The Importance Of Plurilingual And Intercultural Education For Democratic Culture

The efficient functioning of democracies depends on social inclusion and societal integration, and these in turn depend on an understanding of, respect for and engagement with linguistic and cultural diversity. The Council of Europe advocates plurilingual and intercultural education as a means of achieving these goals. Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)1 draws on previous Council of Europe documents to define the key concepts that underpin plurilingual and intercultural education and sets out a comprehensive list of measures that member states are invited to take. While acknowledging that full implementation of these measures is the work of many years, the Recommendation points out that much can be achieved in the short term within existing policy frameworks. Together with its explanatory memorandum, Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)1 is essential reading for policy makers, curriculum developers, teachers, teacher educators, textbook authors, examination agencies, parents' organisations, educational associations and leaders of civil society

The efficient functioning of democracies depends on social inclusion and societal integration, and these in turn depend on an understanding of, respect for and engagement with linguistic and cultural diversity. The Council of Europe advocates plurilingual and intercultural education as a means of achieving these goals. Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)1 draws on previous Council of Europe documents to define the key concepts that underpin plurilingual and intercultural education and sets out a comprehensive list of measures that member states are invited to take. While acknowledging that full implementation of these measures is the work of many years, the Recommendation points out that much can be achieved in the short term within existing policy frameworks. Together with its explanatory memorandum, Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)1 is essential reading for policy makers, curriculum developers, teachers, teacher educators, textbook authors, examination agencies, parents’ organisations, educational associations and leaders of civil society.

The work of the Council of Europe in plurilingual and intercultural education is highly influential in Europe and beyond and has been so for many years. The Common European Framework of Reference and its Companion Volume, and related instruments, provide ways in which to implement policies and a broader vision of providing quality and equity in education across the curriculum, a vision which incorporates the core values of the Council of Europe and which educates children and young people to be plurilingual, intercultural and democratic citizens. This book presents this educational vision, demonstrates how it can be realised through the application of Council of Europe instruments in practice, and does so in a way which is easily and quickly accessible to teachers of all subjects and in all educational institutions, as well as to other educationists, including policymakers.

Given the economic, social and historical changes of recent years, education today needs a re-thinking of its methodologies and goals. This book presents an innovative approach to language and culture teaching and learning in a context of full-immersion: EUFICCS (European Use of Full-Immersion, Culture, Content and Service) . Only thanks to a comprehensive and holistic way of conceiving the educational path, based on the practice of reflection, can students be empowered with those intercultural and democratic competences necessary to function as future global citizens. The EUFICCS approach offers some guidelines that can be applicable in several educational contexts, all around the globe. This publication is specifically addressed to educators, language and content teachers and all education practitioners, but it also discusses more general issues, such as interculturality, relations with the other, and service in the community.

A new Council of Europe reference framework of competences for democratic culture! Contemporary societies within Europe face many challenges, including declining levels of voter turnout in elections, increased distrust of politicians, high levels of hate crime, intolerance and prejudice towards minority ethnic and religious groups, and increasing levels of support for violent extremism. These challenges threaten the legitimacy of democratic institutions and peaceful co-existence within Europe. Formal education is a vital tool that can be used to tackle these challenges. Appropriate educational input and practices can boost democratic engagement, reduce intolerance and prejudice, and decrease support for violent extremism. However, to achieve these goals, educationists need a clear understanding of the democratic competences that should be targeted by the curriculum. This book presents a new conceptual model of the competences which citizens require to participate in democratic culture and live peacefully together with others in culturally diverse societies. The model is the product of intensive work over a two-year period, and has been strongly endorsed in an international consultation with leading educational experts. The book describes the competence model in detail, together with the methods used to develop it. The model provides a robust conceptual foundation for the future development of curricula, pedagogies and assessments in democratic citizenship and human rights education. Its application will enable educational systems to be harnessed effectively for the preparation of students for life as engaged and tolerant democratic citizens. The book forms the first component of a new Council of Europe reference framework of competences for democratic culture. It is vital reading for all educational policy makers and practitioners who work in the fields of education for democratic citizenship, human rights education and intercultural education.

Understanding and experiencing the diversity of languages and cultures is both an aim of and a resource for quality education Plurilingual and intercultural education is a response to the needs and requirements of quality education, covering the acquisition of competences, knowledge and attitudes, diversity of learning experiences, and construction of individual and collective cultural identities. Its aim is to make teaching more effective and increase the contribution it makes both to school success for the most vulnerable learners and to social cohesion. This guide is intended to facilitate improved implementation of the values and principles of plurilingual and intercultural education in the teaching of all languages – foreign, regional or minority, classical and language(s) of schooling.

Underscoring the complex relationship between civic engagement and education at all stages of life, this innovative Handbook identifies the contemporary challenges and best approaches and practices to encourage civic engagement within education.

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.