On Wednesday 24 February 2021, Kobe University's Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence organised an online lecture for high school teachers entitled "Promotion of intercultural understanding in Europe and creation of global citizenship".
Associate Professor Tsutomu Hashida (Center for International Education, Kobe University) firstly explained that the foreign language education in Europe was an integral part of educational policy aiming at the creation of global citizenship based on intercultural competence. The lecturer also mentioned that the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) was originally designed to facilitate cross-border mobility of European citizens and was not intended to provide a useful measure for various commercial tests of foreign languages.
Prof. Hashida secondly gave an overview on public policy in particular for diversity and social inclusion of minorities and immigrants in Europe and referred to key policy in the EU and the Council of Europe: the requirement to acquire two official languages in the former and the development to define intercultural competence based on the CEFR. He invited the teachers to try to write some parts of the "Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters", and encouraged them to reflect on globalization and diversity, intercultural competence and foreign language skill, and so on. To end, "Intercultural Citizenship Test" was presented as one of the latest outcomes in Europe.
There were 19 teachers in the lecture, which took place as part of the Annual Meeting for English Subcommittee, Educational Research Group of Senior High Schools in Hyogo Prefecture.
Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence of Kobe University will continue to organise lectures for high school teachers who will educate their students with the updated knowledge of the EU.