Intercultural Education in Initial and Field Training

Abstract

In Italy teachers for nursery and primary schools are trained in many ways. Although in this complex system numerous initiatives regarding the implementation of intercultural education have been taken by the Ministry of Education, practice is still inconsistent and a great deal is left to the initiative of individual teachers, principals and schools. The Teachers Centre of Democratic Initiative (CIDI) realised two projects in the field of language education. The basic idea was to ascertain to what extent the language used in school may pose an obstacle for children whose mother tongue is not the school language. The follow‐up was a field training course on intercultural issues. The objectives were to identify didactic instruments and procedures designed to transform the way in which a foreign child would be viewed from being a “problem” to being appreciated and valued. The paper closes with a list of elements that may be viewed as cornerstones of training activity in an intercultural framework.