How can diversity lead to richer unity? Developing intercultural competences through "Interity"

Christophe Morace (1, 2) , Alison Gourvès-Hayward (3)

1 ENSTA Bretagne_SHS - Département Sciences Humaines et Sociales ENSTA Bretagne
2 CRF - Centre de recherche sur la formation
3 LCI - Département Langues et Culture Internationale

In this paper, an innovatory experiential teaching design, which aims to develop the intercultural competences of students in two French Graduate Engineering Schools, is described and analysed. Using a concept called "interity", developed by Demorgon, students are encouraged to negotiate a common frame of reference and action, creating unity from diversity. Our main objective is to use the diversity represented by cultural and disciplinary differences to produce new synergies. The intercultural competences which emerged are analysed using the five savoirs developed by Byram & Zarate and Demorgon's multiperspectivist approach. Successful elements of the teaching design are highlighted and suggestions for future improvements are given.

Mots clés: Intercultural competences; Diversity; Teaching design; Experiential learning; Interity; Intercultural management; French graduate school of engineering

Domaines: Education

Christophe Morace, Alison Gourvès-Hayward. How can diversity lead to richer unity? Developing intercultural competences through "Interity" . Joint International IGIP-SEFI Annual Conference: "Diversity unifies - Diversity in Engineering Education", Sep 2010, Trnava, Slovakia. ⟨hal-00527578⟩