Teaching with Film: A Research Study of Secondary Social Studies Teachers Use of Film www.sosyalbilgiler.org Journal of Social Studies Education Research Sosyal Bilgiler Eğitimi Araştırmaları Dergisi 2013: 4(2), 27-54 © 2013 Journal of Social Studies Education Research, ISSN: 1309-9108 “Responsible trust”: A value to strengthen Active Citizenship Alexandro ESCUDERO1 Abstract: There is a widespread idea that societies receiving migratory flows behave with hostility towards the immigrants. Thus, three arguments underlie the public policies and educational programmes geared to fostering intercultural values and Active Citizenship competencies in multicultural societies: first, that a strong sense of self- identity is a problem itself in multicultural societies; second, that multiple, hybrids and fluids identities fit better in the social cohesion principles; and third, that it is possible to train people with formal or non-formal educational programmes with the necessary intercultural values and competencies to live together. However, empirical evidence proves that in Catalonia, Spain, there are indigenous people willing to meet voluntarily with people from different cultural background. The volunteers for the practice of the Catalan language do this Active Citizenship practice driven by a strong regional identity and without having had any compulsory or non-formal training in Active Citizenship. This research analyses, through the Grounded Theory methodology, this social phenomenon and proposes the conceptual category Responsible trust as the moral value that allows society to strengthen Active Citizenship among the adult population that is not of compulsory schooling age. Keywords: Active Citizenship, informal learning process, identity, volunteering. Introduction The post-industrial capitalism has generated vigorous migratory flows and shaped multicultural societies in which people with different identities come into contact. This economic phenomenon, named globalisation, pose questions and challenges for European societies, not only in terms of concrete policies to manage the impact of social cohesion processes, but also regarding the rise of an a-political attitude among citizens (de Groot, Goodson, & Veugelers, 2013). Thus, the democratic institutions in cities that receive migratory flows face the challenge of promoting Active Citizenship between people who do not enjoy the same status of full citizenship, that is, between the indigenous and immigrant populations. 1 Alexandro Escudero Nahón is a doctoral student at the Faculty of Education at the University of Barcelona. This text is an excerpt of his doctoral research. He was born in Mexico City and moved to Barcelona six years ago in order to study the PhD programme. As part of the immersion process of this research, he has been studying Catalan for two years. He do not belong to any political or social institution. Contact: alexandroescudero@ub.edu Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2013: 4(2), 27-54 28 The coexistence of people with different culture and different identities in the same geographical space is not a social new phenomenon in the majority of the European societies considered multicultural nowadays. However, in 2011 immigration and integration continued to be matters of intense policy discussion in both the United States and Europe. According to the Transatlantic trends: Immigration survey (2011), this issue remained of secondary concern for the public, after the economy and unemployment. Perceptions of immigration as a problem or opportunity have changed little since 2008, the first year the survey was performed. The point is that while European governments emphasize the need for more economic migrants, fear of losing jobs, xenophobia and negative sentiments are widespread among the local population. Attitudes and sentiments towards migrants, foreigners or ethnic minorities vary widely across countries and could be a major source of disadvantage or prosperity for ethnic minorities. While attitudes and perceptions affect our behavior, they are also the outcome of a complex social, political, and economic process, shaped through the engagement of individuals in social and economic life and influenced by public discourse and the media (Constant, Kahanec & Zimmermann, 2008). According to studies on public opinion on immigration in Spain, Spaniards support less immigration, and more selectivity based on skills and qualifications, but not reduced rights and benefits for immigrants. Skilled natives have more positive attitudes about immigration, in spite of the potential fiscal burden it implies for them. Respondents who believed that immigration drops natives’ wages tended to oppose immigration and endorse reducing the benefits and rights granted to immigrants. More negative attitudes were found among individuals who dislike other races, while the opposite was found for those valuing cultural diversity. Catholic respondents favor more restrictive admission policies, in particular ones based on cultural factors. Respondents in provinces with high immigration and a high proportion of Moroccans wanted lower levels of immigration, though having contact with immigrants reduces the negative attitudes toward them. Individuals who overestimated the levels of immigration are more prone to have negative attitudes toward immigrants (Martínez & Duval-Hernández, 2009). Thus, three arguments underlie the majority of the studies and the public policies oriented towards social cohesion. First, that identity of an individual can be identified easily from visible features as color of their skin, the language they speak, or their gender, and with more difficulties from less evident characteristics, such as their sexual preference, their political orientation or their religious belief. People who live in multicultural societies that conceive the immigration as Alexandro ESCUDERO 29 an economic and social problem per se, frequently avoid contact with immigrants to reduce the sensations of dread, distrust and ill-will (Delgado, 2009; Onghena, 2009). Recents studies developed by public institutions in Barcelona have demonstrated that the public