The gel in the pell-mell: Performing arts teachers as agents of cultural integration in an era of mass migration

Abstract

The world is experiencing mass migration on an unprecedented scale, and this migration is increasing. What are the implications for education and for the role of the teacher? This article extends Gert Biesta’s call for the re(dis)covery of the teacher: to consider how a teacher’s purpose may need to respond to the context of sudden and widespread acculturation. Through an argument that distinguishes cultural challenges from social challenges, this article proposes the significance of challenges to cultural integration and the relevance of performing arts education in addressing these. The concept of teachers as agents of cultural integration is introduced, with considerations of how tertiary institutes can integrate competencies in cultural relativity, political equity and creative facilitation within teacher-training curricula.