Intercultural Education

ISSN: 1467-5986 (Print) 1469-8439 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ceji20

The selfish giant: narration and language

instruction in a multicultural pre-primary class as
a model for teacher change and development
Marianna Fokaidou & Pavlina Hadjitheodoulou-Loizidou
To cite this article: Marianna Fokaidou & Pavlina Hadjitheodoulou-Loizidou (2014) The
selfish giant: narration and language instruction in a multicultural pre-primary class as
a model for teacher change and development, Intercultural Education, 25:1, 55-67, DOI:
10.1080/14675986.2014.883201
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2014.883201

Published online: 28 Mar 2014.

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Date: 07 September 2016, At: 08:38

Intercultural Education, 2014

Vol. 25, No. 1, 5567, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2014.883201

The selsh giant: narration and language instruction in a

multicultural pre-primary class as a model for teacher change and
development
Marianna Fokaidou* and Pavlina Hadjitheodoulou-Loizidou
Cyprus Pedagogical Institute, Nicosia, Cyprus
Within the framework of multicultural education, a school-based teacher training
program was implemented in a public preschool in Nicosia, Cyprus, where a
large number of migrant pupils were enrolled. The main goal of the program
was to create a basis for reection and interaction among the teaching staff about
issues related to the social and learning development of migrant pupils. The
approach was based on a model for teacher change which focuses on enactment
and reection. Specic methodological aspects were applied in a session related
to language instruction, which was carried out and observed by the school
teaching staff. The main conclusion was that most of the migrant pupils reacted
positively: they played an active role and their participation increased. This
teacher training program enabled the teachers to realize how they, as professionals, are inuenced by their own experiences and they also recognized the limits
of their competences and expertise.
Keywords: teacher training; teacher change; linguistic diversity; multicultural
classroom; language instruction

Introduction
During the last two decades, migration ows from Eastern Europe and Asia to
Cyprus have led to an increased awareness of the sociocultural, religious, and
linguistic diversity in schools. This impacted school structure and organization,
teaching methodology, as well as social aspects of learning. This kind of immigration and growing diversity is an issue faced by many other countries in Europe and
worldwide. The successful integration of migrant children in European schools and
societies is both an economic necessity and a pre-condition for democratic stability
and for social cohesion. Investing in quality early childhood education and care is
crucial, as it is at this stage that the foundations are laid for the subsequent development of learning skills and achievements, and also because, as shown by research,
this contributes signicantly to breaking the cycle of disadvantage (NESSE 2008).
One main topic in this discourse concerns linguistic diversity, since language is
part of identity and at the same time a tool for developing identity (Portes and
Rumbaut 2001). It also plays a central role in the migrant pupils integration
process. Secondary analysis of the Program for International Student Assessment
results (OECD 2010) shows that pupils who have come to reception countries at a
younger age have better results than those that arrive later and pupils with a migrant
*Corresponding author. Email: mfokaidou@cytanet.com.cy
2014 Taylor & Francis

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M. Fokaidou and P. Hadjitheodoulou-Loizidou