opinion believe that the most important obstacle to coexistence in diversity are personal attitudes toward people from different cultural backgrounds. At the same time, they reveal that social and institutional management of the phenomenon is perceived as a major element facilitating this tendency (Barcelona City Council, 2010, p. 25). The second argument develops the idea that modern citizenship, constructed in the relationship Subject-State-nation, still is the main juridical tool to take part legally in the public space and to enjoy social benefits, but it impedes the conviviality among different identities because of its historical links to national culture reproduces the tensions that it should solve for social cohesion (Barber, 2003; Koopmans, 2005). The European Union has declared that seemingly another citizenship is being formulated among people willing to coexist with people with multiple, hybrid, fluid, postnational identities. These citizenships are being enriched with the conviviality in diverse situations and in local, regional, national and international contexts (ALBOAN & Universidad de Deusto, 2009). The third argument supposes that it is possible to train people with the necessary competencies to coexist in multicultural societies (Banks, 1997, 2004; Josep M. Puig, 2007; Josep Maria Puig & Bisquerra, 2010; Wolf & Macedo, 2004). The European Union has unfolded a wide range of initiatives for the training of the European Identity and the Active Citizenship2 The three previous arguments justify the idea that the receiving societies of the migratory flows behave with hostility to different identities, and that the main way of training the new citizens should be with a formal or non-formal education, where the learning process of the competencies that facilitate the social cohesion are planned and controlled. , and several public institutions, universities, non-governmental organizations, educative centers, mass media and experts in the topic have reacted to the challenge of developing formal and non- formal programs to reach this aim (Bolivar, 2007; European Commission, 2007; García, 2007; Mascherini & Hoskins, 2008). 2 The European Union have proposed the term Active Citizenship as the form of civil desirable participation in the civil society, the community, the political life and the participative democracy, because it implies the mutual respect, non-violence, and it guarantees the human rights, and strengthens the values of the democracy (Hoskins B., et al., 2006). Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2013: 4(2), 27-54 30 However, according to the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, academic discussion regarding adult learning and the competencies needed for promoting Active Citizenship is needed because this issue has been widely studied in formal education and the educated schooled population, but informal education could have an important potential on non- schooled population. Formulation of the research This section has the purpose of describing the Catalan language history briefly and its present condition in order to state that throughout the history Catalonia has had a difficult political relationship with the National Government, that is, with Spain. This historical tension is caused by cultural identity issues – mainly language. Spain is one of the most multilingual states in Europe. It is is composed of 17 regions, one of which is Catalonia. In the early 20th century, some social organisations and political parties started demanding the full independence of Catalonia or the Catalan countries from Spain and France. Support for Catalan independence is based on the thesis from the 19th century that Catalonia is a nation, derived from contemporary political and cultural ideology based on the history of Catalonia, the Catalan language and Catalan traditions (Camon, 2005). The Catalan independence movement derived from Catalan nationalism ideology, created mainly because of the Franco regime's oppression of Spanish and Catalan people’s and culture. Recently, there has been a substantial increase of discourse and political acts regarding the full independence of Catalonia. The Catalan language has been used across a swathe of the western Iberian Peninsula, but was never officially recognized throughout most of the 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries. Its use was frequently suppressed during Franco’s dictatorship. With the arrival of democracy to the Iberian Peninsula in the last quarter of the 20th Century, the Catalan language recovered a certain degree of official status. Currently, the Catalan language is spoken in seven territories (see Figure 1). Catalonia stands out regarding the level of social use of the Catalan language because it is the only territory where the language used in primary education is almost exclusively Catalan. Of the remaining six territories, three offer some degree of official recognition for Catalan: two Spanish autonomous communities –Valencia and the Balearic Islands, where the Catalan language is co- Alexandro ESCUDERO 31 official alongside Spanish-, and the independent state of Andorra, the only place where it is exclusively official. However, in these three cases only a part of the education system has Catalan as the language of instruction, and in the two Spanish autonomous communities even this small part is threatened by the political will of the respective local governments. The Catalan language lacks any official status whatsoever in the three remaining territories: a strip of Aragon that borders Catalonia, Northern Catalonia –a borderland with deep Catalan roots that is officially part of France-, and the city of Alghero on the island of Sardinia, Italy. In each of these three areas there is only a limited presence of Catalan in the education system (Joaquim Torres- Pla, 2011). Today the Catalan language is used commonly throughout a wide range of social sectors in Catalonia. However, it is still considered as a language under threat by most of the civil organizations. According to one of the most famous non-governmental organization adressed to improving the social use of the Catalan