The Think-Tank on Intercultural Education gathered school heads, teachers and other education professionals from cities belonging to the Intercultural Cities Network, Nottingham (United Kingdom) and Stockholm (Sweden).

The participants discussed and critically reviewed existing practices regarding whole-school policies, as well as shared their own local experiences in the field of intercultural education. They also familiarized themselves with and clarified key concepts such as respect, identity, culture, intercultural communication, empathy and multiperspectivity.
Moreover, the group explored the theory and practice behind intercultural education. Among selected texts were extracts from the Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters, practical examples from the Intercultural Cities Programme, and the White paper on Intercultural Dialogue (the documents are attached in the blue box to the right).

The participants then moved on to identify the components of intercultural competence, and to define concrete, observable behavior which can be used as indicators for successful intercultural education. Which attitudes, knowledge and skills need to be in place in order to enable an individual to deal with difference in constructive ways?

The next question is: How can we know that individuals show these attitudes, knowledge and skills? Indicators for each of these elements were developed, taking the form of observable behavior. It is the observation of behavior over time that can – as an exercise of self-reflection or mutual feed back – help individuals to develop the aspects of intercultural competence they need and desire in order to turn differences into a rich resource of social life. During the next phase of the Think Tank, the list of indicators will be tested and refined in order to allow a broader dissemination in the future.

An addition to the programme was the introduction to the resource Global and Anti-Racist Perspectives (GARP), which is developed to give practical examples on how these perspectives can be integrated in teaching and learning, specifically related to the UK primary school curricula.

The Think-Tank was organised by the CoE Pestalozzi Programme and the EWC, in cooperation with Oslo Municipality, and supported by the British Council.

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The Intercultural Cities – a joint action of the Council of Europe and the European Commission gathers 21 cities which seek to develop a positive public and media discourse towards diversity, encourage inter-ethnic mixing and interaction, increase the knowledge of citizens of different cultures present in the city, and deal with cultural conflict through mediation and open debate.

They focus on whole-school issues such as cultural diversity with regard to the teachers and learners in schools, intercultural competence of educators, intercultural mediation in schools, interaction with communities, extracurricular offers, etc.