International Seminar" Intercultural Education and Globalization: Current Practice and Trends"

In the period December 4 - 7, 2012 the Fifth Seminar "Intercultural Education and globalization: current practice and trends"  of the annual cycle of the international workshops "Dialogue of Civilizations and Intercultural Cooperation"  took place in Moscow, Russian Federation,  As in previous years, the Seminar was organized by the initiative of the UNESCO Chair "International education and the integration of migrant children in school" Moscow Institute of Open Education (MIOO) in accordance with the Memorandum of Cooperation between Moscow and UNESCO, as well as the Plan of public interest activities of the Department of Education of Moscow in 2012.The co-organizers of the Seminar were the Department of Education of the City of Moscow, the UNESCO Office in Moscow and the Moscow Institute of Open Education (MIOO) in cooperation with ), UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE) and Center for Interethnic Education "Ethnosphera", as well as with partners  from UNITWIN / UNESCO Chairs Network.

The main objectives of the Seminar were:

• Analysis of international concepts and legal framework of the educational systems of different countries for the achievement of cultural diversity, human rights and pluralism in the context of globalization;
• Discussion of the modern understanding of intercultural dialogue and its specificity in the conditions of unified educational space;
• Broadcasting of the  innovative experiences and exchange information on best practices  existing in Moscow, Russian regions and other countries in the field of providing the equal access to educational services and the creation of non-conflict educational environment, including the ones by means of modern ICT.

At the Seminar a number  of recognized experts from 19 countries, including Azerbaijan, Belarus, Canada, Greece, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Republic of Moldova, Serbia, USA, Uzbekistan, Ukraine,and etc., took part. Among the participants were representatives of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Russian UN Association and the Russian National Commission for UNESCO, the Foundation for support and protection of the rights of compatriots living abroad, as well as of education authorities and educational institutions in Moscow, Moscow region and other regions of Russia:<

Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), St. Petersburg, Khanty -Mansi Autonomous District. The Seminar was presented almost all the Russian national network of ASPnet  including senior representatives of national focal UNESCO ASPnet in Russia (Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan), and regional coordinators from the regions of the Volga, Siberia, Altai, Сenter, as well as a large group of directors of UNESCO associated  schools from Moscow. The main work events  of the Seminar were two plenary sessions and three thematic breakout sessions, a training workshop and panel discussion which held at the House of Russian foreign to them. Alexander Solzhenitsyn and the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education.

During the training workshop, organized by the UNESCO IITE, where the main speaker was National Programme Specialist UNESCO IITE Professor Alexander Khoroshilov presented a keynote speech “ICT in Education. UNESCO View”, the practical importance of ICT in the development of contemporary intercultural education was convincingly confirmed. In further discussions on the use of ICT in education, emphasized the feasibility and effectiveness of the use of ICT in the learning process itself and by special techniques, involving the joint 'collective' perception of information under the guidance of a teacher who should have not only a high level of professional and ICT competency, but a social competence as well. The participants expressed their willingness to cooperate and support the objectives of the concept of "global education" aimed at developing ICT-positive tolerance, real interaction between people of different views and beliefs of effective cross-cultural competence in children's and youth teams.

The workshop also included a youth section - Youth Forum "Think Globally, Act Locally" with representatives of the UNESCO Associated Schools and schools deeply involved into international activity.

The participants expressed their satisfaction with the quality and results of the Seminar, as well as their sincere appreciation to the Department of Education of the City of Moscow and the organizers of the event, including the IITE.