Giving voice to diversity: Cooperative strategies for intercultural citizenship

In the framework of the international policy guidelines on inclusive and equitable quality education for all learners, the paper discusses how Complex Instruction (CI) by E. Cohen can work for promoting intercultural dialogue in heterogenous school contexts and active citizenship for living together in our multicultural societies, by recognizing the differences in knowledge, intelligences, language and cultural background as resources, and by developing effective conditions capable of giving voice to diversity. Grounded in ethnographic research, this chapter shows how experimenting with CI pedagogy in some multicultural primary schools can help students exercise agency within their groups and support teachers to transform their teaching in a more democratic way. In this direction, this chapter focuses on the use of CI in the contexts of literacy for migrants, with the aim of encouraging them to recognize their rights and agency in the host country. It also focuses on promoting adult education programs to build intercultural citizenship.