Abstract
In Switzerland, as elsewhere, issues dealing with cultural diversity raise major challenges in education. At present, little is known about how students make sense of these highly sensitive societal issues and relate them to their everyday experience. Drawing on a sociocultural and dialogical approach to learning, this study aimed at understanding how the students made sense of themes related to cultural diversity. More generally, it sought to examine whether secondarisation (i.e. a transformation of everyday experience into a more generic and scientific form) took place. In this study, ten focus groups were carried out: five in primary school (11- to 12-year-old students) and five in lower secondary school (13- to 14-year-old students) in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. The specificity of the research design consisted of setting up a situation that had both similarities and differences with lessons on cultural diversity that had previously been taught in the classroom. We assumed that this would create dialogical tensions and thereby shed light on the obstacles that may arise when themes related to cultural diversity are taught in school. Analysis of the discursive dynamics of the focus-group discussions showed that education for cultural diversity cannot be considered independently of the student’s other spheres of experiences. Personal, social and moral dimensions are part of the students’ effort to make sense of the themes under discussion. Talking about cultural diversity, even though with pleasure and involvement, cannot be equated with learning and transforming these themes into scientific concepts. Moreover, dialogical tensions can create unexpected effects and even bring about the very phenomena that education for cultural diversity is supposed to fight.
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Notes
To preserve the anonymity of the male teacher and because any comparison based on gender was impossible, female pseudonyms were given to all the teachers.
For practical reasons, focus groups could not be organised in two classes.
These rules were inspired by research on “exploratory talk” (e.g. Mercer and Howe 2012) and were as follows: “don’t all talk together”, “respect each other turns to speak”, “do not make fun of the others’ answer”, “don’t feel shy”, “take the floor, just say what you think”.
In the parentheses, the first number indicates the part of the focus group from which the excerpt was taken, and the second is the focus group number; P means primary school and S secondary school (see Table 2). Further on, “M absent” means that the moderator was absent. The turns are numbered by speaker. The excerpts in the original French language are provided in Appendix 2.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are very grateful to the school authorities, teachers, and students for the cooperation that made this project possible. They also thank Stéphanie de Diesbach Dolder and Laura Nicollin for collecting the data.
Funding
The TECS research project was supported by a grant from the Swiss National Foundation (100013_132292) and made possible by the support of the school authorities and the Centre for Global Education in Switzerland.
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This study, as well as the writing of this paper, was carried out in accordance with the ethical standards of the Swiss Federation of Psychologists and the Swiss Society of Psychology.
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Michèle GROSSEN. University of Lausanne, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Géopolis-Quartier Mouline, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. E-mail: michele.grossen@unil.ch
Current themes of research:
Ageing in a Psychocultural Approach.
Learning, Discourse and Social Interaction.
Health education and collaborative learning in the management of diabetes.
Institutional Discourse and Dialogism.
Most relevant publications in the field of Psychology of Education:
Grossen, M., Zittoun, T., & Ros, J. (2012). Boundary crossing events and potential appropriation space in philosophy, literature and general knowledge. In E. Hjörne, G. van der Aalsvoort, & G. de Abreu (Eds.), Learning, social interaction and diversity: Exploring identities in school practices (pp. 15-34). London, UK: Sense.
Grossen, M. & Muller Mirza, N. (2019). Interactions and dialogue in education: Dialogical tensions as resources or obstacles. In N. Mercer, R. Wegerif & L. Major (Eds.), Routledge international handbook of research on dialogic education. London, UK: Routledge.
Nathalie MULLER MIRZA. University of Geneva, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, 40, Bd du Pont d'Arve, CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland. E-mail: Nathalie.MullerMirza@unige.ch
Current themes of research:
Learning and Social Interactions.
Intercultural Education.
Adult and Continuing Education.
Sociocultural Approach in Psychology of Education.
Most relevant publications in the field of Psychology of Education:
Muller Mirza, N., Grossen, M., de Diesbach-Dolder, S., & Nicollin, L. (2014). Transforming personal experience and emotions through education to cultural diversity: An interplay between unicity and genericity. Learning, Culture and Social Interactions, 3(4), 263-273. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcsi.2014.02.004.
Muller Mirza, N., & Perret-Clermont, A.-N. (2016). Are you really ready to change? An actor-oriented perspective on a farmers training setting in Madagascar. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 31, 79-93. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-014-0238-1.
Muller Mirza, N., Grossen, M., de Diesbach-Dolder, S., & Nicollin, L. (2014). Transforming personal experience and emotions through education to cultural diversity: An interplay between unicity and genericity. Learning, Culture and Social Interactions, 3(4), 263-273. j.lcsi.2014.02.004./j.lcsi.2014.02.004.
Muller Mirza, N. (2016). Emotions, development and materiality at school: A cultural-historical approach. Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science, 50(4), 634-654..
