Multiculturalism and education

Reading the statement by Alleanza Nazzjonali Repubblikana spokesman Philip Beattie on "the stage where local pseudo-intellectuals are calling for a re-education programme for children to the benefits of a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious society" (The Sunday Times, October 2) compels me to ask whether he is calling into question fundamental principles in the education of children and young people in Malta.

Undoubtedly, he is. The principles under threat by his assertion are those of inclusion, respect of diversity and citizenship - three major objectives that have to shape our students' life with values, attitudes and dispositions as the very essence of our educational system formally expressed in the national curriculum.

Caught in the process of globalisation and the emergence of pluralist societies, education has to address two big challenges: the erosion of barriers, whether these are geographical, social and psychological, and the worldwide trend of inclusion. As contemporary challenges, they also give education the opportunity to give knowledge about differences, develop skills enabling students to acknowledge and live with these differences, and cultivate attitudes of understanding and acceptance of different others.

How can people learn to include others within their family, schools, place of work, people like the disabled, mentally sick, those with a different sexual orientation, and immigrants if we, as a school and as society, fail them in education for and in the value of inclusion?

A pedagogy based on principles of inclusion and respect of diversity provides a sound preparation for students' reasoned choices and social participation in a world community increasingly characterised by a plurality of cultures, languages and belief systems. And it is precisely in the values of inclusion and diversity that the new challenges of citizenship can be best understood. It is in the sense of 'otherness' that citizenship is appreciated and really lived.

What is formally stated in the National Curriculum is recognition of sociological processes taking place in European and world society. Globalisation as a factor of modernisation calls for new approaches to citizenship based on socio-political innovations and adaptations to developing cultural orientations.

Former allegiances to one's own territory in the form of state are being reshaped by a new form of relationship with a social evolution that transcends national boundaries. 'Bounded territoriality' as an exclusive site of citizenship is giving way to a global citizenship that is inclusive and future-oriented, going beyond space and time.

Education ought to strengthen new civic, social and political relationships. While promoting loyalties to family, class and nation, education should provide the lifeline for the values of empathy, acceptance and solidarity as key elements of a culturally diverse social life. In this scenario three are the hallmarks of education today: it is inclusive, it is participative, it is multi-cultural.

These qualities are the linchpins of active and responsible citizenship, but they also give another dimension to the much talked-about "quality education".

In its document Towards a Europe of Knowledge (1997), the European Commission highlights multi-cultural education ensured "through the sharing of common values" and a sense of belonging to a common cultural area as "the enhancement of citizenship".

For those of us, then, who cherish Christian values it is relevant to point out that new sociological and educational exigencies assume a fuller meaning when viewed in the light of the Gospel. And one glaring ray from this light is Christ's parable of the wedding feast (Mt. 22, 1-5, 7-12). There is no clearer message in the parable than the importance of the values of universal inclusion and respect of diversity.

On the basis of such considerations, it is reasonable to conclude, that there exists a justification for current programmes of study for children and young people in Malta, as in the rest of Europe and the world, "as to the benefits of a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious" education in today's society.

Local stakeholders in education who give their best to facilitate and animate such programmes in schools and the community are considered by the unprejudiced as the kind of educators needed by the present-day pluralist society.

To refer to them as "pseudo-intellectuals" is, at least, to deny the facts and contaminate the evidence, and, at worst, to undermine fundamental human Christian values so badly needed for the promotion of social responsibility, moral leadership and social cohesion.