Intercultural Schools in Greece; Students' and Teachers' Perceptions of their Intercultural Competence and Future Considerations

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Teaching Comparative and International Education in Diverse Settings

Proposal

This study constitutes my EdD thesis, submitted to King’s College London in 2022. It examines students’ and teachers’ views regarding the practices of acculturation (Giavrimis, Konstantinou and Hatzichristou, 2003) in intercultural schools in Greece and identifies to what extent they can function as sites of intercultural competence and critical multiculturalism (Maniatis, 2012). It aims to highlight Greece's opportunity to provide an intercultural education by incorporating a redefinition of the nature of the dominant culture and make recommendations for the future. I am focusing on key concepts, i.e., ‘identity’ and its associations with ‘ethnicity’, ‘culture’ and ‘religion’ and I analyze the potential interconnectedness of prominent terms in academic discourse, such as ‘intercultural’ vs. ‘multicultural’ education, ‘intercultural competence’, ‘global citizenship education’, ‘cosmopolitanism’ and ‘diversity’.

Findings from relevant studies (Keating, 2009; Palaiologou and Faas, 2012) illustrate Greek education as falling behind in enhancing diversity and students’ intercultural competence (Triandafyllidou, 2011; Deardorff, 2006; Paleologou, 2004), key components of global citizenship, mentioned in goal 4.7 of the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (UNESCO, 2017), a commitment which Greece has promised to abide by. Thus, my study addresses a gap in scholarship theorizing the underpinnings surrounding the establishment of intercultural schools in Greece seen in relation to students’ and teachers’ perceptions surrounding the following foci: 1. Their experiences in intercultural schools and how they affect their perceptions of their identities and the identities of others. 2. The extent to which students and teachers believe that intercultural schools allow for diversity, the celebration of cultures and a discussion of the relations between different communities towards the promotion of a cosmopolitan citizen model. 3. Their beliefs regarding the extent to which these schools can function as host institutions for refugee students, introduce them to Greek language and culture and teach them the value of their own.

This is an empirical, single-case, qualitative study in a public intercultural high school in Greece, one of only 5 intercultural high schools from a total of 13 primary and secondary such schools, the first of which was established in 1996. The research site is not considered as representative or “typical” (Walford, 2001, p. 157) of Greek intercultural schools, but only as “illustrative of the range of schools” (Bryman and Burgess, 1994) of its kind. My aim has not been to generalize findings from a single case but highlight some of its manifestations and produce “working hypotheses” (Cronbach, 1975, p. 125), which can assist in understanding other cases of the phenomenon/a in question. I followed a combined case study-grounded theory approach, an extensively used synthesis in educational research (Charmaz, 2014; Laws and McLeod, 2004). In line with Järvensivu and Törnroos (2010), I followed an abductive process, following existing theory emerging from the literature review but not allowing it to drive the research process. Grounded theory aims at taking raw data and raising the level of their conceptualization (Corbin and Strauss, 2008). This was achieved by following a line-by-line analysis of all textual data to facilitate the scrutiny of smaller data fragments.

My analysis was based on: a) 25 semi-structured interviews (I followed non-probability, purposive sampling), about 45 minutes in length (10 teachers, one being the school principal, and 15 students, 5 classified as ‘newly-arrived’, i.e., students who have arrived in Greece as unaccompanied minors or with their families as war/political refugees or economic migrants and 10 as ‘not newly-arrived’, i.e., Greek-born and raised and expatriate/migrant students, either born in Greece or elsewhere); b) 3 participant observations (Holliday, 2016) of the school’s common areas (from 15 minutes to 75 minutes); c) 4 extant, legal, policy documents and their explanatory reports [Law 2413/1996 (Official Government Gazette, 1996), Law 3966/2011 (Official Government Gazette, 2011), Law 4415/2016 (Official Government Gazette, 2016) and the “Institutional Framework for Intercultural Education, Remedial Classes and Remedial Tutorial Classes in Greece” (Tsouroulas, Dimitropoulos and Goupos, 2005)]; d) the school’s website.

Ethical approval was sought from the King’s Research Ethics Office and by the IEP (Protocol number: 22190/D2, Athens, 14-02-2020) (http://iep.edu.gr/en/), the competent body that evaluates applications for educational research in Greek schools, following the Administrative Council’s opinion.

Findings indicated that students seem to avoid ethnic and religious self-identifications; they approach identity as an enriching element in their school and consider it as a creative learning environment. They portray their teachers as caring and approach them as role models. They also seem to embrace the potentiality of intercultural schools becoming host institutions for large numbers of refugee/migrant students in the future but ask for changes in the function of intercultural schools. The provision of psychological support and the creation of a welcoming school environment are prioritised, among other changes. Teachers seem to experience a school in transition, where the increasing level of diversity (cultural, religious, linguistic) is treated as stimulus for action, i.e., coming to terms with diversity by trying to step into students’ shoes and realizing the challenges they are facing. They also seem to have difficulty in defining ‘interculturalism’ and thus treat it as an ‘umbrella’ term. They call for the management of student flows and the implementation of systemic and non-systemic changes that will align the school’s character with intercultural values. These contributions can inform teachers, school principals, researchers and policymakers. Regarding implications for policy, these findings are indicative of failed attempts and inconsistencies in the implementation of an intercultural education agenda by successive Greek governments. Future legislation needs to address the provision of psychosocial support for ‘newly-arrived’ students and their families that might help them with their integration in society and the school community.

The distinctiveness of this study’s contribution to knowledge lies in its thematic area of focus (Greek intercultural schools) and its choice of sample, echoing perceptions of all school stakeholders (teachers, school principal and students, including a small sample of ‘newly-arrived’ refugees/migrants). Greek intercultural school have been an underexplored domain by relevant literature, despite Greece being just one of many countries with relative ethnic homogeneity and without previous experience in accommodating diverse populations, currently accepting increasing numbers of refugee/migrant students in their schools.

Author

• Giannis Moysidis, King's College London