Multicultural Education: Some Reflections on the Spanish Case

Abstract

In this paper we succinctly describe sorne aspects related to multicultural education in Spain. First we must recognise that there exists a somewhat extensive and significant work on Gypsies (the most important ethnic group in Spain) that we do not include in this paper, because it would require a separate article. It is much more interesting, we hope, to present the state of art of discourses and practices related to multicultural education in our country. In fact, we argue Spanish authorities have never considered the education of Gypsy children as a matter of multicultural education. The very phrases 'multicultural education' and 'intercultural education' have only recently been introduced in Spain. In the first section of this paper we describe the reasons put forth by sorne authors to support intercultural education. Their rationale for more multicultural education is compared to our own reasons. Sections number two to five briefly review sorne congresses on multicultural education held in our country (II), current research (III), legislation (IV), and programs in action (V). The common feature of these sections is the emphasis on showing how scarce and recent the whole topic of multiculturalism is in Spain. However, many Spanish investigators and educators are beginning to work in this field, and government involvement is rapidly growing.