Yvonne Leeman

Preparing teachers for intercultural education

Intercultural competence is still not automatically part of teacher education. It is not only a political issue; it is also a matter of the curriculum characteristics of institutes for teacher education. This article discusses a project, launched by the Dutch Ministry of Education, on the operationalization of intercultural education in preservice teacher education in The Netherlands. The way in which intercultural education is presented to students appears to be superficial and lacking a critical perspective. This is partly due to the way in which institutes deal with the current trend towards self-regulated learning in higher education and to the absence of close ties with intercultural practices in schools.

Intercultural Education in Dutch Schools

Abstract This article presents and discusses the results of a project on the development of new forms of intercultural education in Dutch schools. On the initiative of the Ministry of Education, culture and science teachers in different sectors of education collaborated in networks to develop examples for “intercultural learning” that are of practical relevance for the daily practice of teachers and move beyond the existing culturalistic practice of intercultural education. The project was evaluated by research. Analysis of the examples developed by the teachers shows an emphasis on intercultural competence as an objective. This fits in well with the growing attention to the development of a broader range of competences after decades of a somewhat imbalanced emphasis on cognitive skills. From this viewpoint there are promising possibilities for the dissemination of intercultural education. In analyzing the content of the formats it is striking that culturalism is replaced by a recognition of individual differences. This has the potential to redefine the dominant perception of the “standard” pupil and cultural standards in curricula and pedagogy. However, from a critical perspective of multiculturality there are serious reservations.

Citizenship Education in the Dutch Multiethnic Context.

European countries are facing many social and cultural changes caused by factors such as growing individualism, the increase of ethnocultural diversity, threats to democracy by a fundamentalist political Islam and violent extremism from the political right. These changes have brought about social instability and feelings of personal insecurity, and as a result many countries have welcomed national identity and citizenship to their political agenda, whether or not they had propagated some form of multiculturalism (Brubaker 2001; Joppke 2004). Schools are certainly not immune to what happens outside their walls: “where it rains in society, it may pour in the school,” necessitating a reconsideration of their pedagogical task (WRR 2003). As the Netherlands Education Council recently stated (Onderwijsraad 2002), education cannot restrict itself to the economic dimension of integration, such as sufficiently equipping all young people for the labor market, but also has to contribute to the promotion of social cohesion, inside and outside the institutions that make up its sphere of influence. The main question we address in this article is how, in light of the multiethnic composition of its population, Dutch education is and should be educating its citizens. Popular politicians and mainstream media advocate discipline-oriented approaches. We argue that citizenship education seems to be taking a one-sided turn in Dutch educational policy by accentuating individual rights and moral obligations and focusing on urging students of non-Western descent to assimilate. Based on the few studies available, citizenship education in Dutch schools seems narrowly oriented to interpersonal relations and individual behavior, rather than promoting a reflective stance on inequalities and cultural pluralism in society. However,

School leadership and equity: Dutch experiences

There is little empirical evidence describing how school principals respond to the changing socioeconomic position and ethnic identities of the urban population. In this paper such empirical evidence is presented in respect of three primary school leaders in the Dutch cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The schools selected were identified as having an intercultural profile. The evidence shows the tensions connected with inclusive strategies in the social and cultural complexities of the present Dutch society.

Student diversity at Erasmus Medical Centre Rotterdam: does it make any difference?

