This symposium examines advances in the conceptualisation of learning in multicultural communities. The presenters provide overviews of inter-linked empirical investigations, carried out by their research groups, over the last decade, as a response to the challenge of understanding learning in multicultural communities. The implications of successful schooling of young people from diverse ethno-cultural backgrounds are profound for their own well-being and socio-economic development of societies. To inform practices that promote successful development of learning potentials in multicultural schools, there is a need for systematic research focusing both on experiences of local communities and on comparative perspectives across communities and countries. This research certainly needs far more investment. The studies presented focus on communities and country level, including the Netherlands, UK, Spain, and US.These countries have in common unprecedendent levels of migration, which are drastically changing the ethno-cultural composition of their schools. Conferences like EARLI, in particular since Padova (2005), provide a forum for cross-country debate. The research reported shares a socio-cultural focus, i.e., an emphasis on investigating experiences, listening to the voices of those engaged in multicultural learning communities: learners, teachers and parents. The concept "experiences" is broad. It includes learners’ experiences in mainstream and community schools (Cline et al.), on social interactions and negotiation of learning in classrooms (Haan & Elbers, Gorgorió), on transitions between home and school cultures (Cline et. al., Civil, Haan & Elbers, Gorgorió), and on how educators can build on these experiences to develop school practices that promote access and equity in multicultural education. Building on empirical findings the authors elaborate their theoretical perspectives (what are the processes underlying learning in multicultural communities: interaction between learning and identity construction; social representations, funds of knowledge). The implications of these conceptualisations for the advance of research and educational practices will be discussed.

This presentation will review findings on pupils’ learning from a series of projects in different types of educational setting in England over a ten year period. We will analyse pupils’ representations of official curricula (mathematics teaching and religious education in publicly funded schools), communal curricula (the teaching of heritage languages and cultures in part-time classes and supplementary schools) and trans-cultural activities (the status of language brokering among teachers and peers). Pupils from different backgrounds brought into school the skills, knowledge and identities that had been partially formed through experiences in their homes, in their family’s communities and in the wider society dominated by an often hostile majority. We will examine how they represented the impact of their engagement with official and informal curricula on their further personal development. On that basis we wish to suggest how sociocultural theories of learning can take account of interactions between the ethos of an educational setting and the complex, dynamic development of learning identities in a multicultural context.

This presentation will review findings on pupils’ learning from a series of projects in different types of educational setting in England over a ten year period. We will analyse pupils’ representations of official curricula (mathematics teaching and religious education in publicly funded schools), communal curricula (the teaching of heritage languages and cultures in part-time classes and supplementary schools) and trans-cultural activities (the status of language brokering among teachers and peers). Pupils from different backgrounds brought into school the skills, knowledge and identities that had been partially formed through experiences in their homes, in their family’s communities and in the wider society dominated by an often hostile majority. We will examine how they represented the impact of their engagement with official and informal curricula on their further personal development. On that basis we wish to suggest how sociocultural theories of learning can take account of interactions between the ethos of an educational setting and the complex, dynamic development of learning identities in a multicultural context.

This presentation will review findings on pupils’ learning from a series of projects in different types of educational setting in England over a ten year period. We will analyse pupils’ representations of official curricula (mathematics teaching and religious education in publicly funded schools), communal curricula (the teaching of heritage languages and cultures in part-time classes and supplementary schools) and trans-cultural activities (the status of language brokering among teachers and peers). Pupils from different backgrounds brought into school the skills, knowledge and identities that had been partially formed through experiences in their homes, in their family’s communities and in the wider society dominated by an often hostile majority. We will examine how they represented the impact of their engagement with official and informal curricula on their further personal development. On that basis we wish to suggest how sociocultural theories of learning can take account of interactions between the ethos of an educational setting and the complex, dynamic development of learning identities in a multicultural context.

This presentation will review findings on pupils’ learning from a series of projects in different types of educational setting in England over a ten year period. We will analyse pupils’ representations of official curricula (mathematics teaching and religious education in publicly funded schools), communal curricula (the teaching of heritage languages and cultures in part-time classes and supplementary schools) and trans-cultural activities (the status of language brokering among teachers and peers). Pupils from different backgrounds brought into school the skills, knowledge and identities that had been partially formed through experiences in their homes, in their family’s communities and in the wider society dominated by an often hostile majority. We will examine how they represented the impact of their engagement with official and informal curricula on their further personal development. On that basis we wish to suggest how sociocultural theories of learning can take account of interactions between the ethos of an educational setting and the complex, dynamic development of learning identities in a multicultural context.

This presentation will review findings on pupils’ learning from a series of projects in different types of educational setting in England over a ten year period. We will analyse pupils’ representations of official curricula (mathematics teaching and religious education in publicly funded schools), communal curricula (the teaching of heritage languages and cultures in part-time classes and supplementary schools) and trans-cultural activities (the status of language brokering among teachers and peers). Pupils from different backgrounds brought into school the skills, knowledge and identities that had been partially formed through experiences in their homes, in their family’s communities and in the wider society dominated by an often hostile majority. We will examine how they represented the impact of their engagement with official and informal curricula on their further personal development. On that basis we wish to suggest how sociocultural theories of learning can take account of interactions between the ethos of an educational setting and the complex, dynamic development of learning identities in a multicultural context.

