culture and education

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Culture and Education

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• Description
• Aims and Scope
• Editorial Board
• Abstracting / Indexing
• Submission Guidelines

Culture and Education (C&E) is a peer-reviewed journal publishing articles that explore the ways culture and education shape human development. (For more information, click on Aims and Scope on the tab above.)

Types of articles admitted for consideration include research reports, position papers, accounts of teaching experiences, and descriptions of ground-breaking educational projects. Both empirical and theoretical research papers are welcome, but all papers must demonstrate methodological rigor related to cultural-historical/activity theories. High level qualitative and quantitative research papers are welcome. There will be no restrictions when it comes to age ranges or social settings. Data may come from ethnographies, experimental approaches, intervention studies, case studies, interviews, questionnaires, etc.

The Journal does not publish reliability and validity studies of assessment instruments.

Special Issue proposals are welcome.

Read the Submission Guidelines for further information on how to submit your article.

The journal publishes all content in English and Spanish.

Important notice: as of 2021, only English-language manuscripts are accepted for review.

Descripción de la revista Cultura y Educación (C&E) es una revista de artículos revisados por pares que publica artículos que exploran las vías por las que la cultura y la educación dan forma al desarrollo humano. (Para más información sobre Línea y público de la revista, haga clic en Aims and Scope en la pestaña superior) Los tipos de artículos admitidos para evaluación incluyen informes de investigación, artículos de posición, descripciones de experiencias didácticas, y descripciones de proyectos educativos innovadores. Se aceptan artículos de investigación empírica y teórica, pero todos deben demostrar rigor metodológico y relación con las teorías histórico-culturales y de la actividad. Serán bienvenidos aquellos artículos de investigación tanto cualitativa como cuantitativa que muestren alto nivel de calidad. No hay restricciones en cuanto a grupos de edad o contextos sociales. Los datos pueden provenir de etnografías, enfoques experimentales, estudios de intervención, estudios de caso, entrevistas, cuestionarios, etc.

La revista no publica estudios de validez y fiabilidad de instrumentos de evaluación.

Las propuestas de Números Monográficos serán bienvenidas.

Lea la Guía de envío de manuscritos para más información sobre cómo enviar su manuscrito.

La revista publica todos sus artículos en inglés y español.

Aviso importante: a partir de 2021 solo se aceptan a evaluación manuscritos en inglés.

Culture and Education (C&E) is a peer-reviewed journal publishing articles that explore the ways culture and education shape human development. With all due respect to other theoretical approaches, C&E takes the cultural-historical approach originated (but not limited to) in works of Vygotsky, Luria and Leontiev as its fundamental theoretical stance. This approach views culture not only as the realm of human customs, values and beliefs, but also as a variety of historically rooted forms of being human; complex and dynamic forms of human production through different types of activity. Education is seen as including both formal and informal institutions and a variety of cultural practices and activity systems (school/preschool education, play pedagogy, indigenous education, health education, family education, professional education, special education, etc.). Education is both universal, and at the same time it is context-specific. Cultural practices involving creativity and social interactions are similarly both universal and specific. Educational practices are by definition cultural practices, and the journal particularly welcomes studies that link culture, education, and human development.

C&E is primarily aimed at researchers and professionals working in schools and universities, but also those working in social, family, and community projects. We welcome contributions from workers in all educational and cultural fields, including psychology, anthropology, linguistics, sociology, communication, and all areas of educational research.

Línea y público

Cultura y Educación (C&E) es una revista de artículos revisados por pares que publica artículos que exploran las vías por las que la cultura y la educación dan forma al desarrollo humano. Con el respeto debido a otros enfoques teóricos, C&E adopta como marco teórico fundamental el enfoque histórico-cultural, originado en los trabajos de Vygotski, Luria y Leontiev (pero no limitado a ellos). Este enfoque contempla la cultura no solo como el dominio de las costumbres, valores y creencias humanos, sino también como una variedad de formas de lo humano históricamente arraigadas; formas complejas y dinámicas de producciones humanas con base en distintos tipos de actividades. En esta visión, la educación incluye tanto instituciones formales e informales como una variedad de prácticas culturales y sistemas de actividad (educación escolar/preescolar, pedagogía del juego, educación indígena, educación para la salud, educación familiar, educación profesional, educación especial, etc.). La educación es al mismo tiempo universal y específica del contexto. Las prácticas culturales, incluyendo la creatividad y las interacciones sociales, son igualmente universales y específicas. Las prácticas educativas son por definición prácticas culturales, y la revista acogerá con particular interés aquellos estudios que vinculen cultura, educación, y desarrollo humano.

C&E va dirigida fundamentalmente a investigadores y profesionales del ámbito escolar y universitario, pero también para aquellos que trabajen en proyectos sociales, familiares y comunitarios. Las aportaciones de los profesionales de todos los ámbitos educativos y culturales serán bienvenidas, incluyendo psicología, antropología, lingüística, sociología, comunicación, y todas las áreas de la investigación educativa.

• Clarivate Analytics: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI)
• ERIC (Education Resources Information Center)

Manuscript Submission Guidelines: Culture and Education

Please note: the journal is undergoing a peer review site transition from Editorial Manager to ScholarOne. 

Please go to  https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/cye  if you want to submit a new submission.

If you have a submission undergoing peer review from before 5th June 2024, please rest assured that your manuscript is being processed as normal, and you will still be able to access your submission status and submit any future revisions, if appropriate, via Editorial Manager at  https://www.editorialmanager.com/rcye/default.aspx . For any queries, please contact the editorial team at  [email protected] .

This Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Please read the guidelines below then visit the Journal’s submission site https://www.editorialmanager.com/rcye to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned. Remember you can log in to the submission site at any time to check on the progress of your paper through the peer review process.

Sage disseminates high-quality research and engaged scholarship globally, and we are committed to diversity and inclusion in publishing. We encourage submissions from a diverse range of authors from across all countries and backgrounds.

Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Culture and Education will be reviewed.

There are no fees payable to submit or publish in this Journal. Open Access options are available - see section 3.3 below.

As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere. Please see our guidelines on prior publication and note that Culture and Education will consider submissions of papers that have been posted on preprint servers; please alert the Editorial Office when submitting (contact details are at the end of these guidelines) and include the DOI for the preprint in the designated field in the manuscript submission system.Authors should not post an updated version of their paper to a preprint server while it is being peer reviewed for possible publication in the Journal. If your paper is accepted, you will need to contact the preprint server to ensure the final published article link is attached to your preprint. Learn more about our preprint policy here .

If you have any questions about publishing with Sage, please visit the Sage Journal Solutions Portal.

• What do we publish? 1.1 Aims & Scope 1.2 Article types 1.3 Writing your paper
• Editorial policies 2.1 Peer review policy 2.2 Authorship 2.3 Acknowledgements 2.4 Funding 2.5  Declaration of conflicting interests 2.6  Research ethics and patient consent 2.7  Research data
• Publishing policies 3.1 Publication ethics 3.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement 3.3 Open access and author archiving
• Preparing your manuscript 4.1 Formatting 4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics 4.3 Identifiable information 4.4 Supplemental material 4.5 Reference style 4.6 English language editing services
• Submitting your manuscript 5.1 ORCID 5.2 Information required for completing your submission 5.3 Permissions
• On acceptance and publication 6.1 SAGE Production 6.2 Online First publication 6.3 Access to your published article 6.4 Promoting your article
• Further information 7.1 Appealing the publication decision

1. What do we publish?

1.1 Aims & Scope

Before submitting your manuscript to Culture and Education, please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope:

Culture and Education (C&E) is a peer-reviewed journal publishing articles that explore the ways culture and education shape human development. The cultural-historical approach taken in the journal views culture not only as the realm of human customs, values and beliefs, but also as a variety of historically rooted forms of being human; complex and dynamic forms of human production through different types of activity. Education is seen as including both formal and informal institutions and a variety of cultural practices and activity systems (school/preschool education, play pedagogy, indigenous education, health education, family education, professional education, special education, etc.). Education is both universal, and at the same time it is context-specific. Cultural practices involving creativity and social interactions are similarly both universal and specific. Educational practices are by definition cultural practices, and the journal particularly welcomes studies that link culture, education, and human development.

Types of articles admitted for consideration include research reports, position papers, accounts of teaching experiences, and descriptions of ground-breaking educational projects.

Both empirical and theoretical research papers are welcome, but all papers must demonstrate methodological rigor. High level qualitative and quantitative research papers are welcome. There will be no restrictions when it comes to age ranges or social settings. Data may come from ethnographies, experimental approaches, intervention studies, case studies, interviews, questionnaires, etc.

Special issue proposals are welcome.

Authors can choose to publish gold open access in this journal.

C&E is primarily aimed at researchers and professionals working in schools and universities, but also those working in social, family, and community projects. We welcome contributions from workers in all educational and cultural fields, including psychology, anthropology, linguistics, sociology, communication, and all areas of educational research. The journal publishes all content in English and Spanish.

Cultura y Educación (C&E) es una revista de artículos revisados por pares que publica artículos que exploran las vías por las que la cultura y la educación dan forma al desarrollo humano. El enfoque histórico-cultural de la revista contempla la cultura no solo como el dominio de las costumbres, valores y creencias humanos, sino también como una variedad de formas de lo humano históricamente arraigadas; formas complejas y dinámicas de producciones humanas con base en distintos tipos de actividades. En esta visión, la educación incluye tanto instituciones formales e informales como una variedad de prácticas culturales y sistemas de actividad (educación escolar/preescolar, pedagogía del juego, educación indígena, educación para la salud, educación familiar, educación profesional, educación especial, etc.). La educación es al mismo tiempo universal y específica del contexto. Las prácticas culturales, incluyendo la creatividad y las interacciones sociales, son igualmente universales y específicas. Las prácticas educativas son por definición prácticas culturales, y la revista acogerá con particular interés aquellos estudios que vinculen cultura, educación, y desarrollo humano.

Los tipos de artículos admitidos para evaluación incluyen informes de investigación, artículos de posición, descripciones de experiencias didácticas, y descripciones de proyectos educativos innovadores.

Se aceptan artículos de investigación empírica y teórica, pero todos deben demostrar rigor metodológico. Serán bienvenidos aquellos artículos de investigación tanto cualitativa como cuantitativa que muestren alto nivel de calidad. No hay restricciones en cuanto a grupos de edad o contextos sociales. Los datos pueden provenir de etnografías, enfoques experimentales, estudios de intervención, estudios de caso, entrevistas, cuestionarios, etc.

Los autores pueden publicar sus artículos en Acceso Abierto Oro en esta revista.

Lea las Instrucciones para Autores para más información sobre cómo enviar su manuscrito.

Cultura y Educación va dirigida fundamentalmente a investigadores y profesionales del ámbito escolar y universitario, pero también para aquellos que trabajen en proyectos sociales, familiares y comunitarios. Las aportaciones de los profesionales de todos los ámbitos educativos y culturales serán bienvenidas, incluyendo psicología, antropología, lingüística, sociología, comunicación, y todas las áreas de la investigación educativa. La revista publica todos sus artículos en inglés y español.

1.2 Article types

Types of articles admitted for consideration include:

• Original research articles
• Position articles
• Accounts of Teaching experiences
• Descriptions of ground-breaking educational projects.

1. Original research articles:

Word Count:  8000

Description:  Research articles should present novel work within the scope of the journal which represents an important advancement in knowledge or understanding. Research articles need to include an introduction, a theoretical background/framework, a well-reported methodology, results, and a discussion of the results in the context of the published literature.

2. Position articles:

Word count:  3500

Description:  An organized and precise presentation of a given perspective on a relevant matter among those included in the journal scope. Ideas presented must be clearly defined, argued, and compared with other perspectives on the same matter. For organizing this type of articles, we specially suggest to follow the indications given in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7 th Edition.

3. Teaching experiences:

Description:  Design of the innovative educational activities in formal or informal settings. They must precisely describe the principles guiding the experience, its empirical and theoretical background, the steps followed in its development, and the methodological precautions taken for supporting the conclusions.

