Multicultural Education

School is the best place to learn how to get to know and to live alongside different cultural groups. The educational administration needs to ascertain the level of pupils´ intercultural competence in order to be able to implement programs and find the resources essential for working in schools to build the foundation for a more inclusive society. Hence, the aim of this study was to describe the degree of development of the various dimensions of intercultural communicative competence in a sample of 414 students. The students in this sample were from Spain and several other countries. They were all between eleven to sixteen years old and were attending state schools in the city of Leon in Spain. A test of "intercultural communicative competence" (Vilà, 2006) was used, which investigated cognitive and behavioral communicative competence in three areas: non-verbal communication, verbal communication, and cultural elements. An analysis of the data obtained reflected a mid-to-high degree of development of intercultural communicative competence in the students concerned. Significant differences were found in the variables concerning the sex of the pupil and their year of schooling with relation to the dimensions of competence measured. Finally, this data was compared with that of other similar research.

The importance of self-esteem in educational achievement is contested, but remains a significant touchstone of pluralist religious education. Buddhist schoolchildren form a small but significant minority in the UK education system, but factors surrounding their self-esteem have never before been studied specifically. This paper sets out to establish differences in demographics and attitudes between high self-esteem and low self-esteem Buddhist teenagers growing up in Britain. A Buddhism-adapted version of the ‘Young People’s Values Survey’ which included the short-form Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory was fielded in a sample of 174 self-identifying Buddhists aged between 13 and 20 years at Buddhist temples and events. Low self-esteem teens were found to express significantly less sense of well-being, were more worried in relationships, had less positive engagement with their family, were worried and under-motivated in school, were less eclectic and felt pressurized in friendships, held more supernatural beliefs, felt Buddhism irrelevant and used the internet more. By contrast, high self-esteem teens were found to express significantly more sense of well-being, had more positive engagement with their family and friends, were happier and more purposeful at school and felt more genuinely Buddhist. Degree of participation in Buddhist practice, surprisingly, was found to have no significant link with self-esteem. The paper concludes with discussion of the desirability of self-esteem and the degree to which the construct may be tied up with individualistic assumptions.

This essay explores strategies I have utilized to reduce the impact/influence of stereotype in my classroom(s). The document aims at giving practical advice to fellow educators, but can also be used to help generate much needed discussion on instructors’ unwitting reproduction of micro-level racial forces. 

The Book suggests evolving the Wisdom of the Heart by considering the life of the great mystics and their appreciation of God's fingerprints in Nature. One may, therefore, cultivate the Way of Love, unconstrained by comparison, hierarchy, and pre-concepts, usually existent in territorial thinking.

""In today’s culturally diverse classrooms, students possess and use many culturally, ethnically, and regionally diverse English language varieties that may differ from standardized English. This book helps classroom teachers become attuned to these differences and offers practical strategies to support student achievement while fostering positive language attitudes in classrooms and beyond. The text contrasts standardized varieties of English with Southern, Appalachian, and African American English varieties, focusing on issues that are of everyday concern to those who are assessing the linguistic competence of students. Featuring a narrative style with teaching strategies and discussion questions, this practical resource:

    * Provides a clear, introductory explanation of what is meant by non-standard English, from both linguistic and educational viewpoints.
    * Emphasizes what educators needs to know about language variation in and outside of the classroom.
    * Addresses the social factors accompanying English language variation and how those factors interact in real classrooms.""