Quality Practice in Experiential Learning for Intercultural Understanding

Jagdish Gundara, Dr Leslie Bash, Robert Ferguson, Jack Peffers

Institute of Education, University of London

The International Centre for Intercultural Studies (Institute of Education, University of London) proposed the development of a booklet to support Intercultura in achieving its goals of encouraging the development of intercultural capabilities through student exchanges.

The AFS Guide in the Intercultura website was the starting point as basis for this work. This is especially the case because AFS has been working nearly 100 years as it started during the First World War. This therefore is invaluable for work in this field as there is a need for the Board and the staff of Intercultura to consider the organisational and programme issues which provide them with further professional competences. These could help to deepen the educational experience and knowledge for all involved in the process. The intention of the booklet was not to burden the organisation and staff of Intercultura with complex issues but to provide a guide that may be used as an aide memoire for reflection on practice and so to enable further developments in the overall work of Intercultura.

Content of the booklet

Section 1: To enhance quality of the practices in experiential learning. This section includes descriptions of the theory and practices of experiential learning and of intercultural experiences.

Section 2: To achieve focus and clarity about: a) the learning objectives of intercultural understanding; b) the existing outlooks of the learners and which learning experiences and techniques can build upon these outlooks and maximise the objectives of intercultural understandings.

Section 3:  In this section the issue of intercultural or non-centric knowledge which is necessary for the 21st century global context is considered as well as how its achievement can be demonstrated. 

The booklet was developed for internal use only.