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Muşata Bocoş, Oana Raluca Baciu Educatia 21 9/2011
PROMOTING INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION THROUGH ESTHETIC EDUCATION
1
Promoting intercultural education through esthetic education
Muşata Bocoş Oana Raluca Baciu
Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania
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Abstract
Taking UNESCO’s proposal ‘learning how to live together’ as a starting point, we examined to
what extent visual education can be used as a tool to promote the aims of intercultural education. We
analyzed the power of using artistic images from different cultures to change pupils’ perception of
cultural differences, thereby facilitating the development of attitudes of respect towards different
ethnic/cultural groups. We also investigated to what extent this strategy could contribute to the integration
of minority peers into a majority group. Pupils were assigned to either an experimental or a control group.
The experimental treatment consisted of exposing students to several art object images associated with
different cultures. Our measurement instrument was based on an adapted version of the ‘Draw-A-Person-
Test’, which we have called the ‘Draw-Two-Persons-Test’. We also used a questionnaire to examine
attitudes among subjects
Key words: interculturality, esthetic education, social inclusion, active and interactive methods.
Zusammenfassung
Wir haben den Vorschlag von UNESCO als Ausgangspunkt genommen “lernen zusammen zu
leben”, haben untersucht in welchem Mass die esthetische Bildung als ein Instrument für die Förderung
der interkulturellen Bildungsziele funktioniert. Wir haben die Kraft analysiert, künstlerische Bilder aus
unterschiedlichen Kulturen zu benützen, um die Wahrnehmung der Schüler zu verändern bezüglich der
kulturellen Unterschiede, was die Entwicklung von Respekt gegenüber bestimmter ethnischer Gruppen
angeht. Wir haben ebenfalls untersucht, in welchem Mass diese Strategie bei der Integrierung der Schüler
der Minderheitsgruppen in eine Mehrheitsgruppe beitragen kann. Die Schüler wurden in eine
experimentelle Gruppe und in eine Kontrollgruppe aufgeteilt. Das Experiment bestand darin, die Schüler
mehrerer Bilder auszusetzen, Kunstgegenstände unterschiedlicher Kulturen. Das Messinstrument stützt
sich auf eine angepasste Version des Testes: Draw-A-Person-Test – Zeichnung eines menschlichen
Wesens, den wir neu benannt haben: Draw-Two-Persons-Test – Zeichnet zwei Personen. Wir haben
ebenfalls einen Fragebogen benützt, um die Einstellung der Teilnehmer zu untersuchen.
Schlusselwörter: Interkulturalität, esthetische Bildung, soziale Einschliessung, aktive und interaktive
Methoden.
Muşata Bocoş, Oana Raluca Baciu Educatia 21 9/2011
PROMOTING INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION THROUGH ESTHETIC EDUCATION
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Promoting intercultural education through esthetic education
I. Introduction
The article proposes a theoretical framework and a practical presentation of developing
and promoting intercultural education through esthetic education in school.
Intercultural education oscillates between a problematic of knowledge objectives and an
issue that concerns intersubjective relations. At the cognitive level, the contributions of
knowledge revealed by classical disciplines, the cultural and social anthropology and social
psychology, it refers to the deconstruction of stereotypes and prejudices. At the behavioral level,
the teacher is faced with situations involving conflict negotiation values, codes of conduct.
Overcoming these conflicting situations, new avenues open for the assertion of freedom,
individuality and open multiple identities. 'Intercultural education contributes on the one hand,
the renovation practices within school and, on the other hand, the social dynamics of the
neighborhood, developing the exchange of knowledge between partners, creating a sudden
demand and a choice in education. Also, it must be said that its objective is a global educational
project and not one specifically for a particular public culture: it responds to ethical and political
demands.' (Munoz, 1999, page 26)
Intercultural orientation in education involves the implementation of several sizes or types
of pedagogy:
- A pedagogy centered on education, which is part of the diversity of public school
appearances;
- An active and interactive pedagogy, which involves an anchor in reality and an openness
to environmental circumstances in which they learn;
- A pedagogy that takes into account life-centering and develop competence in
communicating in intercultural perspective.
