Multiculturalism as a socio-historical context of intercultural learning and development of intercultural curriculum

Abstract

The paper analyses the phenomena of multiculturalism and interculturalism as social movements, as ubiquitous values, and significant and relatively progressive practices of contemporary society, and especially as an integral part of the curricula and outcomes of education policy. Multiculturalism is most often defined as a political ideology, or as a social practice that insists on the fact that every society is composed of diverse cultural groups, which is why it is necessary for all of them to have an equal position in society. However, multiculturalism is not only a given state of cultural pluralism, but it also implies an active action in the direction of (multi)cultural integration and peaceful cultural coexistence. As such, above all, multiculturalism advocates respect for cultural differences between individuals and groups, while accepting all differences in sociopolitical practice. In that sense, the social context for the emergence and development of multiculturalism, i.e., its socio-historical genesis and key characteristics have been analysed and presented in the paper. On the other hand, interculturalism implies a useful social exchange between different cultures, and the paper emphasised the importance of a particular "reverse" from multiculturalism towards interculturalism, which is a much more fruitful approach related to the cultural diversity of society and the accompanying curricula and educational policies. In other words, while multiculturalism has postulated respect for cultural pluralism, interculturalism rests on mutual social cohesion between different cultures (Cantle, 2012). In this sense, multiculturalism is only the first step towards true interculturalism. For the purposes of this paper, interculturalism is also a much more useful concept, since it implies intercultural dialogue as well as active (intercultural) learning. A concept of intercultural learning, as a significant and courageous educational practice that relies on the stated values of multiculturalism and interculturalism in a given society has been presented and critically analysed. Intercultural learning in education, as well as the lived experience, is conceptualised as an important and relatively transformative process that can lead to changes in behaviour, but also change the ways in which the stakeholders observe, interpret, and understand the world around them. As a result, educational policies shift their tendencies and goals towards creation of multicultural and intercultural curriculum. However, although such ideas are attractive and occupy the attention of all those involved in education, there is still no clear definition of what an intercultural curriculum is. In that sense, the concept of multicultural and intercultural education depends to a large extent on the teaching content, models, strategies, as well as the design of the intercultural curriculum (Hrvatić, 2011), which is aimed at cultural integration, implementation in educational practice and intercultural community.