Kulturkrockar i skolan

Sammanfattning: This text is an essay relating to a situation I was involved in where two different cultures caused a conflict in one of the pupils. The pupil was supposed to perform a swimming test and the parents wanted him/her to use full body clothing which the pupil had not done before. Because of this, the pupil suddenly was in conflict with herself/himself and I (the author) found myself in a situation where I felt torn between the purpose as an educator and the cultural values of the pupil. The purpose of my essay is to find an approach to the values of pupils and parents which sometimes affect my way of work. Our school curriculum states that we must prevent differences of gender but at the same time respect the culture of the individual. Several times I find myself trapped between cultural values from the pupil´s family situation and our educational purpose. How do I deal with this? How does switching between two cultures affect the pupil? The concept and perspectives that I am going to reflect on are interculturality, multi culturalism and I will also discuss heritage, environment, traditions, identity and the importance of the family. I will review myself and my own reflections. I will reflect upon how I use fronesis, my practical wisdom which I have gathered through experience. What can I improve when I use my professionalism within the cultural areas? Writing this essay, I still feel torn between the different missions. I always feel the need to act with the pupil´s best interest at heart. If this means I counteract gender patterns, so be it. In my opinion the culture doesn´t really matter because all individuals have the same value. The school simply cannot teach the pupils ethics and then not act accordingly themselves.