INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION IN THE EUROPEAN

EUROPEAN UNION

Committee of the Regions

INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION IN THE EUROPEAN UNION Local, regional and interregional activities Examples of good practice

INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION IN THE EUROPEAN UNION Local, regional and interregional activities Examples of good practice

COR - Studies E - 2/99 Brussels, August 1999

A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int). Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1999 ISBN 92-828-7596-2 © European Communities, 1999 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. Printed in Belgium PRINTED ON WHITE CHLORINE-FREE PAPER

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

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1.1. Purpose of the study

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1.2. Compilation method and criteria for selection

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1.3. Description method

10

2. CASE STUDIES

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Case study 1 : The Non-Discrimination Charter in the Education System of the Flemish community - Belgium

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Case study 2: Examples of local policies concerning the integration of refugees and immigrants - Denmark

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Case study 3: The Distance Learning Project for Gypsies in Rouen- France

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Case study 4: The RAA network in North Rhine Westphalia - Germany

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Case study 5: Educational material for intercultural education in primary schools-Athens, Greece

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Case study 6: The action project on bilingualism in Turin - Italy

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Case study 7: The educational policy in Rotterdam -The Netherlands

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Case study 8: An experience with intercultural education at secondary school in Can Tunis/Barcelona - Catalonia - Spain

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Case study 9: How to support and improve an intercultural nursery school - Rinkeby, Sweden

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Case study 10: Examples of local policies and projects on intercultural education in the United Kingdom

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Case study 11 : Development of Intercultural Education through Cooperation between European Cities (DIECEC)

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3. ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES OF GOOD PRACTICE

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Example 1: Education programme for foreign youths -Vienna,Austria

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Example 2: Bilingual education and team teaching in Carinthia Austria

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Example 3: Alternating education for nursery school teachers - Flemish Community, Belgium

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Example 4: Student exchange in the Region of Midi Pyrénées, France

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Example 5: A cross-border project in the Upper Rhine region, France

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Example 6: Réseau Interculturel et Education - Sèvres, France

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Example 7: Local minority language provisions - Finland

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Example 8: Educational facilities for minority children in North Rhine Westphalia Germany

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Example 9: A teacher training programme for intercultural education Athens, Greece

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Example 10: Education for Travellers: Local/regional teachers' centres in Ireland

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Example 11 : Educational projects in the Commune of Livorno - Italy

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Example 12: Multilingual education in Luxembourg

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Example 13: Careers education at primary schools - Utrecht,The Netherlands

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Example 14: Central Registration Point Primary Education in Zaanstad-Zuid.The Netherlands

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Example 15: Intercultural education within teacher training - Lisbon, Portugal

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Example 16: The Compensatory Education Programme of the Generalität of Catalunya

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Example 17:The Intercultural Education Partnership (IEP), United Kingdom

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4. CONCLUSION

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Appendix 1

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Foreword European integration is a learning process which places great demands on us Europeans. In addition to the creation of an internal market without borders, it is of the utmost importance for the evolution of a single Europe to overcome cultural, ethnic and social barriers and contrasts. A determined effort must be made to tackle this. Manj- regions and towns in Europe have already taken a positive approach, implementing initiatives in the field of intercultural education. The present study was first published by the COR in 1997 as a back-up to these initiatives.The idea was to disseminate examples of good practice in local and regional policy on intercultural education,"as it is at this level where the majority of innovative and creative approaches are developed and at this level where real solutions can be applied that will have direct consequences in shaping the fabric of our society". In view of the importance of this subject and unflagging demand for the study, it has now been republished to further serve its original purpose of disseminating good practice in regional and local policy.

Dr Manfred Dammeyer President of the Committee of the Regions

There is a wealth of knowledge and experience that exists at local and regional level, in developing the provision of education and training as a key instrument in strengthening economic and social cohesion across the EU. It is my belief that disseminating best practice of local and regional experiences in this field can help ensure that successful innovation projects become part of mainstream policy.This resource is not being fully tapped and Commission 6 of the Committee of the Regions aims to strengthen this cooperation, by working alongside other European institutions and organizations, in order to mobilize all relevant actors in this area. It is with this objective in mind that the COR has decided to elaborate this study, prepared by the Intercultural Education Centre of the University of Gent. The subject of the stud}·, intercultural education, focuses on combating racism and xenophobia and promoting the integration of all citizens in economic, social and civic life through education and training which is extremely relevant in today's society plagued by increasing social tensions, racist and violent behaviour as well as social exclusion. The study in no way intends to offer a representative survey of all relevant projects in the field of intercultural education within the EU but rather a cross-section of examples, from which new approaches and initiatives ma}7 develop. Moreover, it should be seen as a complementary reference framework for the Committee of the Regions' Opinion on Intercultural education (CdRl94/96 fin - rapporteurs: Dimitri Efstathiadis and John Evans). In the light of this, I am pleased to present this study to you which I hope will contribute towards disseminating good practice across the EU. Baroness Farrington Chair of Commission 6 (1994-1997) Education and Training of the Committee of the Regions

1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Purpose of the study This study is a compilation and an analysis of concrete actions (projects, programmes, partnerships, networks, policies ...) at local, regional and interregional levels in the field of intercultural education in order to disseminate best practice and to promote the exchange of ideas, experience and expertise between the Member States of the European Union.

number of key persons and institutions educational, academic and administrative operating in the field of intercultural education within the European Union. The criteria for the selection of examples were the following:

1.2. Compilation method and criteria for selection

• the quantity and quality of the source material provided: this criterion is of particular importance to the framing of the case studies (infra); • the recent nature of the actions in question: preference was given to recent projects; a lot of the examples are still running or have resulted in new, subsequent actions; • the levels at which the actions take place: local, regional, interregional (including transnational); many initiatives had to be left out, in spite of their undeniable quality, due to their obvious national scope; an exception was made however for nationally-oriented networks linking up locally and/or regionally based institutions; • geographical distribution: all Member States are represented by at least one example; one of our particular concerns was to avoid an exclusive, and therefore biased attention to countries that have a long-standing experience with intercultural education; • to a certain extent equal attention to the various subfields of intercultural education; an attempt was made to avoid repetition of the same types of projects and/or the same themes.

The study has been distilled from replies received to a request for information sent out to all members of Commission 6 - Education and Training - of the Committee of the Regions and national associations of local and regional authorities as well as a

The "pan-European" concept of intercultural education used in this study is a broad one. In this context, it is essential to note that there is no uniform concept of intercultural education across the Member States and regions of the European Union.

The study reflects a great variety of approaches to intercultural education in the broadest sense. It focusses in particular on actions concerning: • language learning in a multicultural society, • the integration of immigrants and people from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, • combatting racism and xenophobia, • the promotion of an intercultural approach within education and training systems, and • the intercultural dimension to training and access to the labour market. The purpose of the study is to point out a selective number of innovative examples, not to present a representative survey of all relevant projects in the field across the Member States.

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There is a theoretical agreement that intercultural education is not only an immigration issue, but a more general issue that relates to social diversity in general. However, one should keep in mind conceptual differences between the Member States ranging from the broad - pan-European definition to more confined definitions, which only include, for instance, special educational facilities exclusively tailored to the needs of immigrant, refugee or ethnic minority groups. 1.3. Description method We have opted for a division into a section with case studies and a section containing additional examples of good practice. This method has enabled us to combine, in a flexible way, an in-depth and a more comprehensive approach.The case studies section offers more detailed descriptions of good practice actions in which a more or less uniform analysis scheme is employed, containing the following topics: distinguishing features (title, regions/localities involved, period, funding, areas of attention), rationale, aims, activities, outcome/state of affairs, and dissemination.

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The additional examples section provides short summaries of projects or policies. In the case studies we have included background information in order to clarify the broader context of certain actions. In a few instances this also means a short introduction to the policies of national authorities. The differences among the school systems as well as the socio-economic and historical contexts have resulted in differential ways of implementing policy issues regarding intercultural education. It goes without saying that in Member States with a more decentraUzed education system, authorities and educational institutes at local and regional levels have more opportunities to stimulate initiatives in this area.

Occasionally, comments have been added to the actions described which may assess them, if applicable, according to their: • equally distributed attention given to both values and skills with respect to intercultural learning; • emphasis on an integrated approach, valuing for example a whole-school approach, links between schools and local communities, out-of-school activities, the key role of local/regional authorities; • views on cultural pluralism, relating intercultural education to social diversity in general; • perception of cultural issues, embedding culture in a social framework. The cases and examples are arranged according to the alphabetical order of the Member States. The DIECEC network, which is transnational, is discussed in the last case study.

2. CASESTUDIES Case study 1: The Non-Discrimination Charter in the Education System of the Flemish community - Belgium Region: Flemish Community Type: policy Period: 1993Main areas of attention: integration; racism; intercultural approach Rationale In 1991, the Flemish government launched a programme of assistance to schools, as part of a special policy to combat the educational under-achievement in non-Flemish pupils, in an endeavour to break out of a cycle of exclusion. The Flemish government sought to improve the quality of education offered within the schools.This was done by means of additional, but conditional resources, both financial and in terms of staff, given to schools which undertake to adapt their structures to meet the needs of their non-Flemish pupils. This programme of additional support to schools was a first step as it was directed not only at the schools, but also at fostering communication between the local communities and the schools. Despite the success of this programme, segregation and unequal access remained. The segregation phenomenon has lead to approximately 100 schools out of 2,400 in Flanders having over 80% of non-Flemish pupils. This is the result of a combination of social, religious and demographic factors. However, the demographic factor cannot be overestimated: it is not uncommon to find schools with a high percentage of non-Flemish pupils in an area inhabited by a predominantly Flemish population and vice versa. Insufficiently equal access also

plays a role in the continuing non-integration of second and third generation immigrants into Flemish society in the sense that it does not allow for the free communication between all the cultures represented within Flanders from an early age. In 1993, the Flemish Ministry of Education issued a declaration on its new measures to combat segregation and discrimination in the education system and to promote equal access for all pupils.This was to take the form of a Non-Discrimination Charter. Aims Firstly, the Non-Discrimination Charter was introduced, in order to tackle the segregation and equal access issue described above. A second objective of the Charter was to promote the implementation of intercultural education in all Flemish schools. In general it can be said that the Charter aims to break the vicious circle that has formed within the immigrant communities of low expectations leading to low achievement, leading to economic marginalization, leading to low expectations etc. Activities A major distinction between the Charter and previous measures is that accession to the Charter is entirely voluntary without any constitutionally binding force in itself, and dependent on the willing participation of the various partners. The operation and the implementation of the Charter is both simple and very complex incorporating as it does both top-down and bottom-up approaches.

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The top-down aspect of the Non-Discrimination Charter lies mainly in the original initiative and in the monitoring and evaluation processes. The Flemish Education Council developed the original idea of the Charter and planned its implementation. After having pointed out the overall guidelines, the Council delegated certain supervisory powers to its Central Assessment and Arbitration Commission, in which the Flemish Ministry of Education is represented. All the local partners are invited to the local negotiating table. If they refuse to enter local negotiations, the Flemish Education Council may ask the Ministry of Education to impose sanctions. The implementation of the Charter is then a matter for the local community. The first step is the selection of a local chairman, who plays a key role in how the Charter is implemented locally. Following the selection of the local chairman, all the local education school boards, relevant trade unions, community associations and immigrant organizations are brought together to begin the process of developing the local agreement. This is an essential step in the whole process. Because the Charter is voluntary, because it must be implemented locally, because all parties are involved on a local level and because the local agreement is worked out in negotiation between all local parties, this lends it a moral, rather than a legal force.

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This process of local involvement and local negotiation is also intended to bring about a lasting change in perception, at least within the educational community in Flanders. By engaging all local parties in debate, all local parties may have a voice, and all local parties may actually hear each other, sometimes for the first time. In the process of negotiating the local agreement, all interest groups should be served and the barriers of non-communication should be broken down.

