Abstract

HUANCA BRAVO, Hernan. MULTICULTURALISM IN THE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES. Aula Virtual [online]. 2025, vol.6, n.13, e590.  Epub Nov 19, 2025. ISSN 2665-0398.  https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17609058.

The study aimed to synthesize recent evidence on the challenges and opportunities of multiculturalism in the school environment. This was a qualitative systematic review guided by PRISMA 2020. The search was conducted in Scopus (2020-2025), identifying 138 records, screening 124, and including 14 studies for analysis. Processing followed critical reading and manual thematic coding (inclusive policies, intercultural teacher competencies, linguistic diversity, decolonial education). The results showed that school systems faced language barriers, institutional biases, monocultural curricula, and limited teacher training. Furthermore, political resistance to content on identity and racism was observed, as well as the impact of segregation and poverty on the school climate. In contrast, cultural diversity was associated with greater empathy, social cohesion, and democratic citizenship when strategies such as language integration, multilingual resources, ethnic studies, collaborative work, and student participation in the curriculum were implemented. It was concluded that moving from coexistence to living together required translating inclusive discourse into contextualized, evaluable, and sustainable curricular actions: strengthening Intercultural Bilingual Education, professionalizing teachers with a critical intercultural perspective, ensuring multilingual resources, providing psychosocial support, and coordinating the school, families, and community. These decisions were aligned with the study's objective and offered a viable horizon for more equitable and culturally relevant educational systems.

Keywords : Multiculturalism; educational inclusion; intercultural competences; democratic curriculum.

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