Original scientific paper
Substructure of an intercultural curriculum. comparison of selected features of the Croatian culture among high school students and their teachers according to the Hofstede model
Renata Burai
orcid.org/0000-0002-5634-2996
; The University Department for Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The data used in this paper were obtained in the course of a scientific-research project “Intercultural curriculum and education in the languages of minorities”, lead by prof. Neven Horvatić, PhD, in the 2007–2012 period. The basic elements that constitute the basic starting elements for the drafting of the Croatian national curriculum and its intercultural dimensions are elaborated in the paper. The paper then explains one of the possible approaches to the research of cultural differences – according to the Hofstede model, which was the basis for this paper. The aim of the paper was to define some of the essential features of substructure of intercultural curriculum by identification of the features of the national culture of the young. A 109-items modified Hofstede model questionnaire was used in the project. Its content refers to four dimensions: power distance, masculinity/femininity, individualism/collectivism and uncertainty avoidance (anxiety). Using the research into the dimensions of national culture, understanding of the basic characteristics and values that are esteemed in a given society is reached. In the course of the research of the selected features of the Croatian culture, a valid completed questionnaires from 1,978 students and 272 teachers from 27 secondary schools in the Republic of Croatia were obtained. The research surveyed the attitudes and values of high school students and their teachers on the life, work and society; the quality of differences in the attitudes between students and teachers and if there are differences in attitudes between the students regarding gender, age and regional background. The analysis of selected features of the young in the Republic of Croatia according to Hofstede’s dimensions produced a an insight into the “average tendencies” of their attitudes and values. The first topic of the research indicates that egalitarian beliefs are prevailing among the young (noticeable intermediate level of the power distance), that they are placed on the border between individualism and collectivism, their orientation in terms of masculinity/femininity dimension is balanced, and they scored a medium level of anxiety. By analysing the second topic of the research, we found that the research results of national culture indicate similarity between the attitudes of the students and the teachers. When interpreted as indicators of certain features of Croatian national culture, such attitudes indicate that their score in terms of power distance is low to medium. This implies attitude of intolerance towards inequality in society, similar degree of affinity for both the individualism and the collectivism, high school students and their teachers with a strong feminine and equally masculine/feminine features, and with a strong average value of uncertainty avoidance. The third topic of the research, which dealt with the identification of differences with regard to the gender of the students, the biggest difference was expressed in the dimension of masculinity/femininity, followed by the uncertainty avoidance, power distance and individualism. No statistically significant differences were found in regard to the age of the students. With regard to their original region, differences in all four dimensions have been found.
Keywords
social values; Geert Hofstede culture dimensions; identity; interculturalism; intercultural identity; intercultural curriculum; curriculum; culture; cultural pluralism; cultural relativism
Hrčak ID:
177387
URI
Publication date:
16.6.2016.
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