LOOKING BACK TO UNDERSTAND THE FUTURE OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION

IN SRI LANKA

From Tigers to Textbooks

Shiyana Gunasekara

Introduction and Context

Education has played a particularly decisive

role in the beginnings of the war

January 8, 2015: Sri Lanka elected

Maithripala Sirisena as President

2007/2008 : Education for Social Cohesion and

Peace framework

Tri-segmented Study

Policy Analysis

Quantitative Analysis –

Access and Outcomes

Evaluating Program

Implementation

Purpose

Objectives

Provide empirical

evidence of the results of the demand

for a multicultural

education over the past five decades

Contribute to dialog aiming

to build a national

consensus on social science

education reform in this

new era for Sri Lanka

Offer a single evaluation of the impact of

the 2008 ESCP

initiative

Two Main Questions

Diversity Management How do the ethnic and

religious makeup/segregation of school environments as well as extra curricular activities outside of school influence what students are learning about “the other” ?

Implementation of “inclusive” education policy Do recent textbooks,

classroom experiences and overall social science curricula reflect the kind of social cohesion education the Ministry of Education outlined in its ESCP framework of 2008? Previous policies mention “national integration” ?

Guiding TheoriesGuiding TheoriesCultural

Reproduction: Education systems have the power to

reproduce the culture of the

dominant group in order to allow that dominant group to

hold power (Bourdieu).

School environments are microcosms of the greater society

(Parsons).

Ministry of Education’s ESCP Framework

Problems to tackle Intercultural disharmony Inability to communicate due to language

barriers Lack of knowledge and respect of human

rights Improper distribution of power Mistrust among communities

Hypothesis According to Existing Literature

Management of diversity: Assimilationist and Separatist (Smith 2006)

Implementation of the Ministry of Education’s initiative has not achieved goals of inclusivity (Gaul, 2014)

Data Collection - Textbooks

History and Civics (Citizenship Education)

Sample Books used in government schools Textbooks and supplementary readers 1960s until after 2008 Grades until O/L (11th)

Data Analysis - Textbooks

Content & Storyline Analysis Which groups’

narratives are prioritized? Sidelined?

Proposed Coding Scheme Definition of

“us/we”, “them”

Vertical Analysis Comparing findings

and analysis to that of older textbooks

Qualitative Data Collection– School Environment

Established Field Visits Colombo Matara Jaffna

Ideal Field Visits Batticoloa Kandy

Schools National/Local Buddhist, Hindu,

Muslim, Catholic English Medium

Data Collection – School Environment (cont.)

Primary Method- Interviews Key Informants

(Experts) Teachers Pupils School Officials

(Principals) Parents

Vertical Analysis

Secondary Method-Observations On and outside school-

grounds History and Civics

classrooms Assemblies

Schools have an important role to play…[in] diminishing social and cultural distances by building a sense of solidarity among children through the shared experience of learning not only about their own culture and identity but also the cultures and identities of their classmates (Andruszkiewicz, 2006)

Thank you