language, this is why every year 10,000 catalans are volunteering to practice the Catalan language with new speakers (Plataforma per la Llengua, 2013, p. 22). These 10,000 volunteers differ from teachers of the Catalan language in two aspects: 1) their work could be defined as an Active Citizenship action performed by civil society, while teachers of the Catalan language are considered employees of the Public Administration; 2) even when most volunteers for the practice of the Catalan language do not Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2013: 4(2), 27-54 32 have formal studies in teaching, their task is motivated by a desire for the the full independence of Catalonia, or by the Catalan cultural identity at least. Both distinctions matter because, even when some volunteers could be teachers of the Catalan language, the Active Citizenship Composite Indicator takes into consideration the volunteer action, not the teaching task. Some considerations regarding the concept of Active Citizenship must be done. Active Citizenship has been considered an essential element in the revitalised Lisbon strategy in order to tackle the growing problem in most modern democratic societies of political and social disengagement, loss of community, and a decline in trust. Active Citizenship has been formally proposed by the European Union as a desirable form of participation in civil society, the community, political life and participative democracy, because it implies mutual respect, non- violence, and guarantees human rights, and strengthens the values of the democracy (Mascherini & Hoskins, 2008). Active Citizenship is also considered as a crucial term in order to enhance social cohesion in multicultural societies because the values involved of mutual respect in the society helps people with different identities to live together. Thus, the European Union has made a number of actions in order to foster and measure advances with regard to the Active Citizenship. For instance, so far there are several programs that promote and train the competencies of the Active Citizenship, such as the network of research for the development of indicators on education for citizenship, developed by the Centre for Research on Lifelong Learning (CRELL), with the support and assistance of the Council of Europe - where Eurydice (2005) provides information about the European educational policies-, the institutionalization of the European Year of the Citizenship and the Education, in 2005, and the Composite Indicator to measure Active Citizenship in Europe (Hoskins & Mascherini, 2009). The Active Citizenship Composite Indicator covers 19 European countries and is based on a list of 63 basic indicators for which the data has been drawn from the European Social Survey of 2002, and it presents the results in four dimensions: Civil Society, Community Life, Political Life, and Values (all together form the Active Citizenship Composite Indicator3 3 The theoretical framework used to construct an Active Citizenship Composite Index (ACCI) has been developed - in cooperation with the Council of Europe - by a network of European experts and presented at an international conference held in Ispra on September 2006. The ACCI covers 19 European Countries and is based on a list of 63 basic indicators. Data principally come from European Social Survey 2002. ). Alexandro ESCUDERO 33 In general terms, the results show a heterogeneous Europe in which Nordic countries lead and southern countries perform well in the dimensions of Values and Political Life but lag behind in Civil Society and Community Life. Among the western European countries high scores are recorded by Austria and the Benelux countries, and the complex reality of eastern European countries is well reflected in the index. (Hoskins et al., 2006). Spain got position 14 among 19 countries evaluated(see Table 1).According to the available literature (Hoskins & Mascherini, 2009; Mascherini & Hoskins, 2008; Hoskins et al., 2006) the robustness of the Active Citizenship Composite Indicator is based on its theoretical structure: it has been checked by performing Factor Analyses on the available data from European Social Survey, and by a Sensitivity Analysis, performed in a plurality of scenarios (all with their implications in terms of standardisation, weighting schema and alternative ways of composing the composite indicator). Taking in consideration the caveats the authors have made regarding the Active Citizenship Composite Indicator (Hoskins et al., 2006: 58-59), it could be suggested that: 1. Active Citizenship is an evolving concept and new forms of active citizenship were excluded, that is, some variables, like informal or non-formal citizenship participation are poorly or not at all represented from that analysis, although they might be very relevant, due to lack of comparable data. 2. Due to available data, the interpretation of the findings describes the relative performance of countries, but regions within the countries are not described. 3. The behaviour of the domain Values needs more attention with respect to the other domains. Whereas the dimensions of Civil Society, Community Life and Political Life move together, the dimension of Values seems to demonstrate different and autonomous behaviour, suggesting a gap between intentions and actions that deserves more analysis. Table 1. Active Citizenship Composite Indicator (ranked from the highest level to the lowest). Rank Civil society index Community dimension index Political life index Values index Active Citizenship Composite Indicator 1 Norway Norway Austria Sweden Norway Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2013: 4(2), 27-54 34 2 Sweden Netherlands Norway Luxembourg Sweden 3 Denmark Sweden Belgium Norway Denmark 4 Belgium United Kingdom Sweden Finland Austria 5 Austria Belgium Denmark Poland Ireland 6 Netherlands Ireland Luxembourg Portugal Belgium 7 United Kingdom Denmark Germany Ireland Netherlands 8 Germany Germany Ireland Denmark Luxembourg 9 France Austria Netherlands Austria Germany 10 Ireland Slovenia Grece Germany United Kingdom 11 Luxembourg Luxembourg Finland Netherlands Finland 12 Finland France Spain