School as public space of intercutural action. Progress and kicks

Abstract

The evidence of linguistic and cultural diversity in the classrooms over the last three decades has proven and questioned the (fake) consistency on which school structures have been resting. The analysis of how education policies have handled cultural diversity during this period, leads us to the conclusion that this phenomenon has been dealt with as a transitory fact and, therefore, no structural changes have been undertaken to adapt the system to our new students, who broke the theoretical homogeneity that had always reigned, from immigrant families. This approach, exclusively focused on specific resources, and had no intention to transform, at the same time, any of the other key elements in the system – curricular ethnocentrism, teacher training, dual schooling politics, etc. – as it was unveiled by the economic crisis: education budget cut downs substantially trimmed down specific services and programmes for the most vulnerable students, and both teachers and centres have been helplessly abandoned to a situation that had been deemed as “solved” by an external resource that has now disappeared. As we can deduce from our own research works, alternatives must focus on a growingly flexible organization of the centres and on the generation of structural conditions that favour care for diversity. This also implies that resources are to be continued, but, nevertheless, their functions are to be revised. Furthermore, other measures that affect the centres as a whole, and involve the whole teaching staff, are to be implemented. No real progress will be made as long as politics and education centres do not overcome our current approach based on a model that fosters inequality and the segregation of students as imposed by market principles.