Cultures in the classroom observed by students. Attitudes of students of majority culture before minority peers

Abstract

The globalization of the economy has brought the disappearance of borders and the free movement of people. This draws in the educational centers the phenomenon of multiculturalism. Multiculturalism that requires not only legislative changes but also curricular, methodological and, at the base of them, attitudinal. Changes in behavior in families, teachers and students in order to provide answers to these new demands and challenges posed by 21st century society. Hence the importance of this research, whose objective is to try to give a little light to these attitudes, sometimes discriminatory and segregating, that affect the actions and behaviors of teachers but also the students themselves to their peers. From the analysis by means of percentages of their answers, appealing to the highest as configurators of more frequent attitudes, it is possible to conclude the low presence of multicultural elements in the programming, the need to improve the knowledge of other cultures to the rest of the students, and to improve the teacher training in this aspect to accept the differences and treat them as wealth and not pedagogical barrier. Among the positive aspects are the good family-school and student relationships and the cultural enrichment which supposes intercultural education.