forcing them to improve educational processes to reach quality and equity at the same time. The Movement of Effective School Improvement is trying to gain better knowledge regarding which are the necessary improvements to be done in schools to reach those goals, and how they should be implemented. It comes from two previous approaches (Effective School and School Improvement), the merging of which is discussed in this paper. We argue that some of the basic divergences who have not been solved, together with the impact of international comparison of educational results, have advanced two different –and very difficult to integrate- research lines. One of them has to do with developing methodologies to measure school efficacy, and the other one deals particularly with improving democracy in schools. In line with the last mentioned approach, and also in tune with Intercultural Education proposals, our text challenges the concept of “Added Value” as inadequate to understand diversity, claiming instead that it is necessary to recapture the ethic-political debate on educational goals as the baseline to improve schools.

LA CONSTRUCCIÓN DEL CONOCIMIENTO DESDE EL ENFOQUE INTERCULTURAL

En este articulo ofrecemos una reflexion sobre nuestra propia trayectoria de Grupo INTER de investigacion intercultural, partiendo de lo intercultural como mirada que contempla y permite reconocer la diversidad y, consecuentemente, la complejidad de las situaciones sociales y educativas. Por ello el enfoque intercultural se propone como interaccion, comunicacion y dialogo, resaltando la arbitrariedad de cualquier clasificacion. Lo intercultural es asi una forma de construccion del conocimiento que cuestiona la verdad establecida como forma unica de explicacion. La complejidad solo puede ser abordada en un dialogo de saberes que restablezca la voz de las personas, evitando la separacion entre objeto y sujeto en el avance de la ciencia. El conocimiento cientifico adquiere sentido en cuanto ofrece una oportunidad de emancipacion y empoderamiento de las personas y grupos. Desde esta perspectiva la practica de nuestra investigacion no esta exenta de dilemas, algunos de los cuales se reflejan en este articulo. Problematizamos el uso de categorias a partir de su necesidad y riesgo. Y problematizamos tambien la idea del relativismo cultural, que siendo herramienta necesaria para la comprension desde otra logica posible, plantea tensiones en la investigacion aplicada.