Agostino Portera

Intercultural education in Europe: epistemological and semantic aspects

This article analyses the role of educational opportunity in a time of globalisation, a new economy and life in a multicultural society, and gives an epistemological and semantic account of the concept ‘intercultural education’, distinguishing it from multicultural and transcultural education. Starting with a historic overview of various conceptualisations of meetings/clashes among people with different linguistic, religious, cultural or ethnic features, distinctive theoretical elaborations are reviewed, above all in a European context and in the educational field. After outlining the development of intercultural education (main contents, methods and objectives, as well as limits), this article supports the thesis that education, in an intercultural sense, is currently the most appropriate answer to globalisation and interdependence.

Stereotypes, prejudices and intercultural education in Italy: Research on textbooks in primary schools

The concepts of intercultural education developed in Europe during the early 1980s, following a proposal submitted by the European Council in response to immigration. The concept of intercultural education is now quite common in Italy, not only in books, but also in the area of school legislation. Sometimes, however, even in the field of education, such terms simply become a fad or a slogan, emphatic yet hackneyed, meaningless or misused, which may give rise to irregular patterns of application in different contexts. In the course of this paper, I shall present the results of a research project--carried out by the Centro Studi Interculturali at the University of Verona--pertaining to the implementation of these principles in Italian schools. Our analysis, based on a sample of textbooks used in primary schools in several Italian provinces, investigated the presence of stereotypes, prejudices and intercultural education concepts.

Intercultural Competence in education, counselling and psychotherapy

The present era of globalization, interdependence and multicultural societies has brought about both opportunities and crises in educational institutions. Especially schools and families seem to be unable to cope with such revolutionary changes. The crises also concern all fields involved in maintaining social welfare, including counselling and psychotherapy. Within these fields, there is a growing need for Intercultural Competences at the cognitive, emotional and relational levels which endow teachers and counsellors with the ability to operate in linguistically and culturally complex contexts. However, despite the vast amount of international scholarship, the concept of ‘Intercultural Education’ and the term ‘Intercultural Competences’ are often misunderstood and require more precise definition. The present contribution intends to give further impulse to the discussion of Intercultural Competences and to offer concrete definitions that are applicable to the fields of education, counselling and psychotherapy. The article is based on a comprehensive review of literature on Intercultural Competence and an extensive empirical study carried out by the Centre for Intercultural Studies at the University of Verona. The study relies upon focus groups and semi-structured interviews in order to develop a theoretical model of Intercultural Competences with implications at the practical-operative, methodological and vocational levels.

Multiculture, Identity, Educational Need and Possibilities of (Intercultural) Intervention

Abstract In contemporary society it is rare to encounter cooperative efforts to learn, whether we are talking about the family or the school environment. Often we try to resolve conflicts by means of power or strength. Religion, language, skin colour or a different cultural background are seen as insurmountable barriers. Also the practical approaches relating to intercultural education seem to be only known and scarcely practised. In this paper the author starts from the results of an longitudinal, empirical study. He has observed and analysed the process of identity formation in young people with a multicultural socialisation during many years. After having pointed out the factors and mechanisms which are either functional or dysfunctional, the author presents a theory of basic human needs which are especially valid in a multicultural context, building on the contributions of other authors such as Erikson, Maslow and Rogers. The object of this paper is to reflect on the educational consequences of the ab...

IAIE News: Results of the international conference on ‘Diversity in education in an international context’