At the same time, methodological, this pedagogy is based on (Munoz, 1999, page 25):
- Pedagogy project, which fosters the interdependence between group members to achieve
cooperation in connection with a common goal:
Muşata Bocoş, Oana Raluca Baciu Educatia 21 9/2011
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- Type action research methodology, for which targets are most relevant practices aimed at
transforming devices based on active-interventionist and not a passive device,
observation-research;
- Develop a partnership within the education system (the teachers of educational
institutions, between teachers of different origins, researchers), but also in
connection with the environment (parents, associations, libraries, culture houses,
municipal courts);
- Establish effective exchange, from correspondence school to travel abroad;
- Stronger involvement of the interdisciplinary, through the relationship of several sets of
knowledge and values originally purchased separately.
People are not accustomed to accept the idea that they are different in terms of constituent,
that can not all be aligned to the same standard of value and feel guilty for it. In turn, other
individuals disapprove or exclude those who are different. Mutual tolerance and mutual
understanding can be made by prior education and respecting otherness. Intercultural education
is in this sense, a trail of prime importance, from a logic of 'mono' to a logic of 'inter'. (Rey,
1996, pages 47-48). To accept otherness and interdependence, to create conditions of expressing
the personality of another, to set up a joint behavior is a new 'Copernican revolution' which
education is required to achieve. Education conducted to a prospective of 'inter' would include:
Promotion of educational and legislative policy based on open, lax school
regulations;
Coordinate functional different institutions with educational purposes;
Intercultural reconvertion of teaching materials and curricula;
Rethinking school organization (recruitment and assignment of students, structuring
of schedules, of school year, of procedures for the conduct of activities);
Improve the relational climate in the classroom and school;
Imposition of realistic educational priorities;
Increasing non-scholastic activities;
Teacher education from an intercultural perspective;
Concludin all international relations.
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The meeting and the dialogue of cultures, despite the distances separating them in time and
space are inevitable and, in many cases, problematic and complex. It is possible to find many
dysfunctional effects such as mutual adaptation failure, ambiguity of identity or behavior, denial
and poor perception of difference. The problem of coexistence of different cultures in the center
of the same company is the opinion of many, a rather disconcerting challenge between present
and future.
The person who gets into another cultural horizon will see the face of an alternative
perception of reality, a set of specific cultural views of time and space, a different way of relating
to each other. In this situation, common symbols must be harnessed, like the cultural elements
that make a breakthrough and can facilitate the 'switch' from one world (with its values) to
another, richer and more permissive to the heterogeneous values. Mutual understanding is
necessary for the negotiation of common reference system between the exchange partners. The
common elements can convert into media in order to catalyze the integration process.
II. Intercultural education objectives
Intercultural education aims to prepare individuals and companies for closer opening to the
cultural dimension of their existence. With increasing contacts and possible interactions, we can
detect two major sets of objectives of the intercultural school:
- Preservation and protection of cultural diversity of school population. School, as an
instance of transmission of values, will focus on the cultures plurality that multicultural
environment requires it. It must be avoided training the primacy of a culture over another. This
objective involves two aspects: on the one hand, aiming to bring education to their environment,
region, city or its particular culture, with all features, on the other hand, this type of school aims
to provide education to environmental adaptation conditions for the coexistence of several
cultural groups. It concerns both family cultures and the surrounding ambient. It must be ensured
that school does not devalue one culture or another in the name of explicit relativisms.
- Preservation of the school unit. Intercultural school specificity regarding assimilation or
multiculturaliste attitudes, is that she refuses to remain closed in false alternative, promulgating
joint culture version, cultural interaction. As a tool for the transmission of cultural heritage, this
type of school seeks to privilege all environmental cultures, to highlight all in their specific
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differences, with their indispensable wealth. Civilization built by school is not presented as a
fixed entity with a permanent structure. School present or transmitted culture is required to be
understood in a dynamic, outstanding perspective. (Hannoun, 1987, pages 110-112).
These two sets of objectives allows concrete specifications in concrete intercultural
behavior, such as (Cozma T., 2001, pages 46-47):
1. Openness to another, to unusual. This opening is difficult, because it obliges us to
test our trust in ourselves, our own vision of the world. But this questionableness
is an indispensable prerequisite for the ability to live new experiences.
