ABSTRACT
Education has always been called on to fulfil a contradictory role. On the one hand, it must pass on the core knowledge, skills and values that have been accumulated by preceding generations. On the other hand, it must provide the next generation of citizens with the knowledge, skills and values they will require to confront the challenges of the future. The role of the teacher is to manage these contradictions, straddling the generations and enabling their society to make a more effective transition from the past to the future. Over the past 20 years, the pace of social change has quickened, sharpening the contradictions that teachers must manage. Teachers are increasingly confronted with new demands, for which their own education has not prepared them. They therefore have a growing requirement to be better equipped, both in their initial teacher education and in their continuing professional development (CPD). Other chapters in this Handbook show how the strategies and insights of intercultural com-
munication have been called upon to address a range of social changes, including greater internationalization of economic activity, acceleration of migration, pressures on individual and social identities and increased linguistic and cultural diversity. The challenge to teacher education is to find ways of equipping teachers with strategies and insights that they can incorporate in their personal and professional practice, and can share with their pupils and students. This chapter examines how the challenge is being and can be addressed in the education of second or foreign language teachers. It focuses principally on the experience in Europe and deals mainly with initial teacher education. It also suggests that greater attention needs to be given to CPD.
