DEMOCRATIC CITIZENSHIP: ACADEMIC ESSAY

How to use multicultural conflicts, as a resource to teach democratic citizenship, Human Rights and culture in the classroom.

HOW TO START? EVALUATING THE REALITY OF THE CLASSROOM

The first thing we should do as teachers when it comes to starting any planning is to analyze the situation that we are facing in the classroom, so eventually, we can find out what and where is the root of the problem/s. We can do it by gathering information in two levels - individually and as a group- from any possible source within the school (other teachers, principal, records, own experience with the classroom if any...), and spending some time researching about the different cultures coexisting together in the classroom. The experience of teachers in Spain and other countries have shown how important is this research, to be able to plan the lessons where teachers take in consideration aspects of all the cultures present in the classroom, and integrate them in any area (philosophy, arts, history, literature...) to make all pupils feel a part of the community, as well as give them the opportunity to talk about their culture, be appreciated by others, and promote a successful intercultural communicative assessment.

We must consider carefully our conclusions since it will mark their learning goals and the focus of the activities that we will prepare later on. If this fails, teachers and pupils may eventually feel frustrated.

The internal environment of the school and internal features.

First of all, we must gather information about the culture of the target groups, as well as the personal situation of each pupil, and the weaknesses and strengths, individually and as a group, and make a first draft of the description of the cultural conflicts that have emerged between the pupils.

To explain the importance of this previous research, I will put the example of the TCK, which are pupils a sometimes delicate situation, since they have spent “a significant part of his or her developmental years outside the parents' culture” and have built “relationships to all of the cultures, while not having full ownership in any”. We should take into consideration the advantages and disadvantages of a TCK (Pollock 2009, p. 87-110) so that we can use it as a resource in the classroom, as well as to understand how they feel and deal with their situation. All this information will help us to make the right diagnose. For instance, how can we understand the behavior and feelings of a hidden immigrant, when trying to mask their real nationality? How can we be aware of the root of a conflict between two pupils, if we do not consider that certain behavior can be generated by low self-esteem for a confused identity, or by a constant defensive behavior created by the fear of losing it? (Pollock 2009, p. 105-110) or maybe it is a lake of intercultural communication skills instead? We must notice what is the origin of a conflict before we can take action to help the pupils to find out by themselves how to deal with it: we will not make use of the same strategy if a TCK has prejudices against the others (Jensen 2007, p. 19) because of a reaction of having experiences that caused an insecurity in themselves (permanent identity as being “different”), or a lifestyle surrounded by the elite group, or arrogance (Pollock 2009, p. 105-110), or a summing up of more than one aspect, or maybe because of a lake of information/previous contact with the culture in question. This is very important since “for some TCKs (and those around them) the unrecognized challenges have caused years of frustration as they struggle to deal with matters that have no name, no definition.” (Pollock 2009, p. 88), and it happened the same with many other situations, not related to this case.

The external environment of the school and external features.

We should get as much information as possible about the environment in which each pupil is living, family situation, and the location of the school.

As an example of the last feature, I would point out the situation of some pupils that belonging to the same culture as the country in which the school is located, do have some unnoticed cultural differences from the rest of the students classified within the same culture. Even the situation does not match to the definition of TCK, I think some of the ideas that David C. Pollock expose in his book Third culture kids: Growing up among worlds, may apply to those pupils. Analysing the situation of the country where we are teaching, we might find different ethnic groups that have been living hundreds of years together with the main culture (as gypsies or Kurds), or many communities claiming to be independent for cultural reasons (including language), and exists a huge social tension between them, and some schools might have the same kind of tensions between pupils inside the classroom.

HOW TO USE MULTICULTURAL CONFLICTS AS A RESOURCE TO TEACH CULTURE, DC AND HR?

Teaching culture, DC and HR means to me to teach pupils to be active, committed, and responsible participants at their community, willing to defense pluralism, human rights, and solidarity, while being empathic and interested for other's issues. It means as well to help them to acquire the ability to analyze critically the world thru history, Media and other sources, and give them tools to listen and argue their points of view pacifically, and making a responsible use of power, being aware of how politics influence on the different cultures living within a country, and knowing how to make decisions that can make a difference in the construction of a democratic social system.

I would prepare a program to develop in the classroom, based on The three dimensions in assessing ICC (Lazar 2008, p.25) and The three dimensions of EDC/HRE (Gollob 2011, p. 29 - 31) that integrates theory, activities, and practice in a real performance.

1)The cognitive dimension, learning "about" culture, democracy, and HR while assessing ICC: Knowledge.

The goal of this part of the program is to introduce the theory that will create understandable concepts that will be the base for the activities proposed in the classroom, as well as raise cultural awareness in two ways: about other cultures while breaking stereotypes, and about these aspects of one's own culture that remain tacit. Eventually, raise the interest to know more about their culture and other cultures.