Italy France 13 Slovenia Finland Slovenia Spain Slovenia 14 Spain Spain Italy United Kingdom Spain 15 Italy Hungary United Kingdom Slovenia Portugal 16 Portugal Portugal France France Italy 17 Grece Grece Portugal Grece Poland 18 Hungary Italy Hungary Hungary Grece 19 Poland Poland Poland Belgium Hungary Alexandro ESCUDERO 35 Bearing all this in mind, this research aims to contribute to identifying a particular case of Active Citizenship in the region Catalonia, Spain. We proposed an inductive analytic process to find out some possible links between a volunteer programme for practising the Catalan language and the institutional concerns of Active Citizenship. By doing so, we could contribute to a qualitative analysis regarding the role of the values to strengthen Active Citizenship in a volunteer programme for the practice of the Catalan language. Aims of the research The aims of this research are as follows: • To identify the reasons that lead the volunteers of the volunteer programme for the practice of Catalan language to meet people from different cultural identities. • To describe, through a constructed theoretical category, the role of the values to strengthen Active Citizenship in a volunteer programme for the practice of Catalan language. Methodology This research is been undertaking with the Grounded Theory methodology, that is an inductive and full research method that tries to understand the action in a substantive area from the point of view of the people involved. This understanding revolves around the main concern of the participants whose behaviour continually resolves their main concern (Bryant & Charmaz, 2010; Charmaz, 2006; Clarke, 2005; Strauss & Corbin, 2008). Grounded Theory methodology consist of systematic, yet flexible guidelines for collecting and analyzing qualitative or quantitative data to construct theories "grounded" in the data itself. This process is in direct contrast to common logico-deductive methods mainly in three aspects: an inductive process, a constant comparative method and a theoretical sampling. 1. Inductive process: Grounded Theory is not based on the confirmation of hypothesis, for testing or refuting pre-designed theories by pre-designed analytical categories (Alvesson & Sköldberg, 2009). Grounded Theory tries to build theoretical categories grounded in data in order to explain the main concern of a specific group of people. 2. Constant comparative method: As soon as the theoretical categories emerged throughout the in-depth interviews process, a unit of analysis and some comparison groups had to be defined. The aim is to constantly compare the properties and dimensions of the data in both Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2013: 4(2), 27-54 36 the unit of analysis and the comparison groups. This strategy fosters the construction of the main theoretical category. 3. Theoretical sampling: Data collection is made through an inductive process and the theoretical categories are built through theoretical sampling. This means that, in order to gain a deeper understanding of analysed cases and facilitate the development of analytic concepts, new cases are chosen to compare with ones that have already been studied. The goal of theoretical sampling is to build a theoretical category, no matter how many cases are needed, rather than prove the probabilistic sampling of the cases. This research was conducted with inductive logic to build an analytical category in order to explain the motivations and outcomes of a group of people that voluntarily engage in face-to- face meetings to practise the Catalan language with people from different cultural backgrounds. Participants Although there are a number of governmental and civic volunteer programmes to foster the use of the Catalan language among Catalan people and new speakers4, the Voluntariat per la llengua5 The Voluntariat per la llengua is not a teaching programme, nor a substitute for Catalan classes. It is a regular activity to foster confidence for the new speaker of Catalan in a very informal environment. has a unique characteristic: this programme consists of putting someone who habitually speaks Catalan in contact with another person who does not speak it fluently in order for them to meet up and talk wherever, whenever and about whatever they like, for a minimum of 10 hours. This programme involves two different types of person: 4 For instance, Quedem?, that is a free activity programme consisting of visits to places of interest, popular events, concerts, etc. It's aimed at everyone who lives in Catalonia, whether they've just arrived or have been here for a long time. Òmnium Cultural is a politically non-aligned, independent association which main goal is to defend, support and promote the language, culture and national identity of Catalonia, with the backing of the Catalan government (Òmnium Cultural, 2012). Xerrem is a non governmental programme for the practice of the Catalan language (Coordinadora d’Associacions per la Llengua Catalana, 2012). In this programme, a catalan speaker coordinates voluntarily a group of new speaking people, meeting them on a weekly basis. While the main aim is to promote and improve the use of Catalan language among immigrant people, these meetings are also an opportunity to have conversations on the history and traditional culture of the region of Catalonia. The Clubs of Catalan's reading is a governmental programme to practice the Catalan language by sharing comments of a book. These clubs meet on a monthly basis in public libraries (Consorci per a la Normalització Lingüística, 2011). There is, of course, a wide programme to teach the Catalan language along the region of Catalonia. The Consortium for Language Normalisation is the institution that faces the challenge to provide this language courses, from initial level to sufficiency level, addressed to the adult population of Catalonia (Consorci per a la Normalització Lingüística, 2011). 