Positive and negative intergroup contact: interaction not asymmetry

This research reports a novel investigation into the comparative effects of positive and negative direct and extended intergroup contact on intergroup orientations. It tested the generality of the positive-negative asymmetry effect among majority (N = 357) and minority (N = 101) group members in Iceland. Little evidence of asymmetry was observed: the beneficial effects of positive contact were mostly as strong as the detrimental effects of negative contact, for both direct and extended contact. However, evidence was found for alternative interaction models in which positive contact buffers the negative effects of negative contact, and negative contact enhances the benefits of positive contact. These interaction effects were found only for direct contact and principally in the majority group, but were also found for the minority group, though more weakly. No interaction was observed for extended contact. It appeared that differential group salience elicited by positive and negative contact could partly contribute to the explanation of the observed effects, at least in the majority sample

New constellations of difference in Europe's museumscape

This article addresses some of the recent, ongoing, and planned reconfigurations of museums in Europe in light of their implications for the making of cultural difference, diversity, and citizenship. It argues that these are configured not only through the internal content of particular museums but also through divisions of classificatory labor and hierarchies of value between kinds of museums and their locations within cities and within nations—that is, through constellations of difference within museumscapes. It examines this in relation to examples of planned and realized new museums, including of Europe, national history, and world museums. Particular attention is given here to the fate of ethnographic or ethnological museums—museums that have had especially significant places in the coordination of difference and identity—and to the consequences of this within shifting grounds of belonging and cultural citizenship. The article then discusses some potential consequences of museum configuration within one city by looking at plans for reconfiguring Berlin's museumscape, especially in relation to the Humboldt Forum, in reconstructed facades of a former palace in the center of the urban and national museumscape

Ensuring the right to education for Roma children : an Anglo-Swedish perspective

Access to public education systems has tended to be below normative levels where Roma children are concerned. Various long-standing social, cultural, and institutional factors lie behind the lower levels of engagement and achievement of Roma children in education, relative to many others, which is reflective of the general lack of integration of their families in mainstream society. The risks to Roma children’s educational interests are well recognized internationally, particularly at the European level. They have prompted a range of policy initiatives and legal instruments to protect rights and promote equality and inclusion, on top of the framework of international human rights and minority protections. Nevertheless, states’ autonomy in tailoring educational arrangements to their budgets and national policy agendas has contributed to considerable international variation in specific provision for Roma children. As this article discusses, even between two socially liberal countries, the UK and Sweden, with their well-advanced welfare states and public systems of social support, there is a divergence in protection, one which underlines the need for a more consistent and positive approach to upholding the education rights and interests of children in this most marginalized and often discriminated against minority group

Policy and Practice in Language Support for Newly Arrived Migrant Children in Ireland and Spain

To cite this article: Rosa M Rodríguez-Izquierdo & Merike Darmody (2017): Policy and Practice in Language Support for Newly Arrived Migrant Children in Ireland and Spain, British Journal of Educational Studies, DOI: 10.1080/00071005.2017.1417973Over the last decades migration across Europe has continued to increase. Consequently, the issue of offering appropriate educational support for migrant students has been extensively debated across Europe and further afield, especially in countries with a history of immigration. However, less is known about how education systems in the ¿new¿ immigration countries have responded to the needs of newly arrived migrants (NAMs). While various research and policy documents have highlighted the importance of proficiency in the language of instruction for social and academic outcomes of migrant children and youth: how language support is provided varies significantly from one jurisdiction to another. This article focuses on language support measures set up for migrant students in statefunded schools in the Republic of Ireland and Spain ¿ both multilingual countries with more than one official language and with heterogeneous migrant population. In both countries, there is also a mismatch between an increasingly diverse student cohort and a homogenous teacher population.. Reviewing educational policy and practice in these jurisdictions in the areas of language support for migrants and how diversity is addressed in initial teacher education, the paper seeks to contribute to the debate on how to address the needs of migrant students in multi-lingual settings.Educación y Psicología SocialPreprin