Mainstreaming of multiculturalism

In 1989 the communist regime in Bulgarian fell. It finally brought democratic changes, opened the free market, guaranteed freedom of speech and human rights and equality. After five decades of ethnic tension and human rights violations in the small Balkan country a discussion formed up. The topic on the agenda was “intercultural education”. Throughout the 90s philosophers, sociologists and education experts debate on how to implement this intercultural approach. In 2003 the Ministry of Education presented its strategy called “Educational Integration for children from Minorities” implementing intercultural policies. In this study I research the implementation of the “National Education Strategy” applying the theoretical concepts of mainstreaming as a policy implementation strategy and interculturalism as a policy philosophy. The study focuses on equality as a binding factor to a common goal. Methods. This study adopted a qualitative case study design, open coding policy documents and interviews with municipal schoolteachers. Findings. This study found that equality between minority and majority population in education is used as a factor that binds interculturalism and mainstreaming. This is observed by deconstructing equality as a core policy goal into three categories. Category of equal treatment consisting of institutional and social sub-category. Category of equal opportunity, consisting of educational inclusion and cultural preservation and development sub-category. Last category is minority perspective consisting of social, political and economic sub-category. Conclusion. This study shows that intercultural policies are mainstreamed in Bulgaria’s education with a predominant emphasis on early levels of education (kindergarten, primary school) and more limited policy implementation in high-schools and universities. Intercultural education focuses on teaching children of socio-cultural diversity which is expected to transcend into the general societal sphere . Recommendations. Although there is a visible structure of how intercultural policies and mainstreamed, the approach lacks standardization for a smoother implementation of policies and the effective cooperation between education institutions. The intercultural dialogue can be deepened much more by involving interested parties with experience in the field on intercultural education.