4. Descriptions of Educational Projects:

Word count:  1500

Description:  Short descriptions of projects that stand out for their innovative character will be accepted. Descriptions must specify the principles that motivated the project, its empirical and theoretical background, a detailed account of methodological aspects, and a justification of the hypotheses and predictions. Preliminary results discussions are welcome.

General Information

Word counts must include title, running head, abstract, keywords, tables, figures, annexes, references, captions, footnotes, and endnotes. Manuscripts that greatly exceed the word counts described above will be critically reviewed with respect to length. Authors should include a word count with their manuscript.

Abstracts of no more than 175 words are required for all manuscripts submitted, summarizing the whole article, not just its conclusions

        1.3 Writing your paper 

        Visit the Sage Author Gateway for general advice on how to get published , plus links to further resources. Sage Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance your article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.

                        1.3.1 Make your article discoverable

                       For information and guidance on how to make your article more discoverable, visit our Gateway page on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

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2. Editorial policies

2.1 Peer review policy

Sage does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication.

Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:

· The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors.

· The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper.

· The author has recommended the reviewer.

· The reviewer has provided a personal (e.g. Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution).

The journal’s policy is to have manuscripts reviewed by two expert reviewers. Culture and Education utilizes a double-anonymized peer review process in which the reviewer and authors’ names and information are withheld from the other. Reviewers may at their own discretion opt to reveal their names to the author in their review but our standard policy practice is for their identities to remain concealed. All manuscripts are reviewed as rapidly as possible, while maintaining rigor. Reviewers make comments to the author and recommendations to the Editor who then makes the final decision.

Manuscripts are first screened by the Editor, who checks certain formal aspects and whether they fit the scope of the journal. Afterwards they are sent to an Associate Editor, who will send them for review to two or three representative referees. Authors will receive the comments of the reviewers, along with a letter from the Associate Editor and the Editor, informing them of the decision regarding their work.

Culture and Education is committed to delivering high quality, fast peer-review for your paper, and as such has partnered with Web of Science (previously Publons). Web of Science is a third-party service that seeks to track, verify and give credit for peer review. Reviewers for Culture and Education can opt into Web of Science in order to claim their reviews or have them automatically verified and added to their reviewer profile. Reviewers claiming credit for their review will be associated with the relevant journal, but the article name, reviewer’s decision and the content of their review is not published on the site. For more information visit the Web of Science website .

The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the Journal. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board and the submitting Editor/Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process.

2.2 Authorship

All parties who have made a substantive contribution to the article should be listed as authors. Principal authorship, authorship order, and other publication credits should be based on the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their status. A student is usually listed as principal author on any multiple-authored publication that substantially derives from the student’s dissertation or thesis.

Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information, see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools .

2.3 Acknowledgements

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.

Please supply any personal acknowledgements separately to the main text to facilitate anonymous peer review.

Per ICMJE recommendations , it is best practice to obtain consent from non-author contributors who you are acknowledging in your paper.

       2.3.1 Third party submissions

      Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be            included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:

      · Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input

      · Identify any entities that paid for this assistance

      · Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.

Where appropriate, Sage reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.

2.3.2 Writing assistance

Individuals who provided writing assistance, e.g. from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and so should be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input – and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. It is not necessary to disclose use of language polishing services.

2.4 Funding

Culture and Education requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading.  Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the Sage Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. 

2.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

Culture and Education encourages authors to include a declaration of any conflicting interests and recommends you review the good practice guidelines on the Sage Journal Author Gateway.

It is the policy of Culture and Education to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published articles.

Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’. For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please s ee the ICMJE recommendations here .

2.6 Research ethics and patient consent

If applicable, authors are required to state in the methods section whether participants provided informed consent.

Information on informed consent to report individual cases or case series should be included in the manuscript text. A statement is required regarding whether written informed consent for patient information and images to be published was provided by the patient(s) or a legally authorized representative. Please do not submit the patient’s actual written informed consent with your article, as this in itself breaches the patient’s confidentiality. The Journal requests that you confirm to us, in writing, that you have obtained written informed consent but the written consent itself should be held by the authors/investigators themselves, for example in a patient’s hospital record. The confirmatory letter may be uploaded with your submission as a separate file. Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants .

2.7 Research data

The Journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the Sage Research Data policy pages .

Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:

· Share your research data in a relevant public data repository

· Include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, use the statement to confirm why it cannot be shared.

· Cite this data in your research

If you need to anonymize your research data for peer review, please refer to our Research Data Sharing FAQs for guidance .

3. Publishing policies

3.1 Publication ethics

Sage is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the Sage Author Gateway .

        3.1.1 Plagiarism

       Culture and Education and Sage take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the Journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

      3.1.2 Prior publication

If material has been previously published it is not generally acceptable for publication in a Sage journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the Sage Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

3.2 Contributor’s publishing agreement

Before publication, Sage requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Sage’s Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement is an exclusive licence agreement which means that the author retains copyright in the work but grants Sage the sole and exclusive right and licence to publish for the full legal term of copyright. Exceptions may exist where an assignment of copyright is required or preferred by a proprietor other than Sage. In this case copyright in the work will be assigned from the author to the society. For more information, please visit the Sage Author Gateway .

3.3 Open access and author archiving

Culture and Education offers optional open access publishing via the Sage Choice programme and Open Access agreements, where authors can publish open access either discounted or free of charge depending on the agreement with Sage. Find out if your institution is participating by visiting Open Access Agreements at Sage . For more information on Open Access publishing options at Sage please visit Sage Open Access . For information on funding body compliance, and depositing your article in repositories, please visit Sage’s Author Archiving and Re-Use Guidelines and Publishing Policies .

4. Preparing your manuscript

4.1 Formatting

The preferred format for your manuscript is Word.LaTeX files are also accepted. A LaTex template is available on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway.

4.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics

For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit Sage’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines .

Figures supplied in colour will appear in colour online regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For specifically requested colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the costs from Sage after receipt of your accepted article.

4.3 Identifiable information

Where a journal uses double-anonymised peer review, authors are required to submit:

        1. A version of the manuscript which has had any information that compromises the anonymity of the author(s) removed or anonymized. This version will be sent to the peer reviewers.

       2. A separate title page which includes any removed or anonymised material. This will not be sent to the peer reviewers.

Visit the Sage Author Gateway for detailed guidance on making an anonymous submission.

4.4 Supplemental material

This Journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc.) alongside the full-text of the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files .

4.5 Reference style

Culture and Education adheres to the APA reference style. View the APA guidelines to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

If you use EndNote to manage references, you can download the Sage Harvard EndNote output file .

4.6 English language editing services

Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the Journal’s specifications should consider using Sage Language Services. Visit Sage Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information .

5. Submitting your manuscript

Culture and Education is hosted on Editorial Manager, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by Aries. Visit https://www.editorialmanager.com/rcye to login and submit your article online.

IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the Journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit Editorial Manager Online Help.

As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID . ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.

The collection of ORCID IDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this Journal. If you already have an ORCID ID you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and oursystems are automatically updated. Your ORCID ID will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID ID is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

If you do not already have an ORCID ID please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more .

5.2 Information required for completing your submission

You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed in the manuscript should be the institution where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

5.3 Permissions

Please also ensure that you have obtained any necessary permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please see the Copyright and Permissions page on the Sage Author Gateway .

6. On acceptance and publication

6.1 SAGE Production

Your Sage Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the production process. Proofs will be made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal Sage Edit or by email, and corrections should be made directly or notified to us promptly. Authors are reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names, affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest statements, if any, are accurate.

6.2 Online First publication

Online First allows final articles (completed and approved articles awaiting assignment to a future issue) to be published online prior to their inclusion in a journal issue, which significantly reduces the lead time between submission and publication. Visit the Sage Journals help page for more details, including how to cite Online First articles.

6.3 Access to your published article

Sage provides authors with online access to their final article.

6.4 Promoting your article

Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The Sage Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.

7. Further information

Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process should be sent to the Culture and Education editorial office as follows:

Nikolai Veresov

[email protected]

7.1 Appealing the publication decision

Editors have very broad discretion in determining whether an article is an appropriate fit for their journal. Many manuscripts are declined with a very general statement of the rejection decision. These decisions are not eligible for formal appeal unless the author believes the decision to reject the manuscript was based on an error in the review of the article, in which case the author may appeal the decision by providing the Editor with a detailed written description of the error they believe occurred.

If an author believes the decision regarding their manuscript was affected by a publication ethics breach, the author may contact the publisher with a detailed written description of their concern, and information supporting the concern, at [email protected]

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Culture in Education and Education in Culture

Tensioned Dialogues and Creative Constructions

• © 2019
• Pernille Hviid 0 ,
• Mariann Märtsin 1

Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

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School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, Australia

• Examines the topic of globalization and standardization of education through a novel and unique cultural developmental perspective
• Draws upon case studies and examples from varied cultural contexts
• Zooms in on the constructive and destructive tensions between global trends and local cultural practices
• Introduces a unique conceptual framework to discuss challenges and opportunities

Part of the book series: Cultural Psychology of Education (CPED, volume 10)

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Shifting Cultural Paradigms in Global Education: Toward Decolonizing Knowledge

Culture in International and Comparative Education Research: Conceptual and Methodological Issues

The Challenges of the Schooling from Cultural Psychology of Education

• Standardization of education
• Culturally sensitive education
• Cultural minorities and education
• Globalization and education
• Culture and education
• Culturally informed pedagogy
• Local vs global culture practices in education
• Global ideas and local practices in education

Table of contents (15 chapters)

Front matter, perspectives on the challenge of globalization, education, competition, and cultural development.

• Willem Wardekker

What Is Disruptive About Disruptive Behavior?

• Thomas Szulevicz

Bildung , Motivation, and Deliberative Democracy in Primary Education

• Jacob Klitmøller, Sarah K. Jensen

Commentary to Part I: Perspectives on the Challenge of Globalization

• Ian Thompson

Constructing Culturally Responsive Education

Cultural security in australian classrooms: entanglements with mainstream education as aboriginal and torres strait islander children transition to school.

• Melinda G. Miller, Karen Dawson-Sinclair, Areana Eivers, Karen Thorpe

A Cultural–Historical Model to Inform Culturally Responsive Pedagogies: Case Studies of Educational Practices in Solomon Islands and Australia

• Yeshe Colliver, Libby Lee-Hammond

Nhembo’ea Reko Regua: Trajectories of the Mbya Guarani Struggle for a Differentiated Education

• Roberto Veríssimo Lima, Jurandir Augusto Martim, Danilo Silva Guimarães

Education for Beauty in Acervo da Laje (The Laje Collection) and the Emergence of Creative Work at the Outskirts of Salvador, Brazil

• José Eduardo Ferreira Santos

Commentary to Part II: Constructing Culturally Responsive Education

• Rebeca Mejía-Arauz

Educational Cultivation of Personal Lives

Identity in education and education in identities: connecting curriculum and school practice to students’ lives and identities.

• Moisès Esteban-Guitart

Using Symbolic Resources to Overcome Institutional Barriers: A Case Study of an Albanian-Speaking Young Woman in Switzerland

• Teuta Mehmeti, Tania Zittoun

Teacher Identity in Structural Reflective Workshops: A View from China

• Zhou Li-Hua, Li Xiao-Wen, Wu Aruna, Gao Ya-Bing

Children’s Development: Between Personal Engagements and Curriculum-Based Preschool Practices

• Jakob Waag Villadsen

Commentary to Part III: Cultural Perspectives on Self/Identity Issues, Prejudice, and Symbolic Resources

• Angela Uchoa Branco

Editors’ Conclusion: Imagining an Education for “Good Life”

• Pernille Hviid, Mariann Märtsin

Editors and Affiliations

Pernille Hviid

Mariann Märtsin

Bibliographic Information

Book Title : Culture in Education and Education in Culture

Book Subtitle : Tensioned Dialogues and Creative Constructions

Editors : Pernille Hviid, Mariann Märtsin

Series Title : Cultural Psychology of Education

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28412-1

Publisher : Springer Cham

eBook Packages : Education , Education (R0)

Copyright Information : Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

Hardcover ISBN : 978-3-030-28411-4 Published: 27 November 2019

Softcover ISBN : 978-3-030-28414-5 Published: 27 November 2020

eBook ISBN : 978-3-030-28412-1 Published: 18 November 2019

Series ISSN : 2364-6780

Series E-ISSN : 2364-6799

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : XXIII, 260

Number of Illustrations : 3 b/w illustrations, 23 illustrations in colour

Topics : Educational Psychology , International and Comparative Education , Developmental Psychology , Sociology of Culture

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Article contents

Inclusive intercultural education in multicultural societies.

