Abstract
The development of intercultural competence is increasingly being perceived as a key goal in today’s education. As a result of a strong emphasis on that competence in curricular documents, teachers are faced with demanding tasks. Confirming this, recent research in the field of intercultural competence in Croatian schools indicates the numerous difficultiesteachers face in accomplishing the goal of developing their pupils’ intercultural competence. Teacher professional development can be crucial for a systematic approach to the development of learners’ intercultural competence. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine whether teacher participation in a further professional development programme on the topic of intercultural competence can significantly affect the achievement of goals set in the current curricular documents on foreign language learning related to intercultural competence. The effects of the professionaldevelopment programme were assessed by means of analysing learner outcomes in intercultural competence prior to and after teacher participation in the programme. A quasi-experimental pre-test-post-test design was used, and the achievements of 752 primary and lower secondary level pupils attending 4th and 8th grades were evaluated. The results confirmed that foreign language teacher professional development in the field of intercultural competence had positive effects on pupils’ learning outcomes, especially in the cognitive component of intercultural competence. This leads to the conclusion that it is necessary to motivate foreign language teachers to participate in such programmes. The results also indicate the necessity of placing particular emphasis on the problem of stereotypes and prejudices when designing such programmes.
Highlights
The global economy, the establishment of worldwide connections between people and or institutions, as well as economically and socially motivated migration, are characteristic occurrences of contemporary societies and contribute to the increasing heterogeneity of various aspects of human life
In view of the difficulties faced by foreign language teachers in relation to achieving intercultural competence as a learning outcome and given the relevance of teacher’s continuing professional development, the aim of this study was to determine whether teacher participation in professional development courses on the topic of intercultural competence can significantly affect the achievement of goals set in the current curricular documents on foreign language learning
The results show that the effect of teacher further professional development on the development of intercultural competence among eighth grade pupils was only evident in the cognitive aspect, i.e. in the field of specific knowledge of culture and civilization
Summary
The global economy, the establishment of worldwide connections between people and or institutions, as well as economically and socially motivated migration, are characteristic occurrences of contemporary societies and contribute to the increasing heterogeneity of various aspects of human life. Intercultural competence is often singled out as an important component of that set, its purpose being to establish and improve relationships and bring about mutual understanding and respect among members of different cultural and social groups. The development of this competence is increasingly being perceived as a key goal in today’s education. Intercultural competence is incorporated in the curricula of most European countries today, with foreign language teaching representing a significant area of its development (see Languages and Cultures in Europe, 2006)
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