Edukacja międzykulturowa – od lokalnychsukcesów ku globalnym przesłaniom i oddziaływaniom

Abstract

The experiences of multicultural education evince its ambiguous effects. On one hand, it enables lasting of cultures and maintaining the identity of different minority groups (national, ethnic, cultural minorities). On the other hand, such education often hinders social integration and enhances stigmatization or self-stigmatization. Therefore, what seems to be a much better solution is intercultural education, which both provides chances for preservation and development of particular cultures and facilitates mutual familiarization and closer contacts between different groups (communities) and their cultures. This is confirmed by relatively numerous experiences of intercultural education in Poland and some neighbouring countries.However, the ideas and practices of intercultural education are still poorly known and understood by the Polish and many other societies. This occurs particularly in the communities disturbed by conflicts and experiencing problems with the recognition and respect for national, ethnic, cultural, religious or even racial unlikeness. Such situation encourages promoting the assumptions and good examples of intercultural education as well as specifying characteristic strategies of transmission which would take into account the determinants of life stories of people living in various regions of the world. The mission of education is, among other things, enhancing the peaceful and happy life in the multicultural world.