Dealing with diversity and social heterogeneity: Ambivalences, challenges and pitfalls for pedagogical activity

Abstract

Dealing with social differences in societies marked by social heterogeneity and inequality is fraught with ambivalences. This is true for education and especially true in the institutional circumstances of schools. This paper focuses on institutional preconditions of education in context of social heterogeneity, and on social processes and everyday practices of “doing differences” in school and its dynamic of interaction of gender, ethnicity, class, body and other social differences. The main focus is on the questions, how teachers deal with social differences and social heterogeneity in pedagogical work and in the contradictory institutional context of school, and how they act in situations where the conflicting demands of “equality” and “difference” manifest themselves. Based on classroom observations and qualitative interviews with teachers, ambivalences and pitfalls in dealing with differences are shown as well as dangers like Othering and discrimination. This is related to everyday life in school ingeneral and to intercultural trainings in particular.