Developing an intercultural learning pathway for mobile students: The IEREST project

This paper presents an intercultural pathway designed to develop mobile students' intercultural learning during their study abroad experience. Studies show that sojourns are not sufficient conditions to foster intercultural learning or reduce stereotypical perceptions of others (Abdallah-Pretceille, 1999; Dervin, 2008); instead, reflection and analysis of intercultural learning is required (Alred, Byram & Fleming, 2003; Jackson, 2010). The 3-year project, IEREST (Intercultural Educational Resources for Erasmus Students and their Teachers) http://www.ierest-project.eu/, co-funded by the European Commission within the Lifelong Learning Programme, addresses these issues. The ten learning activities that were developed, comprising the three modules in the pathway-pre-departure, while abroad, on return-draw on Kolb's (1984) cycle of experiential learning. They are informed by theoretical understandings of interculturality that go beyond national diversities, and question assumptions and perspectives commonly used in the intercultural field which are problematic and counter-productive (e.g., Dervin, 2010; Gillespie, Howarth & Cornish, 2012; Holliday, 2011). We present three activities, illustrative of the intercultural learning underpinning the pathway, one for each module, each comprising some ten hours of tasks. The first activity, "Perceptions of self and other," is part of the pre-departure module. It makes students aware of how identities are negotiated and co-constructed and teaches them to recognise the subjectivity and instability of worldviews. The second activity, "Experiencing interculturality through volunteering" refers to the dynamic ongoing group process and the activities and discourse(s) within the group. And the third activity "Student mobility beyond the academy" addresses issues of global/European citizenship and the meaning of mobility for future employment. Taken together, these activities illustrate the principal theoretical orientation of the IEREST project towards culture and how it is constructed, including the role of (multiple) identity formation, cultural groupings (small cultures), representation, power relations, and discourse.