The local agreement, once negotiated, sets out the plan of action to which all parties agree, with suitable targets to be achieved. Each agreement must be entered into for a period of five years and there are certain rights which are non-negotiable. The local agreements must enshrine the principles of the respect for diversity and not interfere with the right to a place at the school of one's choice and the right of access to all schools. State of affairs After the Non-Discrimination Charter had been in operation for three years, a report was written and a number of problems and concerns were raised in the process of implementation. For schools with high non-Flemish populations, there is a reasonable concern that if the demographic spread of non-Flemish children has to be evened out throughout their area, they would not only lose pupils, but may not gain Flemish pupils to compensate. Conversely there is a fear on the part of predominantly Flemish schools that they will have to introduce new language and religious instruction, despite the fact that resources for that purpose are available. There are also some immigrant groups which argue that segregated education, particularly for the non-Flemish population is desirable and that the only issue that needs to be addressed is that of additional resources for the schools. Given these issues, the process of local negotiation is of great value in bringing them to the fore and dealing with the problems as they come up, at a local level, without the imposition of specific plans and guidelines from the outside. The most important point that should be made is that the Non-Discrimination Charter is successful and that its success rests firmly on two premises:

• The first is the non-compulsory nature of the Non-Discrimination Charter. It is due to this aspect that people are involved with a degree of commitment that might not have been mobilised had the Non-Discrimination Charter been mandatory. The whole exercise seems to have tapped into a will to change and improve the potentially threatening situation of unequal access, which exists across the whole education community in Flanders. • The second aspect is that of the nature of the local agreements. As these agreements are local and drafted to reflect the local situation this not only involves more people at the local level, but also renders the exercise viable by accepting that each locality will have its own way of approaching and tackling the issues raised by the implementation of the Non-Discrimination Charter with a very flexible character which, given the issues that it is trying to address, is essential to its success.

Case study 2: Examples of local policies concerning the integration of refugees and immigrants - Denmark Localities:

Aarhus, Broendby, Farum, Heisinger Coordination: local authorities Main areas of attention: language learning; integration; labour market Rationale The Danish education system and labour market today demand a number of special skills which workers need to master in order to cope.These skills are changing all the time. Consequently, most refugees and immigrants arriving in Denmark are faced with a long period of retraining and education, when the qualifications they arrive with have to be restructured and trans-

formed. In addition, in their pursuit of education and work, they have to acquire numerous skills and qualifications (e.g. language, general schooling and a broad cultural proficiency). In Denmark, education plays a decisive role in determining how people succeed in working life. Virtually regardless of their educational background and other circumstances in their home country, the individual refugee or immigrant needs extra vocational help and support in order to be selfsupporting in society. This need for special support encompasses linguistic, cultural and educational/vocational aspects, as well as individual social and health circumstances. In addition, special action is needed in many cases because of the personal problems inherent to the refugee situation. Aims To offer immigrants and refugees information, guidance, vocational help and support in order to be self-supporting in Danish society; to succeed in working life. Activities In Denmark, information and guidance for refugees and immigrants is organized along the following lines: • the task is shared by many players (counsellors attached to language schools, responsible local authority officials, study supervisors at differing educational establishments, job advisers etc.); • a wide variety of methods (dialogue, collective guidance, practical training, vocational guidance courses, etc.) are enlisted; • refugees and immigrants do not have the same prerequisites and grounding as Danes so that guidance has to be adjusted accordingly.

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As in the case of other forms of guidance cooperation and coordination are needed. For instance, more information has to be provided and counsellors must have a special insight into the specific problems of refugees and immigrants. Vocational guidance courses and projects in Denmark cover a very broad spectrum. The large volume of experience has proven the importance of basing action on a set of principles.These principles are put forward by the Association of Local Authorities in Denmark, e.g.: • the session must take users' wishes and needs as a starting-point; • as far as possible refugees and immigrants should be involved as instructors; • information on types of job, enterprises and training opportunities should be very broad so as to expand the potential areas of interest to ethnic minorities; • attention should be drawn to any need for back-up teaching in Danish or instruction in general school subjects; • teaching should be available in the person's mother tongue, e.g. when difficult topics are involved.

Examples of local policies in Denmark for the integration of refugees and immigrants On the basis of the general experiences described above, many Danish local authorities have devised targeted schemes designed to give refugees and immigrants easier access to education and employment within specific sectors. * The Aarhus approach

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The Refugee and Immigrant Policy of the Municipality of Aarhus, adopted in 1996,

aims at integrating immigrants and refugees by fostering refugee and immigrant self-support and participation in the community life in unison and on equal footing with other citizens.This aim can be achieved by actions and measures in four key areas: employment, attitudes, language and housing. The rationale for selecting these domains as priority areas of action is that integration is crucially dependent on the ability of refugees and immigrants to speak the Danish language and to find private sector employment like other community citizens. The following schemes have been implemented: • The "labour market network", intended to foster more flexible cooperation between public sector players and enterprises which need labour. The target group are migrants over 25 years of age who are being prepared for the labour market through education and training. The project's purpose is to remove barriers keeping migrants from entering the labour market, which otherwise lead to social exclusion, and to complete the effort made by the municipal authorities in the field of qualifying migrants to the labour market, by entering into local network cooperation together with relevant partners in the field: employers' organizations, trade unions, local industry, migrant organizations and the municipality's migrant group. On the basis of these enterprises' requirements, targeted theoretical and practical training courses will be introduced. This project has been successfully put into practice since 1995 with EU, national, regional and local funding. • "Bazar West": a EU funded urban pilot project.This is a project for promoting initiatives of entrepreneuring among refugees and immigrants in the area

known as "Aarhus West". In a closed­ down factory, owned by a construction company, stands are established for market trade, small shops, production workshops, education premises (adult education, education in the Danish lan­ guage,.. .), café etc.The purpose of the initiative is to create room for refugees and immigrant establishments in self­ employed status ­ with municipal eco­ nomic support and guidance ­ and to assist with establishments outside the centre after a one­year phase of entre­ preneuring apprenticeship. Partners are: a construction company, a housing association, adult education associa­ tions, an immigrants' association, lan­ guage schools, public authorities (Municipal Department of Employ­ ment, Department of Social and Health Affairs).The experiences from this proj­ ect can be used for presentation of models to other parts of Aarhus and for transfer to interested parties in the EU. ■ The "European refugees and migrants advice and guidance into employ­ ment": a Horizon funded project aiming at the establishment of a regional and national network for integration of immigrants and refugees, threatened by unemployment and exclusion from the labour market.This project has numer­ ous objectives: to conduct a survey indicating the causes of both the high number of unemployed and drop­outs at the educational institutes; to commu­ nicate the results of the survey to the group of foreigners in Denmark and hereby give this group a possibility to create a plan with realistic educational and employment expectation; to pro­ vide advice and guidance addressed to young foreigners between 17­25; cre­ ation of a local network to define which qualifications the persons must possess to get a job and so on.The tar­ get groups are: adult foreigners in Den­ mark, teachers, advisers, social workers,

representatives of the trade organiza­ tions. Partners are the Municipality of Aarhus, the Danish Refugee Council, and several educational institutes. Other initiatives are: • an integration course for refugees and immigrants in social and health studies; • an introductory course to prepare refugees and immigrants for the regular teacher training course; • a project for engineers with an immi­ grant background; this project consists of three months' vocational guidance and training in job preparation, reshap­ ing attitudes and establishing contacts with specific employers with a view to fixed­term contracts; • the "Ind­holder" project: slotting an immigrant into the workforce (focussing specifically on jobs in indus­ try and the private sector); • an introductory course for baker and butcher apprentices in preparation for the actual training course; • schemes to set up a preparatory course leading to application and admission to the police college. Comment: Concerning the Aarhus case, we note that the "Labour market network" was established especially to facilitate coopera­ tion between public sector players, educa­ tion and training institutes and private companies in the near future. * The Bro endby lo cal autho rity po licy The Broendby local authority has intro­ duced the following schemes: • a course for refugees with secondar}' or higher education in Danish EDP and identity; • a course for refugees with experience or interest in office and service sector studies;

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• a course for refugees interested in finding work as a bus driver; • a one year preparatory course for refugees aiming at employment as a teaching assistant or admission to the four-year teacher training course; • preparatory courses for refugees with a nursing training aiming at admission to a Danish nursing school; • specially organized vocational training in a workshop or storage depot; • a high school day course for young refugees.

Dissemination Generally, there is a dissemination of the principles put forward by the Association of the Local Authorities in Denmark: as mentioned above, they are subscribed by many local authorities.

Examples of local policies in Denmark concerning education to children of refugees and immigrants * The Farum local authority policy The Farum local authority has introduced special schemes for pre-school children and preparation for primary school. Farum has adopted a policy on ethnic minorities which stipulates that the local authority:

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• must provide information on existing primary school, school, recreational and cultural facilities provided by the local authority; • may only introduce special courses which aim to give minorities easier access to such facilities; • wishes to publicise that Danish language instruction is the key to understanding and playing an active part in schooling and determines children's

later chances of success (education, the labour market and society). In the light of the above, the Farum local authority has opted for a pro-active approach to motivate and to make direct contact with families and as such has appointed a consultant for bilingual children.This consultant: • contacts parents and discusses their particular wishes regarding their children's integration and opportunities in Denmark; • encourages parents to make use of nursery school facilities for Danish language teaching and preparation; • stresses that parents are responsible for ensuring that children understand and speak Danish before they start school; • liaises with the relevant local authority placement service so as to distribute bilingual children (maximum 20% per nursery school); • follows the child throughout nursery school and school. Bilingual children, lacking the skills needed to be able to follow the nursery school classes successfully, are put into an "integration" class. This special class is exclusively designed for bilingual children and aims at giving the child a positive selfimage as well as preparing and equipping the child to pursue his/her schooling on an equal footing with Danish pupils. * The Helsinger local authority policy The main objective of the Helsinger Kommune policy is to ensure that all immigrant children attend nursery school, and in the event that this should not be possible, to provide opportunities for additional Danish language teaching and the training of bilingual counsellors. At pre-school level there are bilingual children who do not know Danish even though they were born

in Denmark. I t is important to stimulate learning abilities before basic schooling as this enables children not to need reception classes later on. I n Helsinger, support is focussed on particularly during the first year of schooling. Bilingual teachers, social workers and social pedagogues work together in projects with teachers to enable children to meet the standards required. A project "school café" has been set up to provide ethnic origin children with opportunities to receive supplemen­ tary counselling and instruction. Coopera­ tion with parents is a determining factor; teacher/parent associations had been set up to promote dialogue.

Case study 3: The Distance Learning Project fo r Gypsies in Ro uen - France Locality: o R uen Type: o pil t pro ject Period: 1991Main area of attentio n: integratio n Rationale The gypsy population present in France is significant, the second largest ­ after that of Spain ­ within the European Union. The majority is of French nationality, a limited number is mainly from central and eastern Europe. School attendance remains rather poor and sporadic among young gypsies (especially among the 12­16 year olds), partly because of the impact of an essen­ tially oral culture, but also because atten­ dance is closely related to accommodation prospects. I n effect, until their accommo­ dation difficulties have been sorted out, these young people will not be able to benefit from regular sustained schooling. The pilot project on distance learning is only one of the actions targeted towards increasing the level of school attendance and more specifically adapting teaching.

Aims From the very first year of the implemen­ tation of the European resolution on edu­ cation for gypsies and travellers of 1989, the National Ministry of Education, Sec­ ondary Schools Division, decided to launch a project on distance learning. Since the 1991­1992 school year, the Rouen branch of the National Centre for Distance Learn­ ing has employed a secondary teacher with the following remit: • to analyse the difficulties experienced by young gypsies at secondary level; • to develop a teaching project in response to the expectations of those concerned; • to produce teaching files and other documents, and to work on education content; • to set up appropriate support mecha­ nisms, particularly through the use of new technologies. Activities stage 1 These aims were subsequently fleshed out through fieldwork: visiting schools and training and information centres for the education of immigrant children, contacts and exchanges with gypsy and traveller families and organisations. Outcome stage 1 This research revealed two basic require­ ments: • to combat educational failure so that children can acquire a solid grasp of general culture, and feel recognized and a part of society; • to combat exclusion by affirming and highlighting gypsy contributions to European and universal culture.

