Competencias sociales e inmigración desde una perspectiva intercultural

Abstract

Nowadays interculturalism has been widely accepted as the most appropriate model to address cultural diversity, and it has generated various discussions on the ways in which it can be applied for. The responsibility of applying this approach falls considerably on pedagogy. Educators should provide a proposal that goes beyond the mere assimilation of the cultural majority and reveals certain values that could be shared by all, and may be characterized as cross-cultural. In this article we will focus on this issue which is under discussion. After having conducted a research where more than 1600 secondary students took part in, the findings revealed that there were no significant differences in the development of the different components of social competence defined by European Union, between migrants and Spanish pupils. However, there have been found differences in the perception of these fundamental elements between the two groups of students, therefore we can conclude that social competence is transcultural and an important element in intercultural education.