• Rocío Cárdenas-Rodríguez Rocío Cárdenas-Rodríguez Universidad Pablo de Olavide
•  and  Teresa Terrón-Caro Teresa Terrón-Caro Universidad Pablo de Olivade
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.803
• Published online: 29 November 2021

Cultural diversity is a characteristic of plural societies, and the way that each society approaches that diversity determines whether or not the societies evolve or stagnate, whether cultural groups remain segregated or integrate, and whether social inequalities grow or if communities affirm the value of diversity and promote equality.

For this reason, it is important to analyze the cultural diversity management system that guides our interventions because the socioeducational methods and practices designed for any given plural context depends on them. Research refers to the assimilationist, multicultural, and intercultural cultural diversity management models, and the conclusion appears to be that the intercultural model is the framework that [best] accounts for an integrated and inclusive society.

Interculturalism requires the establishment of policies that champion equity, in order to achieve equality at the legal and social levels, and that promote genuine equality of opportunity. At the same time, it demands pedagogical practices based in civic education. An intercultural education should help us learn to live together and should educate people, to grow their knowledge, understanding, and respect for cultural diversity.

Intercultural education is a reflective, socioeducational practice focused on social and cultural transformation through equal rights, equity, and positive interaction between different cultures. Intercultural education is characterized by an acknowledgment of cultural diversity, a positive valuation of egalitarian relations, equal educational opportunities for all, and moving beyond racism and discrimination.

Fundamentally, intercultural education can be understood as an educational model that champions cultural diversity and the advantages it offers within an education context, such as the values of human rights and equality, and a rejection of cultural discrimination.

• cultural diversity
• ethnic minorities
• assimilationism
• multiculturalism
• interculturalism
• social inclusion

A version of this article in its original language

Culture, Society, and Processes of Acculturation

The evolution of human beings over the course of centuries has been possible because humans are social beings. They live in societies, share a common habitat, solve problems together, fight together for survival and for their own wellbeing. They share cultures and a specific way of living and being in the world. For this reason, the concepts of culture and society must be analyzed together.

Tylor’s definition of culture comes from the last part of the 20th century and has remained in use owing to its simplicity, defining culture as “that complex whole made up of understandings, beliefs, art, morals, laws, customs, and any other abilities or habits acquired by man as a member of a society” (Tylor, 1977 , p. 19). However, Rochel ( 1985 ) defined society as “all of the organizational relations generated by the individuals within a social system.” In other words, while society refers to forms of organization, culture is better defined as ways of doing, feeling, and thinking (Cisneros Britto, 2009 ).

All human groups have developed their own culture, which is, ultimately, everything that they have learned or invented to better adapt themselves to the needs of their time and ecosystem. Cultures are diffused throughout a society by individuals, they are shared from one individual to another, in a specific context, and within the society in which they develop. Depending on the society, we will find that cultural transmission is preserved and transmitted in an identical form from generation to generation, or that, through the process of transmission, cultures adapt to a changing reality. Everything depends on the level of openness of the society in question, whether it is a closed, static society, or if it is a society open to change and intercultural exchange.

It is important to note that, in reality, culture serves two functions: an ontological function that allows human beings to define themselves in relationship to others, and an instrumental function that facilitates adaptation to new environments by producing specific behaviors and attitudes, which is to say, a cultural reconstruction. In the most closed societies, much more importance is given to the ontological function of culture: that of belonging to a group and the preservation of cultural practices. However, in more modern societies, the instrumental or pragmatic function of culture is more developed than the ontological function in order to respond to the material needs of these societies: increased (intercultural) contact, rapid changes, and growing complexity.

When a series of continuous (direct or indirect), contacts occurs between groups and individuals from different cultures, the result is a process of acculturation. During this acculturation process, depending on whether we maintain our culture or if we want to engage with other cultural realities, Berry ( 1990 ) established four strategies of acculturation that have inspired the management models for cultural diversity (assimilationist, multiculturalist, and interculturalist). Along these lines, the acculturation strategies Berry proposed are:

Assimilation: The individuals of the dominant group reject the cultural diversity of the ethnic minorities and only engage with them if they adopt the dominant cultural model. Assimilationist Management Model for Cultural Diversity.

Separation: The cultural groups want to maintain their original culture, but they do not seek positive relationships. Multicultural Management Model for Cultural Diversity.

Integration: The cultural groups seek to maintain their culture and also to engage with and learn about the new culture. Intercultural Management Model for Cultural Diversity.

Marginalization: The individuals from the dominant culture don’t respect the culture of the minority groups and don’t want to engage with them.

The three models developed from these acculturation strategies are models that are being developed today in specific countries, and that determine the integration policies targeting the ethnic minorities that live in these countries.

By their very nature, democratic societies must commit to following the intercultural model of integration because it is the only model that affirms the right to be, to think, to express oneself, and to act differently, and because it combines that right with the right to not be treated as a minority. That is to say, within an intercultural model, everyone should have the same rights as the majority. When a group of the population, such as ethnic minorities, isn’t afforded the same moral, political, and legal opportunities as the majority, a robust and active defense of integration becomes necessary.

Management Models for Cultural Diversity: Assimilationist, Multiculturalist, and Interculturalist

The word multicultural refers to a situation within a society, group, or social entity, wherein several groups or individuals from different cultural backgrounds live together, whatever their chosen lifestyle. In general terms, we can say that a multicultural society is one in which groups can make distinctions between one another on the basis of criteria with significant and divisive social force, such as an ethnoracial, ethnonational, religious, and/or linguistic background: all criteria of belonging. Now, in every society, there is usually a dominant group that controls a majority of political and economic power.

Depending on the acculturation strategies the dominant group develops, from a cultural perspective, we can encounter societies that view cultural diversity in negative terms and enact strategies to eliminate or reduce cultural differences. In contrast, there are societies that consider cultural diversity in positive terms and enact strategies to protect cultural groups.

Based on these two positions, as seen in Table 1 , we can establish three management models for cultural diversity: the Assimilationist model, the Multiculturalist model, and the Interculturalist model.

Table 1. Management Models for Cultural Diversity

Source : Prepared by the authors.

Next, we present the three management models of cultural diversity currently being developed in democratic societies.

Assimilationist Model or Assimilation

We can define assimilation as a model based on the belief that there is a cultural code that sustains the dominant and/or majority group, which is socially superior to the rest: in other words, the belief that there is a way of doing things and organizing life that is the most correct, appropriate, and convenient for all of society.

The assimilationist model tries to absorb diverse ethnic groups into a society that is supposed to be relatively homogenous, imposing the culture of the dominant group onto others. Advocates of this model believe that advanced societies trend more toward universalism rather than particularism, and they conceive of ethnic, racial, and cultural diversity as a problem that threatens social integrity and cohesion. This model encourages cultural uniformity: it suggests and assumes that groups and minorities will adopt the language, values, norms, and identity markers of the dominant culture, and likewise, that they will abandon their own culture in the process. This process takes place between a majority with power (the host society or dominant culture) and a minority without power (foreigners and or ethnic minorities). The latter are expected to adopt the culture and customs of the host society and to change their own identity in order to be fully integrated into the dominant culture. This is a process that demands adaptations and transformations on the part of ethnic minorities, but not on the part of the supposed cultural majority.

This model has been strongly criticized because of its negative view of cultural diversity and its efforts to eliminate it. Additionally, it is a model that wrongly assumes that societies are culturally homogeneous in origin and does not account for cultural diversity within groups. It has also been criticized for unilateralism in its approach to change because it only works to change the cultural minorities.

The Multiculturalist Model or Multiculturalism-Interculturalist Model or Interculturalism

Interculturalism is a model that, according to Schmelkes ( 2001 ), works to go beyond multiculturalism and that affirms that a multicultural society cannot be truly democratic if it does not transition from multiculturalism to interculturalism by approaching cultural exchange as a mutual enrichment of cultures in relationship with one another.

It is a model grounded in the idea that cultures are not static, but rather, are dynamic entities that are enriched and energized as a result of intercultural exchange, this interculturality.

The term intercultural is a sociopolitical concept that emerged in response to multiculturalism’s failure to reflect social dynamics. Its first iteration came as part of an action plan in the field of education, where pluralism, understood as the coexistence of all cultures, was an insufficient framework to account for the intensity of the relationships between different peoples. The term intercultural emerged in response to the need for education curricula that were not monocultural, that did not silo individual groups, that did not present cultures as monolithic, that capitalized on the potential for different cultural knowledge and experiences to enrich the educational field, and, ultimately, to provide an education-focused intervention that prioritizes intercultural coexistence within societies. Interculturality is not a concept, it is a practice. It is not a theoretical framework; it is an ethical project. More than an idea, it is an attitude, a way of living and being in the world (Tubino, 2004 ).

The intercultural project is focused on exchange and reciprocal influence. It promotes a positive attitude towards interaction between people from different cultures. Because we know that cultures are dynamic, not static entities, they are enriched and energized as a result of cultural exchange and thus, interculturality. Interculturalism conceptualizes cultural identity as something that each person actively constructs throughout their life. In this way, the instrumental function of culture is prioritized, facilitating a constructivist approach to cultural identity.

In fact, interculturalism suggests that it is not cultures that come into contact with one another, but rather individuals with their own cultural knowledge and understanding who engage with one another. As noted, interculturalism adopts a constructivist approach to cultural identity, wherein no one belongs to any one single culture, but rather, culture belongs to people who use, manipulate, and transform it throughout their lives. Therefore there is no reference culture used to measure others, and there is no established hierarchy between cultures.

As we have indicated, interculturalism focuses on individuals with their cultural knowledge and understandings as open to one another and capable of mixing and producing new cultural syntheses. However, there is one major problem: intercultural interaction almost always takes place in a context of inequality, unequal power relations, and ethno-racial hierarchies.

To develop interculturalism, it is necessary to establish two kinds of strategies: political strategies and pedagogical strategies. This is referred to as “the pedagogical-political approach to interculturalism” (Figure 1 ), which posits that, to develop interculturalism, it is necessary to establish a politics of equity, to achieve legal and social equality for all people. It is also necessary to establish intercultural pedagogical practices and intercultural education, and through education, to learn to live together and to foster knowledge, understanding, and respect for cultural diversity.

Figure 1. The pedagogical-political approach to interculturalism.

For interculturality to become a reality, there must be legal and social equality between people from all cultures. An intercultural education is also necessary to educate citizens in knowledge, understanding, and respect for the different cultures present in their society. Intercultural education imagines cultural exchange on equal terms as well as the establishment of a dynamic cultural reality in constant transformation, where diversity is viewed by all as a source of enrichment.

As Essomba ( 2008 ) reminded us, interculturalism works towards a stable society, with a common understanding of culture shared by all, which means that each citizen should be interested in understanding the other and communicating with them. Interculturality is grounded in the need for participation, coexistence, and mutual exchange between people on equal terms, as well as the potential for each cultural group to contribute something to the rest of society.

It’s about “finding a shared project” rather than creating a uniform society, a model for social relations, aimed at overcoming racism, that focuses its efforts on influencing how people are socialized from an ethical perspective, with special attention to reasoning and sensitivity towards the other.

