Factors of students’ intercultural competence development in the context of Georgia

Abstract

Research aims to define the impact of diverse cultural factors on formation of students’ intercultural competences. Study revealed following negative tendencies: students have insufficient knowledge about different cultures, in fact, they do not have any experience of communicating with other cultural representatives, and they are reluctant to integrate with different cultures. These gaps are directly correlated with school culture dimensions, such as: school community diversity, teaching content, and the style of pedagogical relations. Among the positive trends, we can differentiate the following: students’ readiness to consider different views in school-related decision-making process; students’ belief that they can improve the school culture. The school, as the leading agent of intercultural education, should undertake the responsibility for developing intercultural competencies in students in order to eliminate the identified gaps and strengthen the positive trends, which can be achieved by active, consistent, and purposeful use of intercultural education methods and extracurricular educational strategies.

Keywords

• intercultural education
• intercultural competence
• school culture
• diversity