Dear all,

The Institute of Education Research at Seoul National University is pleased to host the 4th Distinguished Lecture by an International Scholar of 2025, featuring Professor Dr. Barbara Gross from the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy.

Professor Gross is a renowned expert in multicultural and migration education, with a particular focus on intersectionality. Her research sheds critical light on issues such as selective inclusion and the marginalization of heritage language education, based on extensive field data.

This lecture will consist of two sessions—one in German and one in English—and will explore the complex dynamics of diversity, belonging, inclusion, and exclusion in educational settings. Professor Gross will also propose practical strategies to promote educational equity. We warmly invite all those interested to attend.

Event Details

• Speaker: Prof. Dr. Barbara Gross (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy)

• Date: Thursday, May 29, 2025

Session 1 (German)

• Time: 10:00–11:30

• Venue: Room 110, College of Education Bldg. 11, Seoul National University & via Zoom

Session 2 (English)

• Time: 16:00–17:30

• Venue: E-room, Room 201, College of Education Bldg. 9, Seoul National University & via Zoom

• Zoom ID: 944 202 6599

• Password: 8808834

Lecture Topics

Topic 1 (German)
Die Marginalität des Herkunftssprachlichen Unterrichts und Lehrpersonals aus der Perspektive verschiedener Bildungsakteur*innen: ein migrationspädagogisches Spannungsfeld
This lecture focuses on the precarious status of heritage language instruction and its educators in the Italian public education system. Treated as “supplementary” rather than formally institutionalized, heritage language classes are often underfunded and poorly supported. Based on fieldwork, Professor Gross argues that the lack of institutional backing exacerbates educational inequality for students and places teachers at risk of downward social mobility, despite the proven importance of heritage language learning for emotional, cognitive, and academic development.

Topic 2 (English)
“We only take the Ukrainians, we do not take the other rabble” – The Intersectional Construction of Diversity, Belonging, Inclusion and Exclusion in Educational Institutions
Based on a year-long ethnographic study in primary and secondary schools in eastern Germany, this lecture reveals how schools—while publicly committed to “inclusion”—in practice engage in selective acceptance shaped by nationality, language, race, and class. Professor Gross explores the mechanisms through which notions of “us” and “them” are constructed and sustained, and proposes intersectional strategies for dismantling these exclusionary structures within educational systems.