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National commemorations in school in a multicultural context: (Bachelor thesis)

Μαριόγλου, Μυρτώ-Ευαγγελία

The increase in migration flows worldwide has highlighted the need to examine how cultural diversity is managed within Greek public education. This need emerges from the central role of education as a mechanism through which social values and dominant ideologies are transmitted and reproduced. Through specific educational practices and institutional processes, schooling contributes to the construction and maintenance of national belonging and the culture of the nation-state. National school celebrations constitute one such mechanism. This study is structured into two parts. The first part provides a theoretical discussion of the mechanisms through which the nation-state operates, as well as the dynamics that shape social relations in culturally diverse environments, drawing primarily on perspectives from the social sciences and, more specifically, social psychology. The second part explores how undergraduate students of the Department of Educational Sciences in Early Childhood at Democritus University of Thrace conceptualize national celebrations and define what they consider to be appropriate educational practices for approaching school celebrations related to national anniversaries within the multicultural context of kindergarten education. The findings indicate that, although participants express support for inclusion and intercultural education, they often continue to frame educational practices through dominant Greek national norms. This tendency becomes particularly visible in their narratives regarding national celebrations. While most participants argue that such celebrations should be adapted to contemporary multicultural realities, they simultaneously emphasize that these changes should not undermine the role of national celebrations in preserving and reinforcing national identity.