Finding Evidence for Professional Educators’ Training in Intercultural Competences: Perspective Taking

Abstract

Innovation in the field of intercultural and inclusive education should be always supported by research, and this is particularly true in relation to the training of professional educators in intercultural competences. One of the key competences is the self-regulation or control over representations and evaluations about different sociocultural groups. This paper focuses on the assessment of one of the training strategies —perspective taking— that could be useful to achieve a good level in the competence, and discusses the pedagogical implications of results from three studies. After a section in which a theoretical justification is provided, studies are reported in the second part. Effectiveness of different interventions of perspective taking and the operation of some moderators influencing intergroup bias (stereotyping and prejudice) were evaluated using experimental designs and samples of education degrees students from the universities of Burgos y Córdoba. ANOVAs and ordinary least squares regression yielded no main or direct effects, but a few variables significantly moderated the relation between perspective taking and intergroup bias, mainly empathy. Discussion in the last part of the paper covers topics such as the selection of participants in training programs, the importance of empathy, the need to diversify strategies, the attention to representational content, and the convenience to foster values, attitudes and goals in training. Finally, all these elements are included in a proposal of a sequence of training activities.