Rina Manuela Contini

This paper tackles a complex discussion surrounding interculturalism and its translation and implementation into the context of education. The first part of the paper focuses on a critical analysis of interculturalism as a conceptual and political framework. We propose an analysis of interculturalism and its stated multilayered goals, which are often ambiguous, in tension with one another, and divergent. In the second part of the paper, we focus our analysis on the sociological, educational philosophy, and pedagogical extensions and manifestation of the intercultural framework. Here, too, we focus on problematizing the conceptual framework illustrating parallel problem dynamics. Finally, we conclude our paper with a third part, an empirical case study in Italian schools. The qualitative study we highlight was carried out in nineteen Italian schools with 87 educators (68 teachers and 19 administrators) and takes an in-depth look both at intercultural education as practiced by Italian educators. Keywords: Education, Diversity, Responsible Citizenship, Educational Practices, Italian Educators.