Political climate and schooling: teachers’ perceptions and practices on social differentiation and intercultural education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15584/kpe.spec.crae.2024.3Keywords:
Greece, primary education, public schools, teachersAbstract
Intercultural education focuses on how social differentiations affect schooling. The issues promoted by intercultural education, especially those related to human, individual and collective rights, are particularly topical nowadays, since in many countries they are in the crosshairs of the far right and populist political movements and leaders.
In this paper we present research in which we explored teachers' perceptions and practices regarding social differentiation and intercultural education. The role of teachers is important in shaping the dominant ideology, because of their position and their interaction with future citizens. Therefore, teachers’ role is crucial in combating or maintaining economic inequalities and unequal distribution of power. Our research strategy was Case Study, and semi-structured interview was our research technique. According to our research results, although teachers are aware of the issues of social differentiation, they are not able to clearly define what intercultural education is, who it is aimed at and what its goals are. this confusion hampers teachers’ efforts and ultimately the quality of education provided to the children who need it most.
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