5 The programme Voluntariat per la Llengua belongs to the Consorci per a la Normalització Lingüística (2011). Alexandro ESCUDERO 37 a) A Volunteer. A person aged over 18 who habitually speaks Catalan and wants to dedicate 1 hour per week to talking in Catalan with another person who is learning it or has a basic knowledge of the language and wants to practise in order to speak it more fluently. b) A New Speaker. A person who has a basic knowledge of the Catalan language and wants to practise, gain in confidence and become more fluent in order to speak it more naturally. The new speakers are mainly women, working-class people, mature people in their thirties, and legal residents in Catalonia for more than two years. These two people form a couple called a “linguistic partner”. Some data regarding the Voluntariat per la llengua 2012 might be useful to describe how it works6 • In 2012, 10.129 linguistic partners were formed. In total 13.115 people participated in these linguistic partners. 7.597 of them were new linguistic partners (4.875 new speakers and 2.722 volunteers), the rest had participated in the volunteer programme in 2011. . • As usual, in 2012 women participated more: from amongst a total of 5.471 women, 1.879 were volunteers and 3.592 were new speakers. • The biggest group of new speakers were people from South America, while most of the volunteers were Catalan people. • In relation to the age group, the volunteers were predominately between 50 and 65 years old, and the new speakers between the 30 and 39 years old. In this study 57 people were involved: 30 of them were volunteers for the practice of Catalan language, 12 were new speakers of the Catalan language, and 15 belonged to the comparison groups, according to the unit of analysis, as follows. The variance in the numbers of interviews conducted across groups was defined by the argument mentioned above: the number of people involved in the research it is not a probabilistic sampling of the cases, but the proper number of cases that helped to built a theoretical category. It is important to mention that the new speakers not consider themselves as Catalan people, but want in good will full integration in the local culture. Participants were contacted through the following: 6 These data were obtained from http://www20.gencat.cat/docs/Llengcat/Documents/Voluntariat/Arxius/Dades_VxL_2012.pdf (November, 2013). Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2013: 4(2), 27-54 38 1. The researcher got in contact with the Coordinator of the programme Voluntariar per la Llengua in order to ask for his help to get in touch with volunteer for the practice of the Catalan language. 2. The Coordinator of the programme Voluntariar per la Llengua sent an email invitation to the mailing list of volunteers to ask them to participate in the in-depth interviews. 3. The researcher received 60 responses, but due to schedule issues, only 30 volunteers were interviewed. 4. The new speakers were contacted through the volunteers. Actually, the new speakers interviewed were the linguistic partner of these group of volunteers. Due to schedule issues, only 12 volunteers were interviewed. 5. People belonging to the comparison groups were contacted through the volunteers and the new speakers. They were friends or acquaintance Unit of analysis As has been stated, this research is interested in finding out the motivation some people have to meet foreign people. Thus, the unit of analysis has been defined as follows: the Catalan people who take part in the Voluntariat per la llengua programme in the city of Barcelona. In order to carry out the general method of comparative analysis (Glaser, 1998) people outside of the unit of analysis have been interviewed in-depth as well. Figure 2 ilustrates the Unit of analysis and the comparison groups. Alexandro ESCUDERO 39 Immersion process Simultaneously the researcher began four immersion processes: 1) Taking part in the programme Voluntariat per la Llengua as learner of the Catalan language. 2) Attending some Catalan cultural performances as a guest of the volunteers interviewed (observation of several rehearsals and performances of Els Castellers de Barcelona). 3) Taking formal and non-formal training on citizenship (some institutions where the researcher has had formal and non-formal training on citizenship: Pla Barcelona Interculturalitat, Ajuntament de Barcelona, Centro de Información y Documentación de Barcelona, Fundació Jaume Bofill, Universitat de Barcelona, Universidad del País Vasco, Fundación ACSAR y Àrea d’Igualtat i Ciutadania de la Diputació de Barcelona, among others). 4) The researcher is performing a new speaker role, and is attending the Xerrem programme, the Quedem? Programme, and a Club of Catalan reading. Data collection In-depth, open-ended interviews were done to collect the data7 7 Original audios of the in-depth interviews are available on: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/j78wu40nk9bwyi0/phQwlpH08Y. . These interviews were not part of the programme Voluntariar per la Llengua. The purpose of these interviews was to Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2013: 4(2), 27-54 40 engage in dialogue with participants about their volunteer activities and specifically in the Voluntariat per la llengua. Each interview lasted around 45 minutes with each participant. The interviews took place mainly in coffee shops in order to set up a very informal environment (not always quiet places), so interviewees were relaxed when describing their experiences. 30 interviews were conducted with volunteers, more than 12 interviews with new speakers, and more than 15 interviews with people from the comparison groups. All interviews were recorded and fully transcribed. Then, the open and the axial coding (Strauss & Corbin, 2008), and the analysing process were carried out using the TAMS Analyzer program8 . Interview guideline and Open Coding An in-depth interview guideline for volunteers, new speakers and comparison groups regarding seven items have been designed (see Appendix). The data which emerged was analysed by an inductive process, a constant comparative method and a theoretical sampling. The Open Coding9 was carried out according to the Grounded Theory codification process (Glaser, 1978) (see Appendix). Outcomes of data analysis through the axial coding Some findings indicate that the supposed conflict between immigrants and Catalan people, and the formal and non-formal education as the only way to get the values and competencies for the Active Citizenship might be reviewed. Since the traditional pedagogy believed that important learning only could happen in a formal education process, the initiatives for training on Active Citizenship have mainly taken place in the educational system (Colardyn & Bjørnåvold, 2005; Follesdal, 2008). However, according to the experiences of the volunteers, informal learning might generate significant competencies on Active Citizenship as well. Apparently these competencies went unnoticed for a long time by both, institutions and people. The volunteers were forced by the in-depth interviews to identify the places, and the moments where they learnt specific knowledge, a particular skill, or something of intercultural value. 