Teaching Tolerance in Poland and Turkey

Teachers, students, school volunteers, administrators, and parents in Poland and Turkey were surveyed about their views on intercultural education as part of a large study of states receiving considerable development funds. Though much information was eventually gathered across groups, there was remarkable difficulty in getting parents to acknowledge or comment on such types of learning. The Polish sample is highly important even though the country is not currently engaged in explicit conflict. Given the significant population of refugees and displaced people, as well as the way identity in the country is heavily shaped by religion, the potential for social unrest developing remains. Also, unlike other states in the larger study, little external development funding has been allocated to education, which meant it was also an opportunity to highlight possible areas in need of financial assistance. The ultimate purpose was to see if any effort was being made to promote multicultural curricula in any of the states included