Evolving Dialogues in Multicultural Education

Wed, 18 Dec 2019 12:30 in Discussion Forums

Date: 18th December 2019
Where: Central London

Speakers

Prof Shirley R. Steinberg, University of Calgary
Prof Guido Benvenuto, University of Rome
Dr Richard Race, University of Roehampton
Dr Marlon Moncrieffe, University of Brighton

Abstract

Multicultural education remains an important academic and teacher and learning requirement (Banks, 2016; Race, 2019). In an age of Brexit with the move in all areas from the international to the national, this event is important at all levels. If the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, the implication is that a more national focus on cultural, and education policy will make society more assimilationist rather than more culturally diverse or more separatist meaning communities will retreat away from state policy and other communities. What this means for education is crucial. Multicultural education is about firstly preparing and training teachers to learn about knowledge and methods to deliver cultural diversity. Furthermore, the policy has to accommodate diversity or difference within what is actually taught in Programmes of Study which are created by government. To be fair, Programmes of Study in England are culturally diverse and have always been but then the first point about training teachers is applied. The problem is systemic which means the national curriculum needs to change, a Brexit policy, 30 years in the making before Brexit (White, 2016; Bhopal, 2018). The problem is not with teachers and teacher training or career training but the solution when teaching difference is diversity training within continuing professional development for all professional practitioners (Race, 2015). The event is to continue to develop dialogues when advancing multicultural education (Race, 2018). Moreover, the presenters will examine aspects of multicultural education from international perspectives which will allow dialogues to evolve within increasingly changing and complex times (Modood, 2019; Miller and Callender, 2019).

Biographies

Prof Shirley R. Steinberg is a Research Professor of Critical Youth Studies at the University of Calgary. She is the author and editor of many books in critical pedagogy, urban and youth culture, and cultural studies. Being a regular contributor to local and international media, she is an internationally known speaker and teacher. She is the education liaison for the Intercultural Dialogue Institute of Calgary, Alberta, an executive board member of OBAT Canada, and works locally and internationally with youth and refugee/newcomers. The co-founder of The Paulo and Nita Freire International Project for Critical Pedagogy, she is the co-organizer of International Institute of Critical Pedagogy and Transformative Leadership, she is committed to a global community of transformative educators and community workers engaged in radical love, social justice, and the situating of power within social and cultural contexts, specifically involving youth.

Prof Guido Benvenuto is a full professor of Sapienza, University of Rome. He teaches social pedagogy and educational research methodology, carries out research on early school leaving, social inclusion, educational innovations and learning environments. He is a member of the Department of Psychology of Development and Socialization Processes that in 2017 was selected among the departments of excellence of the Italian state university to create an interdisciplinary research task force on one of the most relevant social issues: migration flows and inclusive practices in Europe and Italy. The Department intends to strengthen the interconnections between excellent scientific-disciplinary sectors in research, teaching and international collaborations with an immediate socio-economic impact through existing services and the creation of new consulting services on the psychosocial implications connected to migration phenomena.

Dr Richard Race is Senior Lecturer in Education at Roehampton and Visiting Professor in Education at Sapienza University in Rome, Italy. He is the editor of the collection, Advancing Multicultural Dialogues in Education (2018, Palgrave Macmillan) and author of the monograph, Multiculturalism and Education (2015, 2nd Ed., Bloomsbury). His current research interests are Integration and Education Policy-Making (contracted monograph with Palgrave Macmillan) and he is co-editing with Dr Marlon Moncrieffe, a British Education Research Association (BERA) Newsletter on Decolonizing the Curriculum (forthcoming in 2020).

Dr Marlon Moncrieffe is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Education, University of Brighton. His research takes Black-British history and its cross-cultural interaction with White-Britain for helping to advance education, teaching and learning about fundamental British Values (civic national values) and for 'Decolonising the Curriculum'.