Inclusive Intercultural Education

School, as an entity whose function is the socialization of individuals to turn them into participatory citizens, doesn’t just communicate basic knowledge. It offers students comprehensive development with the goal of educating them to be informed citizens. Therefore, education today should encourage dialogue as well as equality in opportunities and exchange in order to promote a quality and equitable education for all, without excluding cultural minorities or foreigners. It should account for the heterogeneity of its student body and recognize its diversity in gender, ability, interests, tastes, rhythms and learning styles, functional diversity, languages, races, etc., and within all of this diversity, cultural diversity. School has never been homogeneous, but today it is essential that educators establish strategies for teaching in multicultural environments.

Strategies for approaching diversity within schools have gone through various phases until finally arriving at Inclusive Education. As indicated in Table 2 , these strategies correspond to the different management models for cultural diversity.

Table 2. Approaching Diversity in Schools

Source : Authors, based on data from García and Goenechea ( 2009 ).

Initially, the term inclusion was closely linked with the special education needs of some students, but more recently it has been applied to education as a whole, promoting the idea that education is for everyone, independent of individual characteristics or educational needs. Inclusive education affirms that all boys and girls can learn in a school environment in which diversity is understood to be an added value.

Inclusive education, “recovers the authentic meaning of integration as a process of mutual adaptation which allows the minority to incorporate itself into the host society on equal terms with native citizens, without losing their culture of origin” (García Medina et al., 2012 , p. 21). In other words, and as indicated by the intercultural model, it is a process that impacts both the host society as well as the minority group.

Intercultural education is

a practice, a way of thinking and doing that understands education as cultural exchange and cultural creation. It promotes educational practices geared towards each and every member of society as a whole. It puts forth a model of analysis and implementation that impacts all dimensions of the educational process. The objectives of this education are equality in opportunities (.|.|.), overcoming racism, and the acquisition of intercultural skills. (Aguado Odina, 2003 )

Intercultural education recognizes the values and lifestyles of all peoples and promotes respect and tolerance for different cultural norms, as long as they do not violate the basic human rights of other people. It involves an education centered in difference, diversity, and cultural pluralities, as opposed to an education for those who are culturally different. But it does not stop with respect and tolerance, rather, in contrast to multicultural education, intercultural education seeks out exchange, interaction, and a shared project that everyone can contribute to.

In other words, intercultural education is grounded in a respect for other cultures, seeks out contact and exchange on equal terms, avoids ghettoization, segregation, and assimilation, and promotes a critical view of all cultures.

The goal of an intercultural education is to foster an open-mindedness toward the world, in a way that eradicates mechanisms of exclusion in all their dimensions and allows the subjects to establish themselves in relationship to others beyond fear of feeling one’s identity is threatened. According to Ander-Egg, “It is not enough to say, ‘I am tolerant,’ one must say ‘I respect’ and ‘I take pleasure,’ in difference and multiplicity, because they enrich me” ( 2001 , p. 11).

However, intercultural education should not glorify cultural differences. Glorification overvalues cultural difference in a way that reifies human beings within cultural groups and runs the risk of falling into a misleading form of passive tolerance that can lead to exclusionary and culturally essentialist racism. Interculturalism values cultural pluralism, but its fundamental element is exchange and contact between people from different cultures, a reciprocal interaction and creative negotiation. Maalouf defined the process thus:

I would like to speak first to “some of you”: the more you immerse yourself in the culture of your host country, the more you will be able to imbue it with your own[. A]nd now to “the rest of you”: when an immigrant perceives that you respect their culture of origin, the more open they will be to the culture of their host country (.|.|.). It is, at its core, a moral contract, in which the parties involved gain more from learning about one another’s specific contexts: within the host country, what is the baseline level of knowledge and understanding that everyone must acquire, and what can legitimately be negotiated or even rejected. The same goes for the culture of origin of the immigrants: what cultural components deserve to be integrated into the adopted country as something of great value, and what components can be put away in the closet? (Maalouf, 1999 , p. 56)

As Sáez ( 2006 ) suggested, we should encourage interaction between culturally diverse people and members of society, rather than fostering an exclusive and exclusionary, closed off cult of original cultural identity.

According to Medina et al. ( 2004 ), intercultural education is based on the following principles:

Recognition, acceptance, and appreciation of cultural diversity.

A refusal to label or define anyone according to their culture. Not segregating people into groups [according to their culture].

A defense of the values of equality, respect, tolerance, pluralism, cooperation, and shared social responsibility.

Fighting racism, discrimination, prejudices, and stereotypes by fostering positive values and attitudes towards cultural diversity.

Approaching conflict as a positive tool for coexistence and providing students with strategies to resolve conflicts in a constructive way.

Involving the entire educational community’s participation in the democratic management of the [educational] center.

Curricular revision to eliminate ethnocentrism through universal models of human knowledge and an appreciation for different languages and cultures.

Mandate that educational professionals be trained to work with diverse populations and to utilize cooperative teaching methods together with appropriate resources.

Specific attention should be paid to students still learning the language of their host country. Educators should focus on the communicative aspects of teaching in order to help them succeed.

These principles of intercultural education work to improve quality of life and to strengthen cultural identity through acknowledgement of and engagement with diversity. They promote a nuanced understanding of cultures, and therefore, train students to be cognizant of cultural pluralism.

Interculturality, according to Soriano ( 2011 ), was designed as a pedagogical strategy that works to improve the quality of life of all members of the educational community, and it does so by deepening the value of education, and by valuing education in and of itself. We should bear in mind that teaching and learning processes are multidirectional, and that the pedagogical practices within an intercultural school should affirm diversity and foster spaces for intercultural exchange. It is not a matter of bringing isolated cultural activities into a school, reading a story from another culture, or presenting classes in world music; rather, it is a process of demonstrating the importance of intercultural emotions, values, and skills (Escarbajal, 2015 ). As indicated in Table 3 , sometimes schools carry out activities that they call intercultural, but they are actually isolated events.

Table 3. What Is and Isn’t Intercultural Education?

To summarize, intercultural education is clearly tied to processes of exchange between diverse persons and groups. Intercultural education promotes intercultural communication and interconnection, and this is possible because the cultures are not so static that they can’t evolve, and the people that belong to them are capable of reinventing them and recreating them to adapt to new challenges and improve their lives. As we noted earlier, the instrumental function of culture makes this intercultural connection possible, together with the establishment and evolution of individual cultural identity.

As Sáez reminded us,

this enriching exchange is the product of a relationship between people with diverse cultural roots; me and the other or the others. Not just me. Not just the other. It is a relationship with the other, conceived of individually and collectively as diverse and not as a foreigner or enemy. This exchange and interaction between the I and the Other are the engine that drives intercultural education. (Sáez, 2006 , p. 870)

Living together requires openness to the knowledge of other cultures and the decentralization of one’s own perspective. That is to say, it requires us to learn about other cultures and to think critically about our own cultural norms. It also requires us to understand that cultural diversity is a process of hybrid living, the active cultivation of respect and tolerance for the different ways that other people think and live. In other words, it requires us to develop the intercultural skills that Aguado Odina ( 1996 ) defined as a combination of specific and general skills that facilitate the formation of a citizenry, specifically:

Cultivating a positive attitude towards cultural diversity and expanding one’s understanding of the traditions and beliefs of others.

Fostering verbal and non-verbal communication skills that will facilitate effective communications in contexts where two or more cultures are in contact with one another, learning to recognize and negotiate the tensions that arise from ambiguous intercultural situations.

Developing the ability to understand one’s own culture through action and reflection, and to carry out a critical assessment of one’s own culture.

Regarding the work of interculturality in schools, according to the work of Astorgano ( 2000 ), we can establish four specific areas (see Figure 2 ): (a) Critical analysis of the inequalities in the world, understanding the causes of economic, social, and cultural inequalities, as well as the role we play in maintaining them; (b) The development of communication skills and intercultural dialogue focused on each and every student, and on the acceptance of cultural differences; (c) Basic values such as tolerance, respect, equity, and participation; (d) Constructive intercultural conflict resolution, working for a negotiated resolution through intercultural mediation.

Figure 2. Intercultural education. Areas of development.

Intercultural education involves the implementation of new educational guidelines and practices aimed at preparing students to live in diverse societies. It fosters cultural critique to highlight the ethnocentrism of current curricula, it emphasizes communication, exchange, appreciation for, and acceptance of other cultures, and it works to overcome prejudice and racism.

Furthermore, Essomba ( 2008 ) noted that this kind of education necessitates a curricular transformation, to make sure that the changes made in the classroom make their way out into the world. This curriculum should help students understand the cause and effects of migratory flows, social inequalities, specific prejudices and stereotypes, and should foster an understanding of the broader relationship between identify and place.

By way of example, we indicate some issues [that are always at play] within an intercultural education project:

Respect for and sensitivity to different ways of acting and understanding life: In intercultural relationships it is important to bear in mind that cultural norms such as the concept of time, physical contact, non-verbal communication, etc., are not always interpreted in the same way within different cultures.

Valuing people as individuals: It is important to appreciate everyone’s cultural attributes and language, as we are all cultural intermediaries, but we must avoid stereotypes and, ultimately, treat people like individuals and value their unique characteristics.

Assuming ignorance: To interact with the other, an attitude of sustained humility is necessary, of questioning oneself and one’s own motivations, as opposed to a confident arrogance or a belief that one already knows everything there is to know about the other.

An attitude of openness: To be open to the other and to others, and to be personally and culturally enriched, it is important to be able to listen, to have a large capacity for empathy, to be capable of putting yourself in another person’s shoes, and to know how to engage in dialogue.

Identifying and overcoming prejudices against people and groups of different ethnic backgrounds: This is a baseline skill within intercultural relationships and is an essential starting point because it both acknowledges and resolves anxieties about difference that can sometimes complicate the integration of people from minority groups.

Knowing how to be critical of your own culture in addition to others: We believe all cultures are equal, but we don’t believe that all cultural norms have the same value. For this reason it is necessary that we learn to be critical of cultural aspects that violate basic human rights. Radical relativism and an unconditional praise of difference can lead to ghettoization and the marginalization of certain groups.

Openness to self-acculturation: Within intercultural relationships, we are all simultaneously subject and object. In other words, we have to be open to experiencing personal change.

As Sáez noted ( 2006 ), the goal of intercultural education is not simply to learn about the culture of another person, as interesting and necessary as that may be, but rather, to learn through interaction with another human, as the individual and diverse subject that he/she/they is/are, keeping in mind, that they are above all a member of the human race. Intercultural education must be taught, and for this reason, we all must learn it.

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• Soriano, E. (2011). La educación como valor y el valor de la educación en una sociedad en continuo cambio. In E. Soriano (Ed.), El valor de la educación en un mundo globalizado (pp. 69–92). La Muralla.
• Tubino, F. (2004). La impostergable alteridad: del conflicto a la convivencia intercultural .
• Tylor, E. B. (1977). Cultura primitiva. Los orígenes de la cultura . Ayuso.

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The Culture of Education

Jerome Bruner

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ISBN 9780674179530

Publication date: 04/25/1997

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What we don't know about learning could fill a book--and it might be a schoolbook. In a masterly commentary on the possibilities of education, the eminent psychologist Jerome Bruner reveals how education can usher children into their culture, though it often fails to do so. Applying the newly emerging "cultural psychology" to education, Bruner proposes that the mind reaches its full potential only through participation in the culture--not just its more formal arts and sciences, but its ways of perceiving, thinking, feeling, and carrying out discourse. By examining both educational practice and educational theory, Bruner explores new and rich ways of approaching many of the classical problems that perplex educators.

Education, Bruner reminds us, cannot be reduced to mere information processing, sorting knowledge into categories. Its objective is to help learners construct meanings, not simply to manage information. Meaning making requires an understanding of the ways of one's culture--whether the subject in question is social studies, literature, or science. The Culture of Education makes a forceful case for the importance of narrative as an instrument of meaning making. An embodiment of culture, narrative permits us to understand the present, the past, and the humanly possible in a uniquely human way.

