This volume gathers, analyses, discusses and evaluates results of current research on arts and cultural education in Europe, focusing on the challenges of cultural diversity. Cultural diversity is an increasingly characteristic feature of contemporary societies. Groups with different ethnic, social or cultural backgrounds coexist, interact and merge. The challenges of cultural diversity – its innovative potential as well as tensions and conflicts – are reflected in transnational discourses on education, culture, democracy, and citizenship. Transcultural approaches, multicultural education, and intercultural learning are key concepts. The same challenges are reflected in arts and cultural education within and outside schools, in teachers’ and artists’ training, cultural and educational policies, and research. The thirteen chapters in this book report on nine countries represented in the European Network of Observatories in the Field of Arts and Cultural Education (ENO). They showcase good practices in research and teaching, foster the exchange of experiences, stimulate researchers and stakeholders and give insights into their professional practices.

This peer-reviewed academic yearbook stems from the inaugural meeting of the newly formed UNESCO UNITWIN network on Arts Education Research for Cultural Diversity and Sustainable Development, held at the National Institute of Education, Singapore in April 2017. It presents international scholarly perspectives on issues related to arts education and cultural diversity in terms of: i) national and international policies; ii) terms, concepts and vocabularies; iii) current and ongoing research; and iv) best practices. The UNESCO UNITWIN is an arts education research think tank that gathers and leverages original research and critical commentaries on the arts and sustainable development from UNITWIN member states and beyond (Australia, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Hong Kong, Kenya, Korea, Israel, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, the Netherlands and the United States of America).

Multiculturalism is a term that has been much used in educational texts in recent years. Its usage is frequently taken for granted in the rhetoric of curriculum literature. However, it has recently become clear that there are significant variations of interpretations of multiculturalism in different world regions. This book takes a new and deeper look at the notion of multiculturalism through the lens of art education. In educational terms art is a unique tool for the investigation of cultural values because it transcends the barrier of language and provides visceral and tacit insights into cultural change. In order to address the educational interpretations and methods of implementing multiculturalism in different regios of the world, this book contains discussion and analysis of perspectives on art education theory and practice from thirteen countries. The authors of each chapter are respected multicultural experts in their geographic locations who are well equipped to provide unique insights into the particular issues of multiculturalism viewed from the perspective of art in educational contexts. The book as a whole provides tools for the conceptual analysis of contemporary notions linked with multiculturalism, such as interculturalism, internationalism and globalisation. It also provides strategies for art teaching in relation to these ideas. While the term 'multicultural education' is problematic, this book presents conceptual frameworks that should assist educators to examine their own teaching on issues of equity and diversity that are central to the multicultural education debate. ©́

This book is based on the topics, questions and results of the international conference "Aesthetics of Transformation - Arts Education Research and the Challenge of Cultural Sustainability". It aims to foster and sharpen the understanding of the potential role of arts education and arts education research for cultural sustainability. In an ever more complex and interconnected world, culture is a valuable resource for sustainable development. Based on the thesis that the change towards sustainability has to be a change that starts with cultural practices of perception and knowledge, this book makes an important contribution to the broad discourse on cultural sustainability, which has begun to emerge in recent years. In this context, the volume first deals with Intangible Cultural Heritage and how aesthetic practices and certain forms of art are changing through cultural transformation processes. Subsequently, it focuses on issues such as arts and cultural education in times of neoliberalism, (post-)migration and post-coloniality as well as on arts and cultural education under conditions of digital transformation. These theoretical and empirical contributions are complemented by insights into field trips to institutions and exemplary places of practice, showing different representations of educational art practices, cultural heritage, and cultural sustainability. Against this background the book finally offers responses and commentaries that can form the starting point for a far reaching interactive dialogical process on the utmost importance of cultural, aesthetic and arts education as part of a global endeavor for sustainable development.

“Educational trends will change and research agendas will shift, but art teachers in public institutions will still need to educate all students for multicultural purposes,” argues Chalmers in this fifth volume in the Occasional Papers series. Chalmers describes how art education programs promote cross-cultural understanding, recognize racial and cultural diversity, enhance self-esteem in students’ cultural heritage, and address issues of ethnocentrism, stereotyping, discrimination, and racism. After providing the context for multicultural art education, Chalmers examines the implications for art education of the broad themes found in art across cultures. Using discipline-based art education as a framework, he suggests ways to design and implement a curriculum for multicultural art education that will help students find a place for art in their lives. Art educators will find Celebrating Pluralism invaluable in negotiating the approach to multicultural art education that makes the most sense to their students and their communities.

This book stems from the 2019 meeting of the UNESCO UNITWIN international network for Arts Education Research for Cultural Diversity and Sustainable Development. It presents scholarly, international perspectives on issues surrounding arts education and sustainability that addresses the following questions: What value can the arts add to the education of citizens of the 21st century?; What are the challenges and ways forward to realize the potential of arts education in diverse contexts? The book discusses empirical research and exemplary practices in the arts and arts education around the world, presenting sound theoretical and methodological frames and approaches. It identifies policy implications at national, regional and global levels that cut across social, economic, environmental and cultural dimensions of sustainable development.