2. The ability to perceive what is different to us. We use to arrange what is foreign to
us after own reading rubrics, not to perceive other but in the normal way to feel or
think.
3. Accepting the other as another. In the encounter with otherness, we wont to
portray the other as similar or identical or to perceive the other as an enemy and
remove it.
4. Living ambiguous, ambivalent situations. Ambivalent statements confuse us. We
do not want any ambiguity. It causes us fear. These feelings may constitute the
preamble acceptance of difference.
5. The positive ability to experience. In general, we pretend recipes, well-established
rules. Just so we feel safe. It is possible to get closer to each other having the
courage to experiment and explore different existential ways.
6. Driving out fear from each other. Xenophobia is the oldest part of the dowry that
history has sent to us. This fear has to disappear to get another.
7. The ability to question their own rules. The look to another is determined by
socio-cultural referential system which conduct our behavior. As we prove unable
to recognize the relativity of our own system of reference, so we remain blind and
insensitive to others.
8. Non-acceptance of utopia 'egalitarian communicative discourse'. In case of
interests divergence, we should not yield to the principle that the powerful one
shows his strength in front of the weak. Instead, discussion should continue until
the two sides find themselves in a common project.
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9. Ability to take conflicts. There are two types of conduct in case of divergence of
interests: to refuse to see reality, putting it into brackets, and to make difference in
hostility. Conflicts should be taken calmly and resolved in a productive manner.
10. Ability to recognize and relativize their socio-ethno-centrist guidelines. That does
not mean to deny your own traditions, but to transform them into something
absolute.
11. The performance to win wider identities, to develop a new type of loyalty. We
should not give up to our identity, but we must accede to other types of broader
identities such as the European citizen of the world etc.
Intercultural education derives from inequality in socio-cultural relations that characterize
European society and their repercussions on education, having a positive and crucial role in the
enthronement of justice and equality. An important contribution in disseminating the idea of
inter-cultural and awareness of policy makers from the international topic has had The
Intercultural Council of Europe. In this respect, education and culture is under the authority of
The Cooperation Council, which aims:
To disseminate knowledge of all member states and ideas and techniques of
cultural diffusion;
To establish cooperative relationships among educators throughout Europe;
To sensitize the populations of Europe on common spiritual dowry, suggesting the
corresponding obligations of all to these elements;
To establish a climate of active understanding and respect for cultural qualities of
each group.
III.Promoting intercultural education through estethic education
Intercultural education is a promoted value in both EU and the Romanian education. It
implies respect, tolerance, acceptance of diversity and a friendly attitude.
Education for the future means, in view of the Commission of UNESCO for education in
this century:
learning to know;
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learning to learn;
learning to be;
learning to live together.
Intercultural education could take many forms, take several directions: ethnic, religious,
professional, social etc. In this paper we address the promotion of intercultural education through
esthetic education.
Eesthetic education is the process of training and development of human personality
through the reception, evaluation and creation of beauty in nature, society and art. The core of
esthetic education is artistic education, which has a narrower scope, operating only with the
beauty of art.
Esthetic education should not be confused with artistic education.
a) in terms of content:
- esthetic education has a broader scope that includes the beauty of nature, society and art,
- artistic education aims only beautiful works of art.
b) in terms of aims:
- esthetic education aims at training esthetic responsiveness and creativity,
- artistic education aims the development and cultivation of creative skills in methodical
records specific to each art.
c) in terms of development forms:
- esthetic education is conducted in the form of theoretical and applied work,
- performing artistic education is more a practical-applicative form activity.
Eesthetic education desiderata can be divided into two groups:
- goals that are considering forming ability to perceive, to learn and use aesthetic values in
a appropriate way;
- goals which aim at developing the capacity to create new aesthetic values, esthetic
cultivation of creative skills.
Development and aesthetic and artistic education behavior aimed three levels:
- sensory level - the ability to respond to aesthetic and artistic values,
- the emotional level - experience of artistic creation and esthetic values,
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- the cognitive level - the act of artistic knowledge and esthetic significance of the work art.
The process of aesthetic behavior education involves: developing the capacity to perceive
the esthetic and artistic; learning esthetic and artistic language to be used in the act of
communication and reception of the content of the artwork; encouraging and guiding the
development of creative artistic skills; practicing the beauty in life, in school teaching
environment and in human relations.
