"Introduction of intercultural education (multiculturalism) in italy: theories and practice"

As a phenomenon related to globalization, immigration is definitely one of the most pressing concerns of education. The whole world is facing a stream of immigrants from the Southern part of the world and from Eastern Europe toward the so called "rich countries". An estimate shows around 20 million extra-communitarian residents in Europe; Italy figures as the fourth most immigrant-populated country after Germany, France and England. Immigration means that each country has to find solutions for the civil cohabitation between foreigners and locals and this is a challenge of intercultural education. Nowadays, the daily experience of all the citizens who live in large, medium and also small urban centers is marked by a continuous comparison with histories and biographies of people coming from elsewhere (different ways to speak, to play, to pray, to study, to think and to eat). Intercultural education sets as its objective an education that is conducive to an understanding of such differences. The importance of the role of intercultural education in our daily life is also testified by as many as 89 websites related to the activities and information listed by search engines under the Italian key word "interculturale". In this paper I intend to outline a brief history of intercultural education in Italy. Before that I shall deal with the following aspects: 1) introduction of the meaning of interculturality in the context of the definition and re-definition of the contents of intercultural education, together with clarifications about the maturation of the meanings of the term, and a clarification of other terms with regard to interculturality; 2) political intentions, ministerial decrees, criticism and variegated and responses articulated to ministerial decrees which can be grouped in two, namely, institutional-alternative and spontaneous-isolated; 3) intercultural programs in school education and in training the teachers.