This article analyses the role of educational opportunity in a time of globalisation, a new economy and life in a multicultural society, and gives an epistemological and semantic account of the concept ‘intercultural education’, distinguishing it from multicultural and transcultural education. Starting with a historic overview of various conceptualisations of meetings/clashes among people with different linguistic, religious, cultural or ethnic features, distinctive theoretical elaborations are reviewed, above all in a European context and in the educational field. After outlining the development of intercultural education (main contents, methods and objectives, as well as limits), this article supports the thesis that education, in an intercultural sense, is currently the most appropriate answer to globalisation and interdependence.

The present era of globalization, interdependence and multicultural societies has brought about both opportunities and crises in educational institutions. Especially schools and families seem to be unable to cope with such revolutionary changes. The crises also concern all fields involved in maintaining social welfare, including counselling and psychotherapy. Within these fields, there is a growing need for Intercultural Competences at the cognitive, emotional and relational levels which endow teachers and counsellors with the ability to operate in linguistically and culturally complex contexts. However, despite the vast amount of international scholarship, the concept of ‘Intercultural Education’ and the term ‘Intercultural Competences’ are often misunderstood and require more precise definition. The present contribution intends to give further impulse to the discussion of Intercultural Competences and to offer concrete definitions that are applicable to the fields of education, counselling and psychotherapy. The article is based on a comprehensive review of literature on Intercultural Competence and an extensive empirical study carried out by the Centre for Intercultural Studies at the University of Verona. The study relies upon focus groups and semi-structured interviews in order to develop a theoretical model of Intercultural Competences with implications at the practical-operative, methodological and vocational levels.

In view of the primary challenges facing contemporary society, such as globalisation and interdependence, the author reflects on the question of what the most appropriate educational policy and pedagogical approach is: transcultural education, multicultural education, or intercultural education. Based on historical developments in the US and in Europe, he first presents a terminological and semantic clarification. Then, considering the existing terminological confusion and misunderstandings across the world and disciplines, he underlines the urgency to develop a shared terminology. He proposes to use the adjective ‘multicultural’ in descriptive terms (societies are multicultural) and applies multicultural education as a strategy for improving knowledge about and respect for ethnic and cultural diversities. The concept ‘intercultural’ should be utilised in reference to intervention, where intercultural education is viewed as an activity in which one engages in interaction: encounter, contact, dialogue, and conflict management. In his opinion, nowadays, intercultural education also has to include new challenges and different forms of diversity, including neoliberalism, climate change, power, and special needs.

The present time of globalization, interdependence and multicultural societies has brought about both opportunities and crisis that concern all fields involved with social welfare, especially education (Portera, 2020, 2006). Within the school environment, there is a growing need for intercultural education and competences at the cognitive, emotional and relational levels, which will endow teachers and students with the abilities to operate in linguistically and culturally complex contexts (UNESCO, 2015; Portera, 2013; Deardorff, 2009). However, the concepts of `Intercultural Education' and 'Intercultural Competences' are often misunderstood and require more precise definition. The authors review the scientific literature on the aforementioned concepts and then report the results of a study carried out by the Centre for Intercultural Study at the University of Verona (Italy) which examines how teachers who work in different types of schools define and apply the concept of 'intercultural competences' in their praxis. The study uses a qualitative research methodology that includes a process of 'triangulation'. Specifically, a series of semi-structured interviews, focus groups and participant observations were conducted in order to explore teachers' intercultural competences, especially through the analysis of critical incidents. After discussing the results, the authors outline impplications for teacher education and school praxis in intercultural perspective.