This paper reviews existing evidence on how the intercultural competence of young people can be promoted by schools. It begins by examining the concept of intercultural competence, and the values, attitudes, skills, knowledge, and understanding that together comprise this competence. The various actions that can be taken by schools to promote the intercultural competence of young people are then reviewed. These actions include: encouraging intercultural friendships; organizing periods of study abroad; arranging for students to have Internet-based intercultural contact; setting up school-community links and partnerships; encouraging and supporting students’ critical reflection on their intercultural experiences and on their own cultural affiliations; using pedagogical approaches such as cooperative learning and project-based learning; using pedagogical activities that enhance the development of some of the specific components of intercultural competence (such as role plays and simulations, the analysis of texts, films, and plays, and ethnographic tasks); using a culturally inclusive curriculum; and adopting a whole school approach to valuing diversity and human rights. It is argued that, while there is evidence for the effectiveness of all these various actions, further evaluation studies using more robust methods are still required. Additional research is also required to identify the circumstances under which each form of action is most effective and the subgroups of young people who benefit the most from each action.

This paper reviews some of the relevant background findings against which the empirical studies reported in this special issue were designed. Particular attention is given to previous findings on the development of children's national knowledge, national attitudes and national identifications. The paper also reviews five existing theories, which have been proposed to explain the development of children's intergroup attitudes: cognitive-developmental theory (Aboud, 1988 Aboud, F. E. 1988. Children and prejudice, Oxford, , UK: Blackwell. [Google Scholar] , 2008 Aboud, F. E. 2008. “A social-cognitive developmental theory of prejudice”. In The handbook of race, racism and the developing child, Edited by: Quintana, S. M. and McKown, C. 55–71. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. [Google Scholar] ), social identity development theory (Nesdale, 2004 Nesdale, D. 2004. “Social identity processes and children's ethnic prejudice”. In The development of the social self, Edited by: Bennett, M. and Sani, F. 219–245. Hove, , UK: Psychology Press. [Google Scholar] , 2008 Nesdale, D. 2008. “Social identity development and children's ethnic attitudes in Australia”. In The handbook of race, racism and the developing child, Edited by: Quintana, S. M. and McKown, C. 313–338. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. [Google Scholar] ), social identity theory (Tajfel, 1978 Tajfel, H. 1978. “Social categorization, social identity and social comparison”. In Differentiation between social groups: Studies in the social psychology of intergroup relations, Edited by: Tajfel, H. 61–76. London, , UK: Academic Press. [Google Scholar] ; Tajfel & Turner, 1986), societal-social-cognitive-motivational theory (Barrett, 2007 Barrett, M. 2007. Children's knowledge, beliefs and feelings about nations and national groups, Hove, , UK: Psychology Press. [Google Scholar] , 2009 Barrett, M. 2009. “The development of children's intergroup attitudes”. In Interkulturelle Kompetenz und Fremdsprachliches Lernen: Modelle, Empirie, Evaluation [Intercultural Competence and Foreign Language Learning: Models, Empiricism, Assessment], Edited by: Hu, A. and Byram, M. 69–86. Tübingen, , Germany: Gunter Narr Verlag. [Google Scholar] ; Barrett & Davis, 2008) and integrative developmental-contextual theory (Bar-Tal & Teichman, 2005 Bar-Tal, D. and Teichman, Y. 2005. Stereotypes and prejudice in conflict: Representations of Arabs in Israeli Jewish society, Cambridge, , UK: Cambridge University Press. [Crossref] [Google Scholar] ; Teichman & Bar-Tal, 2008). The paper concludes by describing the shared methodology that was utilized by all of the following studies that are reported in this special issue. These studies were designed to examine how children's attitudes to other nations develop within a range of different national contexts, some of which have not experienced violent conflict in the recent past (England, The Netherlands) but others of which have recently experienced, or still are experiencing, conflict, violence or warfare (Basque Country, Bosnia, north and south Cyprus, Northern Ireland, Israel).