Intercultural+understanding

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In the Australian Curriculum, students develop intercultural understanding as they learn to value their own cultures, languages and beliefs, and those of others. They come to understand how personal, group and national identities are shaped, and the variable and changing nature of culture. The capability involves students in learning about and engaging with diverse cultures in ways that recognise commonalities and differences, create connections with others and cultivate mutual respect. Intercultural understanding is an essential part of living with others in the diverse world of the twenty-first century. It assists young people to become responsible local and global citizens, equipped through their education for living and working together in an interconnected world. The// Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians //(MCEETYA 2008) recognises the fundamental role that education plays in building a society that is ‘cohesive and culturally diverse, and that values Australia’s Indigenous cultures’ (MCEETYA, p. 4). Intercultural understanding addresses this role, developing students who are active and informed citizens with an appreciation of Australia’s social, cultural, linguistic and religious diversity, and the ability to relate to and communicate across cultures at local, regional and global levels.

Intercultural understanding combines personal, interpersonal and social knowledge and skills. It involves students in learning to value and view critically their own cultural perspectives and practices and those of others through their interactions with people, texts and contexts across the curriculum. Intercultural understanding encourages students to make connections between their own worlds and the worlds of others, to build on shared interests and commonalities, and to negotiate or mediate difference. It develops students’ abilities to communicate and empathise with others and to analyse intercultural experiences critically. It offers opportunities for them to consider their own beliefs and attitudes in a new light, and so gain insight into themselves and others. Intercultural understanding stimulates students’ interest in the lives of others. It cultivates values and dispositions such as curiosity, care, empathy, reciprocity, respect and responsibility, open-mindedness and critical awareness, and supports new and positive intercultural behaviours. Though all are significant in learning to live together, three dispositions – expressing empathy, demonstrating respect and taking responsibility – have been identified as critical to the development of Intercultural understanding in the Australian Curriculum.

Intercultural understanding in English
Students develop intercultural understanding as they learn to value their own cultures, languages and beliefs, and those of others. They come to understand how personal, group and national identities are shaped, and the variable and changing nature of culture. The capability involves students in learning about and engaging with diverse cultures in ways that recognise commonalities and differences, create connections with others and cultivate mutual respect.

Students develop intercultural understanding through the study of the English language and the ways it has been influenced by different cultural groups, languages, speakers and writers. In interpreting and analysing authors’ ideas and positions in a range of texts in English and in translation to English, they learn to question stated and unstated cultural beliefs and assumptions, and issues of intercultural meaning.

Students use Intercultural understanding to comprehend and create a range of texts, that present diverse cultural perspectives and to empathise with a variety of people and characters in various cultural settings.

Intercultural understanding In maths
Students develop intercultural understanding as they learn to value their own cultures, languages and beliefs, and those of others. They come to understand how personal, group and national identities are shaped, and the variable and changing nature of culture. The capability involves students in learning about and engaging with diverse cultures in ways that recognise commonalities and differences, create connections with others and cultivate mutual respect. Intercultural understanding can be enhanced in Mathematics when students are exposed to a range of cultural traditions. Students learn to understand that mathematical expressions use universal symbols, while mathematical knowledge has its origin in many cultures. Students realise that proficiencies such as understanding, fluency, reasoning and problem solving are not culture or language specific, but that mathematical reasoning and understanding can find different expression in different cultures and languages. New technologies and digital learning environments provide interactive contexts for exploring mathematical problems from a range of cultural perspectives and within diverse cultural contexts. Students can apply mathematical thinking to identify and resolve issues related to living with diversity.

Intercultural understanding in science
Students develop intercultural understanding as they learn to value their own cultures, languages and beliefs, and those of others. They come to understand how personal, group and national identities are shaped, and the variable and changing nature of culture. The capability involves students in learning about and engaging with diverse cultures in ways that recognise commonalities and differences, create connections with others and cultivate mutual respect. <span style="color: #636363; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 0.85em; vertical-align: baseline;">There are opportunities in the Science learning area to develop intercultural understanding. Students learn to appreciate the contribution that diverse cultural perspectives have made to the development, breadth and diversity of science knowledge and applications. Students become aware that the raising of some debates within culturally diverse groups requires cultural sensitivity. They recognise that increasingly scientists work in culturally diverse teams and engage with culturally diverse communities to address issues of international importance.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; vertical-align: baseline;">Intercultural understanding in history
<span style="color: #636363; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 0.85em; vertical-align: baseline;">Students develop intercultural understanding as they learn to value their own cultures, languages and beliefs, and those of others. They come to understand how personal, group and national identities are shaped, and the variable and changing nature of culture. The capability involves students in learning about and engaging with diverse cultures in ways that recognise commonalities and differences, create connections with others and cultivate mutual respect.

<span style="color: #636363; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 0.85em; vertical-align: baseline;">Students learn about the perspectives, beliefs and values of people, past and present, and the importance of understanding their own and others' histories. This includes learning about the origins and development of Australia’s national identity and the forging of its cultural heritage.

<span style="color: #636363; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 0.85em; vertical-align: baseline;">Students recognise the significance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ histories and cultures. They have opportunities to learn about the contribution of migration from countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region, and the historic benefits and challenges of interacting with other countries and cultural groups in local, regional and international contexts. They learn about events and developments that have influenced diverse societies and cultural groups over time, and come to understand the nature, causes and consequences of cultural interdependence, dispossession and conflict. They refer to a range of sources portraying different cultural perspectives in order to develop historical understanding.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; vertical-align: baseline;">Intercultural understanding in geography
<span style="color: #636363; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 0.85em; vertical-align: baseline;">Across the Australian Curriculum, students develop intercultural understanding as they learn to value their own cultures, languages and beliefs, and those of others. They come to understand how personal, group and national identities are shaped, and the variable and changing nature of culture. The capability involves students in learning about and engaging with diverse cultures in ways that recognise commonalities and differences, create connections with others and cultivate mutual respect. <span style="color: #636363; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 0.85em; vertical-align: baseline;">In Geography, students develop intercultural understanding as they learn about the diversity of the world’s places, peoples, cultures and environments. As they investigate the interconnection between people and places and the meaning and significance that places hold, they come to appreciate how various cultural identities, including their own, are shaped. <span style="color: #636363; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 0.85em; vertical-align: baseline;">Through opportunities to study the lives, cultures, values and beliefs of people in different places, students learn to appreciate and interpret different perspectives and to challenge stereotypical or prejudiced representations of social and cultural groups where they exist. <span style="color: #636363; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 0.85em; vertical-align: baseline;">Through their study of people in diverse places, including those countries from which migrants to Australia have come, students come to recognise their similarities with other people, to better understand their differences, and to demonstrate respect for cultural diversity and the human rights of all people in local, national, regional and global settings.