Abstract

This book presents a vision of education for citizenship, which takes as its starting point an account of what it means to be intercultural. Theory and concepts of interculturality are applied to citizenship education in order to extend its meaning and significance within and beyond the nation state. The book advances a concept of intercultural citizenship which is sensitive to complexities of identity and diversity and, through international case studies, analyses the degree to which intercultural citizenship is present or emergent in contemporary education systems It provides a statement of ‘axioms and characteristics’ of education for intercultural citizenship to act both as a framework for planning education for intercultural citizenship and as criteria for evaluating the degree of intercultural citizenship education already present in existing education systems. The book will be of interest to those currently working in intercultural education as well as those who work in education for citizenship.

The editors are all members of the School of Education, Durham University, interested in interdisciplinary approaches to intercultural experience. Geof Alred is counsellor and counsellor trainer. His research interests include language in therapy, mentoring and intercultural experience, in particular student residence abroad.

Mike Byram studied languages and literature before becoming interested in the intercultural dimension of language education and ultimately in educational experience beyond the classroom.

Mike Fleming is Director of Research. His research interests include arts education, the teaching of English and drama, and in particular the use of drama as a form of intercultural education.

This work is a thoughtful and well-written contribution to the literature, and the editors and authors have done a remarkable job of tying a number of complex and potentially frustrating issues together in a cogent and understandable manner.