This is the third book in the Pestalozzi series. The first, Teacher education for change, dealt with the underlying philosophy of the Pestalozzi Programme and its approach to education in general and teacher education in particular. The second Intercultural competence for all, looked at the various implications of promoting the development of intercultural competence as a main concern of mainstream education. This work takes a step further towards the full integration of intercultural competences as a key element within the education system. It aims at offering an educational rationale and conceptual framework for the development of intercultural competence, as well as a clear description of its constitutive elements to be developed in and through education.

This is the third book in the Pestalozzi series. The first, Teacher education for change, dealt with the underlying philosophy of the Pestalozzi Programme and its approach to education in general and teacher education in particular. The second Intercultural competence for all, looked at the various implications of promoting the development of intercultural competence as a main concern of mainstream education. This work takes a step further towards the full integration of intercultural competences as a key element within the education system. It aims at offering an educational rationale and conceptual framework for the development of intercultural competence, as well as a clear description of its constitutive elements to be developed in and through education.

It is now widely recognised that learning a language should not just involve linguistic competence but also intercultural competence. It is also clear that intercultural competence can be developed through related subjects such as geography, history, mother tongue teaching. This book takes this as a given and provides practical help for teachers who wish to help their learners acquire intercultural competence in the ordinary classroom. It contains descriptions of lessons and materials from a wide range of classrooms in several countries and for beginners to advanced learners.

Education which helps citizens live together in our diverse societies is a matter of urgency. We all need to develop the ability to understand each other across all types of cultural barriers; this is a fundamental prerequisite for making our diverse democratic societies work.This publication looks at the development of intercultural competence as a key element of mainstream education. It stresses the need firstly for an appropriate education policy which puts intercultural competence at the heart of all education and, above all, for the development, on an everyday basis, of the necessary attitudes, skills and knowledge needed for mutual understanding. Without these, no sustainable societal change is possible.

The contributors to this volume have collaborated to present their work on introducing competences in intercultural communication and citizenship into foreign language education. The book examines how learners and teachers think about citizenship and interculturality, and shows how teachers and researchers from primary to university education can work together across continents to develop new curricula and pedagogy. This involves the creation of a new theory of intercultural citizenship and a procedure for implementation. The book is written by teacher researchers who aim to help other teachers, and concludes with reflections on the lessons they have learnt which will help others to implement these ideas in their own practice. The book is essential reading for foreign language educators and researchers, students in pre-service teacher training and teachers in in-service training.

This book explores the benefits of teaching reflection upon one’s own culture to develop intercultural competence and looks into the relationship between the proficiency level of the second language and the target culture. It introduces new debates on the concept of ‘critical cultural awareness’ in intercultural learning and teaching, for example the indiscriminate use of terminologies related to the idea of ‘intercultural encounters’. Also, it provides insight into the relationship between language and culture using a new tool such as the Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters through Visual Media. The presentation of different approaches, tools, barriers, educational and cultural realities, online intercultural exchange projects and concepts such as motivation, attitudes, stereotyping, otherization, and critical cultural awareness makes this book an excellent instrument not only for teachers but also for researchers, policy-makers and private and public institutions that want to explore culture and interculturality and to promote an intercultural competence and global citizenship among its learners / users / clients and / or an interculturally-oriented language education.

This book demonstrates the complementarity of educational and training approaches to developing intercultural competence as represented by those who work in commercial training and those who work in further and higher education. It does so by presenting chapters of analysis and chapters describing courses in the two sectors.