The paper discusses the development and the conceptualization of intercultural education, particularly within the Central-European pedagogical tradition. The author defends the thesis that intercultural education needs to be developed within the tradition of critical pedagogy, and linked to the main topicalities of pedagogical research, namely that of general theory of education and didactics. Intercultural education should therefore address the power inequalities of the education system itself, which primarily involves implementing a multi-perspective and anti-bias curriculum and creating a demo cratic, pluralistic, inclusive school ethos. Moreover, intercultural education is not defined as a specific pedagogical discipline, but as a pedagogical principle which guides the processes of planning, implementing, and evaluating education at the systemic, curricular, school, and classroom levels to enable re cognition and empowerment of all minority groups. The paper concludes with a brief discussion on pedagogical measures to support intercultural education, including the role of the teachers. intercultural education, multicultural education, teacher education, critical pedagogy. introduction Discussions on intercultural or multicultural issues in education have been taking place in educational theory and practice since at least the 1960s. After first focusing on ethnic revitalization movements in the U.S.A., Canada, and Australia, they were soon applied to the migration processes in Europe. After World War II Europe experienced many waves of economic migration. On one side migrants from colonial nations began arriving, and on the other were the migrants from Southern and Eastern Europe moving to Western and Northern Europe; all were looking for better lives and working conditions (Banks, 2009). The development of intercultural education is abundantly documented (

Despite the fact that the integration model of education was introduced in Slovenia 17 years ago, the inclusion of persons with special needs into education and community remains a major challenge. In order to improve their opportunities, the largest special school in Ljubljana has for ten years organised an international festival Play with me, with the main aim of supporting inclusion of people with special needs with the rest of the population. The organisers aim to create opportunities for all to take part together in various play, sport and artistic activities. The paper presents the findings of a study in which the inclusive practices of the festival were researched and evaluated. The study was aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of the role a special school can play in the creation of a more inclusive society. Data were gathered using an online questionnaire targeting the mentors and volunteers who accompanied participants at the festival. 132 mentors and 64 volunteers responded. The quantitative non-experimental empirical analysis of the data has indicated that the respondents recognised the inclusive nature of the festival. The festival proves that inclusion is a multifaceted phenomenon which can be supported by various activities and endeavours.

This article examines a didactic and curricular model that was developed to support the implementation of a competence-based approach, today prevailing in the European (initial) vocational education and training (VET). It starts by presenting contemporary developments in the Slovenian VET, and then continues with a study of some of the underlying pedagogical concepts influencing the contemporary educational practice. The concept of competence, as it relates to the Slovenian VET, is discussed, and the new didactic model is presented in terms of its conceptualisation, realisation and evaluation. The model is built around the concepts of the competence- based didactic unit, and has been produced to help teachers support students in developing the ability to integrate knowledge, skills and attitudes, so that they are able to solve complex and unpredictable professional tasks and challenges. The article concludes with a discussion on the methodological limitations of the evaluation, and its transferability to other contexts.