Developing professional competencies of teaching staff in the context of work in a culturally diverse environment on the example of the 2nd School of Intercultural Education

The aim of the article is to present the 2nd School of Intercultural Education (IISEM) “Strengthening the potential of children and youth with a migrant background” as an example of a cyclical training activity addressed to people involved in educational practice. The paper is a voice in the discussion on the professional competences of teachers, educationalists, psychologists, intercultural assistants, etc. who work in dynamically changing conditions of cultural diversity. Therefore, their competences should be systematically developed in the dialogical relationship between pedagogical theory and practice, in the process of lifelong education, taking into account the specificity of the environment in which the school operates and the challenges and needs existing in it. The article consists of three complementary parts. The first outlines the socio-cultural contexts of contemporary education. Against this background, the goals and specificity of IISEM are shown. The third part presents the methodological package “Towards the integration of Polish and Ukrainian students”, which contains scenarios of educational activities being the result of the work of IISEM participants in culturally diverse environments. The content presented in the text is the result of my own experience and observations resulting from five months of cooperation with the School participants as a mentor and the work of the editor of the substantive methodological package. These activities were accompanied by systematic consultations with IISEM participants, observation of classes conducted during the School (including the implementation of some of them), the evaluation of IISEM (using surveys and interviews with its participants) and analysis of the collected data. The content comprised in the text can be useful both to people interested in intercultural education, both in its theoretical aspects and in educational practice.