Over the past few years we have conducted research into the learning and education of the children of migrant families in the Netherlands. We studied both classroom settings and home settings, and focused on issues of cultural diversity and on how relationships between the institutional and the home setting mediate the construction of cultural diversity in educational contexts. The research is based on video and audio recordings of educational interactions at school and at home, as well as on interview data. In this presentation we present an overview of our research and link the results of the classroom studies and the studies conducted in the home setting. We focus in particular on: (1) migrant students’ constructions of ‘school’ or school identities in multi-ethnic classrooms; (2) migrant parents’ construction of ‘school’ and education in the Dutch context, and (3) the different bridging strategies that migrant children and their parents develop to navigate between traditional practices and those that are seen as normative for the Dutch school context. In our presentation we consider how educational practices are reconstructed in migration settings for both migrant children and for migrant parents. The overview allows us to reflect on how traditional practices gain new meanings in multi-ethnic settings across generations.

Over the past few years we have conducted research into the learning and education of the children of migrant families in the Netherlands. We studied both classroom settings and home settings, and focused on issues of cultural diversity and on how relationships between the institutional and the home setting mediate the construction of cultural diversity in educational contexts. The research is based on video and audio recordings of educational interactions at school and at home, as well as on interview data. In this presentation we present an overview of our research and link the results of the classroom studies and the studies conducted in the home setting. We focus in particular on: (1) migrant students’ constructions of ‘school’ or school identities in multi-ethnic classrooms; (2) migrant parents’ construction of ‘school’ and education in the Dutch context, and (3) the different bridging strategies that migrant children and their parents develop to navigate between traditional practices and those that are seen as normative for the Dutch school context. In our presentation we consider how educational practices are reconstructed in migration settings for both migrant children and for migrant parents. The overview allows us to reflect on how traditional practices gain new meanings in multi-ethnic settings across generations.

Over the past few years we have conducted research into the learning and education of the children of migrant families in the Netherlands. We studied both classroom settings and home settings, and focused on issues of cultural diversity and on how relationships between the institutional and the home setting mediate the construction of cultural diversity in educational contexts. The research is based on video and audio recordings of educational interactions at school and at home, as well as on interview data. In this presentation we present an overview of our research and link the results of the classroom studies and the studies conducted in the home setting. We focus in particular on: (1) migrant students’ constructions of ‘school’ or school identities in multi-ethnic classrooms; (2) migrant parents’ construction of ‘school’ and education in the Dutch context, and (3) the different bridging strategies that migrant children and their parents develop to navigate between traditional practices and those that are seen as normative for the Dutch school context. In our presentation we consider how educational practices are reconstructed in migration settings for both migrant children and for migrant parents. The overview allows us to reflect on how traditional practices gain new meanings in multi-ethnic settings across generations.

Over the past few years we have conducted research into the learning and education of the children of migrant families in the Netherlands. We studied both classroom settings and home settings, and focused on issues of cultural diversity and on how relationships between the institutional and the home setting mediate the construction of cultural diversity in educational contexts. The research is based on video and audio recordings of educational interactions at school and at home, as well as on interview data. In this presentation we present an overview of our research and link the results of the classroom studies and the studies conducted in the home setting. We focus in particular on: (1) migrant students’ constructions of ‘school’ or school identities in multi-ethnic classrooms; (2) migrant parents’ construction of ‘school’ and education in the Dutch context, and (3) the different bridging strategies that migrant children and their parents develop to navigate between traditional practices and those that are seen as normative for the Dutch school context. In our presentation we consider how educational practices are reconstructed in migration settings for both migrant children and for migrant parents. The overview allows us to reflect on how traditional practices gain new meanings in multi-ethnic settings across generations.

In Catalonia, the group EMiCS –Educació Matemàtica i Context Sociocultural– (Mathematics Education and Sociocultural Context) has been researching, for nearly one decade now, the difficulties that immigrant students face when learning mathematics in mainstream schools. The picture of the teaching and learning mathematics in multicultural classrooms is a very complex one. From a short-distance, we see the actions and interactions that take place within the classroom, as a micro context, that can be understood by using constructs such as norms, discourse, and identities. However, the action that one sees as taking place in the centre of the scene, has to be interpreted within a wider scenario, the different macro contexts where the mathematics classroom and its participants belong to. It is at this point where social representations allow us to explain how are norms established, and why norms orchestrated into practice give way to a classroom discourse that too often does not open spaces for immigrant students’ participation; a classroom discourse that, instead of minimising cultural and social distances, increases them to the point that certain students develop a non-participation identity. We are convinced that a better understanding of the complexity of the multicultural mathematics classroom should be useful to increase the opportunities for immigrant students learning mathematics.

