New announcement - 10.06.2023 15:52

Challenges of Intercultural Education in the Context of Contemporary Music Pedagogy

Snježana Dobrota, PhD, Full Professor

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

University of Split, Croatia

Contemporary society is characterized by intensive processes of globalization and internationalization, as a result of which there are contacts and interactions between different cultures. Multiculturalism means the existence of different cultures in one place and is characterized by conditional statics and the preservation of cultural diversity. In contrast, interculturalism emphasizes the moment of exchange and contact between cultures (Piršl et al., 2016, 18). In short, interculturalism means the ideology of racial, cultural, religious, gender and ethnic diversity within the demography of a certain area (Parekt, 2006) and starts from the premise that society should provide equal status to different cultural ethnic and religious groups.

In the context of living in a multicultural society, the acquisition of intercultural communication competence is extremely important, which refers to the ability to interact effectively in multicultural environments and is based on specific attitudes, knowledge, abilities and reflection (Deardorff, 2009). The aforementioned competence includes the cognitive (intercultural awareness), affective (intercultural sensitivity) and behavioural (intercultural efficacy) ability of participants in intercultural communication (Chen & Starosta, 1996). Intercultural attitudes are based on knowledge and beliefs, emotional ties associated with such knowledge and beliefs, and behavioural actions resulting from the possession of the two previous components (Banks, 1999). Cultural intelligence is defined as an individuals’ ability to function effectively in situations characterized by cultural diversity (Ang & Van Dyne, 2008; Earley & Ang, 2003). The model of cultural intelligence (Earley & Ang, 2003) is based on the theory of multiple intelligences, that is, on the point of view that intelligence goes beyond just cognitive abilities and that it contains four levels: metacognitive, cognitive, motivational and behavioural.

The trends of internationalization and globalization are also reflected in the concept of education, so the need to implement intercultural education is increasingly emphasized, during which students are taught to recognize, accept and value cultural, ethnic, social, class, religious and gender differences and develop a sense of responsibility towards work and ideas of justice, equality and democrarc (Manning et al., 2017). Art education has a special role in the context of intercultural education, because it has the potential to strengthen individual self-esteem, promote group identity, reduce stereotypes and eliminate various prejudices. Intercultural music education is defined as a type of music education in which students are introduced to a wide range of different music, learn and value different cultural expressions of social groups that differ according to race, age, class, gender and lifestyle (Lundquist, 1991; Volk, 1998). 

The paper examines the issue of intercultural music education in the context of intercultural communication competence, intercultural attitudes and cultural intelligence, as well as musical-pedagogical implications for shaping the modern curriculum of intercultural music education in the entire educational vertical.