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Appendices
Appendix 1 Transcription norms
(…) | Part of the excerpt not presented |
|---|---|
- | Sudden interruption |
<…> | Uncertain transcription |
(…) | Nonverbal behaviour |
((…)) | Transcriber’s comment |
XXX | Incomprehensible segment, each X corresponds to a syllable |
CAPITALS | Louder syllable |
:: | Syllable stretching, the number of : indicates the duration of the stretching |
. | Falling intonation |
, | Slightly falling intonation |
/ | Pause of half a second |
Appendix 2 Excerpts in original French language
[1]
163 Camilia en fait ça sert à quoi ce qu’on dit’
138 M pour voir si ce matériel il est vraiment adapté pour vous ou pas
[2]
11 Rodolphe parce que moi je sais pourquoi elle nous a donné cette image AVANT de faire l’histoire là la grande histoire parce que
8 Rita ouais et après pour voir la différence
12 Rodolphe après elle voulait nous expliquer ce que c’était émigrer et immigrer alors ce qu’elle voulait qu’on sa- en premier elle voulait savoir si on avait déjà compris un petit peu le [truc de émigrer et immigrer]
5 Rachel [là elle a émigré]
[3] 77 Penelope déjà les phrases je les trouve complètement stupides hein franchement excusez-moi [4]
16 Pauline mais pourquoi nous / en fait xx pourquoi elle a choisi que nous’ (…)
10 Pascal elle a choisi la liste elle a fait ((mime avec son doigt que les noms étaient pointés au hasard les yeux fermés))
(…)
13 Pascal parce qu’on avait des têtes à passer à la TV
[5] comment cancelled
9 Adam mais parlez pas de n’importe quoi on est filmé
[6]
16 Lucas mais ça va passer dans une université, vous vous faites des bêtises (…)
59 Luc si la prof elle voit ça après on est mort
[7]
113 Tatiana la première là ((image)) que j’avais choisie (…) celle (…) où vous savez y avait euh (…) un monsieur hein / euh de teint foncé / enfin on va dire black / et puis euh quelqu’un de blanc qui qui se qui se faisaient un câlin je crois je sais pas
[8]
4 Anne mais c’est une dame en premier et puis elle est noire
31 Agathe ouais on sait qu’elle est c’est une DAME
15 Adriano elle est black
32 Agathe elle est elle est africaine
12 Alain elle est SCHWARZ (rires)
[9]
29 Anne [c’est une dame black qui porte un petit machin]
42 Agathe [mais peut-être que:: elle va rejoindre quelqu’un]
16 Alain t’as XX français
29 Abélia nein nicht black sauber
53 Elève eine Mädche (rires)
43 Agathe nicht black nicht schwarz
54 Elève SCHWARZ
19 Adam nicht schmutzig [10] 37 Sandrine mais excuse- moi excusez-moi les mecs c'est souvent les Africains qui font ça//enfin des personnes de couleur noire
[11] 60 Pauline moi moi j’ai tout laissé quand je suis venue là / et puis franchement euh je crois que c’est bien / ouais je pense ça et puis après euh
37 Pascal tout oublié’
61 Pauline hein’
38 Pascal tout oublié’
62 Pauline / ouais
78 Pénélope ben parce que moi aussi personnellement j’ai déjà déménagé (…) puis euh ben euh quand je suis arrivée à (place) ben / je leur ai plus parlé pendant un long moment et puis c’était pas ça qui faisait que j’étais moins moins triste/ plus triste de déménager en fait/ au final il faut toujours garder contact avec les choses qui étaient avant et puis euh / ben j’ai gardé des affaires que j’avais quand j’ai déménagé (…)
[12] 84 Raphaël euh moi euh une fois c’était un peu un cas comme ça / parce que j’étais j’ai été voir ma famille en Espagne, et puis on est resté un mois, et puis quand on est allé chercher à manger euh dans un magasin, on est allé à pied, et puis quand on revenait dans l’appartement y avait une personne qui mendiait / alors (…) on donnait trop de monnaie, et puis quand moi je sortais un peu avant puis je lui donnais l’argent et puis il me remerciait tout le temps et puis il me disait merci en espagnol //
[13]
19 Rebecca on dirait qu’elle a une couleur de peau un petit peu comme euh
11 Rachel un peu comme toi
10 Régine mais c’est noir et blan::c
20 Rita c’est sur la photo
11 Régine c’est noir et blanc (rit)
[14]
54 Teddy y avait une image y avait une image où y avait une dame elle une dame blanche et c’est pas pour me moquer de toi ((à Théophile)) elle tout se d- à côté d’un jeune tamoul
61 Mmhm
55 Teddy nous on dit un jeune Sri-lankais je sais pas
62 Tinan on tamoul c’est pas une race aussi
116 Tatiana tamoul c’est pas être raciste hein’
56 Teddy ouais
52 Tiffany oui mais c’est parce que noir on peut être raciste, enfin noir je dis foncé
[15]
21 Sébastien mais Simon c’est pas contre- c’est pas dirigé contre toi hein
32 Simon o::h je ne suis pas un SDF’
22 Sébastien mais j’ai pas dit que t’es un SDF, j’ai jamais dit ça (Simon fait un bras d’honneur) désolé ((regarde la camera, Stéphanie rigole et se tourne vers la caméra et fait le signe de s’excuser, la modératrice entre dans la classe))
59 Stéphanie mais tu dis pas le truc des vendeurs
[16]
99 Natalia par exemple on a appris des choses sur nos amis, que certaines personnes savaient pas forcément
79 Mmmh
100 Natalia et puis que:: je pense pas qu’elles veulent que certaines personnes le sachent non plus’ (…)
75 Nina tu comprends on a aussi peur d’être jugés de c- de ce qu’on a vécu
102 Natalia ouais ils t’excluent
76 Nina parce qu’on va dire l’école c’est la l’endroit où on se fait juger, on va vraiment être nous-mêmes / donc ouais
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Grossen, M., Muller Mirza, N. Talking about cultural diversity at school: dialogical tensions and obstacles to secondarisation. Eur J Psychol Educ 35, 243–264 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-019-00442-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-019-00442-8