ABSTRACT The concept of equality plays a central role in contentious education and social debates. In many countries like South Korea, its use has become more prevalent with the increasing number of ethnically diverse populations. These debates and public discourses, however, do not lead to a resolution but entrenchment of oppositional positions. In addresing the ideological impasse, this essay traces a history of equality discourse in the U.S. context by examining several landmark legal cases, affirmative action court decisions, and contrasting state curricula in California and Florida. As an alternative, the essay reframes the equality discourse by introducing the concept of relational equality, drawing from the works of Martha Minow, Elizabeth Anderson, and Iris Marion Young. This framework offers a lens through which more just educational practices may be achieved.

ABSTRACT This study examines how educative leadership theories have evolved in multicultural contexts, beginning with developments in Australia in the 1990s and extending to international trends. Using a philosophical methodology informed by critical multiculturalism and non-foundational epistemology, it analyses and refines leadership theories that promote equity, inclusion, and epistemic pluralism. The study finds that policies in Australia, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union are shaped by shared moral commitments to social justice, pluralism, democracy, and cosmopolitanism. Yet persistent inequities and nationalist resistance reveal the need for continued ethical leadership and policy innovation. The study proposes a contextually adaptive model of educative leadership—drawing on transformative, distributed, instructional, ethical, adaptive, and culturally responsive approaches—grounded in pragmatic holism to address the complexities of diverse educational environments.

ABSTRACT This paper looks into the potential of a multicultural South Korea and progress of state-led multicultural policies focusing on integration of high and low-skilled immigrants into Korean society. I explore to what extent immigrants (re)define a multicultural Korea and challenge the nationalist discourse. As multicultural policies took initiative in 1990s, this paper examines the policy evolution from 1990s until today, and articulates the inclusion and exclusion mechanisms of state towards immigrants. Although policies had limitations, this has changed as Korea adopted a more inclusive approach (e.g. adopting multiculturalism in school curriculum). The research illustrates intersectionality and complex layers in adopting multicultural policies for immigrant integration. In other words, there are different value systems attached to certain minorities when policies, public opinion and immigrant experiences are explored. Multiculturalism may have failed in Western societies, but Korean case demonstrates that shift from ethnic nationalism to multiculturalism is possible.

ABSTRACT The article examines the legal issues related to President Trump’s use of the federal government’s power to compel public and private colleges and universities to discontinue DEI programs and related activities. The article argues that the reasoned decision-making requirement of the Administrative Procedure Act and the First Amendment prohibition on the federal government engaging in viewpoint discrimination have made it and will continue to make it difficult for the Trump administration to defend its radical reinterpretation of the Title VI in federal court. The article also argues that, due to the extensive enforcement powers of the United States Department of Justice and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Education, the Trump administration has succeeded in coercing private colleges and universities into compliance with its prohibition on college and university DEI programs and activities.

ABSTRACT This study examines the ways in which teacher collaboration supports culturally responsive teaching within the South Korean educational context. Employing an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, the research integrates quantitative and qualitative data collected from South Korean school teachers. The findings highlight collaboration as a key intra-organizational mechanism, enabling teachers to collectively navigate the complexities associated with culturally responsive teaching. Collaboration fosters a shared understanding of effective instructional practices and facilitates adaptive teaching strategies by offering essential social resources for navigating pedagogical uncertainty. The study argues that culturally responsive teaching should be understood not merely as an individual endeavour aimed at addressing student differences, but also as a collaborative effort that often seeks to transcend these differences in order to thoughtfully embrace classroom diversity. Future research should further explore collaborative approaches to culturally responsive teaching in varied educational contexts internationally.

ABSTRACT In diverse societies, there is growing recognition that classrooms do not reach all parts of the population. This is especially true for the working-age population, where opportunities for multicultural education and intercultural engagement may be missed. This study examines a non-profit incubator as an alternative site of multicultural education. Drawing on structural functionalism, the incubator is conceptualized as a mediating social institution that promotes integration through shared goals and collective problem-solving. Based on qualitative survey data from 23 co-ethnic migrants, other migrants, and local-born citizens, the analysis explores how intercultural cooperation, mutual recognition and belonging emerge through practice-based learning. Findings suggest that task-oriented learning enables participants to navigate and negotiate differences in ways that challenge cultural binaries. By exploring entrepreneurship incubators as a vehicle for intercultural practice, the study contributes to research on multicultural education, offering insights into how solidarity and coexistence can be cultivated in diverse learning environments.

ABSTRACT Universities offering teacher training programmes have been criticized for decades for failing to provide preservice teachers with sufficient training in multicultural teaching competences. To develop these competencies, universities are now advised to provide programs that facilitate interethnic contact between preservice teachers and pupils during internships or community-based exposure. Based on the literature, it was hypothesized that contact experiences should occur both within and beyond school settings and should extend over a prolonged period of time. This study aims to reveal the potential role of different types of interethnic contact for multicultural teaching competences among second-year preservice teachers using a repeated measures design. The findings show the crucial role of previous interethnic contact in the neighbourhood over an extended period of time on the perceived quality of multicultural teaching competences of preservice teachers.

ABSTRACT This paper explores the complex, discursive constructions of relationships in online learning communities in the pursuit of equity and diversity. Using Braidotti’s (2019) posthuman theory and diverse intellectual traditions, the authors contemplate how subjectivities and relationality complicate discourse on relationships and relationalities, which are critical elements in multiculturalism, in an online learning community. Post-qualitative inquiry (PQI) is utilized to consider these complexities. The authors interrogate the entangled relationships in the online setting to go beyond mainstream research and identify effectiveness in online learning. Using images, metaphors, and ethnodramatic writing, the authors theorize the discursive meanings of relationships by interpreting vignettes of lived experience to extend the current challenge of sustaining the spirit of diversity and equity in education for all. The authors suggest exploring the complexities of subjectivities and implementing innovative research methodologies to imagine new terms and praxis in critical multicultural education.

ABSTRACT This study explores how totems and decorative texts shape cultural identity among Indigenous students at an elementary school in Taiwan. Using Roland Barthes’ semiotic theory, it examines the cultural meanings and functions of visual symbols through qualitative methods. The representative semiotics include the Bunun woodcarving calendar, diamond totems, the phrase ‘禮義廉恥,’ and multicultural symbols, chosen for their visibility and cultural relevance. Data were collected through six months of observations and interviews with students and teachers. Findings show that these semiotics connect Bunun students to their school environment and strengthen cultural identity, while also exposing challenges in navigating conflicts between Indigenous heritage and mainstream culture.

ABSTRACT This study examines the representation of ethnic minorities in Korea’s social studies textbooks under the 2007 and 2015 national curricula to assess the characteristics of multicultural education in Korea and propose directions for fostering a more meaningful and inclusive multicultural education. The findings indicate that while the recognition of ethnic minorities as deserving mutual respect has increased, they are still predominantly portrayed as targets of social integration and socially disadvantaged groups in need of state support. A shift is observed in the 2015 textbooks, where ethnic minorities are no longer depicted as a source of social problems but rather as subjects facing discrimination from ethnic Koreans. Additionally, the inclusion of legal and institutional efforts to support ethnic minorities marks a step forward. However, the analysis reveals a critical need to move beyond tokenistic inclusion toward a genuine representation of ethnic minorities as active agents with equal human rights.