The Swedish school is today a meeting place for many people with different cultures. The teacher education at Södertörn University have since 2002 been influenced by an intercultural profile. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the intercultural profile of Södertörn University is expressed in preschool- teachers/ teachers work. Is an intercultural approach requested in schools and is intercultural approach useful and applicable in the teaching profession? The report is based on a qualitative study of what intercultural competence means for five preschool- teachers/ teachers who have graduated from Södertörn University. The report describes what intercultural competence means to them and how they use their intercultural competence in their work. It also investigates the employers view on intercultural competence. There seems to be some uncertainty about intercultural competence, during the interviews with the preschool teachers/ teachers they became more aware of how they actually use their intercultural competence. These preschool- teacher/ teacher have perhaps not had the opportunity to reflect on the concept. My conclusion is that intercultural competence is essential in school because teachers meet people with different cultures every day, that’s why teachers need to work with ethnocentric behavior. Teachers have a responsibility not to pass on prejudices about people to their students. All children have a right to feel included in the school community regardless of who they are and where they come from.

Θεωρώντας ότι ένα από τα σημαντικότερα κομμάτια στο παζλ του πολιτισμού ενός λαού αποτελεί η μουσική, στην παρούσα έρευνα μελετώνται οι μουσικές προτιμήσεις Ελλήνων και αλλοδαπών μαθητών της Ε΄ και ΣΤ΄ τάξης του Δημοτικού σχολείου και η σχέση τους με την ελληνική μουσική. Ιδιαίτερο ενδιαφέρον θεωρούμε ότι παρουσιάζει η εξέταση των μουσικών προτιμήσεων των αλλοδαπών μαθητών και του πως αυτές επηρεάζονται από τον πολιτισμό της χώρας υποδοχής. Το θέμα αυτό είναι πολυδιάστατο καθώς σχετίζεται με ποικίλους παράγοντες. Επιπλέον, η μουσική σε σχέση με τη διαπολιτισμική εκπαίδευση είναι ένα θέμα το οποίο συναντάται ελάχιστα στην ελληνική βιβλιογραφία και θεωρούμε ότι θα ήταν καλό να ερευνηθεί περαιτέρω το συγκεκριμένο ζήτημα. / Considering that one of the most important pieces in the puzzle of a certain people’s culture is music, in the current research we study the musical preferences of greek and foreign studends attending the 5th and 6th class of primary school and their relation to greek music. We consider of significant importance that we examine the musical preferences of foreign students and how they are affected by the culture of the host country. This issue is multifaceted since it is related to many factors. Moreover, music in relation to cross-cultural education is an issue that is found rarely in greek bibliography and we believe that further investigation would provide profitable results.

Political recognition of the multicultural nature of Mexico has advanced the understanding of how people live together, as well as how they value and respect each other’s differences. The migration of indigenous populations from rural areas of the country to urban settings has transformed the cities, and also schools, into places of remarkable cultural diversity. This study examines the processes of identity formation of indigenous children in two urban schools in Jalisco, Mexico. By studying the processes of identity formation, I focus on understanding how indigenous children represent themselves within the wider social discourses and dynamics of power, which might be either reinforcing or limiting their opportunities to strengthen their ethnicity. By using an ethnographic approach, from a critical theory perspective, this study focus on listening to indigenous children’s voices, rather than the other voices and experiences within the school setting. The study was conducted in two schools in the municipality of Zapopan, in the State of Jalisco, Mexico. Over a period of 14 months, I conducted semi-structured interviews with 22 indigenous children, balanced by gender and age, from 4 different ethnic groups: Mazahua, Nahua, Purepecha, and Totonaco. I also interviewed 22 mestizo children, 10 teachers, 3 principals, and 7 parents. The schooling experiences of indigenous children are discussed in the study. Elements such as language use, territory (geographic and symbolic), family networks, and their attachment to their communities of origin were identified as the crucial factors for indigenous children to represent, or sometimes deny, themselves as being indigenous. The analysis also highlights the silences, racism, and ethnic blindness that indigenous children face in urban schools. Meritocratic educational approaches within neoliberal discourses of competition, individual effort, and autonomy were embedded in the children’s schooling experiences, thereby shaping their learner identities. This study seeks to contribute to the pursuit of providing indigenous children with educational services that recognise and reinforce their ethnic identity. It is also my objective that children’s voices open up a dialogue with those responsible for the educational and social policies, in order to create a common front that might challenge the racism veiled as indifference and/or a desire for ‘equality’ in Mexican urban schools.