8 TAMS stands for Text Analysis Mark-up System. TAMS Analyzer is an Open Source and free software program for coding and analyzing qualitative, textual and audiovisual information. It was designed by Matthew Weinstein and distributed under the GPL license (http://tamsys.sourceforge.net). 9 According to Glaser (1978), there are two kinds of codes: sociological constructs and in vivo. The latter are taken or derived directly from the language of the substantive field; while the former tend to be the behaviours or processes which explain how the basic problem is resolved or processed. Alexandro ESCUDERO 41 When those responses were contrasted with the responses of the comparisons groups, some ideas emerged: • Volunteers for the practice of Catalan language in the Voluntariat per la llengua programme accept that they are willing to do things to collaborate in the persons' well-being of different identity, but at the same time, some of them admitted that at some time they have had racist and xenophobic feelings towards some cultural groups, that can be overcome with rational and complex thought. They perceive the voluntary work for the practice of the Catalan language as an exchange of intercultural experiences, more than an attempt to help immigrant people, and it also has, to some extent, a selfish aim because it satisfies their feeling of being useful, loved, and it also strengthen their Catalan identity. They describe themselves as active people looking for easy, fun and convenient, non-charitable volunteering programmes. They usually find that once they meet and become friends with people from a different cultural background, many common things appear, regardless of national or cultural identity, for instance, emotions and feelings. • Some of them find a weak relationship between their family values and their willingness to participate in the practice of Catalan language in the Voluntariat per la llengua programme; most of them find it difficult to identify the influence of a friend in developing this volunteer collaboration. They say that there is not a direct relationship between the formal or non-formal education that they have received, and their disposition to coexist with different identities, and they also declared that this disposition is something "natural" that cannot be taught, but can be learned. Enric, a 45-year-old working man, also a volunteer, said: Interviewer: Could volunteering for the practice of the Catalan language be considered an opportunity to build Active Citizenship? Interviewee: I don’t know... but very soon you realize that sharing your ideas and thoughts… and listening to some one else’s ideas and thoughts is very pleasant. Actually, you get more than you give... diversity is enriching... Interviewer: Where did you learn to think this way, and have the willingness to meet and share, especially with people from different background? At school? Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2013: 4(2), 27-54 42 Interviewee: Not at school... I received a very strict education and we never had any class on that... Besides, school is an authority, and you can’t really do any volunteering because of authority. You learn this by practising... I guess I learnt it in my family, who knows... One thing is for sure: I do it because I really want to. It’s something natural... • They say that their voluntary participation in the practice of the Catalan language is not a political action, even though they know that this issue is a very important politically. According to them, the political dimension of the Catalan language never comes up in the practice of Catalan sessions (that was confirmed in the inmersion process of the researcher). Their participation in the volunteer programme is due to a strong sense of identity, and due to the feeling that Catalan language and Catalan culture are under threat. They feel Catalan, but they find it difficult to feel Spanish; however, they can also easily feel European. Anna, a 28- year-old woman, also a teacher and a volunteer, said: Interviewer: Do you feel you are Spanish? Interviewee: I think Spain is fictional. Spain is a set of different regions... we do have some similarities, but above all, we're different. One day Spain was invented as one "big and free" territory, but I just don't feel it that way. I can travel to northern Spain or to southern Spain, or even to Madrid, and I really like it, but it is different: the food is different, the life style is different, the traditions are different... I'm not there, as simple as that.... Interviewer: Do you feel European? Interviewee: Ja, ja, ja... I see... Now I see the question... Well, yes! Ja, ja, ja... Interviewer: What does it mean for you to be an European? Interviewee: The point is that I don't want to be a Spaniard by obligation. I do not want to be a Spaniard because someone has imposed that identity. I could choose to be European, even when Europe is also fictional. Nevertheless, for me, Europe gathers many different cultures, doesn’t? Then, you can be European, and that means that you can be Alexandro ESCUDERO 43 different. However, the idea of Spain is that there is only one way to be a Spaniard. I guess I feel comfortable thinking of as Europe as an open minded place. • They understand (and the new speakers confirmed this idea) that foreign learners of Catalan have a practical interest in this language: to have more possibilities to get a job, to understand their children’s homework, for instance. This very pragmatic interest in the Catalan language by new speakers does not seem to be uncomfortable to Catalan people. On the contrary, they declared that this fact could be a good starting point in order to make the Catalan language necessary in the labor market and in the world of educational in the future. Axial coding After having showed briefly the main descriptive categories, the inductive process lead to sort all categories around one axial concept. By doing so, it will be possible to build a graphic representation in order to identify the core conceptual category: the Responsible trust (see Figure 3). Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2013: 4(2), 27-54 44 It will be also possible to relate its peripheral categories (causes, variables, context, conditions, contingencies, and consequences) (see Figure 4). A) Some causes of responsible trust: Living in an inclusive family during childhood. Seeing good moral behaviour in a member of the family. Thinking that the indigenous population has been gentile throughout the history with newcomers. A strong sense of identity. B) Some conditions that help responsible trust to appear: Getting information during childhood about different cultures. Traveling or consuming travel related products, such as TV programmes or journals. Coexisting within multicultural informal environments. Having parents or family from different cultural backgrounds. Having a sentimental relationship with somebody from a different cultural background. Existence of easy, funny and convenient intercultural volunteering programmes in the society. C) Some contingencies that hamper the appearance of responsible trust: Not having multicultural environments during childhood. Not having a strong sense of identity. Not having time to colaborate in an intercultural volunteer programme. Not having skills for doing a specific task related to regional identity, such as practising a local language. Not feeling free and spontaneous within the intercultural volunteer programme. D) Some variables of responsible trust: Folklorisation of cultures: remarking the difference in the cultural background. Alexandro ESCUDERO 45 Assimilation of cultures: obligating the immigrants to incorporate the society values of the host nation. E) Some context items that could shape responsible trust: Political context: feeling that the national identity threatens the regional one. Sociological context: a strong regional identity sense. Institutional context: a strong public policy on regional identity and local language. Historic context: a narrative on rejection and contempt towards the regional identity. Symbolic context: a collective wish to achieve autonomy and freedom. F) Some desired outcomes of the responsible trust: Opportunities to meet up with people from different cultural background. Sharing ideas and finding out about different lifestyles. Finding the same emotions and feelings among people, regardless of the cultural background. Finding that people have similar concerns, regardless the cultural background they come from. Getting and giving emotional rewards and gratitude. Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2013: 4(2), 27-54 46 Conclusion Evidence found in this research suggests that in the region of Catalonia, Spain, there might exists a group of persons ready for meeting voluntarily with people from different cultural background, dealing seemingly well with the proximity, and without the intermediation of a formal education or a non-formal education process: the volunteers for the practice of the Catalan language. This finding suggests that there may be alternative ways to formal education to strengthen the values of Active Citizenship. Responsible trust is the conceptual category that has been built in this research in order to explain the motivations and outcomes of a group of people that voluntarily engage in a number of face-to-face meetings to practise the Catalan language with people from a different cultural background. The main characteristics of this group of people are: 1) they have never received any formal or non-formal education on issues of Active Citizenship, 2) they have a strong sense of Catalan identity, and 3) they have difficulties to identify where and how they obtained the willingness to meet up with people from different cultural background. From a conceptual point Alexandro ESCUDERO 47 of view, four dimensions of the Responsible trust could be named: Inception, Insight, Learning process, and Performance. Each one of these properties have several dimensions (See Figure 5). These kinds of voluntary civic activities, based on a Responsible trust, could be relevant to democratic institutions dedicated to promoting social cohesion because they show that, in addition to compulsory education and the non-formal education programmes, there could be another way to build and strengthen Active Citizenship. As shown in the Inception property, one way to strengthen Active Citizenship among the adult population, that is, not of compulsory schooling age, could be to strengthen regional identity. That is, strengthen the local language and the narratives on regional autonomy and freedom. Regional identity could be a driving force to encourage people from different cultural backgrounds to meet. Although these face-to-face meetings have practical purposes (proselytising identity, for the volunteers of the language; learning a language, for new speakers), Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2013: 4(2), 27-54 48 unexpectedly important things happen: people can recognise that emotions, feelings and human concerns are very similar, regardless of cultural background. The property Insight demonstrates that having a strong sense of local identity is not enough to make someone willing to meet people from different cultural background. A sense of threat to local identity is also necessary. This condition (the threat) leads indigenous people to share regional cultural features gently, and to search