France’s Intercultural Education for Immigrants in a Republican Context

Abstract

Intercultural education is adopted by many countries in addressing the issue of immigration. In the 1970s to 1980s, intercultural education policy was practiced in France’s elementary and secondary schools, targeting primarily immigrant children and later an extended group of all students. With the republican model set as the foundation, the French government put a ban on any unfair treatment to every individual citizen irrespective of language, culture, religion and differences in other aspects. The implementation of intercultural education policy, however, ran against this forbiddance, which emerged as an evolutionary move in history. The policy, though, failed to go beyond what the republican model was defined as the French government was dubious about the practice of intercultural education, which ended up in early demise with singular, unvaried measures. Ethnic problems going prominent, France has the imperative to reflect on its political institution and learn as much as possible from its past experience in cultural and educational policy.