background who speak a different language at home than the one used at school
tend to have lower achievement scores in reading. However, language training
cannot be considered the unique support for the integration of migrant pupils in the
school system. Pupils should be supported in all dimensions of their personality
including their cultural prole, mother tongue, and their social needs (Holzwarth
and Maurer 2003; Van Avermaet and Gysen 2006; Bialystok 2009).
Apart from signicant differences in the achievement scores of migrant children
between different countries educational systems (OECD 2010), migrant pupils
results vary systematically between schools within the same educational system
(OECD 2010). Finally, individual and small group actors and their interrelation, their
denition of situations, their needs, goals, and resources (NESSE 2008) play an
important role in dealing with diversity and school achievement. Whichever level is
addressed, the teacher is always in focus (Angrist and Lavy 2001; Barber and
Mourshed 2007; Kyriakides, Creemers, and Antoniou 2009), since she/he is the
most crucial factor inuencing pupils achievement. According to the Mc Kinsey
Report (Barber and Mourshed 2007), the nature of the curriculum is critical,
however. Without an effective system for delivering it through the teachers, any
changes to content or learning objectives will have limited impact. Therefore, the
focus should be on teachers who develop professionally in order to inuence their
pupils performance.
Teacher professional programs, whether initial or in-service, constitute an important component of educational improvement, only if the professional development is
focused on specic changes in teacher classroom behaviors and particularly if it is
aligned with other changes in the educational system.
According to Gaible and Burns (2005), teacher professional development can be
divided into three broad categories:
 Standardized TPD: The most centralized approach, best used to disseminate information and skills among large teacher populations, hovering on a one t for all
principle for upgrading teachers knowledge base that is independent of context.
 Site-based TPD: Intensive learning by groups of teachers in a school or region,
taking place in schools, resource centers or teachers colleges promoting profound
and long-term changes in instructional methods which are most effective when
delivered in connection with a school development plan.
 Self-directed TPD: Independent learning, sometimes initiated at the learners discretion, using available resources that may include computers and the Internet.
For the purpose of the program presented in this article, a site-based PTD model
was followed, adopting the Interconnected Model of teacher professional growth
(Clarke and Hollingsworth 2002).
The Interconnected Model focuses on the idea that change occurs through the
mediating processes of reection and enactment, in four distinct domains which
encompass the teachers world: the personal domain (teachers knowledge, beliefs,
and attitudes), the domain of practice (professional experimentation), the domain of
consequence (salient outcomes), and the external domain (sources of information,
stimulus, or support). The mediating processes of reection and enactment are
represented in the model as arrows linking the domains. What is important in this
model is that it recognizes the complexity of professional development through the
identication of multiple growth pathways between the domains, and that it locates

Intercultural Education

57

change in any of the four domains. For example, a new approach to teaching a
second language could reside in the domain of practice, new knowledge or a new
belief about the approach. Effectiveness would reside in the personal domain and a
changed perception of salient outcomes related to classroom practice would reside in
the domain of consequences. Change in one domain is translated into change in
another through the mediating processes of reection and enactment. It should
also be mentioned that the term enactment can be differentiated from acting,
since acting occurs in the domain of practice, and each action represents the enactment of something a teacher knows. Although there are recent studies (Kyriakides,
Creemers, and Antoniou 2009) placing doubt on this notion of reection per se, in
the training program presented here reection focuses, and is closely related, to
specic actions in a nursery school. Action and knowledge, theory and practice are
not dichotomized as different parts of teachers development (Figure 1).
The study
The purpose of the study presented in the following pages was to investigate
whether the interconnected model of site-based teacher development could become

THE ENVIRONMENT
(e.g. Cyprus educational system
policies on migrant students
reception, directives on
implementing intercultural
education teaching Greek as a
second language etc)

PERSONAL DOMAIN
The teacher knows,
believes, experiences

EXTERNAL DOMAIN
The teacher experiences
new knowledge in the
teacher training aiming
at influencing both the
personal and the
practical domain

PRACTICAL DOMAIN
The teacher puts into
action new knowledge
structured on what was
conducted while
encouraging change in the
personal and external
domain the personal
domain

DOMAIN OF
CONSEQUENCES
The teacher draws
conclusions about the
new knowledge and
its impact on students
enactment
reflection
based on Clarke and Hollingsworth (2002)

Figure 1. Teacher change model based on Clarke and Hollingsworth (2002).

