Pieter Batelaan

Cooperative learning in intercultural education

Abstract Implementation of intercultural education implies that teachers command the strategies to use the skills and knowledge that children bring into the classroom, to create opportunities to communicate and cooperate in heterogeneous groups, and to provide equal opportunities to participate in the learning processes which are organised in the classroom. The use of small groups in which students learn together and benefit from each others skills and knowledge is a logical option, but conditions have to be fulfilled on the levels of teachers’ communication and management skills, curriculum and pedagogical climate in order to achieve the aims of ‘doing justice to diversity’ and the provision of equal opportunities to participate.

Intercultural education, co-operative learning and the changing society

· students are not interested in what the school has to offer, which sometimes leads to disruptive behaviour, vandalism and violence; · students, particularly from the more socially disadvantaged groups, are not ® nishing their education. Instead they are dropping out of school; · students (teenagers) are feeling rejected by society; · teachers are burnt out, overworked, and underpaid; · business and industry are complaining about the quality of education; · public opinion demanding from the education sector of society the solutions for all kind of problems: health issues, environmental issues, moral issues, etc.

Learning about and from the Holocaust: The development and implementation of a Complex Instruction Unit in Latvia

What and how to teach about the Holocaust in a specific country or region depends on both the political-historical context in which the Holocaust took place and on the specific educational context. It also depends on the motivations of teachers and developers. In many circumstances, Complex Instruction (CI) provides opportunities for students to learn actively about the events that took place in their respective countries and to express their feelings and opinions. This paper describes the development and implementation of the first CI-based unit on the Holocaust, which was designed within the Latvian context by a small international and intergenerational project group.

Bilingual Education: The case of Latvia from a comparative perspective

This introduction briefly describes the historical, demographic, linguistic and educational background of Latvia. It discusses the concepts of identity and integration in the Latvian context, and also the educational and political motivations that exist in this society regarding bilingual education. Conclusions and recommendations are derived from this analysis, as well as from the contributions made by the various authors who participated in this special issue of Intercultural Education.

Preparing schools for a multicultural learning society: Report of the first project year

Fifteen institutes from 10 different European countries are presently participants in a EU (Socrates) funded project which was initiated by the IAIE, and which is co-ordinated by the Galway Education Centre in Ireland. The main objective of the project is: a to encourage teachers, head teachers and other professionals to re ̄ ect upon learning, diversity and equity, and to provide them with instruments/models to do this, based on their own practiceo . This practice differs in the various participating institutes, but what they have in common is that they all aim to contribute to the development of intercultural education, i.e. doing justice to diversity, learning to live together, and providing equal opportunities for learning. What they also have in common is that they realise that the development of intercultural education is not an isolated development in education or in schools. New insights about learning, access to new technologies, new demands from society, and different social structures and patterns have an impact on education. Therefore, another aim of the project is to integrate the development of intercultural education into school development and the development of education in general. The various national and local projects and activities which contribute to this European project are in different phases of development. Some are still in the planning phase, while others have already entered into their ® nal phase. Some of the projects are aimed at developments within a particular school (for instance the Finnish and Swedish participants), and other projects are aimed at development in a range of schools (Flanders, Iceland). The input of each of the participants can be placed within a speci® c area of development (see Table 1). The output is intendedÐ apart from what the various institutes learn from each otherÐ to facilitate the implementation of the various local projects and activities within school development processes. Experiences with previous projects, e.g. the CLIP project (Batelaan, 1998), have taught us that sustainability of project results is only possible if the project outcomes are integrated into the daily school activities. Another lesson learned was that activities at the classroom level need to be consistent with activities at the level of school policy (including professional development of the teachers, and organisation).

The Big Myth : An intercultural Complex Instruction unit on the Internet

As the Internet increasingly becomes a critical educational tool in classrooms across the globe the challenge for teachers is to integrate this new medium into their classroom teaching. Internet technology is rapidly changing and in the near future will allow the same possibilities as CD-roms today. The ® rst projects that utilize advanced graphics are now becoming available, though it is mostly wealthy corporations that can afford such websites. In the next few years interactive, graphically advanced Internet sites will also be introduced into the educational realm. The Big Myth will be one of the ® rst to be introduced that makes extensive use of Flash technology. The Big Myth is an Internet site designed to ® t in with the classical mythology or world cultural studies program of the common curriculum. It can also be integrated into the (foreign) language, religious studies and literature curriculum. One of the most important aspects of this site is to introduce children to the web, and allow them to feel comfortable with the Internet as a tool for research, inspiration and creative learning. The Big Myth is a collection of cross-cultural world creation myths, designed for comparative study. Each myth is animated using Flash technology. The educational component of The Big Myth is especially inspired by the research conducted by Elizabeth Cohen (Cohen, 1994). The method that she has developed, Complex Instruction, was the starting point of the European CLIP (Co-operative Learning in Intercultural Education) project (Batelaan, 1998). It was also the basis for the exercises designed for The Big Myth. One of the basic assumptions of Complex Instruction is that learning takes place through interaction. By implementing co-operative learning, teachers provide opportunities for interaction. Complex Instruction is an educational approach by which teachers provide equal access to participation in the interaction (Cohen, 1994; Batelaan & Van Hoof, 1996). When one thinks about interaction in educational settings where computers are in use, one tends to assume that the interaction taking place is between the computer and the person working at the computer. An assignment appears on the screen. Subsequently, the person watching the screen responds to the question and discovers from the screen whether his or her reply was correct or incorrect. Interaction refers to much more than this in The Big Myth. Assignments can only be completed if students work together, and the presentation of results occurs in front of the class or they are communicated to students at other schools (in principle anywhere in the world). The computer provides the a inputo for a learning process, and offers the opportunity to present results via the Internet. But the actual learning process takes place when students are engaged in discussion with each other, when they are solving problems and when they are preparing a presentation. The site includes the following sections.

Co-operative learning in intercultural education: Centre for Research, Evaluation, Development and Inservice Training

Complex Instruction (CI), initially developed at Stanford University by Professor Elizabeth Cohen, and later adapted to the various educational contexts in Europe within the framework of the CLIP-project, is an important instrument for achieving the goals of intercultural education (providing equity and doing justice to diversity). Experience with the development and implementation of CI exists in various schools and institutions in Belgium (Flanders), Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United States. CI is not a a strait-jacketo but a a package of ideaso that can make education more meaningful for students, more in line with the changing role of the teacher, and more responsive to the needs of a changing society. Until recently the School of Education of Stanford University wasÐ also for many EuropeansÐ a centre for information, training and research. For Europeans the CLIP-project (funded by the European Commission) was an important point of reference. Since the CLIP-project is no longer a subsidised project, it has become important to create a new centre for information, international exchange, training programmes, implementation strategies, curriculum development, co-ordinated research, and discussion. The need for such a centre was expressed during the a Intercultural Education and Co-operative Learningo conference, which was held in Ghent from 13 to 16 May 2000, organised by the Centre for Intercultural Education at the University of Ghent. Important recent developments include: