The French Case: Teacher Initiatives in a Difficult Context for Intercultural Education

Abstract

This chapter reports on a large quantitative study that focused on the effects of teachers’ initiatives aiming to prevent and reduce expressions of xenophobia and racist intolerance among French middle and high school students (n = 1,843). Specifically, we looked at the relationship between teacher practice and student behaviors and beliefs about immigration and immigrant populations. Using Pettigrew and Meertens’ Blatant and Subtle Prejudice Scale (1995, 1997), we measured the level of youth’s intolerance towards minority groups, our dependent variable, and found that the more students perceived that teachers’ paid attention to issues of racism, discrimination, and social justice in the lessons and in the classroom, the more attitudes of both blatant and subtle racism dropped.