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M. Fokaidou and P. Hadjitheodoulou-Loizidou

the cornerstone for professional development in a public preschool in Nicosia,

Cyprus, where a large number of migrant pupils recently settling on the island have
enrolled. The school-based teacher training program was implemented as a result of
a request by teachers who worked in that particular school. They were facing the
challenges of having a diverse population of children and had little relevant
information and training to prepare them for this.
The training aimed to introduce methodologies and approaches related to
teaching in heterogeneous classrooms through a language instruction session, in
order to function as a basis for observation, discussion, and critical reection on
how language teaching for students with a migrant background can be incorporated
into every day teaching, based on the Clarke and Hollingsworth (2002) teacher
change model. The intention was not merely prescriptive or merely descriptive but
to use in practice the model as an analytical and interrogatory tool to facilitate the
framing of questions relating to school-based training and accommodate alternative
pathways to professional growth.
The training session was structured in such way so as to give teachers the opportunity to reect on, to act on, and build on change in their attitudes and actions in
relation to dealing with linguistic diversity in their school. The program consisted of
ve sessions/phases during a period of eight months and included injections in all
domains of the teachers professional world in various forms: presentations and discussions, role play activities, lesson planning, cooperation, reection, information
exchange of experience, etc. During all phases, one of the two researchers participated actively in designing and implementing the activities while the other took eld
notes on teachers and students reactions and attitudes in the form of a personal
diary. An open-coding system was used to identify meaningful pieces of information
with similar meanings forming different topics, intersecting each domain of the
teachers world (Table 1).
The environment: Cyprus educational policy on migrant students and the
particular schools
In Cyprus, according to the Ministry of Education and Culture Annual Report
(2010), about 12% of the pupils attending public primary schools in Cyprus do not
speak Greek as a rst language. It is stated that education needs to be provided that
supports the language and the distinctive cultural features of the various ethnic
Table 1. Domains of teachers world.
Area

Category

Personal domain

Attitudes on students abilities

Attitudes on system strengths and limitations
Attitudes on the role of background
Attitudes on personal powerful points and limitations
Rationale of decisions on types of activities
Use of language by the children
Use of non-verbal communication
Use of audiovisual aids
Way the children respond alone
Way the children respond in pairs/in small groups
Participation in activities

Practical domain

Domain of consequences

Intercultural Education

59

groups, but, also, to provide an education that helps bilingual pupils learn Greek as
their second language for a smoother transition into the Greek Cypriot society
(Ministry of Education and Culture, Cyprus 2011).
To succeed in this, various forms of support measures have been taken. One of
these includes parallel language instruction for teaching Greek as a second language.
Migrant pupils join classrooms along with the native Greek-speaking pupils, but
they also receive intensive Greek language instruction according to their specic
needs in a separate class for some hours of the week based on a pullout language
teaching system, although there are cases where two teachers may work in the same
class. However, all efforts have been under scrutiny and new proposals have been
handed to the Ministry of Education and Culture in order to promote a holistic
approach to the integration of migrant students.
In public preschools, where the training program took place, pupils aged 36
years formed ve classes. The population of the pupils was diverse, both culturally
and linguistically. Some 60% of the students came from different countries around
the globe, such as Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Pakistan, and Iran, and their rst
language was not Greek. Another 20% of the pupils were children of mixed
marriages (usually the mother came from another country) and at home they mostly
spoke another language. Only 20% of the pupils were Greek native speakers. Most
of the pupils were from low socioeconomic status backgrounds and did not attend
school regularly, or they arrived very late in the morning. There were many
newcomers during the year, and many others left the school. School hours were
from 7.30 in the morning until 5.30 in the afternoon.
Structuring teacher change on dealing with linguistic diversity
Training session 1: focusing on the personal domain discussions in the staff
room
The rst training session took place at the beginning of the school year. A meeting
with the school director and members of the teaching staff was organized upon their
request for professional support on issues related to intercultural education and
language teaching vis--vis the inadequate preparation during the teachers initial
training. During the rst meeting it was admitted that the teaching staff had been
facing communication problems with children and parents, mostly because of
language and cultural differences. During the meeting there were opportunities to
share with all teachers, ideas and feelings about their pupils, as well as their own
image of self-efcacy, interest, and commitment in order to improve their pupils
achievement and personal growth, as well as to get to know them. Many teachers
seemed open and willing to try new approaches in order to be more effective and to
implement various methods so as to improve their work. At the same time, there
were some teachers who seemed, and sometimes even admitted, not feeling very
comfortable with the issue of cultural diversity in the school and classroom due to
lack of experience.
I feel that Ive been punished by the system Why do I have to work in this school?

