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International Review of Education

, Volume 62, Issue 4, pp 407–421 | Cite as

Teachers and the foundations of intercultural interaction

  • Oya Günay
Original Paper
First Online:

Abstract

With the effects of globalisation, the number of people exposed to intercultural interaction has increased significantly. One of the most affected sectors is education. In parallel to the increase in numbers of students going abroad for tertiary education, primary and secondary education classes have also become culturally and religiously more diverse, mainly due to the effects of migration. With the increase in cultural diversity among their students, teachers find themselves facing new challenges. In order to be able to effectively encourage cultural exchange and intercultural dialogue, teachers need to cultivate their own intercultural competence. However, instead of directly jumping to the end result, this paper focuses on the very foundations of any intercultural interaction, namely self-awareness – of one’s own normative settings –, acceptance of the equality of different cultural approaches, and strategies for how these can be transformed into personal attributes. The author highlights the importance of the internalisation of a belief in order to be able to reflect it in one’s behaviour and convey to others the sense that they are genuinely accepted as they are. Self-Determination Theory (SDT) provides important insights into how and under which conditions internalisation can take place. Combining the insights gained from SDT with questioning techniques used by coaching experts, the author drafts a set of self-assessment questions which aim to help teachers reflect on the foundations of their intercultural interactions, gauge their level of internalisation and define the areas they have to focus on in order to cultivate their intercultural competence.

Keywords

teachers intercultural interaction acceptance internalisation self-determination theory 

Résumé

Enseignants et fondements de l’interaction interculturelle – Avec les effets de la mondialisation, le nombre de personnes confrontées à l’interaction culturelle a sensiblement augmenté. L’un des secteurs les plus concernés est celui de l’éducation. Parallèlement au nombre croissant d’étudiants qui suivent un cursus à l’étranger, les classes de l’enseignement primaire et secondaire sont elles aussi devenues plus diversifiées sur le plan culturel et religieux, conséquence probable de la migration. Face à la diversité culturelle croissante des élèves, les enseignants sont confrontés à de nouveaux défis. Pour être en mesure de stimuler efficacement l’échange culturel et le dialogue interculturel, les enseignants doivent cultiver leur propre compétence interculturelle. Au lieu de se rendre directement au résultat final, l’auteure traite les fondements mêmes de toute interaction interculturelle, à savoir la conscience de soi – de ses propres paramètres normatifs -, l’acceptation de l’égalité des différentes approches, et les stratégies culturelles pour transformer celles-ci en attributs personnels. L’auteure signale l’importance pour une personne d’internaliser une conviction avant d’être capable de la refléter dans son comportement, et de transmettre aux autres le sentiment qu’ils sont réellement acceptés tels qu’ils sont. La théorie de l’auto-détermination (SDT) fournit des renseignements décisifs sur la façon dont l’internalisation peut avoir lieu et sous quelles conditions. En associant des éléments tirés de la SDT aux techniques de questionnement appliquées par les spécialistes de l’accompagnement, l’auteure élabore une série de questions d’auto-évaluation susceptibles d’aider les enseignants à réfléchir aux fondements de leurs interactions interculturelles, à évaluer leur niveau d’internalisation, et à définir les domaines sur lesquels se concentrer pour cultiver leur compétence interculturelle.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht and UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.ViennaAustria

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