Intercultural Education and Multilingualism in the Kita

Open, appreciative, culturally sensitive

The core of intercultural education is intercultural competence – the ability to deal with cultural diversity in an open, appreciative and culturally sensitive way. It is based on an open stance and on reflecting on your own cultural background and conditioning.

What intercultural competence is

Intercultural competence is the ability to deal with cultural diversity and with people from other cultures in an open, appreciative, respectful and culturally sensitive way. It is less a matter of "knowledge" about particular cultures (which can help, but carries the risk of stereotyping, Module 8) than of a stance and ability: openness and appreciation towards diversity; cultural sensitivity (sensitivity to cultural differences and conditioning, Module 4); the ability to meet people from other cultures openly, respectfully and without hasty judgement; reflection on your own cultural conditioning and prejudices; and the ability to communicate and enter into dialogue across cultural boundaries. Intercultural competence makes it possible to meet cultural diversity and people from other cultures well, respectfully and with appreciation, and to deal constructively with cultural differences (Module 8). It is the core of intercultural education and a valuable competence for working in a diverse day-care centre (Kita) and for living in a diverse world.

Figure (Module 2): What intercultural competence is – and is less. Source: own illustration (AI-assisted).

The intercultural stance

Going deeper: Reflecting on your own cultural conditioning

A fundamental, often overlooked aspect of intercultural competence is reflecting on your own cultural conditioning. People tend to regard their own culture and their own culturally shaped values, norms, habits and things taken for granted as "normal", "natural" or "self-evident" – and to judge other cultures and ways of life as "different", "strange" or even "wrong" (measured against their own culture, which they take to be "normal"). Yet your own culture is also one culture among many, a particular way of living, thinking and valuing shaped by history and society – not the "normal" or "right" one by which others should be measured. Reflecting on your own cultural conditioning means becoming aware of this: I, too, am culturally shaped; my values, norms, habits and things taken for granted are culturally shaped and not "natural" or "universal"; other cultures and ways of life are not "wrong" or "different from the normal", but other, equally valid ways of living. This awareness of your own conditioning is important because it helps you to meet other cultures and people more openly, more respectfully and without hasty judgement. Anyone who is aware of their own conditioning does not (unconsciously) measure others against their own culture, which they take to be "normal", and does not devalue them, but can recognise and respect them as other, valid ways of living. Anyone who is not aware of their own conditioning, by contrast, tends to make their own culture the yardstick and to measure and devalue others by it (ethnocentrism) – which runs counter to valuing diversity and to intercultural competence. Reflecting on your own cultural conditioning is therefore an important, fundamental part of intercultural competence. It requires honest self-reflection: What cultural conditioning, values, norms and things taken for granted do I bring with me? What ideas of "normal" and "right" do I have, and where do they come from? Do I tend to measure other cultures against my own and to devalue them? This reflection helps you to recognise your own conditioning and its limits, to overcome the ethnocentric view and to meet other cultures and people more openly, more respectfully and without hasty judgement. It is thus an important foundation of intercultural competence and stance. Helpful for this reflection are: consciously engaging with your own cultural conditioning; encounters with other cultures and perspectives (which make your own conditioning and its relativity visible); exchange and dialogue; and the willingness to put your own view into perspective and to be open to other ways of living and valuing. Reflecting on your own cultural conditioning is a demanding but fundamental and rewarding part of developing intercultural competence – it is the basis for an open, appreciative, non-judgemental encounter with cultural diversity and with people from other cultures.

Figure (Module 2): Why reflecting on your own conditioning matters. Source: own illustration (AI-assisted).

Figure (Module 2): From irritation to an open encounter in the case study (fictional). Source: own illustration (AI-assisted).