Beyond Ethnocentric Paradigms: The Contribution of Intercultural Education and Competence

The development perspective of intercultural competence plays an increasingly central role to overcome those visions that consider the multicultural contexts in terms of risk and discomfort rather than a resource for both individuals and society at large. At the same time, educating toward the development of intercultural competence presents certain issues, especially because education in the vast majority of the world is basically based on Eurocentric and/or Americanocentric principles, which are different from non-Western approaches. One very dangerous outcome of such a stance is a normalization of US-Europe-based educational approaches, ignoring the valuable contributions that may occur in intercultural competence development efforts in other regions of the world. The current contribution, starting from an analysis of intercultural competence and of the associated challenges, constitutes an attempt to transcend cultural bias and limitations, providing intercultural models and perspectives.