‘Who Are Diverse?’ Conceptualisations of Cultural Diversity in Schools behind Desks and at Chalkface

Abstract

This paper analyses the meanings and values attached to 'cultural diversity' as a descriptive and interpretative category in the field of education in Spain, including its application to define different groups in elementary and primary schools there. It reports from a comparative study that considers the discursive production of 'cultural diversity' in Spanish academia together with the discourse of teaching staff from three schools with specific programmes aimed at cultural diversity. Results attest to three different uses of 'cultural diversity': individualisation, difference and inequalities, as well as two different assessments: enrichment and problem. It also analyses how the discourse of teachers is more complex than those of the academy, because, among other reasons, they link diversity with situations produced by social inequality, by the fact that many students are migrants, and by a different ethnic condition. In general, the academic discourse tends to present a more institutionalised, idealised and blind vision of social inequality.

Percepción de actores sociales sobre las políticas de diversidad en las universidades españolas

“…While the concept of diversity is widespread in the discourses, practices, and policies of governments, educational institutions, businesses, academic institutions, and social organisations (García-Cano et al, 2018), the debate 1 The study reported in this paper was supported by the Spain's Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness, the State Research Agency, and the European Regional Development Fund (grant number EDU2017-82862-R).…”

‘On Both Sides of the Strait’: Discourses and Policies on Cultural Diversity in Southern Mediterranean Spain

“…The Caucasian group, majoritarian in Spain, identifies cultural diversity in schools only with the arrival of the third group since the 1990s (Andrés & Giró, 2020;García-Cano et al, 2018;Garreta, 2006;Garreta et al, 2020). This fact gives rise to a 'problematic categorisation' (García-Cano et al, 2018) that evidences 'educational policy as an act of white supremacy' (Gillborn, 2005; see also Fylkesnes, 2019), since there is on the part of Spanish academics, an appropriation of a discourse that is of Anglo-Saxon origin and links cultural diversity with migration. This result sets it apart from the construction of cultural diversity in other contexts, such as the US, where cultural diversity is often a euphemism for race and refers to how minority racial groups differ from the white population (García-Cano et al, 2018, p. 79).…”

“…The fight against racial discrimination is then called 'promotion of diversity' (García-Cano et al, 2018). The problem is that, lying behind this managerial rhetoric, the demand for -structural-equality may be diluted in -identity-diversity (Duru-Bellat, 2011;Laufer, 2009, cf.…”

“…Therefore, to re-politicise the discourse on equality in relation to diversity involves the challenge to focus on structural inequality (Duru-Bellat, 2011;García-Cano et al, 2018;Junter y Sénac-Slawinski, 2010) and school segregation (Bonal, 2012;Essomba, 2012;García-Cano et al, 2018). Faist (2009, p. 171) puts it clearly when he says that 'in the absence of a rights-based foundation the question arises of how social inequality can be dealt with', so that 'diversity needs to be grounded in (…) citizenship rights in order to become a politically legitimate approach.…”

“…Hence the lack of visibility of this group in Spanish history books (Martín, 2018) at school. Historical invisibility has meant school discrimination and poor results (Andrés y Giró, 2020;García-Cano et al, 2018). Roma students have historically suffered from assimilationist and segregationist education policies (Garreta et al, 2020;Peñalva, 2009 compensatory programmes coincided with intercultural discourses, but little practice' (Garreta, 2006, p. 263).…”