From April 20 to April 23 2005, Verona played host to an international conference entitled ‘Diversity in education in an international context’. The conference was organized by the Centre for Intercultural Studies of the University of Verona1, in collaboration with the IAIE (International Association for Intercultural Education), and with contributions by NAME (National Association for Multicultural Education), the City of Verona (Department of Equal Opportunities) and the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR). Approximately 140 speakers and 300 participants from around the globe attended this conference (in addition to leading Italian Educators, participants from many European countries, including the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, Malta, Greece, Estonia and Croatia made the trip). Several speakers and guests arrived from overseas universities, among them a large group from the United States, but participants came from as far away as South America, Australia, Japan, South Africa, Israel, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. The main papers of plenary sessions revolved around the following themes: Intercultural education in Great Britain: Gundara J., University of London; Intercultural education in Europe: epistemological and semantic aspects: Portera A., University of Verona; Intercultural Education in the United States: Grant C., University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA; From cooperative learning to a professional and learning community: Comoglio M., Università Pontificia Salesiana, Rome; Intercultural education between ethics and pragmatics: Pretceille M., University of Paris; A personalistic approach to education in a multicultural society: Böhm W., University of Würzburg; The European and international dimension in the Italian school reform: Bertagna G., University of Bergamo; Are we born European citizens? Onestini C., European Commission, Bruxelles. Lectures took place in five parallel sessions, many with simultaneous interpretation. These reflected the five strands of the conference: 1. Multiand intercultural education: epistemological and semantic clarifications; 2. Cooperative learning; 3. Immigration and inclusion: best school practices; 4. International cooperation and comparative education; and 5. Miscellaneous issues (e.g.

Intercultural counselling and education in the global world

This special issue of Intercultural Education, edited with Jagdish Gundara and Leslie Bash, is a result of the conference organised by the Centre for Intercultural Studies at the University of Verona, which was held in collaboration with the Centre for Leadership and Diversity and the Centre for Diversity in Counselling and Psychotherapy, University of Toronto, and with the support of the IAIE (International Association for Intercultural Education), EERA (European Educational Research Association) and NAME (National-American Association for Multicultural Education) in Verona from the 15 April 2013 to the 18 April 2013. The aim of the conference, which was attended by 160 speakers and about 400 participants from around the world, was to reflect, in an international context, upon the content, methods and goals of education in light of the challenges of the new millennium. The conceptual discussions started during an earlier IAIE conference held in Verona in 2005 (various papers from that conference have been published in previous issues of this journal, in particular see Gundara and Portera 2008 or Grant and Portera 2011), with the awareness that the new millennium has brought many changes which have led to a reduction in distances between people, stronger ties between different geographical areas, greater mobility, more interdependence, and new and diversified migration flows. In the age of globalisation and interdependence, such changes seem to have given rise to profound economic, environmental, political, social and cultural crises, not only within nations, but also in the relations between states and persons of different cultural origin. In the present postmodern times, such crises impact all aspects of human life, in particular educational institutions and processes, but also all fields involved with social welfare, counselling or psychotherapy. In this issue of Intercultural Education, we aim to advance the discussion by publishing a diverse collection of empirical and theoretical papers. Thus far, intercultural education has been conceptualised and practiced in very different ways. Multiple terms, such as ‘transcultural’, ‘multicultural’ and ‘intercultural’, have been used interchangeably to sometimes refer to very similar or identical approaches and other times to very different forms of education. In several countries, and in many English-language publications, no sharp distinction is drawn between the concept of multicultural and intercultural education or pedagogy (Gundara and Portera 2008; Grant and Portera 2011). Thus there is a need for conceptual clarity and for reflection upon the best form of practice. From the different articles that we have selected for the present issue, despite their differences, arises the urgency and necessity to go beyond past and present forms of colonialism, dogmatism and ethnocentrism. In the era of globalisation and interdependence, in addition to specific professional qualifications, arises a need to acquire additional competences which allow practitioners and citizens to act in diverse linguistic and cultural contexts. These competences need to be

Identity Development in a Multicultural Context: risks and educational opportunities

Abstract On the basis of a case study carried out among young people of Italian origin in Siidbaden (Germany) and Southern Italy, this article will consider the issue of migration: an opportunity or a risk factor for the positive development of personality. After discussing favourable and unfavourable factors which might have positive or negative consequences on the young migrants’ personality development in a multicultural situation, some educational consequences will be highlighted. The object of this paper is to further stimulate the discussion on the methods of intercultural education.