Learning Continuum of Intercultural Understanding (Version 8.4)

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This element involves students developing the skills to relate to and move between cultures through engaging with different cultural groups, giving an experiential dimension to intercultural learning in contexts that may be face-to-face, virtual or vicarious.

Students think about familiar concepts in new ways. This encourages flexibility, adaptability and a willingness to try new cultural experiences. Empathy assists students to develop a sense of solidarity with others through imagining the perspectives and experiences of others as if they were their own. Empathy involves imagining what it might be like to ‘walk in another’s shoes’ and identifying with others’ feelings, situations and motivations. In developing and acting with intercultural understanding, students:

  • communicate across cultures
  • consider and develop multiple perspectives
  • empathise with others.

Level 1

Typically by the end of Foundation Year, students:

Communicate across cultures

recognise that people use different languages to communicate

Consider and develop multiple perspectives

express their opinions and listen to the opinions of others in given situations

Empathise with others

imagine and describe their own feelings if they were put in someone else’s place

Level 2

Typically by the end of Year 2, students:

Communicate across cultures

describe how the use of words and body language in interactions may have different meanings for various cultural groups

Consider and develop multiple perspectives

express their own perspectives on familiar topics and texts, and identify the perspectives of others

Empathise with others

imagine and describe the feelings of others in familiar situations

Level 3

Typically by the end of Year 4, students:

Communicate across cultures

recognise there are similarities and differences in the ways people communicate, both within and across cultural groups

Consider and develop multiple perspectives

identify and describe shared perspectives within and across various cultural groups

Empathise with others

imagine and describe the feelings of others in a range of contexts