Key Issues in UNESCO Policy on Inter-cultural Education

Multiculturalism is a reality in most countries of the world in the 21st century. There are very few nation states where only one language is spoken, or only one set of cultural patterns or religious beliefs the norm. It is a fact that we live in an inter cultural world, interacting everyday of our lives with people who speak different languages from us, eat different foods, believe in different gods (or none at all), and who bring up their children in sometimes radically different ways. Nevertheless, most children, unless they are in culturally or religiously specific schools, interact on a daily basis with others who may hold different sets of values. Where this is recognized and positively supported, it may be considered formally as inter cultural education, where it is not, it nevertheless exists (albeit at an informal level) although in this case it is more likely that there will be negative stereotypes which circulate within the school and are reproduced through ignorance and fear of other cultures and religions