Planning for cultural diversity

Author(s)
Inglis, Christine
Languages
English, French
Series
Fundamentals of educational planning, 87
Year
2008
Pages
118 p.
ISBN
978-92-803-1311-6

Online version

Buy a print copy

About the publication

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, there is continuing debate about education in a culturally diverse society. How to ensure educational equality, rights to cultural maintenance and full social participation of minority groups, while ensuring social harmony and national development within a democratic society, is a major challenge for education policy-makers. Traditionally, this is viewed as a debate for pedagogues. Nevertheless, there are important implications for educational planners and managers. Given the many varied patterns of ethnic diversity within individual societies and their different educational traditions, no one set of educational responses is universally applicable. However, as discussed in the booklet, there are certain readily identifiable processes to follow in developing responses to cultural diversity. The three main foci of policy responses put forward are: the organization and structures of education, curricula, pedagogy and choice of language, and relations between the school and the community.