The discovery of others is the discovery of a relationship, not of a barrier

(Claude Lévi-Strauss)


Gradually, perceptions of multicultural societies have evolved. They are neither a mosaic where cultures are placed side-by-side without any effect on each other, nor are they a melting pot where everything is reduced to the lowest common denominator.

Intercultural learning proposes processes to enable the discovery of mutual relationships and the dismantling of barriers that result from and nourish racism, prejudice and stereotyping. Intercultural learning is closely linked to other educational fields, such as human rights education, anti-racist education and development education. It is therefore a normal reaction if you find elements here which correspond to your experience in other fields. We have learned much from the experiences gained in the pioneering work of multicultural educationalists. In the past 30 years, as the world economy globalised and the mobility of the work force increased, there has been a growing recognition of the need to have intercultural competence. This has led to various training programmes developed for businesses, but also to a growing practice supported by the Council of Europe and the European Union in the field of youth and education.

Yet we choose to use the term ‘intercultural’, because, as Micheline Rey points out, if the prefix “inter” is given its full meaning, this necessarily implies:

  • interaction
  • exchange
  • breaking down barriers
  • reciprocity
  • objective solidarity.

A study by SALTO identified that, in order to be considered interculturally competent, a young person should:

  • Take an active role in confronting social injustice and discrimination
  • Promote and protect human rights
  • Understand culture as a dynamic multifaceted process, where culture is not a universally fixed and apolitical concept
  • Create a sense of solidarity
  • Be able to deal with insecurity
  • Foster critical thinking
  • Create empathy
  • Foster tolerance of ambiguity, which entails being able to accept the existence of different worldviews, ways of understanding, interests, expectations and so on, sometimes contradictory to one’s own, and still treat them with respect and create space for them to be expressed.

To this list, others might add the importance of language learning as an important element for young people’s development. Much youth work and many educational programmes have supported international mobility programmes both in formal and non-formal education field with an aim of also supporting language acquisition.

What the list of competences shows is that intercultural education is deeply connected with the understanding and respect of human rights, along with issues of social justice. It is not enough to merely accept that difference and diversity are inherent to any in society; human rights give us that agency and framework to ensure that diversity is fully appreciated and thriving in our societies.

A revision of this list in 2021, following the growing recognition of the environmental challenges faced by our societies, is probably bound to also include an appreciation and respect of the environment and the planet, including its biodiversity.

What is also clear is that initial educational approaches to intercultural learning, focused primarily on the interactions between people and cultural groups, need to be further developed to include a political dimension.