PLURALISM AND DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT IN EDUCATION

one of the greatest challenges for the educational system is the rise of pluralism, caused by the fragmentation of the cultural frame upon which socialization has been founded since the dawn of late modernity (Featherstone, Lash, Robertson, 1995; Di Maggio 1997). As the socialization process becomes increasingly more polycentric, serious problems arise in the recognition and management of diversity at different levels: both at the level of the social agent (i.e., the student, teacher, parent and school manager) as well as that of policy makers and institutions (i.e., private and public services, local networks and government). Nowadays, it appears objectively and diffusely more difficult to deal with diversity, both at school and within the other places in which people grow up for two main reasons: a) a unitary cultural frame has disappeared, making way for a plurality of normative and identity references, and b) the differentiation between institutions originates from specific sub-cultures, each showing its own specificity, interpretational code, and mode of functioning. In this monographic issue the reader will find the result of a cross-national reflection carried out by a group of European social scientists with the common goal of trying to interpret the current situation of educational contexts in a range of significant European countries (Italy, Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Estonia) through the lens of diversity management. The range of the sub-topic that we are dealing with appears wide and rich: democratic management of schooling; multicultural issues for teachers and principals; differentiation in school reputation and students’ background; pluralism and equity in the educational offer provided by public and non public sector; relations between pluralism and grassroots movements (violence treatment and prevention).