This book explores a new approach to cultural literacy. Taking a pedagogical perspective, it looks at the skills, knowledge, and abilities involved in understanding and interpreting cultural differences, and proposes new ways of approaching such differences as sources of richness in intercultural and interdisciplinary collaborations. Cultural Literacy and Empathy in Education Practice balances theory with practice, providing practical examples for educators who wish to incorporate cultural literacy into their teaching. The book includes case studies, interviews with teachers and students, and examples of exercises and assessments, all backed by years of robust scholarly research.

This open access book discusses how cultural literacy can be taught and learned through creative practices. It approaches cultural literacy as a dialogic social process based on learning and gaining knowledge through emphatic, tolerant, and inclusive interaction. The book focuses on meaning-making in children and young people's visual and multimodal artefacts created by students aged 5-15 as an outcome of the Cultural Literacy Learning Programme implemented in schools in Cyprus, Germany, Israel, Lithuania, Spain, Portugal, and the UK. The lessons in the program address different social and cultural themes, ranging from one's cultural attachments to being part of a community and engaging more broadly in society. The artefacts are explored through data-driven content analysis and self-reflexive and collaborative interpretation and discussed through multimodality and a sociocultural approach to children's visual expression. This interdisciplinary volume draws on cultural studies, communication studies, art education, and educational sciences. Tuuli Lähdesmäki is an associate professor at the Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Jūratė Baranova was a professor at the Department of Continental Philosophy and Religious Studies, Vilnius University, Lithuania. Susanne C. Ylönen is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Aino-Kaisa Koistinen is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Katja Mäkinen is a senior researcher at the Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Vaiva Juškiene is a junior researcher at the Institute of Educational Sciences, Vilnius University, Lithuania. Irena Zaleskienė is a senior researcher at the Institute of Educational Sciences, Vilnius University, Lithuania.

Recipient of the 2019 NCTE David H. Russell Award! Educating for Empathy presents a compelling framework for thinking about the purpose and practice of literacy education in a politically polarized world. Mirra proposes a model of critical civic empathy that encourages secondary ELA teachers to consider how issues of power and inequity play out in the literacy classroom and how to envision literacy practices as a means of civic engagement. The book reviews core elements of ELA instruction—response to literature, classroom discussion, research, and digital literacy—and demonstrates how these activities can be adapted to foster critical thinking and empathetic perspectives among students. Chapters depict teachers and students engaging in this transformative learning, offer concrete strategies for the classroom, and pose questions to guide school communities in collaborative reflection. Book Features: Responds to our current, divisive political climate to explore what empathy really means and what it takes to teach for it. Explores an innovative concept of critical civic empathy that goes beyond simply being nice to others and emphasizes making positive changes in government and society. Provides an engaging synthesis of theory and practice that shows how foundational ELA activities can be used to support the development of empathy and civic engagement. Focuses on both personal empathy (seeing other points of view) and global empathy (understanding the power of position and privilege in social interactions). Includes real-world examples from a variety of schools and discussion questions at the end of each chapter.

This open access book is a result of an extensive, ambitious and wide-ranging pan-European project focusing on the development of children and young people’s cultural literacy and what it means to be European in the 21st century prioritising intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding. The Horizon 2020 funded, 3-year DIalogue and Argumentation for cultural Literacy Learning (DIALLS) project included ten partners from countries in and around Europe with the aim to centralise co-constructive dialogue as a main cultural literacy value and to promote tolerance, empathy and inclusion. This is achieved through teaching children in schools from a young age to engage together in discussions where they may have differing viewpoints or perspectives, to enable a growing awareness of their own cultural identities, and those of others. Central to the project is children’s engagement with wordless picture books and films, which are used as stimuli for discussions around core cultural themes such as social responsibility, living together and sustainable development. In order to enable intercultural dialogue in action, the project developed an online platform as a tool for engagement across classes, and which this book elaborates on. The book explores themes underpinning this unique interdisciplinary project, drawing together scholars from cultural studies, civics education and linguistics, psychologists, socio-cultural literacy researchers, teacher educators and digital learning experts. Each chapter of the book explores a theme that is common to the project, and celebrates its interdisciplinarity by exploring these themes through different lenses.

Culturally Responsive Teaching and Reflection in Higher Education explores how postsecondary educators can develop their own cultural awareness and provide inclusive learning environments for all students. Discussing best practices from the Cultural Literacy Curriculum Institute at Lesley University, faculty and administrators who are committed to culturally responsive teaching reflect on how to create an inclusive environment and how educators can cultivate the skills, attitudes, and knowledge necessary for implementing culturally responsive curriculum and pedagogy. Rather than a list of "right answers," essays in this important resource integrate discussion and individual reflection to support educators to enhance skills for responding effectively to racial, cultural, and social difference in their personal and professional contexts. This book is as an excellent starting point or further enrichment resource to accompany program or institutional diversity and inclusion efforts.

Pedagogical Opportunities of the Review Genre unleashes the pedagogical potential of the review genre, reframing the act of reviewing of cultural products as a communicative practice from a pedagogical perspective. Negotiating between traditions of journalism and media studies and pedagogy, the author presents a novel approach that will increase the readers’ understanding of an activity that is on the increase in an era where 'everyone can be a critic'. She identifies, describes, and develops genre-based pedagogies in formal, non-formal, and informal contexts of learning and teaching, in order to recontextualize the review as a form of learning and rethink of its potential as an inclusive, engaging, and a transformative critical cultural practice. This innovative and truly interdisciplinary study will interest students and researchers in the areas of media literacy, digital media, media and communication studies, cultural studies, sociology of arts, and pedagogical studies – in particular, cultural journalism and criticism, audience studies, cultural production, and cultural mediation, as well as critical media pedagogy and literacy studies.

The assertion that empathy is an essential characteristic of equity work in higher education demands educators operate from a place of justice, fairness, and inclusive practice. Empathy is a personal quality that allows educators to consider another's perspective to inform the decision-making process about policy, procedures, program and service design, and teaching pedagogy. Thus, engaging empathy in everyday practice supports the potential to create more equitable and inclusive environments as well as standards for serving a diverse student population. Achieving Equity in Higher Education Using Empathy as a Guiding Principle explores what empathy is, how empathy can be developed, and how empathy can be applied in an educator’s practice to achieve equity-mindedness and mitigate inequitable student outcomes in and out of the classroom. The book also argues that self-examination and engaging empathy is a way to thoughtfully examine differences and uphold the values of humanity. Covering topics such as intercultural listening and program development, this reference work is ideal for administrators, practitioners, academicians, scholars, researchers, instructors, and students.