Intercultural education in transition: Nordic perspectives

Abstract

Over the last several decades intercultural education has played a key role in many educational policies and practices, both across the Nordic countries and internationally. In this article we examine current conceptual discourses on intercultural education with an emphasis on developments in the Nordic research context. The analysis shows how the concept of intercultural education and its focus on "culture" has been criticised in the Nordic countries and internationally for the pitfalls of essentialism and relativism. This criticism is linked to a perceived lack of focus on power issues in education, which undermines the development of a social justiceorientated intercultural education. However, the analysis within the Nordic research context shows signs of re-conceptualisations, which includes a widening of the field and the emergence of new and more critically-orientated approaches.

Construction of ethnicity, immigration and associated concepts in Swedish vocational education and training

“…However, during the few occasions when the framing was weaker and the students had more control over the discussion, discussions became lively, indicating that students are concerned about and interested in discussions related to ethnicity. Thus, we observed some examples of possible starting points for socially just pedagogic practices, sensu Mikander, Zilliacus, and Holm (2018), which could potentially develop with teachers' experience, especially the inclusion of sensitive elements, such as critical understandings of power relations, xenophobia, and associated tensions. Thus Bernstein's concepts associated with the pedagogic rights, i.e.…”

“…xenophobia) more explicitly, particularly as our study and others show that students want to problematize ethnicity and address racism in their education. As Mikander, Zilliacus, and Holm (2018) express this: 'A more socially-just education would take up problems and experiences that are part of students' lives, not only on a theoretical, decontextualized level, but also by directly addressing them.' A common response from VET teachers regarding content is that they need to include content that makes the students employable.…”

Intercultural Competence in Modern Society and Education – Empirical Study in Compulsory Education

“…U novije vrijeme pristup razvoju ove kompetencije proširuje se konceptima poput inkluzivnog obrazovanja, odgoja za društvenu pravdu, održivog razvoja itd. (Mikander, Zilliacus i Holm, 2018). Taj je trend prisutan i u stranojezičnom obrazovanju te se zagovara integrirano višejezično i međukulturno obrazovanje (Beacco i sur., 2016;Knežević, 2017;Petravić, 2015), ali i povezivanje s drugim disciplinama kako bi se razvio pristup koji integrira uvide iz građanskog odgoja i obrazovanja (Porto, Houghton i Byram, 2017).…”

The Development of a Tolerant Personality in Terms of Multilingual Education

“…The examination of current conceptual discourses on intercultural education by P. Mikander, H. Zilliacus and G. Holm shows vitality and timeliness of the fundamental quest of intercultural education as a field of research. They conclude there is a need to research what intercultural and social justice education imply in different educational settings [12].…”