Intercultural education policies across Europe as responses to cultural diversity (2006-2016)

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to trace the dynamics of the development of the inter-cultural education within the education policies across Europe. The brief summary of the IE development during previous four decades is presented. The principal part of the paper is dedicated to the content analysis of the EU education policies documents in regards of IE during the last decade 2006-2016. So far there is no agreed definition on this type of education, so I tried to clarify (through research articles and policy documents) the latest approaches (trends, preferences, boundaries, prejudices, etc.) on using the terminology Multicultural and/or Intercultural Education, its interpretation in academic papers and in policy documents. The debates on multiculturalism-interculturalism are referred to with the purpose to learn how these debates influence the European education policies. I indicated that the development of intercultural education continued under the neoliberal agenda in education policies and it was echoed in many documents. I found it was worthy to list the European Commission’s initiatives of the recent years in forms of granted projects and subsidized programs to stimulate and compliment the educators’ activities in the field of intercultural education. I came to conclusion that the overall rhetoric of the last decade’s policies and researches was undoubtedly glorifying and elevating intercultural education, the wording and language of the policy documents were enormously enriched, extended and reflected the current trends and issues. Although in practice it is seen that certain deficiencies occur in translating the EU supranational guidelines at the level of national policies.