Abstract
This research project is set in the highly diverse city of Antwerp in Flanders, the Northern part of Belgium. At national and European levels, citizenship education is described as a key educational goal carrying high expectations (Joris et al., 2021; European Commission, 2018, p. 4). However, the understandings of citizenship and what constitutes good citizenship education are contested (Joris et al., 2021; Biesta, 2014, p.5). Recently, the Flemish government adopted explicit citizenship education goals as part of a modernised educational programme (Loobuyck, 2020; Vlaams Parlement, 2018). Decisions surrounding the realisation of the citizenship education goals lie at the meso-level of the school and even at the micro-level of the classroom. Prior studies connect macro-level societal processes, including structural socio-economic inequalities, to the micro-level of the classroom (Clycq, 2016; Nouwen & Clycq, 2016). Antwerp has been considered a "majority-minority-city" since 2019 due to a majority of the citizens having a migration background (Geldof, 2019, p. 368). The emergence of majority-minority cities has prompted policymakers' contradictory responses, also described as diversity approaches (Celeste et al., 2019). While some approaches focus on cultural homogenisation by stressing one national identity, culture and shared values, others focus on cultural heterogenisation, emphasising a global mindset, cultural empathy and interculturality. These tensions are also found in schools in super-diverse urban contexts like Antwerp. We explore how these diversity approaches in schools converge or diverge with recently implemented citizenship education practices. Our main research questions are: How are citizenship and diversity enacted in urban Flemish secondary schools, and when and why do difficulties and opportunities arise? We structured the empirical study through a case study design frame. We gather qualitative and ethnographic data in two urban Flemish schools to answer the research questions. Following a case study design, we apply various data-gathering tools, including (lesson) observations, semi-structured in-depth interviews, document analyses and participatory methods. Our project is part of the broader European research consortium "Solidarity in Diversity" (SOLiDi) that seeks to identify practices of solidarity in ethnic-cultural diversity as alternatives to national new-assimilationism trends.
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