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Subsequent activities (stage 2) • A remedial course has been devised for gypsies and travellers aged 12-16 who have been accepted in the first year of the secondary school because of their age although they are behind scholastically. It incorporates both the official syllabus and insights provided by gypsy families and organizations. • Many experimental versions of this course have been tested among various communities in different regions of France. Outcome stage 2 Results of the project are encouraging. Distance learning, employing materials specifically taking account of gypsy children's skills and the practical realities of their lifestyle and culture, improves scholastic continuity and gets parents, and families in general, more involved. Dissemination In the early years, work in the field of distance learning was pursued primarily at regional and national level. From 1992-93, projects have been taking on a European dimension through practical exchange (of experience, available materials, information etc.) with other Member States.There have been meetings with Italian and United Kingdom teams with a view to setting up a joint project and developing an effective European network.

Case study 4: The RAA network in North Rhine Westphalia - Germany Region:

North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) Type: network Coordination: RAA Essen Main areas of attention: integration; labour market; intercultural approach; language learning The Regional Employment Centres for the Promotion of Immigrant Children and Adolescents (Regionale Arbeitsstelle zur Förderung ausländischer Kinder und Jugendlicher, RAA) has existed since 1980 constituting a network set up as a collaboration between the Education Ministry and the Ministry of Social Affairs. Thanks to the funding of the Communities, seven new RAA regional offices have been started up in the last three years (there are at present 23 centres in NRW). The offices are run as communal institutions (20 cities and three districts), but the organization of the RAA, the way in which the RAA concepts are put into practice is dependent on the school boards. Since 1988, there has been an RAA headquarter, established in Essen, that takes care of central coordination and services.

Aims The RAA are service centres for educators. Actually their aim is to be an educational centre, open to everyone.They give advice to and mediate between teachers, parents, associations etc. In general the RAA wants to ensure both the compatibility of school and out-of-school activities. Main areas of attention are:

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• parental involvement • vocational guidance/orientation (transition from school to work)

• intercultural education • community education. Activities • The RAA service mainly consists of the provision of educational materials, liter­ ature on education and addresses of cultural organizations. Furthermore, the RAA offers help with translations and provides photocopying services. • One of the main tasks of the RAA is the development of educational materials, information brochures for parents, a magazine and news on current educa­ tional theories. • I n close relation with these tasks the RAA offers complementary education (sometimes seminars) to colleagues and educators, on several educational sub­ jects. ■ I n the cities and districts, the RAA works as a mediator between immi­ grants and Germans and between prac­ tice and theory. • The RAA does research on educational "missing links" and takes as a result complementary measures. For example, it offers help to infant children who do not have a pre­school playgroup, it organises mother­child groups, it estab­ lished a youth centre etc.These com­ plementary measures are not part of the standard programme of the RAA, but serve as a stimulus for other institu­ tions so that they also start thinking about expanding their programme. • To make the school and out­of­school activities compatible, the RAA needs to cooperate with the parents who are the most important socialisation part­ ners of their children.The RAA tries to influence the educational decisions made by the parents, to serve the inte­ gration of the parents and the children into society. • The RAA gives vocational training to ensure the future of immigrants and to

facilitate the transition from school to professional life. • The RAA gives children advice on edu­ cation. Finally there is the RAA headquarters that does not only take care of the central coor­ dination and the service tasks, but also ful­ fils other tasks based on the assignment catalogue ("Aufgabenkatalog") presented by the competent ministries, including the publication of the magazine "Mozai'k", the in­service training of educators who con­ centrate on out­of­school activities and concept development in the field of inter­ cultural education. I n order to give an accurate follow­up of the tasks described above, cooperation between all the per­ sons involved is seen as essential (especial­ ly in the schools themselves). Dissemination As already mentioned, there are today 23 RAA centres in NRW They take care of a mutual coordination to ensure the dissem­ ination of experiences (e.g. by means of workshops). RAA offices have also been set up in other German states (e.g. Berlin, Brandenburg). Comment The RAAs see intercultural education as a learning process, an attitude one may learn to acquire. Furthermore, intercultural edu­ cation is not exclusively intended for immi­ grants, but has to be open to everybody. In this sense the people involved in the organization of the RAA network acknowl­ edge the cultural diversity in education. This does not mean though that the RAA is not allowed to concentrate on students who find themselves in a disadvantaged position.

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Case study 5: Educational material for intercultural education in primary schools - Athens, Greece Locality: Coordinator:

Athens University of Athens, Department of Preschool Education Type: Project Funding: European Commission (Task Force Human Resources: Education Training and Youth); University of Athens Main area of attention: intercultural approach Rationale

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Over the last ten years, the primary school scene in Greece has changed considerably, mainly due to the presence of children coming from other countries (European, Asian and African countries, national minorities, recent immigrants from the exsocialist countries). This cultural and linguistic diversity puts to the test an educational system which, until recently, was accustomed to uniformity. Today, teachers are confronted with differences while still having as their educational objective to deliver in a homogeneous way a curriculum which is predetermined and restrictive. Especially, the core of the Greek school system is dominated by an ethnocentric attitude based on the national, linguistic and religious homogeneity as well as on the continuity with antiquity. In order to abandon this attitude and take into account the linguistic/cultural diversity which is actually present in Greek primary schools, one is forced to think of ways to recommend to the teachers so that, initially, they acknowledge the situation and, subsequently, they handle this diversity through a perspective of interculturai dynamics.

Aims The primary aim of the project throughout the educational material is to consider the axis difference/similarity in relation to other people, whether they are near or far; to promote communication among the exponents of different cultures and help the teachers to work with their pupils on this level so that both they and their pupils can realize the importance of this dyad of similarity/difference, which constitutes the essence of school life. For this, the form was chosen of a kit as educational support.The educational material consists of a game structured in the form of an educational kit, aimed at pupils aged 9 to 12. Its specific aims are: 1. to open up the monolithic system of Greek education; 2. to help teachers rethink the concept of "one and only" on a new basis; 3. to present teachers with a new material, a new way of working in class which places emphasis upon teamwork, opens up the field of school knowledge to subjects and areas far beyond the content of textbooks and alters the normal classroom structure, in terms of content and work as well as layout; 4. to make the children understand that there are different cultures and origins coexisting in the school environment just like in society - that constitute the pieces to a puzzle; to make them experience this difference not as an obstacle to communication or a boundary, but as an incentive for approaching cultures and interacting with them; 5. to undertake an indirect settlement of stereotypes which interfere not only in the way both pupils and teachers understand the world, but also in the areas of knowledge and everyday educational practice.

Activities Development and testing of the material. Initial tests have been carried out in a primary school in Athens. Dissemination The educational kit is designed for circulation among primary schools via the Greek Ministry of National Education.

Case study 6: The action project on bilingualism in Turin - Italy Locality: Turin Type: project Main areas of attention: language learning; intercultural approach; integration Rationale Today the percentage of foreign settlers in major Italian conurbations seems to have reached 5% of the local population and in three or more towns the figure is approximating 10 %. The ministry directive recommends the normal placement of foreign pupils according to age; however, many such pupils are still unfortunately placed in lower classes, which are totally inappropriate in terms of cognitive development. Aims The action project on bilingualism is a project conducted in Turin and supervised and coordinated by the Italian Ministry of Education. The project has three objectives: language teaching, intercultural education and the promotion of administrative collaboration.

• The project aims to collect data on the learning of Italian by bilingual pupils in order to improve its teaching as second language. • Secondly, it aims to use these data and materials to debate intercultural issues with all pupils. • Thirdly, it aims to promote collaborative links between all administrative offices concerned with multicultural communities and schools in the urban environment ofTurin. Activities 1. Second language acquisition and intercultural education: • Firstly, the project set out to collect data for a better understanding of the process of second language acquisition by bilingual pupils in school. • Secondly, techniques of collaborative learning with native speakers as a model and teachers as guides were tested in the classroom. • Thirdly, the diversity in language use at home and at school was used to develop intercultural awareness. 2. The survey of family language use:This survey was designed to provide a detailed picture of both language and community life in the country of origin as well as language use and educational aspirations in Italy within the most representative foreign groups. 3. The survey of children's language use: This survey aimed to investigate patterns of bilingualism and language use among children of different foreign groups, in order to achieve a detailed and accurate description of the stages and resources of the process of second language acquisition.

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4. Fieldwork for teacher training:The team of fieldworkers involved in the pilot project was made up of classroom teachers who volunteered to integrate their experience as language teachers in a multicultural classroom with the more specialist role of interviewers of adults and designers of linguistic profiles of children. Since all these teachers have been involved in the various phases of the research and action project, they will be in a position to contribute substantially to future in-service training programmes. 5. Interviews for parents and language games for children:These research instruments provided data and opportunities to compare cultural traditions, social habits, life and education across all different groups represented in the school. The diverse patterns were discussed in the multicultural classrooms, and the differences that emerged from the comparison were used to provide intellectual stimuli and teaching materials to promote multicultural interaction and awareness among all pupils. Outcome 1. Family-school liaison: consultation with parents over educational issues was most useful in establishing good family-school relations.These involved primarily educational matters but occasionally they included community issues as well. Special attention was given to the issue of mother tongue teaching and parental views and aspirations were sought in relation to the maintenance of the language and culture of the country of origin.

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2. Linguistic awareness for all pupils: an encouraging outcome of the impact of the language games for bilingual pupils was that they stimulated the interest of

all pupils in the schools. This interest was instrumental in developing interaction among children on language and cultural matters and its outcome suggested that future surveys of language diversity should involve all pupils and not just foreign children. 3. New materials for teacher training programmes: three main areas provided data and materials to be used in in-service teacher training programmes: the description of the linguistic diversity in the country of origin, the different patterns of language use at home and at school in Italy and the preparation of bilingual profiles of foreign children. The general objective was to improve the understanding of second language acquisition among language teachers and to offer induction courses of intercultural education to as many classroom teachers and head teachers as possible. 4. Rethinking language education: the project offered an opportunity to rethink models and methodology of language education in view of diverse processes of language acquisition experienced by pupils with different linguistic backgrounds. In particular the discussion on the development and properties of bilingualism set off a critical and constructive debate on the appropriateness of conventional mother tongue and foreign language methodology and materials for children who are bilingual. Exchange of ideas and constructive criticism between second language teachers, on the one side, and foreign language teachers, on the other, reinforced the view that, if second language acquisition programmes are to be effective, they require special training and appropriate commercial materials.

5. Inter-institutional collaboration: although the Italian school system is based on rather inflexible programmes of instruction and administration, two directions of educational interventions were explored with a view to making room for innovative programmes in the field of adapted language instruction for bilingual pupils of foreign background and intercultural education for all.The first direction was provided by the so-called experimental schools that are made available by the ministry nationwide and which allow for a much greater flexibility in curricular innovations.The second direction that was explored was that of intra-institutional collaboration between various public institutions operating in the areas of social and cultural services within the local environment. Collaboration within different offices was sought to realise the spirit and resolution of EC directives that are more sensitive to issues of intercultural education than the older and more traditional national legislation.

• Good family-school relations were established by consulting the parents over educational issues. • The language games for bilingual pupils stimulated the interest of all pupils in the schools, which suggested that future surveys should involve all pupils and not only the foreign children. • Induction courses of intercultural education were given to as many teachers and head teachers as possible. • There was an exchange of experiences and ideas between second language teachers and foreign language teachers. • The teachers/fieldworkers will contribute to future in-service training programmes. • The possibility of intra-institutional collaboration was explored.

Dissemination

Region: the City of Rotterdam Period: 1991-1996 Funding: The fund for the reduction of educational disadvantages (Dutch acronym: FAO) (local council, department of education (5%)) Main areas of attention: language learning; integration

All research instruments used to collect the data on language diversity and to design the language profiles of bilingual pupils together with the description of their linguistic development have been designed to provide a local service as well as a national model.The work on inter-institutional collaboration aims precisely at formulating suggestions to other education authorities with a view to making the project clearly understandable by any school wishing to improve the second language acquisition of bilingual students and integrating it with intercultural education. Comment An integrated approach is prominent in the action project on bilingualism.

