Intercultural Competence Needs and Approaches for Teachers and Educators in the Global Context

Abstract

The present era of globalization, interdependence and multicultural societies has brought about both opportunities and crises in educational institutions and has shown that there is a growing need for intercultural competences at the cognitive, emotional and relational levels enabling teachersand educators to operate in linguistically and culturally complex contexts. However, the concepts of “intercultural education” and “intercultural competences” are often misunderstood and require a more precise definition. The present paper – based on a comprehensive review of literature on intercultural competence – intends to give further impulse to the discussion of intercultural competences and to offer concrete indications applicable to the field of education.