Going well beyond his earlier acclaimed books on education, Bruner looks past the issue of achieving individual competence to the question of how education equips individuals to participate in the culture on which life and livelihood depend. Educators, psychologists, and students of mind and culture will find in this volume an unsettling criticism that challenges our current conventional practices--as well as a wise vision that charts a direction for the future.

In a breathless, lurching, yet somehow deeply consecutive career spanning nearly sixty years, Bruner has brushed against almost every line of thought in psychology and transformed a number of them...[This book] is dedicated to tracing out the implications of [the] view of narrative as "both a mode of thought and an expression of a culture's world view." There are inquiries into the teaching of science, into "folk pedagogy," into the collaborative nature of learning, and into the child's construction of "a theory of mind" to explain and understand other minds. Autism as the inability to develop such a theory, the formal features of narrative, culture as praxis, and the approaches to education of Vygotsky, Piaget, and Pierre Bourdieu, related to Bruner's but in some tension with it, are all discussed. So are recent developments in primatology, cross-cultural studies of education, IQ testing, the role of the teacher, "metacognition" ("thinking about one's thinking"), relativism, and the uses of neurology...[C]ultural psychology [is] evolving rapidly...At the climax of what is surely one of the most extraordinary and productive careers in the human sciences, a career of continuous originality and tireless exploration, Jerome Bruner may have produced a more revolutionary revolution than even he altogether appreciates. —Clifford Geertz, New York Review of Books

[A] multi-disciplinary examination of the foundations of thought and human action...Bruner casts his nets widely, drawing on concepts and empirical examples from a broad variety of academic sources ranging from philosophy, rhetoric, and literature to paleontology and primatology. —Michael Cole and Margaret Gallego, Journal of the Learning Sciences

[This is] an exceedingly important book for those of us who are responsible for schools. We all must read The Culture of Education and ponder its message...Bruner asks once again the big questions that lie behind human learning and thus formal schooling...Most important, Bruner's careful and often elegant arguments gently persuade us that some of the most deeply rooted contemporary ideas about schooling, and the policies and practices that flow from them, are as obsolete and wrong-headed as they are well-intentioned. —Theodore R. Sizer, The American School Board Journal

As in everything Bruner writes...there is the stamp of imaginative energy, an exceptional breadth of reading and subtle thought. —Liam Hudson, Nature

This is an enormously important book. It is a book of essays about education in which curriculum and standards and testing hardly get a mention although the issue of standards of conduct of professional educators is implicit throughout. It is a book which, if properly appreciated, would prepare the minds of educators at all levels to meet the challenge facing education now and over the next decades. The text is elegantly written and yet there is an almost desperate sense of urgency in the power of the arguments. It is a-political in a party sense whilst recognising that education is necessarily a political issue. It deals with profoundly complex matters in a clear and forthright way as one would expect of the author. It is free of rhetorical devices save the stridency of the arguments themselves...The book brings together, in coherent form, a vast collection of powerful ideas from a range of fields and brings them to bear on the challenge of education at all levels. It is a tour de force...a masterly foundation for those who have the courage to adopt a cultural approach to education. —Charles DesForges, British Journal of Educational Psychology

Bruner is a legendary figure in psychology and education...[He] has been the embodiment of all that is right about the academic future, anticipating the field and laying the groundwork for those who followed...[Here] Bruner is once again leading the way to the reunification of mind, culture, and semiosis. We hope that the field is wise enough to follow. —Donald J. Cunningham and Heather Sugioka, Culture, Education, and Semiotics

This original consideration of the link between education and culture lives up to the Bruner standard of insightful, provocative, and essentially hopeful discourse...In a long first essay he outlines a series of tenets, ranging from the need to foster self-esteem in children to the importance of the narrative mode by which children come to recognize themselves and find a place in the culture. The essays that follow enlarge on these themes with telling commentary on contemporary society. The last chapter spells out why Bruner feels that if psychology is to better understand human nature and the human condition it must master the interplay between biology and culture...The general reader will find this an exhilarating notion well supported by this wonderfully argued work. —Kirkus Reviews

Among readers serious about educational philosophy, Bruner's study will earn high praise. —Bryce Christensen, Booklist

• Jerome Bruner was University Professor at New York University.

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Culture, Education, and Future

About the Journal

Culture, Education, and Future (CEF) is an open-access, double-blind peer-reviewed international journal published by the Association for the Advancement of Interdisciplinary Educational Studies (AAIDES). The journal publishes research aimed at improving the nature of education and knowledge production by focusing on how culture shapes education in light of current developments and future directions . As emphasized by Editor-in-Chief Russ Marion in the journal's inaugural issue ;

"This journal, then, asks how cultural trends are influencing education and the future of education, for the good or the bad. We seek substantive, well-conceived and researched discussions of the nexuses between culture, education, and the future. Can we predict likely outcomes. We can predict some of what we will deal with in the near future due to AI. But long term or currently unanticipated futures are merely speculative; one cannot predict without some evidence. We are not, like politicians who promise doom and gloom if policies they don’t like are adopted; rather we do want to explore culture, education, and the future thoughtfully and intelligently. Our vision is to formulate credible information for school personnel that will allow them to act changes early in the emergence dynamic."

The journal's scope includes culture-centered and future-focused educational studies that can directly or indirectly impact education stakeholders, decision-makers, and practitioners. At CEF, researchers from all types of educational institutions, including K–12 schools, colleges, universities, adult education centers, and non-governmental education groups, as well as those working on social, family, and community projects, are encouraged to submit manuscripts that address current, critical, and country-specific issues in the field. The journal focuses on studies in all areas of education and culture, including psychology, anthropology, linguistics, sociology, and communication.

The journal is valuable for teachers, principals, counselors, supervisors, curriculum theorists and developers, interdisciplinary education researchers, and policymakers.

CEF welcomes research employing any research method, including reviews, mixed methods studies, quantitative and qualitative research, and innovative research methods.

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Cef is now indexed by doaj.

We are pleased to announce that Culture, Education, and Future has been accepted for inclusion in DOAJ as of June 28, 2024.

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Education and Culture

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Education & Culture , published by Purdue University Press, is the flagship journal of the John Dewey Society and draws its mission from furthering John Dewey’s work as a philosopher, psychologist, and educational theorist. This journal provides an academic forum for scholars, practitioners, researchers, and activist-scholars interested in expanding pragmatist philosophy and progressive educational thought. Submissions of Deweyan scholarship that take an integrated approach to the philosophical, historical, and sociological study of education are welcome. Content published prior to a three-year moving wall is available free of charge on this site. The three most recent years are accessible through Project MUSE. Additional information about the John Dewey Society can be found on their website.

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The Relationship Between Culture and Education

What came first: culture or education? It’s an ongoing debate due to the fact that culture and education are so interconnected. It’s almost impossible to determine categorically whether culture influences education first, or if education shapes cultures into what they are. However, it’s very clear that the relationship between the two is complex and worth examining. 

In this article, we’ll look at the relationship between culture and education and discuss their official definitions. We’ll also look at the ways people answer the age-old question of how these concepts individually influence each other to shape the classroom environment and society in general.

Relationship Between Culture and Education

The connection between culture and education runs several levels deep. While it may be impossible to come to any sort of meaningful conclusion about which came first, we can most definitely explore how culture and education intertwine. In a school setting, students tend to engage more  with what they’re learning about when they’re able to relate to the subject on a personal level. We can connect that with the relationship between culture and education and say that when educational materials are relevant to a student’s culture, the lesson becomes more successful.

In order for that to happen, education needs to acknowledge each person’s culture and offer information and experiences to the students to make everyone feel included. There are many benefits to such inclusivity; when students feel that their culture is recognized and appreciated in an education setting, they will feel more engaged in lectures and more connected with other students. By including culture in the educational setting we also promote diversity, which further enriches every student’s experience.

This concept also translates to society as a whole. The more we can learn about other cultures and realize that we share many similarities, the more we can bridge the gaps that stop people from coming together due to prejudice. Therefore, education plays an important part in relation to culture. However, before we explore how the two connect in more detail, we have to define both terms to understand them better.

The Definition of Culture

Culture is commonly defined as people who share the same beliefs, values and practices. However, the meaning of culture can spark huge debates among anthropologists who have trouble agreeing on what culture actually is. There are so many arguments about this that anthropologists Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn decided to compile 164 overall definitions of culture that can be read in the book titled Culture .

Culture affects every single part of our lives, including how we live, our values, our relationships and our lifestyles. Many people belong to more than one culture because culture is shaped by religions, languages, locations, traditions and many more factors. Raymond Williams, one of the founding fathers of cultural studies, notes that culture primarily has three meanings : one focuses on individual enrichment, the other on the way of life of a group and the third on culture as an activity.

The Definition of Education

Education  is defined as a societal transfer of knowledge and values to new generations. Although learning is done individually, education typically represents the collective knowledge of society and is passed on and shared among groups. The new generations receive knowledge systematically — following a fixed plan or system — in a way that’s typically developed by schoolteachers for the whole year ahead.

It’s important to note that, although education typically happens in school, it’s not specifically limited to that setting. Because, by definition, education represents the transmission of knowledge, it can be done privately, without standard educational institutions.

Because of its definition, we can determine that education is extremely important when it comes to the transmission of culture, especially as education transfers knowledge from one generation to another. However, there are plenty of other ways education benefits and directly influences culture.

How Does Education Influence Culture?

Education is important in the preservation of culture. Teaching younger generations about various traditions, morals and lifestyles helps keep culture alive and preserve its most important elements. By learning more about a specific culture, particularly if it’s one that’s on the verge of disappearance, younger generations can raise awareness and spread the word about the issue through their platforms.

Another part of education that’s essential in influencing culture is called progressive education . This movement focuses on giving more value to the human experience and frequently reconstructs it in order to promote various cultures. Respect for diversity and culture lies at the forefront of this educational method, which features a hands-on learning environment with a variety of subjects you won’t find on the standard curriculum.

Education also brings awareness to the cultural lag , which is a concept developed by William Ogburn. He notes that material culture changes rapidly depending on new technology and lifestyles, while non-material culture often remains fixed and doesn’t experience any drastic changes. But because the two correlate, it’s important to bridge the gap, or in this case, the cultural lag, to experience the benefits of both. Education can play a big part in this through various hands-on programs that focus on introducing technology to non-material culture and vice versa.

There are two main theories that drive the influence between education and culture. The cultural deficit theory  acknowledges that kids’ home environments have a direct influence on students’ grades in school. Deficits in the home environment can have a direct effect on a student’s knowledge, skills and behaviors in school.

The second theory is known as the expectation theory , which argues that teachers often lower their expectations for students from certain cultures and backgrounds. This affects the quality of the teaching methods and directly relates to the students’ performance. Therefore, education must acknowledge that culture plays a big part in how the curriculum should be developed. Educators should ensure diversity in their curriculums and equality in student treatment.

The relationship between culture and education is essential and deserves acknowledgement in everyday life. In school, the curriculum should always promote diversity for students of all cultures to feel included and appreciated.

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Del Mar Times Del Mar Times News

Uc san diego professor explores stem culture in ‘wasted education’, the book explores "how we fail our graduates in science, technology, engineering and math.”.

Those are the fields commonly referred to by the acronym STEM.

Educators, politicians, business leaders and industry moguls continually stress the need for more STEM graduates to meet the needs of rapidly evolving technologies in the U.S.

Yet, Skrentny discovered that many of these highly sought degree holders ultimately leave the fields for which they prepared and were hired. Rather, they gravitate to other professions having little or nothing to do with their education and training.

“Employers in America keep saying we have a desperate, urgent shortage of workers with STEM degrees, and yet the majority of STEM graduates do not work in STEM jobs,” the Del Mar Terrace resident said in a recent interview.

“I couldn’t understand why these employers kept saying we need more, we need more. Schools and universities were urging more students to major in STEM subjects and to graduate with STEM degrees. Employers were saying we’re still not getting enough. We need foreign workers with STEM degrees. …“It just didn’t make sense. If there was supposedly a shortage, why is it that a majority of people with these supposedly in-demand degrees are not working in these jobs.”

