Interculturality Criticality And Reflexivity In Teacher Education

Preparing teachers to work with and for diversity in their classrooms and beyond is an objective that seems to be globally accepted in pre-service and in-service teacher education. However, what diversity means, what it entails and how to engage with diverse individuals in educational contexts can take on multiple shapes in different parts of the world. This Element suggests that the multifaceted and polysemic notion of interculturality could be useful to unthink and rethink (ad infinitum) working with diverse people in education. The Element surveys the different meanings and ideologies attached to the notion, using a multilingual perspective to do so. Recent research published internationally on the topic and its companions such as multicultural is also reviewed. The main addition to the field is a critical and reflexive perspective which is proposed for teacher educators, (students) teachers and researchers. The proposal draws from Dervin's most up-to-date theoretical and pedagogical work.

This book deals with the importance of interculturality in teacher education and training. It is mostly through the concept of intercultural competence that interculturality has been constructed and problematized for educators. However, different approaches and paradigms are available and differ and/or share similarities in terms of ideology, method, practice, theoretical frameworks, and ethical considerations. There is no global agreement on the meanings of interculturality in teacher education and training, although some principles might be common across national borders. There is thus a need for educators to consider these aspects of interculturality in education to be able to become better teachers in a diverse world like ours.

This book critiques models of intercultural competence, whilst suggesting examples of specific alternative approaches that will successfully foster intercultural competence in teacher education. Bringing together diverse perspectives from teacher educators and student teachers, this volume discusses the need to move beyond essentialism, culturalism and assumptions about an us versus them perspective and recognises that multiple identities of an individual are negotiated in interaction with others. Intercultural Competence in the Work of Teachers is divided into four sections: critiquing intercultural competence in teacher education; exploring critical intercultural competences in teacher education; reflexivity and intercultural competence in teacher education; and indigeneity and intercultural competence in teacher education, providing a methodological approach through which to explore this critical framework further. This book is ideal for teacher educators or academics of education specialising in global education who are looking to explore alternative perspectives towards intercultural competence and wish to gain an insight into the ways it can be utilised in a more effective and productive manner.

"At a time where intercultural dialogue appears to be in crisis, books such as this one are needed now more than ever before. It is an engaging and bold read from start to finish and a work vitally needed for those involved in teacher education and training around the world. The authors yield valuable and new insights into the complex field of interculturality." -Professor Fanhua Meng, Capital Normal University, China "The notion of interculturality is used, and at times misused and abused, in education and research. In Dervin and Jacobsson's book, with much needed boldness, we are called upon and inspired to be more critical and reflexive with this polysemic notion. Many of us in education have been hoping to get their hands on this excellent book." -Professor Emerita Marie-José Barbot, University of Lille, France This book reviews and analyses the importance of interculturality in teacher education. Although some principles might be common across countries, there is no global agreement on the meanings of interculturality. Unlike most books on the topic, it is argued that educators should be critical of the notion and of the problematic influence it can have on students if used loosely. The authors provide an up-to-date review of the different meanings, concepts and methods used to define interculturality in teacher education. In doing so, they offer useful frameworks and strategies to address problems when teaching it. Including practical strategies as well as theoretical analysis, this book will be of use to teacher educators, student teachers and teachers to unthink and reformulate the way they engage with interculturality. Fred Dervin is Professor of Multicultural Education at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He also holds distinguished professorships in Australia, Canada, China, Luxembourg, Malaysia and Sweden. Dervin specialises in intercultural education, the sociology of multiculturalism and academic mobility. Andreas Jacobsson is Senior Lecturer in Intercultural Studies at Karlstad University, Sweden. His research is primarily focused on intercultural communication education, interculturality and early childhood education, intercultural film and media, intercultural epistemology and philosophy.

With the impact of accelerated globalization, digital technologies, mobility, and migration, the fields of Applied Linguistics, Language, and Intercultural Education have been shifting. One shift in need of further exploration is that of systematic and coherent reflexivity in researching language and culture. This unique and timely book thus examines the significance of reflexivity as an integral process, particularly when researching the multifaceted notions of multilingualism and interculturality in education. It also contributes to current critical approaches to representations of languages and cultures in identity politics. As such, the authors offer innovative ways of engaging with reflexivity in teaching, learning, and research through multimodal and complex ways. The chapters span a diverse range of educational settings in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America.

This edited volume focuses on the thorny and somewhat controversial issue of teaching (and learning) interculturality in a way that considers the notion from critical and reflexive perspectives when introduced to students. Comprised of three parts, the book discusses the nuts and bolts of teaching interculturally, considers changes in the teaching of interculturality and provides pedagogical insights into interculturalising the notion. It studies both teaching im-/ex-plicitly about interculturality and how to incorporate interculturality into teaching practices or into an institution. By sharing varied cases and theoretical reflections on the topic, the editors and contributors from different parts of the world aim to stimulate more initiatives to enrich the field instead of delimiting it, especially in complement to and beyond the “West” or “Global North”, and also to build up further reflexivity in the way readers engage with interculturality in education. This will be a must read for teachers and researchers of intercultural communication education at different educational levels, as well as anyone interested in scholarship on education for interculturality.

This book continues the author’s long-term reflections (over 20 years of scholarship and experience in intercultural communication education) around the fascinating and yet contestable notion of interculturality in education. As an unstable and polysemic notion, interculturality deserves to be opened up again and again and there is a need to engage with it continuously, observing, critiquing and problematizing its complexities. This book urges researchers, students and interculturalists to take the time to think carefully and deeply about interculturality and to find inspiration beyond the dominating ‘Western’ ideological world of intercultural research and education. This book starts from short fragments written by the author for himself over a period of one year. In these short statements and notes about interculturality, the author reflects creatively on the questions he had in mind at the time of writing and offers some (temporary) answers, which, in turn, are questioned and revised. Over the 1000 fragments that the author wrote, he selected about 100, for which he wrote commentaries, referring to and reviewing current research and debates on interculturality in the process. One of the specificities of the book is to be highly multidisciplinary to help us get used to looking for inspiration in other fields of research and creativity. The fragments can be read randomly – the reader may open the book at any page and pick any fragment. The author suggests reading each individual fragment first and then the accompanying explanatory texts. While reading them, the reader is also invited to reflect on any potential addition to what the author wrote – anything they might dis-/agree with, anything they would have wanted to discuss with the author. Questions have been added at the end of each chapter for readers to reflect on and to enrich their own criticality and reflexivity. The book serves as continuous guidance for engaging with interculturality.

This book showcases 100 terms related to the scientific, educational and political notion of interculturality. Each term is presented with its specific multilingual discussions, scientific origins, multifaceted content, and short reviews of the global literature in English. Some myths, imaginaries and ideologies (‘interculturologies’ in the book) that they have led to construct are also introduced. Questions at the end of each entry encourage readers to think further regarding the notion of interculturality in research and education. Based on the author's decades-long experience in researching and teaching in the interdisciplinary field of intercultural communication education in different parts of the world, his constant reflexive and critical engagement with the notion of interculturality, and in-depth reviews of current research, the author has carefully selected (recurrent) concepts, notions, and ideas to be deconstructed in order to challenge readers to think further with him, especially beyond ‘Western’ and certain static and resistant ideological positions. These represent a complex body of concepts and notions, but also involve myths and imaginaries that can prevent us from moving forward in our thinking and in acting interculturally in research and education. This book serves as a reading guide for further interculturologies that the reader might identify in the future or as they engage with the book.