Learning Together - Intercultural Competencies and the 4 Pillars of Education

Abstract

The HEA defines Intercultural Competencies as ‘knowledge, skills and attitudes that comprise a person’s ability to get along with, work and learn with people from diverse cultures’, adding that HE staff are in a position to acquire and develop these skills, and encourage students to develop their own intercultural communication skills and realise the value of learning/working in a multi-cultural environment.

Following a think-share-explore approach, participants will come up with their own definitions of culture, before going on to discuss 1) the importance of being culturally aware in a teaching and learning environment, 2) the need for respecting and valuing other cultures and cultural behaviours, 3) the benefit of encouraging a curiosity for continually developing intercultural competencies through engaging in collaborations and exchanges with people from other cultures, 4) appreciation of the crucial role of reflection in exploring how learning about and with others helps us learn about ourselves.

This approach attempts to address UNESCO’s 4 pillars of education – learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together, and learning to be – as a means of encouraging a greater sense of working and learning together through ‘celebrating the breadth of backgrounds and cultures represented at UAL’.

The aim of the session is that participants will leave with a feeling of curiosity - about how they can develop their intercultural competencies and those of people they work and learn with, and how they can harness and utilise an ongoing curiosity to continue learning about cultural diversity and intercultural communication.