Introduction: Researching Cultures of Learning

Abstract

Cultures of learning, as a concept, suggests that learning is cultural: Members of different cultural communities may have different preferences, expectations, interpretations, values and beliefs about how to learn or how to teach. This idea is enormously important in international and multicultural contexts of education in which commonly students and teachers represent two or more cultures in a single classroom. Centrally, the idea of cultures of learning helps participants in education to think about learning from different angles; potentially there is new thinking about learning from the viewpoint of any culture around the globe; thus, any culture can be a resource, not only for members themselves to learn, but for any others, too, whether that culture is world-influencing or less known. In a framework of cultures of learning, teachers and researchers make an effort to ascertain perspectives in cultures of learning other than those cultures that are most familiar. This helps them to discover more, to increase their understanding of cultural commonalities and of differences in learning, and to develop ways to work positively to mediate between different cultures of learning.