The focus within the action project on bilingualism was on minority children, but the necessity of involving all pupils is recognized. Case study 7: The educational policy in Rotterdam - The Netherlands

Rationale About 23% of the population in Rotterdam, the second largest city in The Netherlands, belongs to a non-Dutch community. Already a third of this group belongs to the so-called second generation: they were born in Rotterdam. It is expected that by the year 2008 this will be about 32%. The City of Rotterdam has always had a relatively poorly educated population. Many

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people used to perform unskilled labour. Because of the technological developments of today, jobs for unskilled workers are less and less available. Unemployment is high, even rampant, among ethnic minority groups. Add to this the poor formal education some of the migrants' parents had, and it is not surprising that almost two thirds of the children in Rotterdam come from a family with a low socio-economic status (SES). As in many other Western countries, the educational output in The Netherlands differs greatly between children from high and low SES-families. For children of migrant families, there is the extra disadvantage of being taught in a language that is not their mother tongue. In order to improve the educational chances of children of low SES-families, both on the national and on a local scale, a special educational policy is being developed. This policy is two-fold: first of all, extra staff are being made available for schools with many pupils with a low SES-background. Secondly, areas with a high rate of low SESchildren, are designated as educational priority areas. These areas receive extra funding, e.g. for the development and implementation of more effective methods or strategies, or to encourage the cooperation between schools and welfare, and social institutions. The City of Rotterdam as a whole is such an "educational priority

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In 1991, the city council and the local education authorities (public and private, religion based) joined together to govern the local educational priority area.The fund for the reduction of educational disadvantages (Dutch acronym: FAO), in which 191 schools participate (more than 60% of all schools), was set up to improve the educational output in the basic skills and the school careers of all children at risk in Rotterdam.

On 1 August 1996, the FAO was dissolved and succeeded by a new agreement, the Rotterdam Education Forum (ROF). The running FOA-projects were carried over to the ROF. Members of this forum are representatives from both the city and the school boards. Characteristics of the FAO-approach are the following: • The individual school is the centre of innovations: innovations must be firmly rooted in everyday practice. • Schools receive extra staff or money, under certain conditions. • Information about the current state of affairs in teaching, preferably by practitioners themselves. • Monitoring and evaluation of results at pupil level, school level and local level. • Special projects for key areas: teaching Dutch as a second language, parental involvement, reduction of truancy and dropout rates etc. To reach the aim of the fund in an efficient and effective way, FAO cooperates with groups and institutions that can help to reach the target group. Examples of these are the organizations of migrant families, welfare, health and child care institutions. As part of the FAO-initiative many projects are funded or co-funded, to stimulate intercultural contact among pupils, among parents, among self-help groups of teachers, or migrant organizations, and to promote involvement of the community in schools and their pupils. Successful examples of projects to promote integration between pupils and adults of different cultural backgrounds * The Deltaplan on language policies of primary and secondary schools

The Deltaplan is a large-scale initiative of more than 70 schools to assess the language situation of their pupils and their results in basic skills, the curriculum of the school, the staff teaching abilities and the expected influx of multilingual pupils in the near future, in order to draw up a policy document as well as a working plan with the following aims: • a clear view of the whole curriculum that is offered in Dutch: how to adjust to multilingual pupils in a way they still can reach high aims in education; • establishing a clear line in the curriculum of Dutch as a first and as a second language; • giving the first languages that are offered in the school a well defined place in the whole curriculum; • to promote ongoing assessment of pupils' results as a means to guide the next steps of the educational management of the school. The Deltaplan is not a universal set of instructions or teaching materials, it is a working method. It is an agreement between a school and the support system to start a process aimed at minimizing educational disadvantages. * The teacher training on language policy (Deltaplan) The teacher training on language policy is a long-term policy adopted by the Rotterdam Centre for Educational Services. Its activities are carried out within the framework of the "Deltaplan Language Policy Primary Education". Its main area of attention is language policy in practice at schools and teacher training on language policy. The reason for this is that research on the causes for the lack of definite improvement in the educational achievements of minorities pointed to language and to inadequate coordination of

the various measures taken by the parties concerned, as the main causes. Multilingualism in schools argues for a comprehensive language policy at every school. In this sense, the phenomenon of multilingualism seems to have been underestimated in the last decade. It implies relinquishing the supremacy of the national language(s) as the only language® to teach and to teach in.This is a major cultural change that cannot be brought about with ad hoc measures alone. It concerns the process of teaching and learning in its broadest sense. Activities A. Language policy in practice at schools A primary school that wants to develop its own language policy can contact the centre of expertise: the local centre for consultants, trainers, and curriculum developers concerned with language policy. The school receives extra consultancy services from the centre of expertise, while investing itself in language policy by appointing an internal coordinator for language policy. The first year is spent entirely on diagnosis and design. Special instruments are available for this diagnosis. After the first year the language policy plan will have emerged, a school-specific document valid for several years, providing for actions to improve the results of language teaching. In the second year of participation the school and the support system start implementing their language policy plan. This language policy provides for Dutch as a first language, Dutch as a second language, the teaching of ethnic minority languages, and the use of Dutch as an instructional language in non-language topics. B. Teacher training on language policy Language topics are translated in terms of teaching skills, strategies to stimulate lan-

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guage acquisition, effective instruction etc., so that they can start being useful in in-service training programmes. Before the start of every school year, the language policy consultants make an inventory of all the needs of schools for teacher training and this provides the basis for the in-service training to be given. Every school can get precisely what it asks for. Results The conclusion arrived at is that in-service training should always be integrated into the language policy of the school, and that the needs of the school should determine the context of in-service training. It is too early to report on changes in pupil results, though. One can, however, say that the schools in general are very motivated to start the Deltaplan process, and that once initiated, both the team and the support system work very hard to make it a success. Dissemination In 1992, about 20 primary schools wanted to participate. In 1993, about the same number of schools joined them and, by 1994, 25 more schools joined in. At present, about 65 schools call themselves a "Deltaplan-school"; they represent over half of all the Rotterdam schools that should work on language policy, taking their numbers of enrolled allochthonous pupils into account. Deltaplan is hoping to reach the remaining schools in the near future. * Bilingual approach for 4-6 years old

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Some schools in Rotterdam have more than 40 nationalities among their pupils. However, there are also schools with a large population of one or two migrant

groups (e.g. Moroccan, or Turkish, or Surinam). Some of these schools, as part of their language policy, promote language co-education for the youngest age groups. In those schools the first language teacher is a week ahead of the schedule of the Dutch teacher: words, concepts or situations that the Dutch teacher plans to use in his or her teaching of Dutch as a second language are first presented by the teacher of Turkish or Arabic and played with by the children in their first language.The project is available in five languages. * Informing parents There are some large-scale initiatives to inform parents about the educational system and schools in Rotterdam. Information is available in different languages for example. In many parts of the city, information is given to parents in special presentations. In these presentations, representatives of special migrant groups take part. FAO also sponsors a special telephone helpline. Parents can call in if they have questions regarding school and education. The telephone is answered in their own language by specialists of different migrant groups. * Volunteers join to help young newlyarrived immigrants to feel at home in Rotterdam Many schools offer a special programme. Children that have recently arrived at a Rotterdam school, after just having left their country of origin, are placed in a special class for a year for newly-arrived school entrants in primary education.They receive an intensive programme on Dutch as a second language. After this first year, they must be able to function in a Dutch class according to their age group. But learning to speak and write Dutch at school is not enough to be able to manage as a newcomer. Children need introduction to special phenomena of the city that are

important to them. For this purpose, on Wednesday afternoon, when the schools are closed, volunteers take a small group of newly-arrived immigrant school entrants to a swimming pool, take them for a ride on the subway, visit an old people's home, or the cultural centre in the neighbourhood. Comment A local working method, in this case one that is based on a number of choices made in Rotterdam, is not fully representative for The Netherlands. Nevertheless a national trend does exist to develop language policy at schools with a large number of multilingual children.At the present, the trend is also becoming visible in secondary education. Language policy in multilingual schools can only be realized within the larger context of intercultural education. Because of this orientation, the language policy plan may contain many kinds of actions: extra support on specific topics, classroom education, development and implementation of specific teaching materials or tests, teacher training, organizational measures, etc. The approach outlined above is based on choices made in Rotterdam by all those involved in the fight against educational disadvantages: school boards, local authorities, school heads and school teams as well as support institutes. It is, therefore, a typical example of an integrated approach.

Case study 8: An experience with intercultural education at secondary school in Can Tunis/Barcelona Catalonia - Spain Locality: Type:

Can Tunis (Barcelona), Catalonia project

Main areas of attention: integration; labour market Rationale In 1988, 11-15 year old adolescents represented 12% of the total population of the gypsy neighbourhood of Can Tunis in Barcelona, and the 16-20 range represented another 12%. The drop-out rate from school, starting at age 11 or 12 had increased. Those who stayed in school, with a complete lack of interest in the knowledge or training they were given, adopted attitudes and behaviour that were becoming more and more uncomfortable for the teachers. In addition, the teachers were ill prepared to offer a type of education that would break the mould of the traditional school. What is more, in less than a year, three young people died of a drug overdose. Finding an alternative to offer the young people of the community became an urgent priority. After the findings from 1988, the "Multiculturalism" group set up a project in cooperation with a group of teachers.They assisted with the innovative elements proposed by the educational reform being implemented in Spain: the school curriculum should be open and flexible in accordance with the capacities, interests and needs of the students, and the curriculum could be diversified with a view to relevant and practical learning. The result was the school Xavo-Xavi ("boy, girl"), a secondary school adapted for the 12-16 year olds. Aims General: Arousing interest among the students and favouring the learning process, so that in due course they will be able to enter the work force and consequently achieve economic independence for their family.

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Long-term aims: • Offering basic training and knowledge to allow the students to deal with their own situation and the society they belong to. • Creating an adequate social climate by giving the students the opportunity to work towards common goals and to cooperate in tasks they find interesting and gratifying. • Implanting adult role models to overcome the dichotomy gypsy/non-gypsy. • Creating employment opportunities. Short-term aims: • Relevant and practical learning: The syllabus should be closely tied to the characteristic traits and cultural baggage of each specific student. • Interdisciplinarity: coordinating different activities should lead both to an organic structure of the curriculum and to a climate of communication between teachers and students.This will help the students to see and comprehend the reality from different perspectives. • Progressive development of a cognitive structure so that the students develop their personality. This means develop the skills necessary to adapt themselves and acquire a clear image of their identity. • Commitment to the process of personal growth, participating in the management, maintenance and improvement of the school. Activities In organizing the school, certain traits of the students were taken into account, such as the following:

• their greater inclination towards inductive reasoning; • their natural inclination for whatever seems immediate, both in space and time; • their generally very low level of literacy and numeracy and the difficulties in relationships between certain schoolmates. The schooling is organized around technical subjects in workshops (about 60% of the timetable). For 20% of this time, the teacher who is responsible for the specific perspective of the workshop is joined by another teacher responsible for the technical side which calls for specific knowledge. This same teacher is responsible for the academic subjects: for 25% of the time he works on strictly formal aspects, especially reading, writing and mathematics. He may also expand on the information and knowledge related to the activities of the workshop or the life of the students. In this respect, the excursions related to the workshops play an important part. They are geared towards extending the students' perception of reality - often limited to their neighbourhood - as well as practicing the values of social skills, respect and tolerance. During the whole year, all students dedicate 10% of the time scheduled to technical subjects such as gardening activities. 15% of the remaining time is devoted to physical education and very practical aspects of school life for teenagers of these ages. Outcome A. Concerning the school:

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• the interest and lack of difficulty for the students in any kind of manual activities;

The greatest success lies at the individual level of the students:

• for their change in attitude (aggressiveness, wasting materials, friendliness, trust, a certain sense of economy); • for their acquisition of work habits (beginning to concentrate and show interest, working with a specific aim, having a sense of their own progress, etc.); • for their starting to acquire an image of their own identity (capable of seeing different points of view); • for their progress in academics, although achievement in reading comprehension is the most difficult. B. Concerning the community: • For the last few years, the teachers at Xavo-Xavi have been responsible for obtaining places for 16 year old students in the Social Guarantee Programmes and economic resources allowing them to attend the various centres, and for keeping track of the students and the centres throughout the year to help them overcome any difficulties that could lead to dropping out. • Since February 1996 the Xavo-Xavi school has been involved in the Youth Start Programme, the aim of which is for 16-year olds from Can Tunis to enter the work force.There are currently 15 who have been taken on by different companies for a six month period. In the two years the programme is to last 45 people are expected to benefit from it. • The Xavo-Xavi school would ideally like to link the 16 to 22 stage, so that employment, which is fundamental for young people's integration into society, be achieved. Dissemination For three years the team from the XavoXavi school have been carrying out a project jointly with the Collège Jean Moulin of

Perpignan on "Training oral comprehension and expression as a basis for communication and social relations", within the framework of the Commission of the European Communities' promotion of exchanges of experiences and materials. There is another project along the same lines on the "Development of mental space and time categories in the gypsy child/teenager". Also, in the framework of Action 2 of the Comenius Programme, they are currently coordinating a project on "Development of reasoning and powers of abstraction for integration into society and the labour force", which they are carrying out with the Vicalvaro school of Madrid and the Collège Lalande of Toulouse.

