Cross-Cultural Competence

The project aims at the development of an innovative and didactic model how to teach cross-cultural competence based on former research of Jabornegg Altenfels (Eds. 2007) and Jabornegg Altenfels et al. (2009), Boitllehner and Hofstadler (2005, 2007) and on an analysis concerning stress and problem fields in Austrian BHS (high schools providing vocational education). This model will follow a new didactic and innovative approach to promote cross-cultural competence within the following target group:

* BHS – students without migration background who have regular contact with students with migration background

* BHS-students with migration background who have regular contact with students without migration background

* BHS-teachers who have contact to both target groups

At the end of the project, the model and the findings will be available for all Austrian BHS. A special innovative focus is on the cooperation between the relevant students and the scientists, moreover on the immediate implementation into scholarly practices. Compared with other projects in this field, there is a big difference in the working process: The emphasis is on a constant cooperation and exchange between the scientists and the relevant students in each phase of the research project. Those who have an immediate need for the promotion of cross-cultural competence are members of the development team and benefit from the project findings.