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether the lower secondary school teaching in religion leads to a positive understanding and openness, concerning different religions and cultures. We want to study how pupils in grade eight and nine in two lower secondary schools in a multicultural community comprehend different religions. Since we choose a pupils perspective we decided to do a questionnaire to get a wide ground. As a complement we interviewed twelve pupils and also did observations during their religion classes. During our study we focused on three different themes. These themes are the abrahamitic religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) Hinduism & Buddhism and attitudes to religion.</p><p>Our theoretical point of view is the intercultural perspective. Therefore we have studied government’s documents and propositions about intercultural education and we have also used an anthology by Pirjo Lahdenperä called Interkulturell pedagogik i teori och praktik (2004). We aim to investigate if the teaching in religion is compatible with the intercultural education.</p><p>The thesis reveals that there are lots of prejudices among the pupils in these two schools. We think that it is important that the teaching in religion must focus not only at the Christianity in younger ages. The subject must contain other religions like Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism in much earlier age. Otherwise the pupils will create their own picture of the different religions through media.</p><p>The Swedish governments goals about school (LPO 94) and the document about the teaching in religion (kursplanen i religionskunskap) both can, according to us, be used as tools for intercultural education. The problem is that the teachers do not know how to use these tools. The methods of intercultural education must be clearer and the teachers more conscious. Before that happens, we can not state that the education is totally intercultural.</p><p>We have a big challenge in front of us when we finally will step out on the labour market!</p>

The aim of this qualitative study was to examine how preschool teachers in contemporary Sweden think and talk about intercultural education in the current context in which Sweden is rapidly becoming a more culturally diverse country. Specifically, the study applied an intersectional framework to examine how teacher’s work and talk around cultural issues and how children’s books can contribute to the broader pedagogical project of developing intercultural education in preschool. The research questions guiding this research were: How do teachers in ethnically diverse preschools work with and talk about children’s books in their daily interactions with children? How do teachers in ethnically homogenous preschools work with and talk about children’s books in their daily interactions with children? Teachers from two preschools - differing in terms of the ethnic make-up of their child population - were asked to read a pair of children’s books whose storylines had obvious links to issues related to cultural diversity. The teachers were then asked to discuss the books in focus groups. Transcripts of the focus groups were then subjected to a thematic analysis from an intersectional perspective. These analyses revealed that teachers in both preschools considered children’s age and their relative intellectual and emotional competencies to be significant barriers for using culturally sensitive children’s book to promote an intercultural education in preschool. Furthermore, the teachers oriented to other social categories, such as gender and family, in their analyses of the children’s books. These findings raise questions about if and how preschool teachers choose to engage with cultural issues in their preschools.