Case study 9: How to support and improve an intercultural nursery school - Rinkeby, Sweden Locality: Rinkeby (Stockholm) Type: project Period: 1992-1993 Main area of attention: integration This project started in 1992 in connection with a twenty-week leadership course during 1991-1992 for principals of nursery schools in Rinkeby, a suburb of Stockholm. Rinkeby is an area with a very high percentage of immigrant families from all over the world. The In-Service Training Department of the Uppsala University was responsible for the course. One part of the course was devoted to leadership and the process of change in nursery schools. This course was well received and the local authorities expressed their wish that a university teacher acting as a temporary "consultant" should try these methods of leadership and processes of change in a single nursery school in Rinkeby in cooperation with a nursery school head teacher. The project was financed by the local authorities and lasted a year and a half from 19921993.

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Aims • To develop leadership at the nursery school. • To develop the teams at the nursery school. • To create a learning organization. • To develop both content and methods. Rationale 1. General outline: Findings from interviews with teachers show them taking a critical stand on traditional hierarchic thinking which has shaped recent educational development in Swedish schools. Interesting innovations in the state curriculum of 1980, the regulative law forbidding ability grouping, or another one stating that education should be planned to meet the needs of each pupil, are at risk since, together with the reduction in welfare funding in the 90's, reforms have changed the centralized, state regulated educational system into a decentralized goal-steering model of free enterprise. Within the new context, each school has to shape and implement its own school-based curriculum, i.e. a "school plan" in keeping with local and national goals, and state regulations. Although the demand for changes and more effective teaching and learning are more clearly expressed, the spirit iriforming development projects available to local schools remain traditional. Local schools, which work in a competitive environment and with reduced funding, find little support in the implementation and follow-up of these projects.

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In order to face the new challenge, the InService Department at Uppsala University initiated a new project, the purpose of which was to strengthen the policy, plans, and skills of the change processes, by helping to design and supervise individual

"school plans". The methodology and results of this endeavour show that a traditional school can become a learning organization with new roles assigned to principal and teachers alike, new possibilities for growth due to teamwork, and new learning experiences for its pupils. 2. The Rinkeby case: The basic problem and the basic assumption of managers at the local authority was that nursery schools are hard to change. It was also thought that the head teacher generally does not have the competence or tools to change the traditional culture of the nursery school as a unit or to change the methods of teachers. Activities The Rinkeby nursery school had three departments or groups of children who were culturally mixed. There were no Swedish children. The consultant visited the nursery school three times a month, for a total of 10 to 15 hours a month. In most cases this meant meetings with the director or groups of teachers. The consultant and the head teacher together defined the problem areas, reaching a number of working hypotheses. The most important hypotheses are described below. They take into account both the analysis of the actual problem-oriented situation and practical theory related to the problem.The descriptions should be viewed more as analyses than as recommendations. Outcome • The teams were not open to each other in the sense that in most cases they did not share ideas, methods, results, or problems. A more open system between the teams should provide a better basis for cooperation and learning. In this way, the nursery school as a whole and each team could be more

effective. • Change takes time and often occurs in a series of steps. Leadership is crucial to all change processes. By addressing visions and goals, the leader is in a position to inspire the staff with sufficient confidence to initiate changes.There is always need for written strategic plans in a nursery school. But as a nursery school is a complex organization emerging problems and ideas must also be used as plans for change. • In the nursery school several things happened that could be defined as attempts to bring about change. But in many cases the connections between the underlying problem, the goal and the strategy were too loose; there was rarely any evaluation of the process and the results. This prevented changes from occurring in spite of the teachers' hard work. By distinguishing the different concepts of problem, strategy, and vision we can be more rational, systematic and skilled in strategic thinking. • A project states the goals of available resources, and assigns team members with specific roles. A project has the advantage of motivating not only those directly involved in it but also of raising the expectations and the interest of others. • Observation and documentation of children's problems and accomplishments are frequent in nursery school. In order to make teams more efficient and the nursery school a better work place, teachers should start to observe, analyse and document both individual and team attempts at change. • In most cases there are two different organizations at work: the traditional day-to-day structure and the supplementary meetings, conferences and seminars.The problem is that these two organizations are loosely connected and that the development efforts are not integrated into the daily life of the

nursery school. Support and development should be built into the daily business of a working institution. • There seem to be a number of dimensions to the role of nursery school head teacher: He/she must be a manager who provides structure, a leader who introduces vision, and a fraternal consultant who provides methods. In order to cope with these different demands, the head teacher should be made aware of the exigencies of the role in different situations. The experience and knowledge gained from the project were evaluated by the head teacher of the nursery school as follows: • He became more clear about his role as a leader. • He acknowledged that the nursery school and each team must become more and more open and that there has to be a move towards a more developing and learning organization. • The staff have realized that they are part of a whole.They now have a deeper understanding of how important their work is. • The work of the nursery school as a whole is more efficient today. The organization is better structured and the working climate is more open. Comment This project shows that a multicultural nursery school has the power to cope with change and to succeed. Systematic analysis and models for change from external "process consultants" can support a school, but the role of the head teacher of a nursery school is crucial. At the same time, teams and development work groups can make change happen. In any case the teachers' dominant norm system of mutual expectations should change from being

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private, independent, and individualistic towards a more technical cooperative and dependent professional culture. This is especially important in a multicultural school.

Case study 10: Examples of local policies and projects on intercultural education in the United Kingdom Localities:

Essex, Greenwich, Manchester, Sheffield Coordination: local authorities Main areas of attention: language learning; intercultural approach; racism; integration * Multicultural education in Essex, England Multicultural education is considered a cross-curricular dimension in all Essex schools. It is taught in all subject areas from mathematics to history, and as a wholeschool issue to inform the ethos, behaviour, resourcing and teaching and learning strategies used by the teachers. There are a number of projects within Essex that embrace areas of equality and multicultural education. The GEST 7 projects: Project 1 : Removing barriers to learning for bilingual learners:

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This project involves 21 primary and secondary schools. This is the third year the county has received funding to run this course, and so far 100 schools have been involved in the projects in 1995 and 1996. A practical guide has been developed by the teachers involved in the project. It has been written to help schools develop a coherent and effective approach to teaching bilingual learners within the class-

room. Project 2: Research project involving removing barriers to reading for bilingual learners: This project involves seven schools and four advisers who will work in 1997/8 to establish the best way to develop literacy for a range of bilingual pupils or in a variety of contexts across the county. This is a new, more challenging programme for those teachers who have completed the introductory "Removing Barriers to Learning" programme. It will involve specific work with teachers working alongside advisers to identify the best approaches and strategies in the teaching of reading to bilingual learners for continuing success through all key stages of the National Curriculum. It will involve a taught element with classroom-based application and research. This programme is designed to equip teachers with the skills to identify and diagnose problems at an early stage and to plan for effective support for a range of bilingual pupils. The results of the findings will be published and circulated to all schools. Multicultural education training for teachers: There continues to be a full programme of professional development for teachers across the county with regard to multicultural education: cross-cultural approaches to music; multicultural education in design technology; developing multicultural education (a two day conference with Essex Norfolk and Suffolk county schools); equal opportunities in schools: making a judgement (a course designed to enable schools to audit their responses to issues of equality including gender and race); multicultural education in the primary school (a three day course for teachers to develop multicultural/anti-racist education in their schools). Finally, one of the county initiatives among

many others is a curriculum development adviser with the brief to develop multicultural education across the schools in Essex. The framework that the adviser works to is a guidebook: "multicultural education: guidance for schools". Schools in Essex may find additional guidance concerning the issue of racism in another guidebook: "Harassment and Racist Incidents in Schools". * Language & Achievement Programme (LAP), London Borough of Greenwich, England Approximately 25% of pupils in Greenwich schools are of ethnic minority backgrounds.The local authority has adopted a many-faceted approach to dealing with issues concerning its ethnic minority residents. The policy is to welcome cultural and linguistic diversity as an asset.There is an explicit acknowledgement that prejudice and discrimination disadvantages various groups in society, amongst them racial minorities. The Borough is committed to a policy providing all residents equal access to services. The education service has an equality section, which coordinates and monitors the equalities action plan contributed to by all sections in the service. The equalities section works with schools to encourage the adoption of equal opportunities and action, e.g. the employment of more ethnic minority teachers, teaching about racial issues and providing materials, events and training for this. Head teachers have agreed systems for monitoring racist incidents and appropriate action to be taken in their schools. The Language & Achievement Programme (LAP) directly supports ethnic minority children's access to the National Curriculum in Schools. The Programme currently employs about 60 full-timc-cquivalent Eng-

lish language support teachers placed in schools according to numbers of pupils with English as an Additional Language, and their relative stages of English.The Programme also employs about the same number of bilingual assistant instructors from the children's linguistic communities to provide bilingual assistance to the school in initial communications with recently arrived non-English speaking pupils and their parents, and to assist in the classroom to get children off to a good start with their access to the curriculum. A team of about 6 full-time bilingual home-school liaison officers help build positive links between schools and amongst communities. There are many benefits in schools and amongst communities, by involving ethnic minority communities directly in the education processes aimed at their successful integration. Both the support teachers and bilingual staff work in partnership with mainstream teachers to assist curriculum planning and delivery. * The "Refugee" Children project, Manchester City Council, England The 3 year project "Support for Refugee Children" is funded from April 1995 to August 1998.The project is managed within the framework of the Language and Learning Support Service. The aims of the project are as follows: • to provide English language support to improve access to the National Curriculum; • to provide additional curriculum support to increase levels of achievement and access to educational opportunities; • to provide pastoral support and counselling which meets the specific social, cultural and emotional needs of refugee children; • to help parents and schools build a partnership which enables children to

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settle and participate fully in the life of the school. The service has 14 full-time-equivalent staff with Arabic, Bosnian, Cantonese, Farsi, Malay, Somali/Brawa and Vietnamese speakers. Because of the spread of pupils belonging to these communities, postholders may be based in up to 4 schools, for a minimum of half a day per week in any school. In addition to working in allocated schools, these postholders are also available to carry out first language assessments of the language, learning and pastoral needs of pupils from the refugee communities. Postholders also provide workshop/advice for parents and volunteer staff working in community run Supplementary Schools. * The Multilingual City Partnership, Sheffield, England In Sheffield schools over 50 languages are spoken; 8 to 9% of the pupils population is bilingual. The partners in the Multilingual City initiative are working together to attain the main aim of second language fluency and fluency in another language, whether European, Creole, Asian or African, for every young person in the city by the year 2004. The initiative is seen, in particular, within the context of an integrated approach to tackling racism.

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The first major Multilingual Conference which kick started the whole initiative was held on 29January 1994. That promoted key ideas and a programme for personal fulfilment and communal development. Five Action Teams were established to take this work further. Following on from the success of the 1994 Conference, a second Multilingual City Conference was held on 1 July 1995. It reviewed progress, shared information, considered new initiatives, and promoted the work more widely.

The initiative brings together people from different organizations through the Action Teams to work together to the end stated above. They gather information about language teaching that is already taking place and encourage the development of that work, as well as new initiatives, e.g. teaching languages other than English in nursery, primary and secondary schools, colleges, local business and industry, higher education and within the voluntary sector. This initiative encourages young people leaving school and adults to use their language skills confidently in work, leisure and cultural activities. It supports research on language learning and language use that promotes better understanding of what is currently happening, and helps develop proposals for future development. Partners within the city are the Sheffield City Council, community language schools, universities, colleges, organizations in industry and commerce. Links are forged as well with partners outside Sheffield. The Multilingual City project sets out to create a new culture in the city about learning world languages. It is trying to do this by establishing a coherent policy across the city, in and out of school, and across age phases, for the teaching of languages.This entails: • bringing providers (teacher training institutions, adult, secondary and primary teachers, voluntary community class leaders and business language trainers) together for course development and training; • the introduction of language teaching into all nursery and primary schools (language teaching is not included before the age of 11 years in the National Curriculum); • language skills development in job centres for unemployed job seekers; • language project developed with (and funded by) local businesses.