These teachers were very concerned and anxious. They felt helpless and more
distanced to the situation and did not take actions in order to encourage and support
their pupils. By trying to manage their own professional stress they turned to a

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M. Fokaidou and P. Hadjitheodoulou-Loizidou

stereotypical way of thinking, without trying to reect on their own self. There was
a need for structuring change to acquire the skills, in inquiring about these and about
different sociocultural issues (Arnensen et al. 2010) and, thus, it was necessary to
move on to the external domain.
I use very often these kinds of activities in the classroom, but I never thought of
keeping a diary

Session 2: focusing on the practical domain observation in the classroom

In cooperation with the school staff, it was decided that the training would be developed with the teacher who taught 5-year olds. This class consisted of 20 pupils, and
the teacher had 20 years of experience. During the second session of the training,
the researchers and the classroom teachers worked thoroughly on the pupils prole,
needs, and capabilities. At the beginning of the school year, the teachers had created
a record for every pupil. All social and learning needs as well as reactions, cognitive
skills, and attitudes were reported in order to enable effective decision-making for
classroom organization and methodological strategies. The second phase of the
training lasted six weeks and included 12 teaching periods of observation in the
classroom. The teacher applied different methods and tools of instruction,
assessment, and classroom management, in order to test and understand each child
better and enable them to develop their own learning style/procedures in a friendly
and relaxed environment. Some of the main observations noted were related to the
following:
 The way the children responded when they had to complete a task on their
own, or when working in pairs or groups.
 Non-linguistic elements that facilitated pupils in certain situations (e.g. picture,
music, movement, etc.).
 The management of space, time, and teaching material.
All comments and ideas about the various approaches of developing language
skills in the classroom with multicultural character were summarized. It was found
that the teacher had developed a positive approach to working with migrant children, implemented various ideas in developing their linguistic competencies but had
done this rather unsystematically. There were inadequacies identied with respect to
developing Greek as a Second Language Curriculum, and working with it in parallel and while working with the native speakers. Differentiation of work and language activities, as well as effective use of the different phases of the school time
table, was not successfully applied. It was decided to plan and carry out an instruction session pointing out these aspects in order to develop a model for systematic
and reective decision-making in dealing with the Language Curriculum in the
nursery school it was stressed that the teacher could nd ways of making modications to ensure that it would be sensitive and responsive to diversity. Parts of her
work were used as examples and it was stressed that what was needed was careful
planning to establish a participatory and inclusive learning environment ensuring
that all pupils would be engaged and that no one would be left out (Arnensen et al.
2010).