As international education continues to expand, countries providing such opportunities not only benefit but also face challenges. For traditional destinations, including the United States and the United Kingdom, the number of international students has been falling. At the same time emerging economies, such as China, are witnessing a rapid increase in the number of international students enrolled in their universities. China is, therefore, beginning to play an important role in the competitive global market for higher education. This thesis analyses and compares the experiences of international students in the UK and China using Transformative Learning theory. While there is an extensive literature on both international higher education and also Transformative Learning theory there are three important contributions that this thesis makes. First, this research applies the theory to two international student groups: UK students in Chinese universities and Chinese students in UK universities. Second, this study includes a focus on the intercultural learning of Chinese doctoral students in the UK filling a gap in current research. Finally, this investigation has extended the very limited number of current research projects on UK students in China. It is generally acknowledged that international students will experience various challenges when they are in a culturally different context. Little research has focused on how and why learners are transformed through exposure to their new environment and, also, why sometimes they are not. This study applies Transformative Learning theory to address two research questions: first, do UK international students in Chinese universities and Chinese international students in UK universities experience transformational learning in/during their overseas studies? Second, what factors foster or impede international students' experience of transformative learning? To answer the above questions semi-structured interviews were used to investigate international students' academic and social experiences. Based on the insights provided by Mezirow, Taylor, and previous studies on international students, I argue that international students' intercultural experience is a complex process. Transformation can occur in various ways and social and personal perspectives underpin the transformative learning of the students. Contributing factors include culture shock, educational conventions, the student's motivation, expectations, personality, gender and previous work experience. The results reflect the significance of differences in teaching styles in the UK and China and the impact this can have on the student teaching and learning process when they move to a new university.

This thesis investigates the role of drama in the intercultural education of young people. It considers the relationship between the fields of drama education, intercultural performance and ethnography. The drama curriculum is explored as a site of intercultural learning and performance pedagogy. The thesis also examines the place of ethnography as an embodied, participatory practice in intercultural drama pedagogy and performance research. The study is placed in a context of international exchange and cultural pluralism, and is framed by debates about intercultural performance and the appropriation and representation of cultural narratives. This investigation of interculturalism within the drama curriculum is grounded in an ethnographic study conducted in Melbourne, Australia in a multicultural secondary school community. The study documents the experiences of approximately forty young people who participated in an African drama and performing arts project called ‘The Gods Project’. ‘Jean’, a Kenyan performing artist who was undertaking a two-year residency in the school, led the intercultural performance project. Participants were involved in drama and performing arts workshops, an ‘African’ creative arts camp and a performance of a play, The Gods are not to Blame, by Nigerian playwright Ola Rotimi. The interpretative account of the project draws on ethnographic data from the first year of Jean’s residency in the school and six months of intensive fieldwork in the second year of her residency. It also includes longitudinal data that was collected from a group of participants up to four years after the project. I collaborated with Jean and with a group of senior students, who volunteered to be ‘student co-researchers’, to record and analyse the diverse experiences of participants in The Gods Project and to interpret its educational, social, and aesthetic impact within the school context. Jean’s pedagogy of intercultural story telling within the drama classroom and her role as a ‘cultural guide’ throughout the project was explored. As a participatory ethnographic researcher, drama educator and ‘assistant director’, I worked alongside Jean and the students as they played with, talked about, resisted, created, adapted, subverted, embodied and performed intercultural performance texts. Drawing on Turner (1982) and Schechner (1988), I conceptualised The Gods Project as an intersecting social and aesthetic drama. The phases of ‘social drama’ and ritual were used as a framework for the data analysis and as a structure for the narrative account of the project. Turner’s concepts of the ‘liminal/liminoid’ and ‘communitas’ were applied to the participants’ experiences at the creative arts camp and within the workshop and performance space. ‘Dark play’ was identified as the young people’s response to the difficult social drama they were involved in; their subversive play provided a way to engage with the ‘strangeness’ of the cultural material and the play’s ‘dark’ story and themes. The participants’ dramatic play informed the emerging aesthetic drama and facilitated their intercultural meaning making. The students’ efforts to make sense of and interpret a performance text embedded in a Yoruba context resemble the task of an ethnographer attempting to understand and represent socio-cultural experiences. The study demonstrates that through a process of collaborative ‘intercultural reflexivity’, ethnography can enhance intercultural drama education. The pedagogical features of The Gods Project are related to Turner’s concept of performance ethnography and the role of a ‘cultural guide’ in intercultural teaching and learning is highlighted. With the guidance of their Kenyan teaching artist many of the young people engaged with different socio-cultural perspectives, actively explored new cultural performance conventions and art forms, and experienced the complexities of intercultural representation. The study reveals evidence of significant social, personal, intercultural and artistic learning outcomes for participants within this school-based performance project. However, the study also reveals the difficulties and challenges of implementing an innovative intercultural project within a school context. It demonstrates that kinaesthetic, playful, embodied and performative experiences are central to intercultural teaching and learning.

