From 5th to 8th May last year, a meeting under the title "A Synthesis of the Interculturalistic Activities" was held in Ohrid. This meeting was organized by the nongovernment organization for preschool education (OMEP), which is a part of the UNESCO structure.

One of the speakers oo this meeting was our compratriot Mr. Boris Traikov from Melbourne, Australia. He re(presented) the Victoria Co-operative of Children Services for Ethnic Groups. Here we publish the test that was presented by Mr. Boris Traikov.

The models of the intercultural activities in the West-European countries for which we suppose that they match their present economic and cultural relations, cannot be efficient models in the overseas countries, where you may say the term "temporary employed" does not exist, and where the official migration policy is based on migrants who intend to stay in their new fatherlands.

The use of the West-European models in the overseas countries, in this particular case Australia, may cause occurrence of "ghetto - situtations" within the ethnic communities with disastrous consequences during the integration of the new-comers and their children in the new environnments.

Because of that, there is a great demand for the intercultural programmes to be directed towards creation of intercultural relations ine one new multicultural society, that was being born as a result of such relations.

In Australia, for instance, it is not enough to have just an understanding and tolerance for the need of mother tongue and native culture learning by the migrants and their children.

The migrants' cultural heritage has to be built into the Australian culture that in the recent years has been looking for its own identification and differentiation from let us say the Anglo-Saxon one. The need for building in the migrants' cultures into the Australian one is not only aphenomenon forced by the migrants from non Anglo-Saxion origin, but also a need of the total Australian society, including the Australians from the Anglo-Saxon background. Throughout a new really independent Australian culture is being developed as a bouquet of the most valuable kinds of cultural heritage and ethnic communities living on the Australian continent.

That is a long and rather complicated process, which is understood and accepted by all conoservative forces with great difficulties.

If that is an attitude of the policy which has to find its place in the everyday life, then it is the most accurate and exalted way to start being used with children from their youngest age.

The multicultural policy is being debated very much in Australia today. It has to become a platform for every citizen no matter what race, faith or nationality they are. It is added by itself to the other legal rates that overcome the international practice (human rights, equal opportunities, child care, etc.)

The multiculture aspect in education is a strong point that is being used in all levels of the educational systems. Bilingual curricula for teaching and learning community languages are used in the preschool centres, as well as in the primary and secondary schools. In the tertiary school institutions besides departments and lectorates for foreign languages and community languages, multicultural studies are being endorsed and opened.

Multiculturalism can be seen from two quite different perspectives. The first envisages the co-existence of distinct cultures within the same society, but almost in separate compartments, and with very little interaction between them.. In the Australian setting individuals labelled "Anglo-Australian" would speak nothing but English, follow British cultural traditions, and would collectively represent the majority or dominant group in the country. A second major group would be made up of the various "ethnich" who adhered to their native traditions and ignored the majority culture as far as possible. Separatism is the underlying principle of this perspective.

The second perspective sees multiculturalism as a characteristic both of society as a whole and of its individual members. In a society where one group predominates, members of minority groups acquire the dominant culture to a level appropriate to their personal needs and attitudes. Minrity group members are allowed and even encouraged to maintain and develop their native languages and cultures along side the dominant one. The best example of a "bicultural" individual is the "balanced" bilingual who can switch from one language to another with ease. Bilingualism is, however, only onoe facet of biculturalism because other aspects of heritage and family relationships may also be involved.

Multiculturalism from this perspecitive implies that individuals from both majority and minority backgrounds have the opportunity to make use of more than one culture in their everyday lives, be it in language, family life, social manners, ideology, or the higher spheres of culture, such as literature and art. Multiculturalism of this type does not assume that every individual should be bicultural, as in the case of the balanced bilingual, although the greater the number of such individuals the better. What it does assume is that everyone is positvely disposed toward the idea of a multicultural society and participates in it to the extent that his abiility and esires permit. This is the type of multiculturalism that the Australian school should be encouraging: it is multicultralism for all Australians, not simply a device to encourage ethnic separatism.

Ethnic diversity, however, lends Australian society its special multicultural dimension.

We cannot have multiculturalism if we don't have different ethnic groups with their distinctive cultures, language, values, customs and mores and these differences to be acknowledged in a positive way and tolerated by the community. Multiculturalism will develop if first, each ethnic group in the community has developed its own structures to be able to look at its own needs and then be able to share, exchange and articulate these cultural/language and other attributes with other ethnic groups and interact with them to form a whole, yet to be able to retain its unique characteristics and have freedom to continue to practice them. No one group whether it is numerically bigger than the others is to dominate and impose its language, culture and values onto the others. Each group has equal value and acceptance. Multiculturalism is not just for ethnic groups, it does not belong to anyone, it is a living thing which all Australians take part and its development is the reponsibility of all of us.

A truly multicultural society as defined and adopted by the Fourth National Conference of the Federation of Ethnic Councils of Australia is :

"A multicultural society is one where a variety of different cultural groups coexist harmoniously, free to maintain their distinctive religious, linguistic or social customs, equal as individuals in their access to resources and services appropriate to them and their needs, to civil and political rights, and sharing with the rest of society particular concerns and values. All of the groups would stress tolerance of cultural, linguistic and religious differences which would be complementary to the loyalties, the individual shares with other Australians and which forms his/her identity as an Australian in the Australian ethos."

Child care in a multicultural society requires practices which promote intercultural understanding and experience which creatively explore different Australian cultures, at levels appropriate for all age ranges, from 0-12 years.

English language learning opportunities appropriate for all children recognizing that English language learning should never be at the expense of the reinforcement of home language and cultures.

The policy of dynamic but lasting multiculturalism reqquires the introduction of minority lannguage and cultures into schools attended by all Australians. In a context that encourages cultural interaction, minoorities are given an equal opportunity to participate in the social, institutional and occupational structures of society, while the majority group benefits from the advantages of knowing another language an culture.

It is recommended that the Government and all education authorities adopt the following Basic Principles and their associated requirements as a basic for education planning :

All individuals have a right to an education which supports their participation and development in their own and other ethnic cultural and linguistic communities.

Associated requirements

English plus one other language should be part of the education for all students during preschool and P-12 schooling

The curriculum, resources, organization and staffing of educational institutions at all levels should reflect and respond to the ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity of Australian society It is the right of all students to have the opportunity to study the language of their home and community

No person resident in Australia should be denied access to formal education through being insufficiently fluent in oral or written English. Such students should also receive instruction in English as a second language

Establish preschool centres with bilingual staff fo rthe purpose of demonstrating and catalysing professional development and relevant curricula in the field of multicultural early childhood education

Early childhood services in Australia include preschool home-based and centre-based services, out of school hours care and vacation care, toy libraries, play groups, neighbouring houses and outreach services for isolated children.