Empathy is widely perceived and understood as an unquestioned component of Intercultural Competence (IC). The authors see the ability to empathise with others and to see their point of view as an important condition for developing an ethnorelative viewpoint, and therefore consider it important to incorporate activities into the intercultural…

While the disruptive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold around the world, one of its most immediate effects -- beyond significant loss of life and livelihood -- has been the exposure of existing weaknesses in various sectors and systems. This is especially evident in higher education, with its growing overreliance on the…

The goal of this short-form article is to provide an overview of the opportunities and benefits for faculty and students who are considering the implementation of Virtual Exchange (VE) learning experiences to globalize the curriculum and their classrooms. The essay describes the benefits of students developing global competence, improving…

This chapter examines practical issues regarding Virtual Exchanges (VEs) for educational purposes in the university context and covers language use, cultural differences, time management, teacher collaboration, technology-related issues, assessment, and context specific factors. It charts the establishment of three academic collaborations between…

"Young people on the global stage: their education and influence" is an EU-funded project that involves teachers and students from three European countries (Britain, Germany and Spain) and teachers from several African countries with a focus on The Gambia and Kenya. The main aim of the project is to promote an understanding of some of…

This paper examines how the addition of intercultural interventions carried out throughout European credit-bearing exchange programmes can enhance sojourners' development of intercultural competencies, and it explores how both formal and non-formal pedagogical interventions may be designed and implemented. Such interventions were conducted at a…

Since the 1970s, international fieldwork has provided opportunities for small numbers of pre-service teachers to teach and learn in a culture different from their own. Research into this fieldwork suggests that pre-service teachers are positive about their experiences, although questions remain about the ethics underpinning some of these programs.…

This article discusses some perspectives on citizenship education in Turkey and Britain in the context of current contested discourses on the nature of European identity and of the European Union (EU). It is based on data collected during an EU-funded student teacher exchange programme between three universities in Turkey and Leicester University…

International exchange and training programs play a significant role in the development of international cooperation between educators from different nations. More and more teachers and school administrators participate in exchange programs and implement new curricular and instructional practices in their institutions. This paper presents findings…

This paper examines education for cultural awareness in a Japanese school abroad from the perspective of the teachers. An attempt is made to identify the difficulties which might be encountered by teachers when teaching about the host society and its culture. The paper also examines how this particular school modified its existing approach to…

The history of organized international exchange and training programs for educators in Europe and North America is not very long. In the pre-World War II era, those programs were scarce and generally limited in their influence on both host and guest educational communities. In the study of the impact of short-term sojourns on teachers, Wilson…

The article reports on a research investigation into the effectiveness of a student teaching practicum where American students took part in a training program in north-east England. A dichotomy between the concept of child-centered education and control through behavior modification emerged. (Author/DF)

This study investigated obstacles to teaching civic education in the United States, a country whose government was established on democratic principles over 250 years ago, and Hungary, a European country presently making the transition to a government based on democratic principles. The purpose is to compare the obstacles within these two…