It is a good idea to start every lesson with an introductory activity as “The wall of silence” through a collage of the ideas with the meaning of the words culture, democracy and HR, suggested by the students. This will help the teacher to check the level of knowledge they have, as well as “break the ice” with these students that are “less extrovert and disadvantage in standard, or just [the ones that] wish to think better what they want to say before [talking] in public”(Gollob 2008, p. 61-62)

Democracy and HR are “interdependent and mutually reinforcing” (2005 world summit).

We can present HR as the essential aspect for a democratic system, and relate it to culture by learning about important figures in the history belonging to the target cultures that have fight for the fulfillment of human rights or have fight for a more democratic system, or compare similar situations that the cultures might have had in common through history (for example, by reading stories of war and emigration in different times of the history). Since pupils are focusing on the differences they find between them, we can help them this way to think about common features or feelings.

We could bring intercultural communication into language teaching, by using movies, music, and

literature to present the different cultures in the classroom, as a complement of bringing information and knowledge that will motivate students to understand, appreciate the cultural enrichment, and get closer to each other.

It is a good opportunity to encourage them to bring songs, fairy tales, and other things related to their culture (or talk with their parents if they do not come up with any idea), including personal stories, that they would like to share to the rest of the class. And it could be a great idea as well, to find artifacts that relate both cultures: a singer whose mother belong to one of the cultures, and whose father to the other, a writer belonging to one of the countries but was raised in the other country, and maybe was writing in both languages, etc.

In the assessment, it will not make any sense to the pupils to make a written test about the knowledge that they have learned. I would rather make “summative evaluation”, “continuous, direct, and holistic assessment”, and self-assessment. (Lazar 2008, p. 30)

I would consider that my pupils have acquired the knowledges when they are able to explain the concepts in their own words correctly, and have progress in their way of communicating what they want to express in intercultural communicative terms, considering the three domains of knowledge (humanistic, anthropological, and sociological approach) (Lazar 2008, p. 27)

2)The participative dimension: learning "for" culture, democracy, and HR while assessing ICC: Knowing how.

The goal of this part of the program is to enable the pupils to make a clear picture of what they have learned in the theory and create a “safe zone” where to have the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings to their classmates while building proximity. At the same time, they learn how to carry on debates, reflect on the theory, and acquire group-work skills, self-criticism and expose their opinion through constructive, respectful and valid arguments.

I think it is a great idea to use the philosophical inquiry method making use of the philosophical device known as “thoughts experiments” (Worley 2011, p. 14) to make pupils reflect on two different aspects: their rights, through EDC and HRE, and the actual feelings of both ethnic groups. Eventually, they should understand the importance to communicate and respect each other, motivated by the concept of all of them feeling better in a pleasant environment.

For debates is important to make a comfortable classroom, where the different cultures are mixed together, and preferably in a horse-shoe shape because it facilitates the dialogue, the eye-contact, and enables the facilitator to access the board if necessary (Worley 2011, p.15). We could start by providing an open question, presenting a case, or make a game. For this matter, it is a good idea to search stories from the website “It takes all kinds” or bring real cases from NGO' websites such as International Amnesty.

For activities, it is an opportunity to encourage them to bring songs, movies, fairy tales, and other texts related to their culture (or talk with their parents if they do not come up with any idea), including personal stories. For example, literature is influenced by the social context, and as language and non-verbal communication, is charged by the social and cultural values of society (Lazar 2008, p. 19) being a great way to teach culture to pupils, allowing them to present artifacts of their own culture, expanding or enhancing knowledge about it, while bringing “plausible diversity and emotional involvement straight to” our classroom ( Lazar 2008, p. 20) and having fun with each other. Another activity could be to search about well-known figures that had fight for H.R. (Nelson Mandela, Gandhi...), or less-known activist related to the culture of any of the other cultures present in the classroom. This way, all of them can become omnipresent observers, namely, they can fully encounter other cultures with their customs and social practices (Lazar 2008, p. 20), without necessarily meeting each other out of the classroom.

As an assessment, I would take into account how students adjust to the social and cultural environment in order to integrate experiences in the target language to use efficiently their communicative competence as intercultural speakers. Not only able to function in a language but to interact, adjust, integrate, interpret, and negotiate in different cultural contexts.

I would consider that my pupils have reached the goal when they are able to communicate politely and successfully with each other, respect other's opinion, listen to other's stories, and build arguments that shows an understanding and a willingness to find a democratic solution. “At this stage, intercultural skills imply the ability to use a variety of language strategies in order to communicate with those from other cultures, as well as the capacity to overcome stereotyped relationships”(Lazar 2008, p. 26).