The skewed data piqued the curiosity of Skrentny, who grew up in northwest Indiana in the greater Chicago area. He decided to delve deeper into the issue.

“I’m a scholar, I’m a sociologist and we love to try to solve puzzles and that’s when I wanted to understand,” said Skrentny, who got his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University and a doctorate degree from Harvard University.

The fruit of his inquiry is Skrentny’s book “Wasted Education: How We Fail Our Graduates in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.”

The 230-page text, including 45 pages of notes detailing Skrentny’s extensive research, was recently published by the University of Chicago Press.

Information on the book and Skrentny can be found at: quote.ucsd.edu/jskrentny/

The volume is available on Amazon books.

The book has resonated with reviewers, including Jon S. Wesick, who wrote on Amazon’s website: “I answered the nation’s call for STEM, spent 10 years in college earning a PHD in physics and spent a further 3 years as a postdoc. It was a real slap in the face when nobody wanted to hire me. …

“If you’re thinking about going into STEM, read this book!”

In formulating his theory on the failure of STEM education, Skrentny said he scrutinized the data from the National Science Foundation that tracks American college graduates.

“I could use that data to try to understand where the people with STEM degrees are working. … What I found was that a lot of them are working in jobs that make more money than most people with STEM degrees. …

“So it’s basically that they do all of this work for this degree and then they decide the employers are not offering them the money that they want so they go and do something else. …. They end up doing something other than science, technology, engineering and math.”

Chapter 3, “Burn and Churn”, explores how STEM employment isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. Rather than long-term careers, many of these jobs are prone to layoffs due to the constantly shifting nature of the industries and employers’ needs.

Moreover, STEM industries often instigate turnover because of poor management, lower pay, bad treatment and workplace discrimination, Skrentny contends.

“I looked at what we know about how employers treat STEM workers,” Skrentny said. “What I found is they don’t treat them very well. They tend to overwork them. They tend to make them work especially long hours, especially for workers in computers and software.”

STEM employees, Skrentny said, frequently take on burdens in developing new products and technologies that require working long overtime hours while accepting deadlines they are unable to meet.

As a result, they experience negative reactions from their bosses, leading to possible demotions or dismissals.

In Chapter 4, Skrentny addresses the “Precariousness of the STEM Job.”

“These employers claim that there’s all these shortages, but then they allow a lot of sexual harassment in the work place (and) they allow there to be workplace cultures that tolerate an unequal treatment of women and African-Americans, but especially women. So a lot of women with STEM degrees end up leaving STEM jobs as well. …

“These are all kind of situations where it’s sort of a self-inflicted wound by the employer. … They might be complaining about a shortage but their own practices are creating a perceived shortage. Their own practices are leading workers to go do something else.”

His book, Skrentny believes, could help employers understand why they are experiencing high turnover of STEM grads.

“One of the things I would hope is these employers would manage with more compassion …. Stem employees are more vulnerable to boom and bust (cycles). …”

Another factor Skrentny cites as a reason for STEM employees leaving jobs is their own discomfort with the practices or policies of the companies for whom they work. That’s particularly true among social media firms, Skrentny said.

“Some of these workers are doing things that maybe they won’t feel so good about. … We ’ve had a lot of STEM workers tell me they would not have their children working in these fields,” he said.

Skrentny said there are many STEM graduates who have employment in their chosen fields and are content with their jobs.

The data, however, as Skrentny’s book illustrates, suggests many more are not working in the occupations for which they signed up. Ultimately, Skrentny urges, society needs to reexamine its emphasis on STEM education.

“I’m not trying to say that everyone’s miserable, that this is a terrible way to earn a living,” Skrentny said. “I’m trying to understand the puzzle of why so many who go through the trouble to earn these degrees choose to work someplace else. That is what I’m trying to understand.”

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Cross-cultural comparative analysis of student motivation and autonomy in learning: perspectives from hong kong and the united kingdom.

• 1 College of Professional and Continuing Education, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR China
• 2 Department of Educational Research, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Lancaster University, Lancaster, England, United Kingdom

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This research project examines student perspectives on independent learning in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. Independent learning describes learning undertaken by students outside of standard institutional learning environments. Prior research has suggested that motivations to undertake independent learning and the strategies involved may differ across cultural contexts, institutions and individual learners. This research focuses on comparing the cross-cultural differences between independent learning practices and motivations to learn independently among students in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. Taking a social constructionist approach to research, the study employs primary qualitative research consisting of interviews with 16 students in Business Studies (eight British and eight Chinese) to better establish the ways in which culture may serve as a mediator for motivation to learn independently and the strategies pursued to this end. The study's findings note key differences in the motivations to complete independent learning across either cohort, as well as distinct conceptualisations of what strategies and practices facilitate effective independent learning. This research therefore highlights significant cultural differences in the motivations, strategies and skills related to independent learning between students in the UK and Hong Kong. It also notes the potential for socioeconomic factors, institutional structures, and assessment methods, alongside culture, to contribute to these differences.

Keywords: independent learning, Learner motivation, University education, United Kingdom, Hong Kong chapter Deleted[Author]: Indent: First line: 12.7 mm Formatted[Author]: Indent: First line: 12.7 mm Formatted[Author]:

Received: 29 Feb 2024; Accepted: 11 Jul 2024.

Copyright: © 2024 Lo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Noble Po-kan Lo, College of Professional and Continuing Education, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR China

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

AI's role in enhancing education

ASU experts explain how artificial intelligence can help teachers — but training and access is key

AI-generated images by Alex Davis/ASU

Editor's note: This feature article is part of our “AI is everywhere ... now what?” special project exploring the potential (and potential pitfalls) of artificial intelligence in our lives. Explore more topics and takes on the project page .

Professors at Arizona State University have been exploring the use of artificial intelligence for years, but when ChatGPT hit the scene in November 2022, even the early adopters had to pause.

“I was like, ‘What did we just do, and why did we do it?’" said Janel White-Taylor , a clinical professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at ASU. 

“And then I started playing with it, and I thought, ‘This is amazing,’ 

“And I remember the moment that I went from that fear to the excitement that this can really change the way we do the business of learning and school. And if we can embrace it properly, we can help a lot of students learn in the way that they want to learn.”

Mary Lou Fulton faculty are optimistic about AI easing the burden on overworked K–12 teachers by helping with lesson planning, grading and even special education. At the same time, they also are wary of potential challenges, such as disparity in access between wealthy and poor schools, and inherent biases in AI systems.

Teaching AI to students is not a matter of “if” but “when,” White-Taylor believes.

“It’s that initial fear of ‘What will this do to our society?’ But at the same time, if we don't teach students, what does that do for them?” she said.

“I think almost every job in the future is going to have some AI built into it. So the more they know how to leverage it, the better.”

A collaborative effort

The Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College started collaborating on the use of AI many years ago and has created a college-wide network of resources and support.

Punya Mishra , a professor and until recently the associate dean for scholarship and innovation, has worked in the field of education technology for more than 30 years. Years ago, he realized that AI would become huge and so became a driver of the college-wide Learning Futures Collaborative .

“The idea was that if this is a genuinely transformative technology, we need to bring everyone along,” he said.

“What was impressive to me is that our faculty approached it not as ‘students will cheat,’ but that their goal is to teach students how to use it correctly.”

Nearly 20 years ago, Mishra developed a framework called TPACK for how teachers learn to use technology in the classroom, and he recently wrote a new paper updating the concept. Applying the framework to generative AI, teachers must understand how it is different from other technologies and how to integrate it into their teaching. The change will be similar to the introduction of cheap calculators but with the added complexity of AI’s constant evolution.

And classrooms don’t operate in a vacuum. Mishra gives social media as an example. Fifteen years ago, teachers might have considered how to use platforms such as YouTube in the classroom but would never have imagined the societal changes wrought by social media that affect their students daily.

Mishra’s research has uncovered evidence of racial bias in AI. In one study, he and his colleagues presented two identical student writing samples to AI tools, with the only difference being the type of music the student listened to — rap versus classical. The AI rated the essay mentioning classical music higher and provided more sophisticated feedback. 

“A human might even miss that. That’s not to say we shouldn’t use this, but let’s be aware,” Mishra said.

Harnessing 'super users'

AI is not yet widely used in K–12 classrooms, according to research done by Robin Lake , a professor of practice and the director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education at ASU. The center collaborated with the RAND Corporation last fall on a report about AI in the classroom, surveying more than 1,000 K–12 teachers and 231 districts. They found:

More educator resources

Leveraging OpenAI’s API platform, ASU Online has developed a collection of resources tailored for educators. These tools are crafted to streamline the creation of course materials, eliminating the necessity for in-depth expertise in prompt crafting or programming.

Learn more about the tools — including a question generator, a script voiceover and a rubric creator — at teachonline.asu.edu/asu-online-ai-tools.

• As of fall 2023, 18% of K–12 teachers surveyed used AI for teaching, and an additional 15% tried AI at least once.
• Social studies was the most popular subject AI was used for, and sixth through 12th grades the most common age group.
• Teachers with less than 10 years of experience were more likely to use AI than teachers with more experience.
• Teachers in suburban schools were more likely to use AI than those in urban or rural schools.

Of the 18% of teachers who reported using AI tools, these were the most common ways they used them: supporting students with learning differences; generating quizzes and assessments; adjusting content to an appropriate grade level; and generating lesson plans and assignments such as worksheets.

“Our interviews revealed that district leaders are quite optimistic about AI — in particular about how AI could help teachers save time,” Lake said.

“But they're worried about their ability to help teachers get up to speed,” she said, citing recovery from the pandemic and loss of funding from enrollment declines.

One finding is that suburban and more advantaged districts are already ahead in training teachers in AI.

“If there are benefits from these AI tools, we don't want them to accrue to the most advantaged schools,” she said.

Lake thinks that AI “super users” — the teachers who are early and eager adopters — can be an asset to their schools by sharing their knowledge. 

“But we have to figure out how to compensate them and how to systematize that. And as a researcher, we need evidence building,” said Lake, whose center also is tracking state regulation of AI in education and building a database of early adopter districts.

Lake sees an interesting dynamic between the disruption wrought by the pandemic and the emergence of AI.

“One, there is a real sense of urgency around, ‘We need to find creative solutions because this is a lot harder than we thought.’ And resources are constrained and staffing continues to be a challenge. Teachers are burnt out, so what can we do to help them?” she said.

“And on the other side, I think a lot of people did not have a good experience with online learning during the pandemic. And a lot of people are very concerned about students' use of social media and cellphone usage.

“And so we're hearing that teachers are putting AI in a tech bundle that they don't trust.”

Centering Black girls

Tara Nkrumah , an assistant professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, is getting ahead of potential inequity in AI. For three years, she has been collaborating with colleagues in Pittsburgh on a robotics program for Black girls ages 9 to 14. Last year, she received a National Science Foundation grant to expand the program into AI.

The goal is to have the girls be creators, not just consumers, of a product that would represent their voice and open a career pathway. The process would become a framework for creating equitable outcomes within AI for girls of color, Nkrumah said.

“It’s showing them that the content is more than just being able to succeed on exams or that they have expertise in terms of recall, but actually seeing the relevancy of AI in their everyday life and in ways they can use to speak to inequities and using AI as a tool to disrupt it,” she said.

Nkrumah is working on the professional development part of the project — training the facilitators who will work with the girls. A pilot study will begin this summer.

Her area of expertise is culturally relevant pedagogy, an educational framework to get kids engaged and empower them to create actions that promote equity.

Culturally relevant pedagogy shows that learning is more than succeeding on exams, she said.

“It’s about acknowledging the culture that the students bring to the space and validating that culture. And it's all about showing how academic success should not be standardized and that it should be understood in the ways in which each individual demonstrates their interests and their talents and their needs,” she said.

AI to amplify your voice

White-Taylor has helped to develop the AI Playground , a guide that curates AI resources across 11 categories that includes tips and tutorials.