Case study 11: Development of Intercultural Education through Cooperation between European Cities (DIECEC) Localities:

the cities of Athens, Antwerp, Barcelona, Berlin, Birmingham, Bologna, Bradford, Cork, Helsinki, Marseille, Odense, Rotterdam, Sheffield, Turin, Oslo Type: network Period: 1994Coordination: formerly: Eurocities; current DIECEC Network Coordinator: Bradford Education (England, UK) Funding: European Commission (Socrates); the cities (matched funding) Main areas of attention: language language; racism, integration; labour market; intercultural approach Rationale The rapid growth of immigration is leading to an increasing number of pupils for whom the national language is not their first language. Unfortunately, the need to learn a second language is not the only challenge faced by pupils from minority ethnic communities. In most cities there seems to be an overlap between an immigrant minority ethnic background and socio-economic disadvantages. As traditional education approaches are not always able to meet the challenges in the major cities resulting from the demographic changes as well as the critical socio-economic situation, outcomes for minority ethnic pupils tend to lead to low levels of achievement and high levels of exclusion. Cities in Europe should be aware of the similarities in the challenges faced by urban education services, as a result of the increasing cultural and linguistic diversity

of the population they serve. DIECEC is an initiative shared by fifteen major European cities that is determined to improve the quality of education services for all children living in a multicultural environment and which is anxious to contribute to this aim through cooperation between educational establishments and exchanges of experience and information about issues which are common to our local education services.

DIECEC's main aims are: • to improve the achievement levels of marginalized young people, especially those from minority groups in the cities; • to combat racism and xenophobia and promote good relationships and the valuing of different cultures, faiths, languages and social backgrounds; • to influence policy and practice at city, regional, national and European levels in these areas; • to seek to ensure better life opportunities, a better quality of life and equality of opportunity for marginalized and excluded children and young people. DIECEC's main ways of operating are: • transnational, with close working and cooperation between the member cities; • collaborative, with cities working together to identify solutions to problems and challenges; • multi-level, involving all the stakeholders, agencies and services involved with young people within and between cities; • action-focussed, with an emphasis on projects and development programmes; • open and inclusive, with a warm welcome for other cities which share the aims and ambitions of the network;

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• research-based, and therefore underpinned by sound academic principles. DIECEC's current activities include: A. SOCRATES-funded projects on: • second language teaching methodology. • raising and measuring achievement through the uses of pupil-level data, • effective leadership in multicultural schools, • interfaith education - resources for teachers and pupils about major world religions, • children's creative writings, • pathways to employment for disadvantaged 14-19 year olds; • improving numeracy in multicultural primary schools; • second chance schooling.

DIECEC develops policy and practice in intercultural education across an increasingly broad front. The initial focus of the work of the member cities was very much on language and, in particular, the effective teaching and speedy acquisition of second languages for children from ethnic minorities. During the course of 1994-95, this focus was considerably broadened, and went on to include: raising and measuring achievement, children's creative writing, raising achievement through mediation, leadership in multicultural schools, teaching and learning materials related to major world religions, provision for travellers' children.

C. Communication activities, including:

DIECEC focus on people from ethnic minority families has shifted towards a wider social perspective. DIECEC has identified that many of the practices and policies present and developing in the cities are relevant to the more general issue of marginalized and disaffected young people, over and above the current main concerns of the network for children and young people from ethnic minorities. There are clear development opportunities for the network in this direction, which is believed to correspond to the future direction of the SOCRATES programme. DIECEC's philosophy with respect to intercultural education shows an emphasis on the raising of achievement levels and on equal opportunities, while paying somewhat less attention to the promotion of an intercultural dimension in the curriculum, the learning and teaching process.

• documentation about the network and its projects/activities; • newsletters; • a database of DIECEC activities and participants; • a DIECEC world-wide web site on the Internet.

Central to DIECEC's thinking is the concept of multi-level working. The basis of this concept is very simple: on the one hand, children learn at home, at school and in the street; on the other, there are many actors in cities in the field of intercultural education. In one dimension, there are par-

B. Network activities, including: • study visits to individual cities; • focus visits to cities around themes of mutual interest, for example special educational needs and provision for older pupils new to their second language; • thematic seminars and conferences around network themes, for example a thematic seminar in Odense and a conference on anti-racism in schools in Rotterdam; • the establishment of school-to-school (bilateral and multilateral) partnerships.

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ents, members of communities, teachers, head teachers, school governors, grandparents etc.; in another, there are many agencies - school boards, other education authorities, social services, health authorities, housing departments, youth and community services, voluntary organizations etc. DIECEC has learned from experience and is now convinced that children learn

better and achieve more, and therefore have better life opportunities when these agencies and people work together collaboratively mostly in loosely-coupled partnerships.

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3. ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES OF GOOD PRACTICE Example 1: Education programme for foreign youths - Vienna, Austria

within the Viennese Volkshochschulen by creating this programme.

Many statistics indicate the large number of foreign pupils in Austria that drop out of school without obtaining the school-leaving certificate. The Hauptschul course for youths at the Volkshochschule Ottakring, an adult education centre, was created in the school year 1991/92 to give foreign youths between the ages of 15 and 25 the opportunity to obtain the school-leaving certificate, which they failed to do in a regular school. This certificate is an essential requirement for vocational training, skilled labour opportunities and higher education. The certificate does not guarantee these opportunities, but it does provide youths with skills that can help them to solve concrete problems and prevents them from becoming marginalized.

Example 2: Bilingual education and team teaching in Carinthia - Austria

The programme is characterized by a comprehensive approach. The Hauptschul course for foreign youths offers: - intensive German classes in German as a foreign language/German as a second language; - Hauptschul classes (regular subjects such as German, English, mathematics, history etc.); - Educational guidance (including social counselling and after-school activities).

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The youth education programme at the Volkshochschule is unique, because until recently adult education centres did not consider themselves responsible for youths.The Volkshochschule Ottakring has sparked a new discussion on this matter

The State of Austria and the municipalities as school providers have created optimal legal and material conditions for bilingual education and training through • smaller class sizes, • an optimal provision by two teachers in one class, • the noteworthy qualification and readiness of the teachers, and, • ample equipment with learning and teaching materials, guaranteeing high educational quality and facilities that cater for the children's needs. In the Federal Province of Carinthia bilingual primary schools, viz. primary schools with German and Slovene as the languages of teaching, exist since 1959. They are attended by both German and Slovene speaking children alike.These schools have bilingual classes, mixed classes (this means that to the children not registered for bilingual education, the entire syllabus must be taught in German) and monolingual German classes. In 1988, the bilingual schools were the subject of a reform ('Minderheiten-Schulgesetz-Novelle') the aim of which was to improve the education for the German and Slovene speaking children, and to encourage mutual understanding, the mutual acceptance of values and mutual respect in the social relationships between majority and minority, and to strengthen those aspects both have in common. In addition, a system of team teaching was introduced. In order to facilitate the bilin-

guai form of teaching, the maximum number of children in bilingual and mixed classes has been set at 20, as opposed to 30 elsewhere. If, in a given school grade, at least 9 children are registered for bilingual education and at least another 9 are not registered, parallel classes - a bilingual and a monolingual German class - are to be formed. In order to ensure that all children in the mixed classes are given the full attention of the teacher throughout the entire teaching time, the bilingual class teacher is given assistance by a second teacher. This enables different possibilities for differentiation (according to language, grade, subject, learning pace, ...). For instance, during the time when the class teacher is teaching the children registered for Slovene in Slovene, the second teacher is occupied with the German-speaking children who are not registered. Extra tuition is given to those children who are registered for bilingual education but whose knowledge of Slovene is insufficient. From the fourth grade on, Slovene is an obligatory subject, taught for 4 hours a week, for the children registered for bilingual education. In all school grades, the teaching of religion is to be held in both German and Slovene for the children registered for bilingual education. In this connection, it is worth noting that the Carinthian authorities acknowledge in particular the rich potential of bilingual schools to put into practice the principle of intercultural learning, which should, for that matter, be anchored in the curricula of all schools in Austria. Example 3: Alternating education for nursery school teachers - Flemish Community, Belgium This project, which was instigated by the Flemish Education Ministry, is an affirmative action to improve success rate of migrant pupils at higher education level. In three teacher training institutions in Flan-

ders (Ghent, Hasselt and Antwerp), alternating training for nursery school teachers projects were started in September 1993· Directed exclusively at the restricted group of migrant pupils that work at nursery school level as auxiliary teachers, they are part-time employed in one particular school and they have part-time nursery school teacher training. The extended training programme requires them to attain identical levels as the regular training programme. This programme is being offered for a five year period. The project aims to contribute to the training of multicultural teaching teams and to the elaboration of intercultural education.The training lends constant attention to the intercultural dimension, for example in the way the pre-schooler gameplays and the way the classroom is equipped. The project attendants believe this might also inspire other nursery school teachers, implying an enhancement of the regular teacher training. Ultimately, the final objective is to create equal opportunities for employment in the Flemish school education system. Example 4: Student exchange in the Region of Midi Pyrénées, France Since 1989, the Region of Midi-Pyrénées has set u p a programme for opening up educational institutes to the economic and professional environment of other countries. It encourages projects of institutes intending to allow pupils from secondar}' technical and vocational schools to discover the economic and professional reality of other EU countries. The p r o m o t e d exchanges must go beyond the stage of a study tour or a work experience placement in a company in order to arrive at a new educational dimension which results in a European consciousness of the pupils' professional future.

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Example 5: A cross-border project in the Upper Rhine region, France A project concerning a cross-border educational material in the Upper Rhine department, France, has been set up recently. The objective of the project is to create a sense of common citizenship on both sides in the Upper Rhine area between the regions of Alsace, RhinelandPalatinate, Baden-Württemberg and the cantons of northern Switzerland, through a better knowledge of the patrimony shared by these regions and by considering their differences related to the history of their respective country. It concerns bilingual material aimed at pupils aged 8 to 15 in the form of sheets for the teacher and worksheets for the pupils treating the physical and historical characteristics of the Upper Rhineland as well as daily life and topical matters (transport, tourism, leisure). Participants in the project are educational institutes and local authorities. The ultimate aim is to reserve, on an experimental basis, one lesson on Europe per week or per fortnight, included into the timetable, in which the Upper Rhineland subject would be taught. Example 6: Réseau Interculturel et Education - Sèvres, France

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The Intercultural/Education Network, which is coordinated within the framework of the Centre International d'Etudes Pédagogiques (CIEP, Sèvres), aims to encourage educational action and reflection applied to situations of ethnic-cultural pluralism.The network is currently funded by the CIEP itself. It intends to enhance research and action within the field of education and within its relations with the social environment.The network is a facility for exchange and cooperation between teachers, researchers, trainers and social workers, all concerned with intercultural relations. Its aims are to:

• disseminate and discuss the results of available studies within social and human sciences through bringing together researchers and practitioners; • stimulate and extend innovating practices adapted to the new social dynamics; • allow the connection between questions passed on by practitioners and the theoretical investigations carried out within the framework of scientific disciplines concerned with intercultural relations; • foster the comparison with issues developed in Europe and Canada; • allow the ethical and socio-political questioning with reference to human rights and the principle of French laicism ("laïcité") as it is defined by the Council of State ("Conseil d'Etat"). Since 1995, the network has been publishing a regular newsletter ("Lettre du Réseau Interculturel et Education") which provides a forum where all partners may exchange and share information, innovative views, strategies, good practices relating to intercultural education (e.g. presentation of institutions and projects, educational materials, literature, conferences and other news items of interest).The network attempts to forge links between disparate key persons and regionally/locally oriented institutions mainly in France, but also seeks transnational exchange of expertise with partners in other French-speaking countries (French-speaking Belgium, Canada, Switzerland). Example 7: Local minority language provisions - Finland An increasingly large number of pupils from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds are entering the Finnish school system, thus making it increasingly multicultural.The trend towards greater cultural diversity in Finland, coupled with integra-

tion in Europe, requires new orientations in education, increased cultural interaction, greater diversity in the teaching of foreign languages and more attention to the international dimension. Compared with the majority of Finland's inhabitants, people from various ethnic groups with their own languages and culture such as the Sami (Lapps) and Romanies, do not get equal educational opportunities because under current legislation, the language of tuition in comprehensive and upper secondary schools is either Finnish or Swedish. The reformation of the entire body of legislation on education has introduced the following objectives: • harmonizing the provisions governing the language of instruction and mother tongue used in comprehensive schools, upper secondary schools and vocational institutes; • passing a law confirming the legal status of Sami, Romany and sign language. This has lead to an extension of the languages of tuition with Sami, Romany and sign language, to meet the needs of certain minority groups who cannot express themselves in Swedish and Finnish. The focus on language is justified by the idea that language in particular, plays a central role in shaping identity. In the three Sami municipalities of northern Finland, Sami may be used for teaching Sami-speaking pupils in comprehensive and upper secondary schools and vocational institutes. If a comprehensive school in a Sami district has Sami-speaking pupils, they must also be taught in Sami. If a pupil is able to study in both Finnish and Sami, the parents must choose which language is to be the language of instruction. The same applies for the minority group of the Romanies. In comprehensive schools, sign

language may be used, either on its own or as a back-up for another language, for teaching pupils with hearing problems. Similarly, in vocational institutes, sign language, signs or some other method of communication may be used. The new education bill requires the body responsible for organizing education to draw up a local curriculum separately for tuition in Finnish, Swedish and Sami in all types of school mentioned above.The language of tuition in all types of school would, as now, be either Finnish or Swedish.The language of tuition could also be Sami, Romany or sign language. In addition, some lessons could be given in a language other than the pupils' mother tongue, provided this does not impair their ability to follow lessons. In the three Sami districts of Northern Finland, the basic education of Sami-speaking pupils would take place mainly in Sami. In contrast to the prevailing situation, sign language would have the formal status of language of tuition. Romany would have the status of language of tuition in all types of schools. Example 8: Educational facilities for minority children in North Rhine Westphalia - Germany A number of facilities for minority language instruction are provided for within the education system of North Rhine Westphalia (NRW): • Minority language instruction ("Muttersprachlichen Unterricht"): Lessons in 15 languages are offered, e.g. Albanian, Arabic, Bosnian, Greek, Italian, Croatian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish. In the school year 1994/95, approximately 124,000 pupils attended these lessons. All pupils from 1st until 10th class that fulfil certain linguistic conditions can attend. Although minority language teaching partly takes place under

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difficult conditions, statistical data show that the attendance to this education is continually rising. About 1,300 teachers hold a permanent appointment with the State of NRW offering education as native speakers. Since they do not "rotate" and are not called back to their countries of origin, they are able to develop into experts for this type of education. • Mother tongue Turkish instead of a compulsory foreign language in Secondary I (from 7th Class) and in the higher classes of "Gymnasium" (from 11th. class): In the school year 1994/95 this education was provided at 82 secondary schools and was chosen by about 6,000 Turkish students.This model was transferred, in a few isolated instances, to Greek, Polish and Russian foreign language instruction. • Bilingual instruction German-Greek: Language instruction in one of these languages and instruction in two additional subject matters, e.g. natural sciences, history, geography. • Religious education for pupils of Islamic faith. • Greek Orthodox religious education. • The setting up and further development of minority language instruction for the promotion of multilingualism: In several places in NRW Italian, Spanish and Portuguese minority language instruction in primary education is being expanded to include other children (foreign language learners). It will be inquired how joint learning of the mother tongue and early foreign language learning affect: 1. mother tongue learners, 2. the foreign language learners, 3· the promotion of individual/academic/social multilingualism, and, 4. the development of new foreign language instruction methods.

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As for the production of learning and teaching materials for minority language

teaching, co-operation and division of labour have been installed for several years now between the States of Hessia and North Rhine Westphalia, in which Hessia concentrates on primary education and NRW focusses on the lower secondary level ("Sekundarstufe I").

Example 9: A teacher training programme for intercultural education Athens, Greece A multidisciplinary group at the University of Athens has elaborated a training programme for teachers in association with the National Ministry of Education and the Association of Primary School Teachers in the Centre of Athens, which is frequented by a great number of children of a different nationality, language or religion. Its objective is to train the teachers for new teaching methods and to raise their awareness to issues of intercultural education. This matter has been arranged in three cycles: • 1st cycle: introductory views on the notion of academic success and failure (January - May 1994); • 2nd cycle: presentations of new educational methods (January - May 1995); • 3rd cycle: annual seminar for teachers, devoted to teaching methods and focussing on intercultural education, including tutorials (October 1995 - May 1996). The seminar consisted of 3 modules: 1. Instruction geared to everyday life: method of activity plans; 2.Teaching methodology: from theory to practice and vice versa; 3· Drama play. Parallel to the seminar, the primary school teachers developed activity plans and worked on different parts of the analytical programme, combining various teaching

methods. The whole of this realization has been the subject of a presentation and an evaluation by the same teachers who concretized it on the occasion of a working meeting in which English, Swedish and Dutch colleagues participated. The teachers who used the pioneering initiative have assessed it as well and have reached positive conclusions for the Greek domain. Example 10: Education for Travellers: Local/regional teachers' centres in Ireland The Travellers are a community of approximately 28,000 people whose culture has deep and historical roots within Irish society. Traveller children are encouraged to integrate with and to fully participate in the Irish educational system. In 1995, the Education Ministry published a White Paper on Education ("Charting our Education Future"), in which also future targets are set for Traveller children. In addition to both the national policy pursued by the Education Ministry and educational initiatives at national level from several associations (e.g. Association of Teachers of Travellers People, Interculture Ireland,The Irish Traveller Movement, The National Youth Council of Ireland, Pavee Point/Travellers Centre), a number of education and teachers' centres are particularly dealing with the educational problems and needs of Traveller (and migrant) children at local and regional levels.They are, amongst others, the Blackrock Teachers' Centre (Co. Dublin), the Limerick Education Centre, the Tralee Education Centre (Co. Kerry), the Ennis Teachers' Centre, the Galway Teachers' Centre. Most of these centres weave an intercultural approach into their activities aimed at Traveller (and migrant) children, especially by producing intercultural education materials with specific reference to Travellers/Gypsies. For example, the Tralee Education Centre, within the framework of its Interculture and Traveller

Education Programme, is in the process of developing materials on the theme of the Indian Banjaras (the original nomadic Gypsy people), for students and teachers. The final product will have a strong visual component, involve tasks suitable for disenchanted learners and encourage interaction between teacher and student, student and parent and students from settled and Traveller communities. A second recent example is the Limerick Education Centre, which is in the process of launching an educational Board Game "On the Road Again".The game has been produced with the intention of impacting to mainstream school-going children (9-14) a deeper understanding and a greater appreciation of Traveller life and culture in Ireland. Example 11: Educational projects in the Commune of Livorno - Italy "Paths of knowledge: The Rom people, its history, its customs and traditions": the objective is to encourage respect and equal treatment by the native population through information and awareness of the problems facing these people.The project will involve a photographic exhibition, a series of conferences, the "Gypsy woman day" .The project will last one month and is run by the Commune of Livorno. It aims to address the population of Livorno, in particular schools, teachers, the voluntary sector, local associations and social services. Enterprise support for women immigrants: the project concerns the development of immigrant women's economic activity through the provision of local actions through links with territorial development agents within the community, the settingup of a network of services promoting entrepreneurial activities.A resource group will act as an antenna observing the realities facing women immigrants and as a coordinator with the local community group. It will also consider ways in which

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to promote interculturalism for the whole population, not just the beneficiaries of the project. The project is run by the Commune of Livorno and the Centre for Mutual World Development (NGP), partners involved are the authorities of Florence, Pisa.Arezzo and Emilia Romagna. "Solidarity, Interculture and Cooperation" activities with all types of city schools and involving all grades:The Ufficio Attività Promozionali through the Centre for Documentation and Teaching Resources and Services, runs the "School-Town" scheme where "Didactic Laboratories" are set up to contribute towards the development of training within schools in cities, with the objective of ensuring the necessary conditions for exercising the right to study and the development of the educational system in all its complexity. The activities of the 'School-Town" scheme concern teacher training in subjects such as intercultural education, education for peace and the framework of a "Solidarity, Interculture and Cooperation" module. A booklet outlining detailed information on course contents is available. Example 12: Multilingual education in Luxembourg

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The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has three official national languages: Luxembourgian, German and French. Due to its particular geographical situation, its historical, political, cultural and commercial relations with its three neighbours (Germany, France and Belgium), the knowledge and use of German and French is widespread. This is considered both as an asset and a heavy burden.The need for multilingualism is catered for in the school curriculum through the teaching of all educational subjects either in French or in German; the learning of foreign languages is offered and accessible to children even at a relatively young age. Because of this long standing

provision, students from Luxembourg do not meet particular difficulties in doing higher education in French-speaking, German-speaking or even English-speaking countries. Example 13: Careers education at primary schools - Utrecht, The Netherlands The Algemeen Pedagogisch Studiecentrum (APS, National Centre for School Improvement), an educational organisation in Utrecht, The Netherlands, has developed a series of lessons ("Look at me!") for careers education for the 4-12 age range as well as a model for professional training of teachers in dealing with cultural differences between ethnic groups. In this project, children are orientated towards future life choices and develop the skills to make choices for their careers in education and work. An important part of this is the exploration and development of their selfimage. It is an important goal of careers education to keep the range of future possibilities that children see for themselves as wide as possible. It is also considered essential to approach careers education in primary school in a broader sense and to start at an early age, not only in the senior years - when children have to choose a secondary school. Every child will benefit from this project, but children from ethnic minorities will profit most. Some important activities aim to improve the contact between schools and the children's parents. Besides workshops, courses and lessons, the APS provides support to implement a local approach to careers education. Salutary results have been obtained in a number of communities where careers education was organized in several forms of cooperation of schools, school guidance organizations, organizations to combat educational disadvantage and local author-

ities. Careers education fits in with an integral local policy tackling educational disadvantage, and shares aims with other local policies for "educational priority" (namely a Dutch educational policy to stimulate opportunities for children of parents with a low level of education and immigrant parents), immigrants and emancipation. Careers education, as part of an integral local policy against educational disadvantage, offers very good possibilities to bridge the gap between school and (immigrant) parents, because the future is something which all parents are very concerned about. Example 14: Central Registration Point Primary Education in ZaanstadZuid, The Netherlands On 1 September 1996, the Central Registration Point Primary Education (Dutch acronym: CMB) started as a two year experiment. From this date on, all parents have to report their child with the CMB for a primary school in Zaanstad-Zuid. The CMB means to be a neutral information centre for primary schools in Zaanstad-Zuid. Besides being a desegregation instrument, it will have a service function for the parents.The CMB has been set up on the idea that it is not good for children to attend school only with children of Dutch origin or only with children with an ethnic minority background. Children live together in a neighbourhood and it is therefore best that they attend school together. The CMB wants to achieve that all primary schools in Zaanstad-Zuid have a mixed school population. This is not the case at present. Since parents wish the best for their children, the CMB wants to help them in making a good choice of school by providing information on schools. A long-term aim is to gain insight in and to get a grip on the informal information circuit of parents. The CMB seeks to inform the parents within this circuit so that they obtain correct

information in time. Another way of informing parents is the building of a parents' network. Parents do find the opinion of fellow parents on a school interesting. These "contact parents", having a lot of information on schools, may inform other parents and at the same time provide the CMB with a perception of the school images harboured by the parents. Example 15: Intercultural education within teacher training - Lisbon, Portugal The teacher training institute Escola Superior de Educação de Deus in Lisbon offers the subject "Intercultural Education" as part of its regular teaching programme. All students, including those from ethnic minorities (about 8% of the student population), are taught, among other things, cross-cultural and linguistic psychology. A plan has been put forward to disseminate this unique approach to other teacher training institutes in Portugal. Example 16: The Compensatory Education Programme of the Generalität of Catalunya The Compensatory Education Programme of the Generalität of Catalunya aims to work together with schools, teachers and social workers to fully integrate children at risk and/or foreign children who have special educational needs associated with a disadvantaged social or cultural background. The programme provides information and guidance to teachers, guidance on Catalan language learning for late starters, supporting the adaptation of teaching materials to suit children's needs. It also enables intercultural education, with Catalan culture as the frame of reference, to be effectively incorporated into the school curriculum. Teacher training courses concern: welcoming students (assessing children with special needs, offering parents

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information brochures with regard to registration and obligatory schooling legislation, etc.), strategies for dealing with diversity in the classroom, various curricular units on religious culture and teaching values. Example 17: The Intercultural Education Partnership (DEP), United Kingdom This long standing project has been supported by the European Commission through the Socrates programme (and its precursors) and the UK Department for Education and Employment. The main aims of the IEP are to: • provide a forum where teachers from the UK and other countries may meet and exchange views and strategies relating to good practice in intercultural education; • establish and maintain a database of practitioners and researchers involved in educational provision for socio-cultural minority groups, and a resource bank of materials and academic papers, and • encourage the development of intercultural education and measures to combat racism and xenophobia in all schools in the UK by providing a context for the sharing of ideas, materials, resources and training.