for symbolic alliances with the foreign population. Indigenous people feel responsible for defending their regional identity, and because of this are willing to meet up and share ideas with people from different cultural backgrounds. Thus, the possibility to meet and trust a perfect stranger appears. Eventually, friendship occurs. The Learning process property reveals the fact that the volunteers for the practice of the Catalan language (and also the volunteers from the comparison groups, that is, volunteers on other volunteer programmes that do not involve the practice of the Catalan language) hardly remember where and how they obtained the willingness to meet people from different cultural background suggests that the influence of formal education and the non-formal education in this matter is quite weak. It is interesting that most of these people stated that meeting strangers, helping unknown people, and feeling some kind of responsibility for the well-being of others, have always been a “natural” and fundamental part of his or her character or, at least, a tradition within the family. In short: Responsible trust could not be taught, but it could be learned through a informal learning processes. This is particularly important because it seems that the Responsible trust is a value that cannot be developed in deeply planned educational environments. Actually, it is based on sharing unexpected topics and moments, and enjoying them together, without any order from any authority. The Performance property shows that once the volunteers and the new speakers decide to meet and share differences, a curious phenomenon happens. Paradoxically, the more differences they look for, the more common ground they find. Then, it is crystal clear: identity should not be a morally relevant issue to coexist peacefully. On the contrary: it should be an opportunity to feel Responsible trust. The evidence found in this research demonstrates that building flexible, hybrid or multiple identities is not the only way to promote contact between people from different cultural backgrounds, as is commonly said in the European social discourse. It is also possible to promote contact between people of different identities if the local identity is reinforced. This form of Alexandro ESCUDERO 49 social cohesion has not been sufficiently studied in multicultural societies, but could offer creative solutions and new values to strengthen Active Citizenship. References ALBOAN, & Universidad de Deusto. (2009). De la ciudadanía local a la global y de la ciudadanía global a la local. El camino andado: ALBOAN. Alvesson, M., & Sköldberg, K. (2009). Reflexive methodology: new vistas for qualitative research (2 ed.). 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Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2013: 4(2), 27-54 52 Appendix A Guideline number In-depth interviews guidelines Open Coding It has been used the In vivo (in italics) / sociological constructs (in bold) coding system. 1 Why do you engage in a volunteering programme to practice Catalan language? Are you participating in any other volunteering programme? Adaptation Collaboration Controlled life Defense and share of the Catalan culture Defense of the Catalan language Donation Economic convenience Illusion Integration wish It feels good It's typical It’s easy It’s funny Its my language Language is identity Learning ways of life Meet people and cultures No to help, but to meet Olympic volunteer People as a mirror Reaction (to the prohibition to speak Catalan in the dictatorship period) Respect Self-emotional training Self-intercultural education Selfish to some extent To be useful To help To know the foreigner's opinions on Catalan culture Alexandro ESCUDERO 53 Guideline number In-depth interviews guidelines Open Coding It has been used the In vivo (in italics) / sociological constructs (in bold) coding system. 2 Do you identify any relationship between your willingness to participate in the practice of Catalan language with foreigner people and your family values? Do you identify any relationship between your willingness to participate in the practice of Catalan language with foreigner people and your formal education or your non-formal education? Do you identify any relationship between your willingness to participate in the practice of Catalan language with foreigner people and your friends influences? No formal civic education No formal education influence No Republican education Non-formal education influence Not taught Religious condescension Religious education, but non- believer Unconscious learning Classism (no) Family values influence One member of the family influences Selfish youth Struggling youth Travel experience Virtual travel experience Youthful antagonism Xenophobe immigrants Family integration Similarity (values, emotions, feelings) 3 Have you ever had any racist or xenophobe feeling? If so, how do you overcome this feeling? Discomfort I don't see the differences Natural Otherness is – Otherness is + Prejudices Irrational response, control and dialogue 4 Are you getting any unsuspected knowledge in the volunteering programme to practice Catalan language? Rewarding Gratefulness Happiness, to some extent, is to share Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2013: 4(2), 27-54 54 Guideline number In-depth interviews guidelines Open Coding It has been used the In vivo (in italics) / sociological constructs (in bold) coding system. 5 What is your identity (Catalan, Spaniard or European)? Is it necesary to be Catalan in order to perform a volunteering programme to practice Catalan language? What is it to be a Catalan person? Non-Spaniard Not anti-Spaniard Anti-Spaniard 6 Do you do the volunteering programme to practice Catalan language as a political activity? Proselytism of Catalan culture 7 Is there any thing beyond identity that makes humankind equal? Emotions Feelings Active Values index Political life Community Civil society Rank Citizenship index dimension index Composite index Indicator Open Coding In-depth interviews guidelines Guideline number It has been used the In vivo (in italics) / sociological constructs (in bold) coding system.