Aesthetic education principles
We distinguish:
- the principle of esthetic education through authentic values;
- the principle of deep and creative perception of works of art and aesthetic values in
general;
- the principle of uniform perception of content and form;
- the principle of understanding the contextual location of the aesthetic phenomenon.
a) The principle of esthetic education through authentic values.
Through esthetic education we aim to develop the capacity to produce esthetic values. In
this way esthetic tastes are formed, which provides the individual the possibility of selection in
the esthetic universe and targeting in an axiological sense, training in the esthetic education and
the esthetic content and esthetic manifestations of human life. Educators are recommended to use
those esthetic values which came in the final national and world heritage.
b) The principle of deep and creative perception of works of art and esthetic values in
general.
The perception of art works and esthetic values refer to the personal ability to understand a
work of art or aspects of them; using knowledge or artistic or esthetic emotion itself; in a creative
sense through: the creation of esthetic values, or enrich their esthetic education.
c) The principle of uniform perception of content and form.
Unitary perception underline the fusion of intellect and affection, which causes esthetic
revelation. This principle calls on educators to carry out complex analysis through which to
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reveal the form and content of a specific work, the correlations between them and the unitary
character of equilibrium.
d) The principle of understanding the contextual location of the esthetic phenomenon.
This principle recommends to know as thoroughly as possible correlations between work,
author and social-historical conditions. It asked to address the knowledge and appreciation of
works of art at an interdisciplinary level.
IV. Experiment presentation
We intended to connect three general issues, which emerge from the global process of
interculturality:
1. the need for an intercultural attitude;
2. the need for improved relations between the host society and ethnic/cultural minority
groups;
3. the use of art education as a tool to promote the aims of intercultural education.
In our research, we focused on the analysis of student attitudes in two multicultural groups.
We examined attitudes towards minority peers during art activities as well as the effects of an
experimental treatment on one of these groups.
Methods
In our research, we examined to what extent using art education can:
(1) promote respect between different ethnic groups;
(2) contribute to the integration of ethnic minority students in classrooms.
We examined:
(A) to what extent students’ analysis of artistic images from different cultures could
influence their own perception of cultural differences, thereby facilitating the development of
attitudes of respect towards different ethnic/cultural groups;
(B) to what extent this strategy could contribute to the integration of minority peers into a
majority group.
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For the purpose of our research, we selected a public school with a multicultural
population, two 5th grade classes. The classes were similar with respect to several variables,
namely age (mean age of students was 11 years), ethnicity (both classes contained the same
percentage of ethnic minority students), gender (44% female and 56% male) and their art
teachers were similar in age, training, professional experience and style of teaching.
We developed a quasi-experimental design with experimental and control groups.
Operating under the assumption that children’s drawings can be viewed as psychological
projective instruments, comparisons were made by means of a pretest and post-test, based on
Goodenough (1926), Harris (1963) and Machover’s (1965) ‘Draw-A-Person-Test’. This test was
later adapted by Roer-Strier (2001) by introducing drawings of two persons on the same sheet of
paper. We have called this adapted version of the test the ‘Draw-Two-Persons-Test’. Although
the ‘Draw-a-Person-Test’ has been used for psychological evaluation, the adapted version has
been used by for cross-cultural comparison. This was also the purpose of our research.
Both the experimental and control groups were told (separately) to draw a person from
their own ethnicity and one from another ethnicity on the same sheet of paper to the best of their
ability and in the way they most preferred. Subsequently, the experimental group participated in
the experimental treatment during ten sessions of 90 minutes each. The experimental sessions
consisted of analyzing several art object images belonging to different cultures through an
aesthetic approach, in which various core art elements have been identified. After the
experiment, the same test was, once again, given to both groups using the same instructions that
were used during the pre-test.
Finally, we developed and applied a questionnaire in the experimental group, in which we
investigated to what extent minority peers had been integrated into the majority group.
In the experimental sessions, students were invited to analyze the most important regions
of their country, their cultural and artistic expressions. For this purpose, we made presented
posters, slides, videos, original art objects and ethnic music. We also invited the students’ parents
and older students. Some parents who attended a session were wearing ethnic traditional clothes.
