Multicultural Education in Slovakia: Perspectives and Risks

Abstract

The article analyses 20 years of experience with multicultural education in Slovakia. The starting point is to examine the causes and reasons why multicultural education has been included in the education system. The rationale for the introduction of multicultural education is interpreted in the context of the current possibilities and needs of society, identifying mainly the problems that multicultural education solves today. The basic principles and pillars of multicultural education are introduced and at the same time their strengths and weaknesses are examined. Emphasis is placed on human dignity and social responsibility as sources on which other values of multicultural education are based. In contrast to these principles is the environment in which education takes place. The school and family environment do not offer a sufficient principled background, do not prefer and often do not respect the values of multiculturalism. The resulting conflict of principles and environment poses the biggest problem and risk in multicultural education. Specific attention is paid to the issue of education in the mother tongue, this problem in Slovakia mainly affects the Roma minority. The inability to learn in ones mother tongue is contrary to equal opportunities as well as to the possibilities for the development of the human person in the context of his or her dignity. Finding perspectives requires a change from above, in the setting of the school environment as well as a change from below, i.e. a change in the value orientations and personal attitudes of individual teachers and changes in their preparation for the future profession.

Credibility and Involvement of Social Media in Education—Recommendations for Mitigating the Negative Effects of the Pandemic among High School Students

“…In the questionnaire, for example, students stated that “personal conversation”, “student communication with the teacher without ‘witnesses´ (i.e., classmates)”, but also “solving problems directly with the student without the teacher writing to the parents” are welcome. Moreover, from a public health perspective, we might point out another observation; through the rich possibilities of social media, the individual approach of a teacher to a student can even, in a virtual space, contribute to the (perhaps unexpected) formation of students´ critical thinking [ 88 ], their better understanding of different dangers arising from social media [ 89 ], their views and acceptance of their own personal religion [ 90 , 91 ], multicultural or multireligious education [ 92 ], or thinking about own cultural values [ 93 , 94 ]. Similarly, students can also contribute to the formation of their own sustainable education [ 95 ], opportunities for improving learning [ 96 ], personal progress in technical skills [ 97 ], or skills in detecting manipulative elements of the media [ 89 , 98 ] under the conditions of the pandemic.…”

Social Integration in Multicultural Societies: A Qualitative Study

“…Describing a multicultural society is definitely what is being disintegrated and even a prolonged or at least conflict is a symptom of a conflict that would be a time bomb to become a conflict (Rangkuti & Lubis, 2018), (Perić, 2020), (Kondrla, 2021). (Kondrla, 2021)Some other phenomena of Global conflict are the conflict between the German group (Choi et al, 2019), the conflict iPaul-Binyamin & Haj-Yehia, 2019), the religious conflict in Chihuahua Mexico (Savarino Roggero, 2020), the religious conflict in the Metropolitan City of Northern Nigeria (Nnabuihe & Onwuzuruigbo, 2021), the religious conflict in Pakistan (Ahmed & Brasted, 2021).…”

Cultivating Critical Thinking in Literature Classroom Through Poetry

“…Some scholars elaborated on the concept by illustrating that students' natural curiosity needs to be evoked and this, in turn, contributes to learning and the development of critical thought (Bean, 2011). Others proved the necessity of critical thinking in the context of analytical competencies (Tkáčová et al, 2021a), people's moral formation (Králik & Máhrik, 2019), media literacy (Tkáčová et al, 2021b) as well as important priorities of education within intercultural literacy (Bursová & Janus, 2021;Kondrla, 2021;Tkáčová, 2021;Tkáčová & Králik 2021). In all these studies, critical thinking is considered an essential aspect of interpersonal interaction (Tvrdoň et al, 2021) and wide social existence in an environment of a changing culture, educational priorities, arguments and values.…”