This study focuses on the behavior of interactive agents and how to ground their implementation in psychology and cognitive modeling to capture fundamental psycho-pedagogical elements to deliver an effective competency-based training and assessment tool for teachers, trainers, and educators working in the school context. The study describes the…

Chinese international students often face daunting challenges of building intercultural networks and receiving support from outgroup members. To facilitate their social integration, this study proposed a research model investigating the relationships of online and direct intergroup contact to social capital in intercultural networks (social…

As new stories from asylum seekers and refugees permeate the reality of European societies today, a whole new set of challenges and opportunities arise for building a common sense of belonging. Spaces for intercultural dialogue become crucial in connecting us all in a way that allows us to discover "the other" through our own process of…

Farm education organized by farmers and directed towards students and groups of citizens is a relatively new practice often considered as one specific business strategy to diversify farmers' income. Although we endorse the importance of an economic rationale we argue that this conceptualization undermines a diversity of perspectives on educative…

The influence of the ethnic composition of schools on interethnic relations and attitudes has been studied extensively and has received ample interest from policy makers. However, less attention has been paid to the structures and processes inside schools that organize interethnic relations and attitudes. In Flanders (Belgium), secondary education…

When in 1908 the Belgian government took over the Congo from King Leopold II, a charter was drafted that would serve as a constitution-like statutory code for the new colony. Article 3 in this "Colonial Charter" dealt with language and linguistic rights. It epitomized the duality of language questions with which Belgium remained faced…

This paper investigates the role of ethnic majority staff in the perpetuation of monocultural education that excludes non-western, ethnic minority cultures and reproduces institutional racism in schools. Based on qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews in four ethnically diverse schools in the Flemish educational system, we…

Background: Bridging educational and social psychology, we examine the impact of positive intergroup relations in schools on minority and nonminority school careers. Purpose of Study: The study aims to estimate and explain the attainment gap between Turkish Belgian minority and Belgian nonminority students at four stages of their school careers,…

To advance social integration, policy makers strive for the educational desegregation of immigrant students in Flemish schools. Given the lack of empirical research supporting this policy, this article examines the association between the ethnic composition of schools and native and immigrant students' interethnic friendships, social…

The comparison of the two sub-nations, the language community of the Flemings and the racial group of American negroes suggest a number of hypothesis concerning the changes that occur as upward mobility becomes easier for members of a subordinate ethnic group. (Author/AM)

Susan T. Fiske is professor of psychology, Princeton University (PhD, Harvard University; honorary doctorate, Universite Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium). She wrote Social Cognition (with Taylor) on how people make sense of each other. Currently, she investigates emotional prejudices (pity, contempt, envy, and pride) at cultural,…

An examination of language use in 19th century Brussels seeks to explain how and why a link between language and social class came into operation. Hypotheses relating the social characteristics (material circumstances and consciousness) of social classes and segments of social classes to various resulting language patterns are proposed. This…

This is a collection of conference papers which focus upon factors and variables in conflict among urban ethnic groups in American cities and abroad. Included are the following articles: (1) "Ethnic Conflict, Community-Building, and the Emergence of Ethnic Political Traditions in the United States," by Peter K. Eisinger; (2)…

Papers from an international conference on the interaction of languages and dialects in contact are presented in this volume. Papers include: "Quelques reflexions sur la variation linguistique"; "The Investigation of 'Language Continuum' and 'Diglossia': A Macrological Case Study and Theoretical Model"; "A Survey of…