Action-oriented health education: a didactic approach to the development of intercultural competencies while encouraging youthful dialogue between cultures

Abstract

Student intercultural competencies are achieved through quality educational policies and practices in school settings, which provide opportunities for the development of personal and organizational skills that include student participation in critical decision-making, high tolerance and flexibility for diversity, empathy, the willingness to engage with differences and to learn from and understand other cultural viewpoints, knowledge of democratic values and citizenship and the ability to communicate in foreign languages. During the development of democratic, participatory and action-oriented health education projects with the use of information and communication technology (ICT), student intercultural competencies could therefore be acquired. In this sense, a research involving students (N=350) from six Portuguese schools (7th to 12th grades), using as research techniques participatory observation, group interviews, online class diaries and discussion e-forums, aimed at data triangulation, was carried out. This paper will describe this study having as its principal aims: i) to describe the application of a participatory and action-oriented learning project to sex education; ii) to discuss the competencies developed by students during the project; and iii) to present students’ visions for future cultural dialogue with other countries.