<p>Offering basic education is the greatest investment the world can make in its future. Basic education improves live opportunity for people and also give them a chance to form a better life for them selves. Too many of Peru’s inhabitants live in extreme poverty and education could help the country improve this situation. In addition, in the rural areas of Peru a lot of people speak another language than Spanish as their mother tongue. The purpose of this thesis is to get a more profound knowledge about matters concerning Bilingual Intercultural Education in Peru.</p><p>The research question has been what issues can be found, involving EBI education in Peru; opportunities and challenges? I have researched this through interviews with people working in the rural areas combined with a literature study. I visited schools in the area of Cusco and Anchonga. In Cusco the school did not have EBI education and in Anchonga the visited school did have. Some of the findings made are that it is important for the people involved such as parents, principals and teachers to be supportive of EBI education to make it work. It is also a challenge to find teachers who know the method and are bilingual. Many schools are in addition dependent of support from non-governmental organizations, which are an opportunity and a challenge. Important is also to make some teachers and parents believe that EBI education is not against the social development of the country.</p>

Offering basic education is the greatest investment the world can make in its future. Basic education improves live opportunity for people and also give them a chance to form a better life for them selves. Too many of Peru’s inhabitants live in extreme poverty and education could help the country improve this situation. In addition, in the rural areas of Peru a lot of people speak another language than Spanish as their mother tongue. The purpose of this thesis is to get a more profound knowledge about matters concerning Bilingual Intercultural Education in Peru. The research question has been what issues can be found, involving EBI education in Peru; opportunities and challenges? I have researched this through interviews with people working in the rural areas combined with a literature study. I visited schools in the area of Cusco and Anchonga. In Cusco the school did not have EBI education and in Anchonga the visited school did have. Some of the findings made are that it is important for the people involved such as parents, principals and teachers to be supportive of EBI education to make it work. It is also a challenge to find teachers who know the method and are bilingual. Many schools are in addition dependent of support from non-governmental organizations, which are an opportunity and a challenge. Important is also to make some teachers and parents believe that EBI education is not against the social development of the country.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether the lower secondary school teaching in religion leads to a positive understanding and openness, concerning different religions and cultures. We want to study how pupils in grade eight and nine in two lower secondary schools in a multicultural community comprehend different religions. Since we choose a pupils perspective we decided to do a questionnaire to get a wide ground. As a complement we interviewed twelve pupils and also did observations during their religion classes. During our study we focused on three different themes. These themes are the abrahamitic religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) Hinduism &amp; Buddhism and attitudes to religion. Our theoretical point of view is the intercultural perspective. Therefore we have studied government’s documents and propositions about intercultural education and we have also used an anthology by Pirjo Lahdenperä called Interkulturell pedagogik i teori och praktik (2004). We aim to investigate if the teaching in religion is compatible with the intercultural education. The thesis reveals that there are lots of prejudices among the pupils in these two schools. We think that it is important that the teaching in religion must focus not only at the Christianity in younger ages. The subject must contain other religions like Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism in much earlier age. Otherwise the pupils will create their own picture of the different religions through media. The Swedish governments goals about school (LPO 94) and the document about the teaching in religion (kursplanen i religionskunskap) both can, according to us, be used as tools for intercultural education. The problem is that the teachers do not know how to use these tools. The methods of intercultural education must be clearer and the teachers more conscious. Before that happens, we can not state that the education is totally intercultural. We have a big challenge in front of us when we finally will step out on the labour market!