| Resumen: |
The analysis of Spain's cultural and linguistic minorities is a complex task, due to the diversity of communities whose official, social and educational position and recognition is very heterogeneous - and may even vary within regions. Although multiculturality is usually related to groups newly arrived into a previously homogeneous or cohesive community, the cultural and linguistic map of Spain shows a wide variety of communities, even long before the flow of economic immigration of the last 20 years (Besalú Costa, 2002; Martín Rojo, 2003). This book chapter is part of a comparative volume that includes contributions on cultural diversity in educational institutions by experts on teacher education from Finland, the UK, Ireland, Italy, Hungary, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Germany, Portugal, Latvia and Slovenia. The aim of the book is to provide a comprehensive, critical and constructive approach to cultural and linguistic diversity in education as a common feature of European nation-states, while also a unique phenomenon marked by each country's particular processes and historical and contemporary minority communities. Within this framework, the chapter presents an analysis of Spain's cultural and linguistic diversity and their relationship to education as a particularly complex task, due to the diversity of communities whose official, social and educational position and recognition is very heterogeneous - and may even vary within regions. Although multiculturality is usually associated to groups newly arrived at a previously perceived as homogeneous or cohesive community, the cultural and linguistic map of Spain shows the coexistence of a wide variety of communities, languages and cultures even long before the flow of economic immigration of the last 20 years. To properly deal with this complexity, the chapter presents a historical overview of the evolution of Spain's linguistic policy and educational laws and models, and how this instability has affected diverse cultural and linguistic communities. The study then builds on two empirically supported, long-term ethnographic studies in highly multicultural classroom contexts -one in Madrid and one in Catalonia- to analyze the challenges and affordances that cultural diversity involves in specific school systems and communities. Despite the significant differences, both experiences foreground the need for educational systems, classroom environments and teachers to provide all children with equal opportunities and meaningful learning processes, and to acknowledge and use multicultural classrooms' potential as resources for social and educational inclusion. |
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