Intercultural Education

61

Training session 3: focusing on the external domain new experiences in relation

to teacher beliefs and attitudes
The third phase aimed at bringing change in the personal domain via reection on
new experiences of the external domain. The school staff was introduced to a series
of concepts related to the self and the other, and on how we perceive our pupils.
They were also exposed to how these perceptions inuence what takes place in the
classroom. According to Reyes (2006), the expectations and beliefs of the teacher
strongly inuence the performance of pupils. In this way, responsibility is shifted to
pupils rather than recognizing the inadequacy and eventually a select group of privileged is singled out while others, especially those of racial and of culturally diverse
background, are excluded or marginalized (Weinstein, Curran, and Tomlinson-Clarke
2003; Dinham 2007).
Through a presentation of general issues and workshop activities, in which the
teachers had the chance to participate actively, many interesting points surfaced. It
was remarkable for the participants to discover their own stereotypes, prejudices, and
views about the world, and also to question them. Challenging every teacher, regardless of leadership level, to take a reective look at his or her own views and attitudes
about a particular individual pupil, as well as structurally labeled groups and populations of pupils, was a very constructive action and functioned as a positive start in
the program (Betancourt and Grayson 2010). So, in the rst part of the training
reection on the personal domain through the external domain was in focus.
Training session 4: reecting and enacting on the practical domain
The fourth session of the teacher training focused on the enactment and reection
between the personal, external, and practical domain. It was decided that a session
would be dedicated to present to the teaching staff a developed lesson on Greek
language storytelling (European Commission 2004). This allowed teachers the
opportunity to discuss different ways of adopting and adapting the language
curriculum to the nursery class level before moving to the third phase, which would
focus on the consequences of the activities selected.
The Selsh Giant by Oscar Wilde was selected for this particular lesson since it
is a story rich in descriptions of places, weather, characters, and emotions. It refers
to a giant who owns a beautiful garden. While he is away for some years, many
children come and play in the garden. When the giant returns he asks the children to
go away and he builds a high wall around the garden. The garden becomes empty
and cold, even though it is springtime. The giant is sad and lonely and then realizes
his mistake. So, when the children start coming through a hole in the wall, the giant
starts playing with them. The garden turns green and everybody is happy again.
Many parts of the story are very close to the experiences of children and the
vocabulary of the story can easily be used for developing daily language skills.
Besides, as Wedin (2010) argues, narration is a tool for language development in the
early years of schooling, as well as a tool for promoting diversity in the classroom.
Since changes needed to take place in both the personal and practical domain it
was decided that through the story of the Selsh Giant, the researcher and the
classroom teacher would build on concepts presented in the third session. They
would create opportunities for practice in the sense of restructuring the activities that
are usually used in a story-telling session in order to have a salient outcome
regarding linguistic competences.

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M. Fokaidou and P. Hadjitheodoulou-Loizidou

For the pupils with a migrant background and limited knowledge of the Greek
language, the tasks were modied and differentiated. Thus, it was particularly
expected that they would be able to:
 understand the basic scenes and facts of the story
 learn and use in narration basic vocabulary related to:
 temporal adverbs (before, now, after)
 basic adjectives which are used for narration and description of scenes of the
story (good, bad, happy, sad, angry).
 nouns that are presented in the story and also used in the daily life of
children (Winter, Spring, children, boys, girls, owers, birds).
The session started in a plenary with an introduction of the basic hero of the
story the giant in the picture. The children rst engaged in a discussion about his
external characteristics (what do we see, what does he look like, etc.). The story was
read aloud by the teacher and during this time, the pictures of the different scenes
were shown in a power point presentation. During the narration, every scene of the
story was accompanied by pictures and classical music pieces in the same emotional
context (Mozart classical music suitable for young children). The story was divided
into six scenes related to six pictures.
During and after the narration, a plenary discussion was held about the story
which resulted in interesting observations and points which were used in the nal
session of reection. Teachers were asked to focus on the reactions of pupils from
the rst and second group. With respect to the migrant pupils with a low level of
Greek knowledge the following remarks can be made:
 Description of the garden at the beginning of the story
Most pupils with little knowledge of the Greek language understood the
questions where and why children were playing In the cases where there were
difculties, the use of pictures and music functioned well.
In addition to the transfer of already known or heard words in a new context, i.e.
the timed session that revolved around another theme helped the children to react
positively.
 Discussion about the reaction of the giant after returning in his garden.
 Discussion on how the garden changed when the children had been expelled?
Role playing and discussion focused on feelings, landscape, and seasons, using
words like cold, snow, empty garden, and sad giant. There was a comparison of the
giants garden in full bloom with the picture of the garden under the winter spell
and pupils attempted to understand the giants mistake. The music functioned in a
way that children could connect the words describing the metaphorical connection
of outside and inside words and emotions.
 Discussion about the end of the story and the messages for the children
For this scene, pupils used and recycled vocabulary and expressions of the
previous scenes. In addition, it was interesting to see the way in which they