In an ethnically diverse society cultural competence is indispensable for medical doctors. At present 10% of the Dutch population are first- or second-generation non-Western immigrants. With 8% Western and 18% non-Western immigrants, originating from 30 different countries, the 2001 Rotterdam first-year students highly out-rated the national average of immigrant medical students. Diverse student populations may enhance students’ cultural competence but can also generate conflicts or even racism. This was the first Dutch study on expectations and experiences of medical students related to their ethnic and religious background. In December 2001 all first-year students were approached with an anonymous questionnaire, including statements on the expected influence of their culture and religion on their medical education (rated on a 1–5 Likert scale). In spring 2003 17 students from the same cohort, 8 immigrants and 9 ethnic Dutch, were interviewed extensively on their study experiences in a diverse student population. In 2001 the response rate was 90% (277/308), female–male ratio 63% (175/102). Non-Western immigrants expected for their medical education more benefits from their culture but also more obstacles than ethnic Dutch (p ≤ 0.005). Protestants and Muslims expected more obstacles than the non-religious and Catholics (p ≤ 0.05). In the interviews three main issues emerged: peer training in physical examination in mixed-gender groups, lack of attention to student diversity during education, and demand for education in cross-cultural medicine. Three incidents of perceived discrimination were reported. The ethnic Dutch students interviewed did not socialize much with immigrants, nor did students of both groups learn much from one another. Most students favoured mixed study groups. The diversity of the population does not seem to have caused serious problems, nor has it offered educational benefits. The challenge for educators is to provide systematic education in cultural competence and cross-cultural medicine, in which students and educators indeed practise communication across cultural borders.

Young Together: youth, ethnicity and education

Abstract This article presents a selection of results obtained in an ethnographic study of Dutch youth and the lessons dealing with mixed ethnic community and discrimination they receive in secondary schools. The concept of ethnicity and the meaning given to ethnie diversity are crucial in the development of a dynamic multi‐ethnic society in which ethnie divisions are challenged. The article discusses the identity policy implicit in the practice of intercultural education in nine secondary schools in the Netherlands. A static outlook on ethnie identity and a schematic view of the social positions of the Dutch and immigrants with regard to each other are evident from the contents of the lessons and the way the students are addressed. This outlook corresponds zvith the dominant representation of inter‐ethnic relationships of the mixed ethnie community, and runs counter to the diversity of interpretation models that the interviewed youth had.

Coping With Discrimination How Moroccan, Moluccan and Creole‐Surinamese youth deal with discrimination in Holland

Abstract This article is based on research commissioned by the Dutch Ministry ofWelfare, Health and Culture and carried out in 1988. Central object of study was the ways Moroccan, Moluccan and Creole‐Surinamese adolescents deal with discrimination. The study was directed particularly towards discrimination on the labour market, presuming that discrimination by job‐recruitment and in work situations clearly affects the economic position and, more generally, the life‐chances of the persons concerned. This paper offers a review of the experiences with discrimination among the 61 youths interviewed, and of their means of reacting to discrimination. The Moroccan, Moluccan and Surinamese youth vary somewhat in their reactions. This is not simply due, as our subsidisers expected, to differences in cultural background between the three groups. It is related more generally to a combination of factors, unique for each group, concerning their treatment within Dutch society, the circumstances surrounding their migrat...

Von kulturalistischen zu pluriformen Ansätzen. Ergebnisse des niederländischen Projekts ‚Interkulturelles Lernen in der Klasse‘

In den 80er und fruhen 90er-Jahren wurde im niederlandischen Schul- und Bildungswesen verstarkt daruber diskutiert, wie Unterricht und Schule ‚interkultureller‘ werden konnten. Bei dieser Debatte spielte die Definitions-frage eine wichtige Rolle: Was ist eigentlich interkultureller Unterricht, was sind angemessene und unangemessene Ansatze, und welche Kriterien konnen zur Beantwortung solcher Fragen herangezogen werden? Die erziehungswissenschaftlichen Expert(inn)en waren sich hier keineswegs einig. Die Kontroverse konzentrierte sich auf die Frage, wie das zentrale Ziel interkulturellen Unterrichts aussehen sollte: Ist es sinnvoll, den Schwerpunkt auf die Forderung und Unterstutzung von individuellen Haltungen zu legen, wie etwa ‚gegenseitiger Respekt‘ und ‚gegenseitiges Verstandnis‘? Oder sind dies unbrauchbare Lernziele und muss es vor allem um die Vermittlung von faktischen Kenntnissen uber verschiedene Kulturen gehen? Oder liegt das eigentliche Ziel nicht vielmehr in der Bekampfung von sozialer Ungleichheit und dem Aufdecken rassistischer Praktiken?