Diversity can be translated as difference or variety and is a central feature of the reality of migration society. The pedagogical concept behind it refers to the fact that different group identities and diverse lifeworld normalities play a major role in social interaction - regardless of whether these groups exist objectively or whether it is a matter of the subjective feeling of belonging. By naming diversity, attention is drawn to this reality. Only then can the conscious handling of it be further developed and anchored in everyday life. Actively dealing with diversity means expanding one's own pedagogical competence to act and reflect. For example, the question of which ideas of normality flow into one's own perception of social diversity needs to be reflected upon.
Characteristic of the diversity approach as it is pursued with the Griffbereit and Rucksack KiTa programmes is the appreciative attitude towards the fact that people's experiences are different, but normal for them. Diversity is thus not conceived as a euphemistic description of foreignness or otherness, only to be problematised as an educational challenge or difficulty. Instead, the term is used to take a perspective that recognises that diversity is fundamentally to be found wherever people meet. This pedagogical approach thus distances itself from focusing on supposed deficits.
In order to establish and further develop a diversity-sensitive pedagogical stance for educational work, concrete approaches for practice are needed. The Griffbereit and Rucksack KiTa programmes not only target linguistic diversity, but also recognise diversity as a natural basis for growing up in a migration society.
A more detailed discussion of diversity, including reflective questions and literature tips, is to be found here!