We also invited several representative personalities from different ethnicity to present traditions,
culture and art of their own ethnicity. These events became important for the students, according
to their questionnaire responses.
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Results
In order to avoid subjectivity in the analysis of the drawings, we focused on measurable
differences between the pre-test and post-test. This analysis identified six aspects where
significant differences could be found:
1. Drawn persons’ area
Analysis: In the Experimental group, there were no differences between the area used to
draw persons during pre-test and post-test measurements, while such differences did emerge in
the control group. The area relegated to drawings of other ethnicity persons decreased
significantly in the latter condition.
Interpretation: Children tended to allocate more space for objects they deemed
more important.
2. Distance between drawn persons
Analysis: The distance between drawn persons increased significantly in both groups.
Interpretation: The distance between drawn persons indicated low self-esteem and
insecurity regarding others.
3. Ethnicity
Analysis: the experimental group accentuated ethnic aspects more in the posttest when
drawing persons from other ethnicity. The drawings by the control group of different ethnicities
showed mostly indistinguishable characteristics.
Interpretation: The artistic approach associated with different cultures led students to
understand and respect cultural diversity.
4. Drawn persons’ position on the sheet of paper
Analysis: The drawings of the experimental group showed that other ethnicity persons were
placed on the right side of the sheet in the post-experimental condition. There was no movement
in the placement of persons in the control group.
Interpretation: A person drawn on the right side of the sheet suggests that the author placed
this person in his/her near environment.
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5.Distinguishing features on the drawn persons’ clothes
Analysis: The experimental group kept these distinguishing features on the drawings of
other ethnicity persons’ clothes, while the control group removed some.
Interpretation: The manner in which persons were drawn points to the influence of the
environment on the child.
6. Distinguishing features on the drawn persons’ heads
Analysis: The Experimental group kept these distinguishing features on the drawings of
other ethncity persons’ heads, while the control group tended to remove them.
Interpretation: The artistic approach of different cultures contributed to an increase in the
value students placed on the importance of learning about those cultures.
All six variables identified above suggested that individuals in the experimental group
developed more respect for each other, as well as for different ethnic groups and diversity in
general. The results also suggested that this group had developed intercultural attitudes.
However, with respect to the variable ‘distance between drawn persons’, the results seemed not
to correspond with the other results associated with the experimental condition. We think that
this specific result is due to the way curricular art classes are designed, where students are taught
to organize the sheet using similar spaces between graphic elements.
The responses to the questionnaire suggested that 80% of the experimental group appeared
to enjoy the approach adopted to learn about other cultures. Sixty per cent of these students
admitted that, before the experiment, they held inaccurate beliefs about other cultures and that,
after the experiment, they had changed their perceptions. Sixty-five per cent stated that the
experiment had changed class interactions for the better and 80% believed that intellectual ability
was the same among various ethnic groups. Ninety per cent of the students recognized the
importance of an art based approach to ethnic and cultural diversity in changing their
perceptions.
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Examining and combining the results of both measurement instruments led to the
following conclusions:
1. The experimental group changed its attitude into a more intercultural one.
2. No discriminatory attitudes were found among the experimental group, and this group
appeared to be open to diversity at school.
The results suggested that there were significant differences between the pre- and post-tests
of the experimental group and between the post-tests of the experimental and control groups.
These results demonstrated that art-based education may contribute to the development of
students’ attitudes regarding respect towards different ethnic/cultural groups. The results also
revealed that stereotypical and other negative influences stemming from the broader community
could be addressed by the kind of art-based educational approach we tested here.
V. Conclusions
Aesthetic education has a very important role in intercultural approach, but not limited to
it. We believe that its role is not yet appreciated at its true value. A new curricular approach
would be necessary in this respect, that emphasize aesthetic education.
We conclude that these approaches can contribute to the future of the motto – 'learning to
live together'.
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educaţiei contemporane, în O nouă provocare pentru educaţie: interculturalitatea,
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2. Goodenough, F. (1926) Mesurement of intelligence by drawings (Chicago, World Book
Company).
3. Hannoun, Hubert (1987) Les Ghettos de l’ecole. Pour une éducation interculturelle,
ESF, Paris.
4. Machover, M. A. (1965) Dessin d’un personnage: Méthode d’investigacion de la
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