Reconceptualizing cultural literacy as a dialogic practice

Culture and heritage are plural and fluid, continually co-created through interaction between people. However, traditional monologic models of cultural literacy reflect a one-way transmission of static cultural knowledge. Using the context of a large European project and augmenting the work of Buber with models of literacy as social practice, in this article cultural literacy is reconceptualized as fundamentally dialogic. We argue that cultural literacy empowers intercultural dialogue, opening a dialogic space with inherent democratic potential. Considering implications for the classroom, we outline how a dialogic pedagogy can provide a suitable context for the development of young people's…

Children's exploration of the concepts of home and belonging: Capturing views from five European countries.

Understanding one's sense of belonging is a central part of identity formation and self-awareness; feeling safe somewhere, with specific people is identified as a basic human need. This paper explores the ideas of children from three age groups in five different European as they discussed the concepts of ‘home’ and ‘belonging’. Findings showed that the children's ideas could be organised into six interrelated aspects: Spatiality, Materiality, Multiplicity, Social Relations, Affect, and Dislocation. Whilst there were differences in the ways that the children conceptualised home across the classes, even the youngest children were able to describe their ideas using metaphors and abstract conce…

Policy Brief: Developing Education Policies in Europe to Enhance Cultural Literacy

Europe needs education policies that seek to advance intercultural dialogue in a way which reflects the super-diversity of today’s Europe, support respect for diversity and difference, and enable the growth of young people’s identities. The DIALLS project seeks to respond to these needs by developing the concept and idea of cultural literacy and creating a Cultural Literacy Learning Programme for young people. For DIALLS, cultural literacy means a social practice that is inherently dialogic and based on learning and gaining knowledge through empathetic, tolerant and inclusive interaction with others. DIALLS’ qualitative content and concept analysis of European and national education policy …

Bibliography of Cultural Texts