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8 – That’s how many people migrate while you are reading this.
That’s 30 people per minute, 1,850 per hour, 44,400 per day, and 12.6 million per year.
Ethnic-cultural diversity is a fact.
Nearly 1 in 3 European citizens and 1 in 2 young people in Flanders have an ethnically minoritized background.
You are changing too!
Psychological acculturation refers to all processes of cultural change that occur through prolonged contact with another culture. Anyone who participates in culturally diverse social contexts can experience acculturation.

Integration goes beyond language and traditions.
Acculturation or “integration” is not just about learning a new language or adopting traditions. It also involves profound psychological changes in how we think, perceive the world, and respond to it.
Bicultural? You are constantly switching!
Bicultural people can blend and combine elements from different cultures or switch between them, depending on the context of their interaction, the person they are speaking with, or the language they are using.
There is no single ‘right’ way to think, be, or feel motivated.
Although certain ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving are more common in specific cultural contexts, many different approaches can contribute to well-being and academic success.

Equality? Not yet...
In Flemish schools, social and ethnic inequalities in well-being and academic performance persist. These differences cannot be fully explained by family circumstances or personal factors such as IQ.
BUT: Inequality is not a law of nature.
Some schools enable students from minority groups to excel, proving that education can truly make a difference.
Diversity in schools? It makes a world of difference.
How schools approach ethnic and cultural diversity affects students’ well-being and academic performance. Both ethnically minoritized students and those from the majority group perform better when schools value diversity as a learning resource.
Acculturation works in two directions.
People can adopt aspects of other cultures while retaining elements of the culture they were originally socialized in. Learning to navigate a new culture does not necessarily come at the expense of one’s ability to navigate their original culture.

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