Multi-ethnic society and cross-cultural perspectives in the school

Abstract

This research has the objective to focus the attention on a specific dimension of the scholastic experience of foreign and autochthonous students that is to say that of the school as a place where to create cross-cultural relations. The choice to focus on this area answers the requirements to examine an aspect of the scholastic experience of foreign and Italian students still not much investigated, but that today is quite meaningful. Indeed, is characterized in an increasing way by a plural experience – in the classrooms there are a multiplicity of languages, cultural backgrounds and differentiated levels – and is at the centre of the issue of the quality of the future living together in the multi-ethnic society, as a key institution for the promotion of social cohesion, as well as the acquisition of the necessary competences for the economic and political integration of the citizens of tomorrow (Ambrosini, 2008; Cesareo, 2008). The perspective of cross- cultural teaching is seen as central within the European orientations and the Italian regulations, because the migrations can represent a precious resource on a cultural and educational level only if they are integrated in a continuous process of cross-cultural exchange (Bauman, 1998; 2000; MPI, 2007; Council of Europe, 2008; Commission of the European Communities, 2008; Nesse network, 2008; Giovannini, 2008).