Education for Multicultural and Multiethnic Diversity in Germany

Abstract

This paper focuses on education for multicultural and multiethnic diversity in Germany. Multicultural and multiethnic diversity have been brought by foreign workers, resettlers (Aussiedler) from Poland and Russia and refugees after World War II. On the other hand, because of increased internationalization and the process of European unification it is necessary to take notice of the multicultural and multiethnic diversity in Europe. It can be said that these are educational tasks for multicultural and multiethnic diversity both inside and outside of Germany today. This paper aims to analyze these tasks by discussing education for multicultural and multiethnic diversity both inside and outside of Germany.
To begin with I will focus on the education for multicultural and multiethnic diversity inside of Germany. It is pointed out that some steps have been taken to integrate the children of “foreign” workers into German schools. At first it was thought necessary and important to teach German to the children of “foreign” workers as soon as possible in order to integrate them into German schools. For example, German would be (and is) taught intensively in a “Preparative Class.” Then the backgrounds of the “foreign” children were taken into account. The languages and cultures of their home countries were also taught, but this was to prepare the children for returning to their home countries, because “foreign” workers were not expected to settle down in Germany. In the eighties, there were many discussions and much criticism of this compensatory education, a so-called “foreigner education” for “foreign” pupils. It was criticized that “foreign” pupils were thought to be “lacking” in respect to language abilities and socialization in comparison to German pupils. It was also pointed out that compensatory education, which intended to give “foreign” children an equal chance, also caused segregation and discrimination.