Intercultural Education

63

attempted to give their own interpretations and judgments using comparisons and
expressions like: Now it is good, now he is happy and the garden is beautiful
again
The narration and discussion of the story were followed by certain group
activities to enable both active individual participation and cooperation/collaboration
among children in drawing outcomes and conclusions. The aim was to work on the
vocabulary learnt, to develop critical thinking and encourage interaction. In all
groups, each single child played an active role, holding one or two pictures which
played a crucial role in completing the activity successfully. In this manner, they
had to understand how to cooperate and complete the task. Each pupil had the
chance to talk and express him/her-self, either in full sentences or simple words. For
example, in activity 1 (placing pictures in time sequence), children expressed
themselves in ways like: My picture ts after the picture of x because the giant here
is left alone after the children ran away.

Training session 5: reecting on the practical domain and the domain of

consequences
The nal session took place after the lesson. All members of the teaching staff, the
head teacher, the school advisor, and the researchers participated in a discussion and
a reection session that followed and focused on the outcomes of the teaching
activities in relation to what the teacher had done in the classroom. The teaching
staff came to understand how to incorporate pupils starting point and abilities in the
lesson in a natural way, by focusing on specic points (i.e. vocabulary, expressions)
or simplifying and explaining certain things without any time delays or special
treatment by rearranging and restructuring an ordinary everyday lesson.
The teachers also discussed and reected on how teachers can discover ways in
order to facilitate the involvement of the non-Greek speakers. Even though it was
not always easy, the methodology used allowed these pupils to participate and
express themselves. Acting in this way, teachers can remove the barriers that prevent
participation. During the sessions, teachers had an opportunity to reect on activities
that allowed them to accomplish the aims and objectives they set for all students
including those with a migrant background. For example, they especially pointed
out that when the picture was connected to music, emphasis was given to the word
and the meaning in order to help the children create associations and succeed in
understanding. It was shown, in a simple way, how rich instructional plans and
classroom organization are very crucial for the support and development of migrant
pupils language skills. At the same time, it was stressed how important it is to offer
additional support or instructional accommodation. In these cases, the migrant pupils
get the chance to reach the same attainment level as native speakers. Although the
latter benet from a language-based explanation of a story in learning new vocabulary, migrant children may need extra visual representation of the concept to gain
the same level of understanding (Shanahan and Beck 2006).
Teachers also reected on how setting the vocabulary as a main learning task in
the nursery school was modied: the teacher focused more on the understanding of
the meanings of simple words, and in enabling the migrant pupils to adapt them in
future contexts. The size of a childs vocabulary is important but an in-depth
understanding of words is equally important (Quellette 2006). This can be

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M. Fokaidou and P. Hadjitheodoulou-Loizidou

successfully attained by teaching word meanings explicitly in different linguistic

