Dealing with Intercultural

Mis-Understanding

The Australian Curriculum General Capability of Intercultural Understanding is perhaps one of the most difficult to incorporate into teaching. This is because understanding implies some interaction with others who are different, and interaction can lead to misunderstandings.  This professional learning experience will help teachers to understand how and why such misunderstandings can occur and how we can all develop the empathy required for more harmonious cross-cultural relations.

WHY SCHOOLS SHOULD TAKE PART:

Session 1: Joy Schultz, educational consultant and SEAQ secretary, will explore the concept of ‘culture’ and the bases of cultural differences and similarities. She will consider in a general sense the effects of culture change, culture shock, ethnocentrism and the effects of stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination in intercultural relationships, as well as pointing out teaching implications (especially for the new history and geography curricula) and some useful resources.

Session 2: Margaret Bornhorst, a cross-cultural specialist with a background in Multicultural Affairs Queensland, will provide more specific examples of some of the frustrations of dealing with people whose cultural behaviours seem very different from our own. She will inspire participants to be aware of their own beliefs and assumptions and the richness of their own culture. She will provide insights into the behaviours and attitudes we all need to develop in order to create positive outcomes and reduce tensions and negative perceptions.

Session 3: Joy and Margaret join with members of the Global Learning Centre to take teachers through some activities and resources they can use with their students to highlight the concepts dealt with earlier, and to create empathetic responses in students that can lead to the development of respect for others. The group will do some activities jointly but divide into primary and secondary groups for others.