A comparison of multicultural education in the USA and the EU with reference to Austria

This VWA’s topic is the implementation of multicultural learning in contemporary education policies. It contains an empirical chapter in which US, EU and Austrian educational approaches to multiculturalism are compared to one another using critical analysis methods. Many of the criteria for the analysis are based on theories by a pioneer in multicultural education, James A. Banks. The relevant theories and criteria of analysis are explained in the theoretical part of the paper, where their importance and impact on students is also elaborated on. In short, this paper assigns one of two approaches to each document and further examines which dimensions (another category of approaches) influence which policies. The results show that the most relevant approach is the Decision Making Approach, which influences one document in both the US and the EU and is essential to the two Austrian policies. As far as the dimensions are concerned, equity pedagogy, an empowering school culture and the minimal group paradigm play an important role in several documents. Inhalt