Multikulturelle Gesellschaft und interkulturelle Erziehung: Orientierungen griechischer Volksschullehrerinnen und Volksschullehrer - Ergebnisse einer explorativen Studie

Greece changed from a sending country to a receiving country of migrants during the 1990s. The current multicultural composition of students and the challenges that emerge from this constellation demand a change of view in the whole educational system, which in itself is traditionally focused on monolingual and monocultural education. The main aims of this qualitative study are (a) to analyze the attitudes of teachers regarding the living together of natives and migrants, and (b) to describe their ideas concerning the content of intercultural education. On the whole, ten female and eight male teachers from the Dodekanes region took part in this explorative study. The analysis of the interviews reveals that these teachers see a multicultural society and an intercultural education as a burden rather than a challenge. The defensive attitudes found are to be seen in close connection to the assimilative orientation of the Greek school system, respectively to the lack of positive ways of dealing with differences; to the enormous meaning of history for the collective and individual perception of oneself and of others, and to the inadequate institutional support. (DIPF/Orig.).