School Failure Deterrence Policies in Respect of National and Social Differences towards Interculturalism Promotion
Gogou Lela *
University of Western Attica, Greece.
Kalerante Evaggelia
University of Western Macedonia, Greece.
Elefterakis Theodoros
University of Crete, Greece.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The continuously developing multicultural European community generates a school in which, besides other student differences, namely social and economic, national differences are being accumulated leading to an intrinsic school and learning environment. Education sociology along with its tools and theories is continuously seeking to explain students’ school failure. Bernstein, Bourdieu and Boudon’s theories focus on sociology and inequalities theory. In this respect, the two formerly mentioned use language and family cultural capital as a basis on which they explain student school failure, whereas the latter contends that the number of students extending their school life is ongoing. However, even today, there are prominent school inequalities among students, especially between native and foreign ones. Based on these analyses, intercultural education scholars strongly put forward their belief that intercultural education and respect towards all students’ rights are the only solution and, at the same time, the only objective that can be necessarily prominent in education across Europe. Taking into consideration the crisis in the capitalist economy and the cultural values of Europe which are continuously intensified in the contemporary post-modern society, education sociology is invited to spot the causes and barriers to all students’ school integration, to successfully defend interculturalism so that inequalities in the school environment are eventually mitigated.
Keywords: Education sociology, interculturalism, linguistic codes, national differences, school failure.