Intercultural education and competences at school. Results of a exploratory study in Italy

The present time of globalization, interdependence and multicultural societies has brought about both opportunities and crisis that concern all fields involved with social welfare, especially education (Portera, 2020, 2006). Within the school environment, there is a growing need for interculturaleducationand competences at the cognitive, emotional and relational levels, which will endow teachers and students with the abilitiesto operate in linguistically and culturally complex contexts (UNESCO, 2015; Portera, 2013; Deardorff, 2009). However, the concepts of‘Intercultural Education’and ‘InterculturalCompetences’are often misunderstood and require more precise definition. The authorsreview the scientific literature on the aforementioned conceptsand then report the results of a study carried out by the Centre for Intercultural Study at the University of Verona (Italy) which examineshow teacherswhowork in different typesof schools define and apply the concept of‘interculturalcompetences’in their praxis. The study uses a qualitativeresearch methodologythat includes a process of ‘triangulation’. Specifically, a series of semi-structured interviews, focus groups andparticipant observations were conducted in order to explore teachers’ intercultural competences, especially through the analysis of critical incidents. After discussing the results, the authors outline impplications for teacher education and school praxis in intercultural perspective