Factual background related to the challenges encountered by secondary school teachers in managing multicultural classes.
Factual Background
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Chapter 2: Diversity in the Classrooms (Results of IHR Survey)
2.2. Diversity in the Eyes of the Teachers
The vast majority of the respondents are nationals, with a small percentage having foreign origins. Many of them speak other languages. In all countries, a great gender disparity was noted among teachers: three quarters of the respondents are female. For the most part, teachers and school staff are between 35 and 60 years old, while the youngest (born after 1990) are a minority. The majority of them have a higher education degree, mostly a Master's degree. They also have between 15 and 25+ years of experience, except in Belgium and France where there are more young teachers. Finally, while they mostly teach at the same level, teachers change cities a lot in France, Greece and Portugal.
According to teachers and school staff, the first goals of education in general are to provide basic knowledge first, then develop each student's capacity, citizenship skills and lastly specialised skills. When asked about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, teachers think that the most important of its principles is the prohibition of violence, followed by the right to education. However, they do not think it is sufficiently known among students. And while its principles are generally guaranteed at school, it is not always perceived as useful. Indeed, teachers think that the most important objectives of Human Rights education are to foster integration and develop individual attitudes first. The knowledge of legal instruments is important, but they would like to focus on personal or practical educational skills first when it comes to intercultural education.
According to teachers and school staff, violence is considered most likely to happen inside the family and circles of friends, but also at school where the problems of bullying and discrimination cannot be ignored.
When it comes to multiculturalism and diversity, the results show an overall open-mindedness among teachers and school staff. Most of them associate with people of foreign origins at least once in a while, mainly in circles of friends. They also tend to along well with their foreign neighbours. At school, they are also very open-minded about having colleagues from different countries. European schools in general are quite multicultural, although percentages of people with foreign origins are lower in the study conducted in Lithuania. A very high percentage of teachers (at least 90%) have or have had students with foreign origins. These students mostly come from Africa, the EU, other European countries, and finally Asia.
There is a wide agreement on the idea that school is a very important tool of integration. It is even more important since the beginning of the refugees' crisis. Teachers agree that they need specific skills when teaching in a multicultural environment. Since only 17% of them have participated in intercultural training in the recent years (the highest proportions being in France and Greece), their demand for more training in intercultural competences is relevant. When asked about what they want to learn first, teachers rate competence and attitude first, followed by skills and knowledge last. But awareness must be taken into account too, especially in countries with a lower percentage of foreigners. In particular, we should encourage teachers to become more interested in foreign students' culture and to use intercultural and inclusive pedagogy in their classes. These methods work, since teachers admit having reconsidered stereotypes after working with foreign students. That is how the best practices selected by each country participating in the I Have Rights project will prove useful.
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