LE DÉVELOPPEMENT D’UNE COMPÉTENCE INTERCULTURELLE CHEZ DES ÉDUCATRICES EN MILIEU DE GARDE ÉDUCATIF PLURIETHNIQUE

Abstract

This article presents a study of educators working in a multiethnic early childhood centre in Montreal. The purpose of this study is to examine how intercultural competency has developed among educators as a result of continuing education in the workplace initiated through a focus group in partnership with a university researcher. With reference to the Deardorff framework (2004, 2006), the results show that, following the focus group, the educators developed intercultural competency at the lower level (attitudes, skills, knowledge, and understanding) that contributed to the internal and external changes required at the higher level by setting new internal reference frameworks and updating intercultural competency. A qualitative methodology in an interpretative paradigm was chosen to achieve the research objective.