3)The cultural dimension, learning "through" culture, democracy, and HR while assessing ICC: being.

The goal of this part of the program is to learn by doing, and I consider that it is the best way to fully understand what they have learned, while continue developing their empathy and multicultural understanding; have the opportunity to solve new problems that will probably emerge, and create common goals that will eventually give to some of them the opportunity to get closer in terms of relationships, or deal with the reality of coopering sometimes with people that they might not like (for different reasons that do not apply to multicultural misunderstandings or prejudices).

It is the purpose of this part to eventually treat directly the specific conflicts that remain unsolved between the pupils.

The conflicts should be seen as something normal, that happens in every society (Gollob 2008, p. 61-62), and the goal of the teacher is to transform it from an unpleasant situation to something that is seen as useful in democratic decision making, an opportunity to expose their concerns, solving problems, debate and argue without a fear while reconsidering values and ideas is seen as something enriched, and making decisions to participate in building an everyday-better world.

Some ideas are:

The Political party, where pupils can apply the acquired theory into practice, while it becomes a tool to solve their own concerns, gain confidence, and give them a real personal meaning of the concept. It is very important to make sure that both cultures are mixed, so we create a new sense of belonging to a group, reinforced by the idea of sharing one common goal to fight for.

The Integrated project, where pupils research about the theory of each of the subjects (mathematics, history, language...) and integrate all of them in a report that can show to the rest of the class at the end of the academic year.

The Pandora's box, where pupils start to debate the conflicts they have with each other, by creating a space where each time it is assigned the task of the moderator to a different pupil and others have to record the signs of progress, etc.

Other group works such as: sending letters to request the abolition of an unfair law through NGO's websites, creating and writing in a blog, or participating in cultural events.

As an assessment: reach the level of “critical” awareness and to take into account other identities, beliefs, and values in reference to their own. The need to reshape their own values and integrate new perspectives so that they eventually become intercultural mediators when facing conflict-ridden situations, rather than just “cultural awareness”. (Lazar 2008, p. 27)

I would consider that my pupils have reached the goal when they are able to understand and solve their own multicultural problems, without the presence of the figure of a facilitator.

Conclusions:

The first and second dimension could be indistinctly combined, while the third part will be not likely to be effective before they have acquired those skills. I would recommend starting presenting other people's stories that are crossing similar cultural conflicts. This will allow us to give information gradually, heading towards reflections that provide them with the tools to understand and analyze multicultural conflicts, until we feel that they are ready to solve successfully their own conflicts. We must consider that this process is long and unexpectable, and conflicts affect pupils emotionally to a varying degree. We must be ready for different reactions from the pupils, and flexible to make changes and direct the lessons depending on the progression of the specific situation.

Multicultural education is important at any context, since it does not only helps to solve conflicts between cultures, but it helps also to raise awareness about aspects of our own culture (the tacit perspectives of “The Iceberg of culture” by Patrick R. Moran), that might be needing some changes because of its unfair consequences among the people involved, as well as to raise “critical” awareness of the consequences of certain behaviours that might be influencing other cultures within our globalized world, even if we are not directly in touch with these other countries. And when two or more cultures co-exist in a classroom, multicultural education is not only important but essential to get pupils to enjoy the benefits of multiculturality, while the differences that are origin conflicts are not an unpleasant “block” between them, but an opportunity to learn by doing how to solve conflicts by themselves in a fair and successful way.

Teaching multiculturality will definitely help pupils to appreciate and understand other ways of thinking and review their own, and integrating with DC and HR education means to teach future adult citizens to take responsible decisions based on a broader understanding of social reality, and the importance of defending and respect human rights with no exceptions. Eventually (hopefully), they will develop a willingness to participate actively in politic decisions for the construction of a fairer society and to know more and appreciate the advantages of living together in a multicultural world, and conflicts are just “seen as something normal, that happens in every society”.

Beetham, D., Boyle, K. (2009) Introducing democracy, 80 questions and answers, UNESCO Publishing, Paris.

Gollob, R., Krapf, P. (2011) Educating for democracy, background materials on democratic citizenship and human rights education for teachers, EDC/HRE Volume I, Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg

Gollob, R., Krapf, P. (2008) Teaching democracy, a collection of models for democratic citizenship and human rights education, EDC/HRE volume VI, Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg

Lazar, I. (2008) Developing and assessing intercultural communicative competence-a guide for language teachers and educators, Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg (pdf only).

Pollock, D.C., Van Reken, R.E. (2009) Third Culture Kids, growing up among worlds, Nicolas Brealey Publishing, Boston.

Worley, P. (2011) The If Machine, philosophical inquiry in the classroom, Continuum International Publishing Group, London.

Moran, P.R (2001) Teaching culture, perspectives in practice, Donald Freeman Series Editor, Boston.