contexts, with repetition and by providing multiple opportunities to use the words
(Collins 2005). Research shows that instruction should focus on developing oral
language skills by providing rich and engaging language environments while building early literacy skills (Castro et al. 2011).
At the end of the nal session, teachers were asked to reect on what they had
experienced and whether they could incorporate what they had learned in their daily
practice. They mentioned that using supportive methods such as visual aids,
gestures, emphasizing important words in a sentence, keeping the message simple,
repeating key vocabulary words, and using a curriculum that helps bilingual learners
actively participate by providing concrete experiences and materials, could be the
rst steps towards becoming more responsive to cultural and linguistic differences
(Dickinson and Flushman 2009). I realize that I dont need to change so much the
content of my instruction, but I rather need to think of my classroom organization.
The nal session revealed the need of the teachers to reect and reorganize many
of their daily practices in order to reach more positive outcomes. According to them,
reection on what they were doing and why, on the effectiveness of their actions in
relation to the responses of the pupils and their possibilities for improvement was a
very motivating process. This supports Kanagys research (in Vickers 2007) about
routine activities within everyday life and interaction in the classroom, and
scaffolding by the teacher.
Conclusion
The model used for teacher development in this training program (Clarke and
Hollingsworth 2002) succeeded in convincing the participants to take steps towards
working on their own personal awareness (the self and others), helped them realize
how important it is to build on and be part of the content of such in-service training
programs. At the same time, it established a close interaction between the colleagues
and the local communities, as well as between the colleagues themselves.
This program offered opportunities for teacher voices to be heard (Speiser 2000),
for them to express their concerns and queries, and to encourage more respect
towards different perspectives in teaching. Teachers were also encouraged to develop
a deeper understanding of the complex characteristics that impact the pupils interaction with teachers and how this factor impacts the behavior of both parties. Teachers
came to realize that they can use and build on their knowledge to create learning
opportunities for their students and, thus, become more effective educators (Milner
and Smithey, in Santoro 2007).
Through watching and reecting on the teaching language session associated
with The Selsh Giant, teachers were introduced to a process creating change by
moving in and out of dimensions of pedagogical learner knowledge: pedagogical
procedural information useful in enhancing learner focused teaching in the daily life
of classroom action and the ways teachers interact rigorously and supportively with
learners (Grimmet and McKinnon, in Achinstein and Athanases 2005, 858).
To implement these instructional practices, schools need program policies and
resources, as well as teacher competences and a curriculum that will provide an
adequate context for them (Castro et al. 2011). According to Furr (2001) and
Obiakor (1999), as long as educators insist that all students meet the same criteria
for success, in spite of their differences, they are creating a permanent underclass.

Intercultural Education

65

This was actually the starting point for this training and, consequently, actions for
change in different domains were aimed at this.
Although the teacher training program offered a strong basis for reection and
discussion within the group of the involved teaching staff, there were some limitations as well. The purpose of the instruction was to allow an understanding and
reection on how specic strategies and simple pedagogical tools could function in
order to yield positive reactions by the migrant pupils. This was achieved to some
extent. According to Lin (2005), future research should explore multiple sources to
assist prospective early childhood teachers to develop a repertoire of instructional
approaches that include skills in direct instruction, inquiry methods, and cooperative
learning methodologies such as group work, peer centered education, and reciprocal
teaching. Therefore, instructional approaches like the one presented above should be
systematically applied in order to evaluate long-lasting effects on childrens
development and learning. This particular session focused only on the actions of the
teacher and a model for teacher development. Factors related to the school, family,
community, and child can also mediate the impact of instructional practices
on language and social development. According to Schtz and Wmann, a
well-developed system of preschool education and socialization is important for
integration on the local level, but the major goals have to be set on the national
level.
Notes on contributors
Marianna Fokaidou has been a teacher trainer in Intercultural Education at the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute since 2008. She received her MA in Education (1998) at the University of
Nancy 2, France, and her PhD in Education at the University of Saarland, Germany (2004).
She has worked as a researcher at the Institute for Intercultural Education at the University
Koblenz Landau in Germany (20022003) and as an external lecturer at the European
University Cyprus (20102011).
Pavlina Hadjitheodoulou-Loizidou has been a teacher trainer in Intercultural Education at the
Cyprus Pedagogical Institute since 2000. She received her MA in Education and Society
(19891990) at the University of Reading, UK and her PhD in Pedagogics at the University
of Ioannina (1996). She has worked at ASPAITE Pedagogy School in Athens (19962000)
and as a tutor at the Greek Open University (19982009). She has worked as a post doc
researcher for the Education of Roma Children project of the Greek Ministry of Education
and the University of Ioannina, (19962000). She has worked for the Council of Europe
Project on Teaching Socio-cultural Diversity and the Pestalozzi Modules on Intercultural
Education.

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