She spends a lot of time, informally and formally, guiding classroom teachers in the use of AI, often by sharing how she uses it. She recently designed a course using several AI tools.

“We did some fun things, like videos with images created in Midjourney, an AI graphics tool.

“We wrote the initial script, we put it in ChatGPT, and said, ‘OK, make this sound more fun. Take out all the big words.’ And then we used voice generators to add the voiceover and then we put all that together. 

“It’s really looking at ways for teachers to simplify.”

For example, AI could help teachers create writing rubrics.

“Not saying, ‘AI go in and create my rubric’ and then you're done. No, it gives you a nice rough draft to work from,” White-Taylor said.

AI also can help students who are hesitant writers.

“They struggle with that blank page,” she said.

“Being able to go into a tool and say, ‘I have to create an assignment on X, Y and Z. Where should I start?’ is a lot better than someone doing random Google searches.”

White-Taylor said it’s important to understand that AI tools will amplify your voice.

“You have to make sure that your voice is involved and that you're consciously and cautiously watching what's happening. Because it's not smart. You are,” she said.

AI is everywhere ... now what?

Artificial intelligence isn't just handy for creating images like the above — it has implications in an increasingly broad range of fields, from health to education to saving the planet.

Explore the ways in which ASU faculty are thinking about and using AI in their work:

• Enhancing education: ASU experts explain how artificial intelligence can help teachers — but training and access is key.
• A more sustainable future: Artificial intelligence is helping researchers find solutions to urgent worldwide issues .
• Advancing health care: AI has the potential to accelerate diagnoses and enable earlier and possibly life-saving treatment.
• The ethical costs: Issues around privacy, bias, surveillance and even extinction are raised with advancements in AI.
• Expert Q&As: Read smart minds' thoughts on everything from food security to the power grid to the legal system on our special project page .

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Cutting Edge | Culture & Education: A Strategic Investment for Inclusive and Sustainable Development

New capacities and skills are required to navigate these shifts and shape inclusive, peaceful, and sustainable societies. Harnessing the synergies between culture and education better equips societies – through formal and non-formal education, including Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), as well as lifelong learning – to be more agile and resilient to rapidly-changing environments. Through developing creative skills in cultural and artistic fields, it opens up new avenues to boost livelihoods in the creative economy and forge much-needed adaptation and innovation skills across other sectors. Culture enriches the education system making its content and context relevant. Culture should therefore pervade and enrich pedagogies, educational contents and learning contexts as a positive resource. It connects people to their history and heritage, gives a sense of meaning and self-confidence, and nurtures qualities of empathy and critical thinking. Equally, education supports culture-related activities, employment and institutions. This co-dependence of culture and education is vital to human development and advances several areas of development in a cross-cutting way. It contributes to both achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and addressing gaps in SDG implementation, notably with regard to sustainability.

Leveraging UNESCO’s mandate in culture and education

UNESCO is the only United Nations agency with a mandate in culture and education , which is built into the UNESCO Constitution that affirms that culture and education are essential for the dignity of humanity. Building on its mandate in education, UNESCO has focused its commitment to raising global awareness about the nexus between culture and education, notably in three complementary strategic directions: driving the global efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4 on quality education for all; stimulating global reflection on knowledge and the future of education; and promoting education for sustainable development (ESD) and GCED. Through these efforts, UNESCO advances quality education for all through leading the global coordination of SDG 4 and to ensure the achievement of the new global vision for education as set out in the 2030 Agenda. Launched in September 2019, The “Futures of Education Commission: Learning to Become” advances a broad consultative process on how knowledge and learning can shape the future of humanity and the planet, and recognizes cultural diversity as a fundamental feature of strong societies. As the lead UN agency for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), UNESCO manages, coordinates, implements and monitors the global framework ESD for 2030, and supports culture as an important component that informs the cognitive, social, emotional and behavioral dimensions of learning. Equipping learners of all ages with competencies and the skillset to be informed, engaged and empathetic citizens are central priorities of UNESCO‘s work in GCED, which supports Member States in the development of appropriate education policies, contents, teaching practices and enabling learning environments. The Organization also monitors progress of Sustainable Development Goal Indicator 4.7.1 through periodic reviews of the implementation of the 1974 Recommendation concerning Education for International Understanding, Co-operation and Peace and Education relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, for which a working group has recently been established.

Education is built into UNESCO’s normative framework in culture to support the promotion of cultural diversity, strengthen heritage conservation and broaden creative horizons. UNESCO’s 2001 Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity encourages linguistic diversity and access to digital technologies, and states that education that respects cultural identity is a guarantee of cultural rights. All UNESCO’s main Culture Conventions have educational components among their provisions, thereby demonstrating the solid normative basis for harnessing the synergies in these domains. As a direct response to the 1972 World Heritage Convention, the World Heritage Education Programme (WHE) was created to provide young people with the knowledge, skills and networks to become involved in heritage protection and conservation through various activities and initiatives, including youth fora, international volunteering, educational kits and capacity-building training. Through incorporating intangible cultural heritage - or living heritage - in formal and non-formal education, links with local communities can be strengthened, which is, in turn, integral to safeguarding strategies in the context of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. UNESCO has stepped up its engagement in this area by recently launching an online Clearinghouse on living heritage and education , which provides an open-access platform to tools, resources and case studies from around the world. Education has been increasingly reflected in developments of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. This includes underlining the importance of the inclusion of culture in educational delivery in relation to sustainable development, and the role of education in the Guidelines on the Implementation of the Convention in the Digital Environment , approved in 2017. The pedagogical function of museums is central to the 2015 Recommendation concerning the protection and promotion of museums and collections, their diversity and their role in society, which also emphasizes the role of museums in developing education policy. These instruments call on countries to ensure that culture and education directly contribute to the advancement of human rights, development and peace.

UNESCO spearheads an interdisciplinary and intersectoral approach to culture and education to reinforce quality education and ensure that education systems equip learners with the relevant knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and behaviours. This approach is structured around four axes of work: enrich learning contents and approaches through culture; promote respect for cultural diversity based on human rights; broaden perspectives of sustainable development; and harness and strengthen adaptability skills. Cooperation is strengthened in these domains to provide solid policy advice and technical support. This also includes reinforcing the role of cultural institutions and museums as spaces of non-formal education and life-long learning, including educational programmes related to the UNESCO Culture Conventions and Recommendations.

Despite this momentum, the potential of the culture and education alliance remains underrecognized and underutilized. Education systems may not be structured in a way that can readily adapt to rapidly-changing contexts and societal needs. Perceived hierarchies may exist between formal and informal education systems. There can be tensions between culture and education that may stem from education systems established under colonial rule, and educational policies may be slow to adapt to the evolving environment and societies. Culture is often insufficiently mobilized in learning processes, contents and pedagogies. In addition, culture and the arts are often at the margins of education systems, or perceived as a luxury addition, which is subsequently mirrored in political will and investment despite the high financial dividends produced by the cultural and creative sectors across the world. Furthermore, historically, progress has long been enshrined in educational and cultural advances that are synonymous with human progress rooted in critical thinking and ensuring that there is no opposition between technological and humanistic progress. From the perspective of teaching, educators may lack the training needed for pedagogies that fully engage cultural dimensions and ensure that it is relevant and meaningful. Therefore, in moving forward, concerted efforts are needed to ensure that education is comprehensive and relevant, and that people of all ages have access to the tools and pedagogies needed to flourish in today’s societies and to shape their futures.

Rethinking the culture and education nexus

Developing the synergies between culture and education re-evaluates traditional pedagogic frameworks and generates new perspectives for learning. Education is cultural by essence, as it is influenced by environment, history, identity and culture. On the one hand, culture enhances the plurality and richness of learning processes, pedagogical spaces and approaches, and ensures comprehensive education that is contextually relevant. On the other, education is a powerful vehicle for strengthening knowledge across culture, promoting cultural diversity and supporting future generations in employment, innovation and critical thinking. Harnessing the mutual benefits of culture and education creates opportunities to advance individual and collective development aims.

There is ample evidence that culture enhances the quality of education and facilitates learning outcomes, offering an in road to meeting diverse learning needs and approaches. Culture not only creates context, boosts meaning and relevance, but improves academic outcomes, critical thinking skills and learning motivation. Integrating linguistic diversity into curricula has also generated positive dividends in learning. In Mozambique, the recognition of Mozambican languages, culture and history was laid out in the country’s education law in 2018. Linguistic diversity has provided a conduit for inclusion of indigenous peoples in education, such as in Belize, where three community high schools have been created for the transmission of Maya and Garifuna language, cultural practices and beliefs. Indigenous knowledge systems, intercultural education, culture diversity, arts education and heritage education draw upon intersecting dimensions of culture and education, and can offer potential avenues to incorporate cultural education programmes in formal education settings.

Learning is no longer focused on formal settings in schools. It can be online, in cultural institutions, such as museums, through cultural tourism, or in local communities through intergenerational learning, among others. UNESCO has expanded the education offer through its working partnership with Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) and Coursera, providing professional courses in areas from tourism management of UNESCO World Heritage sites to ICTs in education for teachers, leaders and policymakers. Museums, as centres of formal and informal education, increasingly provide spaces for cultural transmission, intercultural and inter-generational dialogue. In China, for example, museum education is integrated in primary and secondary education systems, while in Indonesia, the Batik Museum in Pekalongan is a key partner in non-formal education and training of Indonesian batik textiles, thus instrumental in ensuring its sustainability. This is also reflective of the greater recognition of the pedagogical role of museums around the world, not only as spaces of non-formal education and life-long learning, but in their capacity to spark debate and encourage the public to ask questions about social issues and develop critical thinking. In Mali, the National Directorate for Cultural Heritage (DNPC) contributes to raising youth awareness of cultural heritage through educational guided tours to cultural sites and spaces. Spaces, contexts and stakeholders involved in learning are enlarged through integrating cultural dimensions. Taken together, the changing nature and purpose of education shows that today, more than ever, learning is a continued process, and societies need the knowledge and skills to adapt to continuingly- and fast-evolving contexts.

Safeguarding living heritage offers ways of embedding diversity in pedagogical approaches and systems. As part of the UNESCO-EU project “Teaching and Learning with Living Heritage” carried out in 10 school teams from the ASPnet schools in the European Union, a set of resource and guidance materials for teachers were produced. Such efforts show how culture and education can work together and expand the scope and variety of pedagogies as a result of investing in culture. Experiences around the world carried out by Member States illustrate alternative modes of integrating culture in formal, non-formal and informal education, generating a multiplying effect that has benefits for both education and safeguarding strategies. For example, it provides a conduit to strengthening community education and locally-led initiatives, which reinforce connections with local communities and contexts. Nevertheless, while these actions demonstrate that education is diversifying, it is not sufficiently captured.

Online access to culture – ranging from museum sites, social media, television and radio – has opened up new avenues for learning and sharing culture, and has enlarged access to online content and educational resources. For instance, Hmong artisan women in Northern Thailand have benefited from training in digital and entrepreneurship skills to help safeguard their living heritage through the UNESCO project “Women e-nspire Culture”. During the pandemic, numerous initiatives emerged that accelerated digital transitions to ensure the continuation of learning. Since its launch at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic the “Shaghafi” platform, launched by the Jordanian Ministry of Culture, has offered 150 courses in visual arts, music, handicrafts, theatre, prose and poetry. Despite the great strides that have been achieved through digital technologies, not all people are able to access the benefits of the digital age; a deficit that was brought to the fore during the pandemic.

Innovation and creative skills are a prerequisites for the future workforce. The cultural dimension of education is necessary to build these competences, and in turn create opportunities for employment and economic growth. Livelihoods can be boosted by linking the arts and heritage to non-formal educational settings through vocational and professional skills training by also engaging local communities and their ownership of local culture. In response to the lack of professional recognition of heritage specialists, UNESCO has developed a “Competence Framework for Cultural Heritage Management” to help guide universities in designing qualification standards, training programmes and curricula in cultural heritage management and conservation. The contribution of TVET to developing cultural professions and skills cannot be underestimated. From graphic design and web creation to music and fashion, TVET can provide important skills in entrepreneurship and self-employment for young people, and contributes to developing the creative economy. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) will this year measure students’ innovation and creativity, thus pointing to the increasing recognition of the transversal importance of skills in innovation and creativity in broader policy frameworks.

