Teaching in intercultural classrooms from an Italian perspective

Teaching is one of the most demanding professions. Due to rising globalization and interdependence, the professional encounters of teachers occur increasingly with students and parents having different beliefs, values and behaviour. Around the globe, several organisations and scholars assume that the intercultural approach can provide a great support for teachers facing these new challenges in an appropriate and constructive way. However, in different countries and disciplines, confusion exists among ‘multicultural’, ‘transcultural’ and ‘intercultural’ terminologies and semantics. After a short review of intercultural education in Europe, this chapter focuses on intercultural teaching competences both in theory and in practice, grounded on the author’s research and additional empirical research. Special attention will be paid to the present school situation in Italy.