What is intercultural education?

10 Pointers to help us understand and agree what intercultural

education can involve

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1) “Interculturalism” is ‘bigger’ in scope than “internationalism”

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Internationalism

Interculturalism

2) Cultural learning applies to explicit, visible stuff as well as less obvious but important stuff

‘below the surface’

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BeliefsValuesPerceptions

AssumptionsRules

ExpectationsNorms Thought

ProcessesLearning Styles Time-

Orientation Status

Gender RolesSpace-OrientationNo-Verbal

Communication

3) ‘Intercultural competence’: we can develop a set of skills and understandings

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4) Developing our own sense of identity

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5) Celebrating who students are as individuals can be an ideal‘way in’ to explore, celebrate and understandcultural difference

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6) We all experience multiple culturesImage Source: Flickr Some rights reserved by Sarah and Iain

1

2 3

4

5

Image Source:Allan, M.J. (2002: 78) See References Slide.

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7) Intercultural educationshould also explore similarity of experiencedespite differences in cultural heritage

8) Intercultural education is continuous, and can not really be achieved through isolated, one-off events

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9) Genuine intercultural education takes place within all aspects of the school community, not just the formal curriculum

Source: Allan, M.J. (2003: 105) See References Slide.

Michael Allan (2003) has identified 8 aspects of school thatcontribute to intercultural learning:

10) We have a definition of interculturalism:

Interculturalism at Bangkok Patana Schoolis about interaction, understanding and mutual respect.We aim to ensure that cultural diversity in our community is acknowledged, actively supported and celebrated. We believe in inclusion for all cultures by design, planning and practice.

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References• Allan, M.J. (2002) Cultural borderlands: a case study of cultural

dissonance in an international school. Journal of Research in International Education, 1 (1):63–90. (p. 78 for the diagram, referenced for ‘pointer’ 6)

• Allan, M.J. (2003) Frontier crossings: cultural dissonance, intercultural learning and the multicultural personality. Journal of Research in International Education, 2 (1): 83–110. (p. 105 for the intercultural learning programmes, referenced for ‘pointer’ 9)

• The iceberg graphic (‘pointer 2’) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License. Further information on the license, including reference to several works that inspired it, is here.

• This presentation was originally delivered to staff at Bangkok Patana School on 2nd May 2011. Posted via slideshare initially on our Interculturalism Matters blog.

• Our school’s definition of interculturalism is partly inspired by a definition given by the NCCRI