24 million children & youth globally are at risk of not returning to learning due to the economic impact of the crisis (UNESCO)

Arts education can be a major catalyst for both developing these skills, and advancing education outcomes in other areas of education curriculum. In this respect, UNESCO follows two main approaches: learning the arts and learning through the arts. In recent decades, these efforts have been strengthened, beginning with the 1972 Faure Report and the series of World Culture Reports that acted as important turning points in a shift in understanding and awareness of the interwoven nature of education, arts, creativity and culture. Between 1999 and 2010 global momentum in arts education was punctuated by two world conferences on arts education, and the development of the UNESCO Road Map for Arts Education in 2006, and the Seoul Agenda in 2010. More recently, resolutions adopted by UNESCO’s General Conference on World Art Day and on Arts Education have served to reinforce “the links between artistic creations and society, and […] highlight the contribution of the arts to sustainable development. In April 2021, the UNESCO Executive Board approved the United Arab Emirates-led decision "A Framework for Culture and Art Education," to enhance cooperation between culture in education across a range of disciplines, from heritage to the cultural and creative industries (CCI), including digital technologies.

Arts and cultural education are essential for the protection of cultural rights and creating the building blocks for inclusive societies. Culture and education can be a way to overcome social, economic and gender inequalities, and fight against stereotypes, extremism and discrimination. In Myanmar, the government has taken major steps towards curriculum reform, in part to counter decades of education being instrumentalized to suppress ethnic diversity. Living together with other cultures is a skill set required in diverse societies to advance human rights as well as peaceful, inclusive and sustainable development – an approach that has notably been harnessed at regional and sub-regional levels. The strategy on culture and education for regional integration of the The Central American Educational and Cultural Coordination (CECC/SICA) launched in 2020 aims to guide countries of the region in developing educational models that integrate culture for sustainable and peaceful cooperation and integration. In contexts of insecurity, fragility, and political and social and social tension, culture can support the positive transformative power of education. In the Sahel, culture acts as a powerful lever to improve the relevance of education in countries, such as through engaging local content in teaching. More broadly, in Africa, culturally-adapted education has also been recognized as a way to address the tensions and stigma left by the impacts of colonialization, while looking to the future and the potential of the continent.

Culture and education connects learners to their communities, heritage and environment, strengthening cultural identity and a sense of belonging. From early childhood education through to lifelong learning, this union promotes the appreciation of cultural diversity, creative expression, heritage and the environment. Countries around the world approach this through formal to informal education systems. Japan has a long-standing commitment to incorporating heritage in the national formal education system, and an intangible cultural heritage curriculum is provided at all stages of Japanese education. Meanwhile in Algeria, the Ahellil of Gourara, inscribed on UNESCO’s 2003 Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity is taught in schools in the region where it is practiced. By strengthening quality education through culture, it acts as a “win-win” situation that both ensures sustainable solutions for promoting cultural diversity and improves heritage safeguarding.

Harnessing the links between culture and education is being channeled as a way to broaden the understanding of sustainable development. The Centre for Artistic Research of the National University of Costa Rica recently launched an awareness and capacity-building programme on the links between art and the SDGs in order to familiarize professional artists and students with the concepts of the 2030 Agenda so they can better understand how they can contribute as artists to sustainable development. Within the Finnish school setting, the Upper Secondary Education National Core Curriculum, introduced in 2019, integrates culture for sustainable development and transversal competences that are implemented across all teaching subjects. This set of competences includes culture, creativity, ethics, well-being and the environment. In March 2021, the NGO Eco Centre DELFIN joined with the Regional Development Agency for Herzegovina (REDAH) and two primary schools in the cities of Risan, Montenegro, and Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, to carry out an informal educational programme aligned with national goals in education for sustainable development. The learning content included environmental protection, natural and cultural resources and climate change, benefitting some 420 students and teachers in the two cities.

Cities and local authorities can be crucial players in forging innovative solutions that bridge culture and education. UNESCO cities' networks, such as the Creative Cities Network (UCCN) and the Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC), have experimented with ways to to build skills and foster job creation by supporting vocational training in the cultural sector, notably targeting vulnerable populations. Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), a Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art, created the Reemdoogo as an incubator for training and performance facilities in the music sector, while Santos (Brazil), a Creative City of Film, supports the employment of vulnerable youth through its Creative Ecofactory, an initiative focused on woodwork. Likewise, several creative cities of gastronomy have joined together in the Youth4Food project to align learning with the jobs of tomorrow across the food value chain. UNESCO Learning Cities have engaged with local cultural centres as spaces for learning and intercultural dialogue, and to establish volunteer schemes to boost the inclusion of vulnerable populations, such as the elderly and persons with disabilities, in cultural activities and training workshops. Hanghzhou (China) has built on its commitment to lifelong learning by introducing a "15 minute cultural cycle concept" that ensures that each citizen has access to cultural resources, such as museums, theatres and libraries, within a 15 minute radius of their homes.

Curriculum, as well as curriculum-related matters, such as teaching and learning materials, classroom practices and assessment, need to be approached differently and in a systemic way. Business as usual needs to be replaced with creative solutions and flexible innovations. (UNESCO)

Given the changing needs of education, teachers are being prepared for the increasing diversity of education contexts. However, many education systems lack experienced arts teachers who may have limited connection to the wider community of artists. As highlighted in the recent European Council conclusions on equity and inclusion in education and training in order to promote educational success for all, teachers must be highly competent and equipped with the skills, competences and background knowledge needed to understand and tackle educational disadvantage and to teach in increasingly diverse, multilingual and multicultural environments. In Pakistan, UNESCO has collaborated with the provincial departments of education and tourism to integrate heritage into teaching modules and engage youth from local communities around selected sites in heritage entrepreneurship. Local communities living within the historic Rohtas Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage property, have been engaged in workshops based on heritage education, skills development and tour guide training. Turning to Ecuador, teachers of the technical arts baccalaureate and complementary arts baccalaureate are set to receive training in cultural industries, cultural entrepreneurship, cultural management and creativity through the course “InnovArte: arts education teachers for change”, which will be launched in June 2021 and will be rolled out virtually.

Moving forward building on the synergies between culture and education

Culture and education are the foundations of human and societal development, whose combined dynamism has cross-cutting benefits that contribute to achieving all 17 SDGs. Together, culture and education generate the human capital for tomorrow, shape peaceful societies that respect and celebrate cultural diversity, and expand education models that are anchored in sustainable principles. Such synergies should be approached from both sides: by integrating dimensions of culture into education, and by incorporating educational and pedagogical approaches into the cultural sphere.

Policymakers today are increasingly looking to engage alternative and innovative approaches to strengthening education outcomes and thereby contribute to development. This momentum has increased in recent years, reflecting the growing conviction among Member States of the mutual benefits of culture and education. Concretely this has been demonstrated in regional and international processes, such as the aforementioned CECC/SICA sub-regional strategy, by positioning culture and education as a central tenet of the G20 process launched under the Italian presidency, and a growing number of strategic decisions by UNESCO’s governing bodies in this area of work.

Integrating culture in education should be recognized, systematized and harnessed as a crucial inroad to re-imagining education. This entails tapping into diverse cultural contents that can support and enrich learning experiences, and provide relevancy to learning contexts. Culture contributes to the cultivation of knowledge, skills and values, as well as the creation of job and professional opportunities, thereby strengthening pathways towards sustainable development. Such engagement should be further supported by investment in data collection and analysis to strengthen evidence-based policies and actions.

Central to this discourse, education curricula must be first and foremost culture-sensitive and -responsive, which should be supported by adequate financial resources and capacity development. Such a broadened purview of culture and education in the formal school setting requires a widened stakeholder engagement, including a stronger inter-ministerial collaboration between ministries of education and culture, and the participation of cultural actors and institutions, such as museums, artists, cultural professionals and bearers of traditional knowledge in communities.

In the wake of UNESCO’s landmark initiative on the Future of Education, it is equally imperative to reinvent the notion of schools by expanding places of learning to include cultural institutions and digital platforms. Such reflections spearheaded by UNESCO involve all actors in societies, with teachers, students and parents at the forefront of these efforts. For instance, from September 2020 until February 2021, UNESCO's Associated Schools Network (ASPnet) mobilized over 2,500 school leaders, teachers, students and their parents from around the world to engage in reflections about education in the future related to sustainable development (ESD) and global citizenship (GCED). As digital transformation continues, it offers diverse means and opportunities to learners that extend beyond the conventional definition of schools, where four walls are no longer the only parameters for assimilating knowledge and skills. We need to draw on the many stakeholders, including museums and digital platforms, as well local communities, to create a pool of learning resources, and recognize them alongside teachers in supporting learning by all.

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UK spending on culture among the lowest in Europe, says landmark report

The state of the arts research document also shows arts education in england to be in “significant decline”.

Crowds outside the UK department for culture, media and sport protest cuts to arts funding in 2022

Photo: Richard Lincoln / Alamy Stock Photo

A new report published by the University of Warwick and the Campaign for the Arts pressure group paints a bleak picture of arts funding and education in Britain, highlighting that “the UK has one of the lowest levels of government spending on culture among European nations”.

The document, entitled The State of the Arts , is “a health check on the UK’s arts and culture, bringing together vital information and official statistics on arts funding, provision, engagement, education and employment,” the introduction says, adding: “It serves as a stark warning and a call to action for all of us.”

The new document focuses on government support and investment levels between two comparative periods: 2009-10 and 2022-23. Crucially, the UK ranks among the lowest spenders on culture, both as a percentage of GDP and per person, spending around 0.46% on culture (GDP) compared to 0.74% on average in other European countries (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development statistics show that Hungary is the top spender with 1.4% allocated to culture). Culture spending per person in the UK is also much lower than the European average ($260 compared to $936 in Iceland).

Between 2009 and 2023, UK state funding for the arts decreased significantly; the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)’s core funding of cultural organisations decreased by 18% to only 0.17% of total public spending per person, adds the report, while the Arts Councils’ core government funding decreased by 18% in England, 22% in Scotland, 25% in Wales and 66% in Northern Ireland.

The DCMS is the main public funder of the arts, supporting 15 national museums and galleries based in England; in 2022-23, its core sponsorship (or “grant-in-aid”) totalled £21.93 per person or 0.17% of total public spending per person. Adjusted for inflation, this was 18% less than in 2009-10, say the report authors.

In the meantime, other fundraising strategies have paid off. Over the allotted period, tax relief for the creative industries increased by 649%, for instance. “In 2017-18 this investment exceeded the DCMS’ core funding of cultural organisations for the first time,” the report says.

Crucially the survey also highlights a slump in arts education and employment, with GCSE and A-level entries in arts subjects dropping by 47% and 29% respectively since 2010. “Arts education in England has experienced a significant decline, caused by funding pressures and performance measures, like the EBacc [the EBaccalaureate academic qualification] and Progress 8, marginalising the arts in state-funded secondary schools,” the report says. The EBacc, a performance measure introduced under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition in 2010, scores students in core subjects such as English and mathematics but not arts subjects. Progress 8, which tracks a pupil’s progress from the age of 11 to 16, also places emphasis on English and maths.

The number of arts teachers in English state-funded secondary schools also fell from 55,000 to 40,000, or 27%, between 2011 and 2024.

Last month 21 UK visual arts organisations issued a collective manifesto calling on the future government of the United Kingdom to back the country’s ailing visual arts sector.

Following the Labour victory in the 4 July election, Lisa Nandy was appointed culture secretary. According to The Guardian , she said to DCMS staff: “In recent years we’ve found multiple ways to divide ourselves from one another. And lost that sense of a self-confident, outward-looking country which values its own people in every part of the UK. Changing that is the mission of this department. The era of culture wars is over.”