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In order to achieve these goals, the IEP is involved in a wide range of activities, including: • a series of transnational conferences addressing a range of intercultural education themes; • an exchange programme where teachers can share information, expertise and examples of materials and teaching methodologies; • transnational in-service training initiatives designed to attract internationally recognized accreditation; • develop contacts with university departments of education and other academic researchers; and • compiles and maintains a database of experts in the field. The IEP is particularly concerned to ensure that intercultural education projects are networked both within and between Member States, in order to avoid the existence of disparate projects promoted by individual cities or local authorities. Based on their experience, they have found that some of the most successful interaction between teachers has taken place during small-scale, inexpensive exchanges which have then been widely disseminated through nationally networked conferences.

4. CONCLUSION Since the selection of good practice examples is rather limited and not a fully representative sample of intercultural education within the EU, this study is only in a position of course to set forth tentative conclusions. First of all, we bring to the fore the ad hoc character of certain actions and initiatives at local and regional levels. In other words, short-term projects rather than long-term policies prevail to some extent. Naturally, one should keep in mind the differences between states, regions and localities as to their actual experience with the integration of immigrant and refugee groups, their official recognition of cultural diversity, and the degree of decentralization of their education systems. Especially centralized education systems find it harder to cope with new situations of diversity and heterogeneous school populations in comparison with decentralized ones. The view on cultural pluralism that strongly relates intercultural education to social diversity in general - if not all forms of diversity (cultural, ethnic, racial, linguistic, religious...) - is increasingly accepted throughout Europe, but seems still a rather theoretical stance. In practice, too many socalled intercultural education provisions and policies remain for the most part tailored to the needs of special groups (immigrants, refugees, ethnic minorities, Gypsies...). Also, too often the prevalent point of departure is immediate problem-solving to a problematic situation, rather than a positive appreciation of diversity and difference. Such being the case, projects, programmes, partnerships etc. aimed at promoting the intercultural dimension in curricula, learn-

ing and teaching processes and the school organization and/or at combatting racism and xenophobia, frequently state their objectives in terms of values such as tolerance, mutual respect and understanding, human rights etc.Although this gives proof of a genuine concern to underline the negative effects of racism and discrimination, there is a slight tendency to neglect the value and importance of intercultural skills. The notion of intercultural competence, including for example communicative and social skills or strategies for conflict resolution, that are required for adequate social interaction in culturally and ethnically mixed settings, should be more explicitly stated as a principal goal of intercultural education. In this respect, actions specifically oriented towards language learning in a multicultural society, integration of immigrants and the like, or training and access to the labour market, may only genuinely claim the designation "intercultural", provided that an intercultural approach constitutes an integral part of the activities and practices resulting from them. Finally, as far as well-established policies of local and regional authorities are concerned, a clear and encouraging trend can be discerned towards an integrated approach to education and training issues: a whole-school approach, links between the school and the local communities, outof-school activities, inter-institutional approaches involving all partners operating in the wider school environment like social services, the voluntary sector, local associations, immigrant associations, support institutes etc. Apparently, such distinguishing features are more and more standing elements in many of the actions included in this study. Such a conclusion will def-

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initely not come as a surprise: it is precisely the nature and scale of the levels involved - local and regional - that provide ideal circumstances to incorporate the integrated, inter-institutional approach into actions of any kind.

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Appendix ι Selection of consulted documents and sources Androusso, Alexandra (1996), "Moi et l'autre: Un voyage". Matériel éducatif inter­ culturel pour l'école primaire. I n: Thalia Dragonas et al. (ed.), Beyond One's Own Backyard: I ntercultural Teacher Education in Europe. Athens: Society for the Study of Human sciences, pp. 175­187. Bijl, Wifirm (1996), Vaarwel FAO, vaarwel Raad van Overleg: Leve het Rotterdams Onderwijs Forum. Projektkrant, Vol. 18, no. 5, September, pp. 4­5. Bourne, Jill (1997), Education in Home Lan­ guage and Culture. I n: Jeanne de Heer­ Dehue (ed.), I ntercultural Education and Education of Migrant Children: Practice and Perspectives. Proceedings of the inter­ national Comenius Action 2 Seminar, Oegstgeest, the Netherlands, October 25­ 26, 1996. Utrecht: European Platform for Dutch Education; Dutch Foundation for the Promotion of Languages, pp. 51­69· Brettel, Leif (1996), Schools and Preschools as More Efficient Learning Workplaces: Supporting I ntercultural Schools and Preschools in a Swedish Context. In: Thalia Dragonas et al. (ed.), Beyond One's Own Backyard: I ntercultural Teacher Education in Europe. Athens: Society for the Study of Human sciences, pp. 121­132. ­ (1996), Centraal Meldpunt Basisonderwijs Zaanstad­Zuid. Stimulans, Vol. 14, no. 8, October, p. 28. Chalumeau, Nathalie & Gualdaroni, Raphaël (1995), Information File ­ France: The general and scholastic situation of the Gypsy community. I nterface, no. 18, May, pp. 9­17.

Codina, Maria Teresia (1996), Reunión de Trabajo del grupo "Multiculturalismo: Una experienca de education intercultural en escuela secundaria. Comité de las Regiones, Comisión N° 6. Committee of the Regions (1996a), Min­ utes of the Commission 6 Working Group Meeting on I nter­cultural Education. Town Hall,Thessaloniki, 21 June 1996, CdR 254, MCNC/mbd, 5 p. Committee of the Regions (1996b), Min­ utes of the Commission 6 Seminar on Inter­ cultural Education. Copenhagen, 14 Octo­ ber 1996, CdR 376/96, E/MCNC/nm, 6 p. Committee of the Regions (1996c), Min­ utes of the Commission 6 Seminar on Inter­ cultural Education, Barcelona, 7­8 July 1996, CdR 266/96, E/MCNC/pm, 4 p. Committee of the Regions (1997), Minutes of the Commission 6 Seminar on I ntercul­ tural Education, Düsseldorf, 16 December 1996, CdR 455/96,6 p. DIECEC (1994), Eurocities, DI ECEC­Pro­ ject: Cooperation between Cities in the Field of Intercultural Education. Final Eval­ uation Report. Brussels: Eurocities, 15 p. DIECEC (1997), DIECEC (Developing Inter­ cultural Education through Cooperation between European Cities) European Net­ work Policy Framework. Brussels: Euroci­ ties, draft text 10.3.97,13 p. Dresen, Günther (1996), Regionale Arbeitsstellen zur Förderung ausländischer Kinder und Jugendlicher in Nordrhein­ Westfalen (RAA/NRW), paper presented at the Commission 6 Seminar in Düsseldorf , 16 December 1996 ,8 p.

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Eveling, Poppy (1996), "A Programme of Case Studies Concerning the Inclusion of Minorities as Factors of Cultural Policy and Action": Non-Discrimination Charter in the Education System of the Flemish Community (Belgium), Report. Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 30 p. (Council for Cultural Cooperation (CDCC)) Flamenig, Anita (1988), Elementarschulen europäischer Minderheiten / Elementary Schools for the Minorities of Europe. Klagenfurt:Amt der Kärnten Landesregierung, 166 p. (Kärnten-Dokumentation, 5). - (s.d.), Harassment and Racist Incidents in Schools: Guidance for Schools in Essex. Chelmsford: Essex County Council, Education. - (s.d.), Hoejvangseminariet: National Institute for Social Educators in Copenhagen. Glostrup: Hoejvangsseminariet, l i p . Illner, Jagoda (1996), Vom Muttersprachlichen Ergänzungsunterricht zu herkunftssprachlichen Bildungsangeboten: Eine persönliche Wegbeschreibung, paper presented at the Commission 6 Seminar in Düsseldorf, 16 December 1996 ,4 p. - (1996) Italian School System Context Paper. European Conference Torino 11-1213 April 1996 "Cultural Diversity and Social Integration", 13 p.

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Kayahan, Hikmet (1997), No time to chill out: Education programme for foreign youths. In: Jeanne de Heer-Dehue (ed.), Intercultural Education and Education of Migrant Children: Practice and Perspectives. Proceedings of the international Comenius Action 2 Seminar, Oegstgeest, the Netherlands, October 25-26, 1996. Utrecht: European Platform for Dutch Education; Dutch Foundation for the Promotion of Languages, pp. 197-211.

MacNamara, Sean et al. (1996), Dossier - Ireland: La scolarisations des enfants de la communauté des Voyageurs. Interface, no. 24, November 1996, pp. 15-21. Mosca, Silvana (1996), Le projet de formation continue des enseignants à Turin. In: Thalia Dragonas et al. (ed.), Beyond One's Own Backyard: Intercultural Teacher Education in Europe. Athens: Society for the Study of Human sciences, pp. 143-154. - (1993), Multicultural Education: Guidance for Schools. Chelmsford: Essex Development and Advisory Service, Education Department, 39 p. Ogris, Thomas (1995), Das Zweilehrersystem: Kooperation in Unterricht und Erziehung. Erziehung und Unterricht Österreichische Pädagogische Zeitschrift, 10/95. Pas, Marianne (1995), Coping with diversity in Rotterdam: A challenge for today and for the future (information on the educational situation in Rotterdam and the reduction of educational disadvantages). In: Interkulturelles Lernen in Schule und Städten hilft Fremdenfeinlichkeit überwinden. Deutsch-niederländische Fachtagung vom 23.-24. März 1995. Soest: Landesinstitut für Schule und Weiterbildung, pp. 112-121. - (1996), Seminar über Multikulturelle Bildung veranstaltet der Fachkommission 6 "Bilding; Ausbildung" des Ausschuses der Regionen und dem Landtag von Nordrhein-Westfalen am 16. Dezember 1996 im Landtag, collected documents, [34] p. - (1995), Sheffield, The Multilingual City 2: Conference Report. Sheffield: Sheffield Unified Multicultural Education Service (SUMES), 24 p. Tosi, Arturo (1996), Learning from Diversi-

ty: Language Education and Intercultural Relations in the Inner City. Brussels: CECACE-CEEA and Eurocities, 54 p. (DIECEC) van Galen, Wim L.M. (1996),Teacher Training on Language Policy. In:Thalia Dragonas et al. (ed.), Beyond One's Own Backyard: Intercultural Teacher Education in Europe. Athens: Society for the Study of Human Sciences, pp. 113-119van Krefeld, Margo & Jaffar, Leila (1997), Look at me! Careers Education at Primary Schools: Immigrant Children Profit Most. In: Jeanne de Heer-Dehue (ed.), Intercultural Education and Education of Migrant Children: Practice and Perspectives. Pro-

ceedings of the international Comenius Action 2 Seminar, Oegstgeest, the Netherlands, October 25-26, 1996. Utrecht: European Platform for Dutch Education; Dutch Foundation for the Promotion of Languages, pp. 213-221. - (1992), Zweisprachiger Unterricht in Kärnten: Eine Information für Eltern und Interessierte. Klagenfurt: Bundesministerium für Unterricht und Kunst, 63 p.

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