In Catalonia, the group EMiCS –Educació Matemàtica i Context Sociocultural– (Mathematics Education and Sociocultural Context) has been researching, for nearly one decade now, the difficulties that immigrant students face when learning mathematics in mainstream schools. The picture of the teaching and learning mathematics in multicultural classrooms is a very complex one. From a short-distance, we see the actions and interactions that take place within the classroom, as a micro context, that can be understood by using constructs such as norms, discourse, and identities. However, the action that one sees as taking place in the centre of the scene, has to be interpreted within a wider scenario, the different macro contexts where the mathematics classroom and its participants belong to. It is at this point where social representations allow us to explain how are norms established, and why norms orchestrated into practice give way to a classroom discourse that too often does not open spaces for immigrant students’ participation; a classroom discourse that, instead of minimising cultural and social distances, increases them to the point that certain students develop a non-participation identity. We are convinced that a better understanding of the complexity of the multicultural mathematics classroom should be useful to increase the opportunities for immigrant students learning mathematics.

In Catalonia, the group EMiCS –Educació Matemàtica i Context Sociocultural– (Mathematics Education and Sociocultural Context) has been researching, for nearly one decade now, the difficulties that immigrant students face when learning mathematics in mainstream schools. The picture of the teaching and learning mathematics in multicultural classrooms is a very complex one. From a short-distance, we see the actions and interactions that take place within the classroom, as a micro context, that can be understood by using constructs such as norms, discourse, and identities. However, the action that one sees as taking place in the centre of the scene, has to be interpreted within a wider scenario, the different macro contexts where the mathematics classroom and its participants belong to. It is at this point where social representations allow us to explain how are norms established, and why norms orchestrated into practice give way to a classroom discourse that too often does not open spaces for immigrant students’ participation; a classroom discourse that, instead of minimising cultural and social distances, increases them to the point that certain students develop a non-participation identity. We are convinced that a better understanding of the complexity of the multicultural mathematics classroom should be useful to increase the opportunities for immigrant students learning mathematics.

In this presentation I reflect over my more than a decade of work in mathematics education in working class, Mexican/Mexican American communities in Tucson. In our local context, language and ethnic “minority” students from economically underprivileged backgrounds tend to fall further behind in their mathematical learning as they move up through the grades. These students are often exposed to an education approach based on a deficit model in school teaching. Such a model presupposes that the households of these children are at the root of “the problem.” Our work rejects this deficit model and in fact is grounded on a view that these households and communities have a wealth of knowledge and resources (“funds of knowledge”) that are untapped in school (Moll, Amanti, Neff & González, 1992). Furthermore, we have also gathered evidence that these children are often active participants in the functioning of their household and in the community, in sharp contrast with the passive role that they are often assigned at school (Civil & Andrade, 2002). What are the implications for the mathematical education of these children, if we take their experiences and backgrounds as resources for learning in the classroom? This presentation addresses this question while paying special attention to the challenges in the pedagogical transformation of household knowledge into mathematical knowledge for the classroom. These challenges are related to teachers’, students’ and our own beliefs about what counts as mathematics. I conclude this presentation with my reflection on the concept of parents / families as intellectual resources.

In this presentation I reflect over my more than a decade of work in mathematics education in working class, Mexican/Mexican American communities in Tucson. In our local context, language and ethnic  “minority” students from economically underprivileged backgrounds tend to fall further behind in their mathematical learning as they move up through the grades. These students are often exposed to an education approach based on a deficit model in school teaching. Such a model presupposes that the households of these children are at the root of  “the problem.” Our work rejects this deficit model and in fact is grounded on a view that these households and communities have a wealth of knowledge and resources (“funds of knowledge”) that are untapped in school (Moll, Amanti, Neff & González, 1992). Furthermore, we have also gathered evidence that these children are often active participants in the functioning of their household and in the community, in sharp contrast with the passive role that they are often assigned at school (Civil & Andrade, 2002). What are the implications for the mathematical education of these children, if we take their experiences and backgrounds as resources for learning in the classroom? This presentation addresses this question while paying special attention to the challenges in the pedagogical transformation of household knowledge into mathematical knowledge for the classroom. These challenges are related to teachers’, students’ and our own beliefs about what counts as mathematics. I conclude this presentation with my reflection on the concept of parents / families as intellectual resources.

In this presentation I reflect over my more than a decade of work in mathematics education in working class, Mexican/Mexican American communities in Tucson. In our local context, language and ethnic  “minority” students from economically underprivileged backgrounds tend to fall further behind in their mathematical learning as they move up through the grades. These students are often exposed to an education approach based on a deficit model in school teaching. Such a model presupposes that the households of these children are at the root of  “the problem.” Our work rejects this deficit model and in fact is grounded on a view that these households and communities have a wealth of knowledge and resources (“funds of knowledge”) that are untapped in school (Moll, Amanti, Neff & González, 1992). Furthermore, we have also gathered evidence that these children are often active participants in the functioning of their household and in the community, in sharp contrast with the passive role that they are often assigned at school (Civil & Andrade, 2002). What are the implications for the mathematical education of these children, if we take their experiences and backgrounds as resources for learning in the classroom? This presentation addresses this question while paying special attention to the challenges in the pedagogical transformation of household knowledge into mathematical knowledge for the classroom. These challenges are related to teachers’, students’ and our own beliefs about what counts as mathematics. I conclude this presentation with my reflection on the concept of parents / families as intellectual resources.