Eureka! Institutional Repository

Abstract Having effective communication within an intercultural class of the contemporary Greek School is a matter of utmost importance and although it is not a recent phenomenon, the Greek State as well as the Greek Educator should show their prompt recognition and support so that all “different” pupils coming from several ethnic backgrounds will be equally accepted, respected and, ultimately, successfully educated. This current thesis aims at filling in the gap of proper awareness of the term “intercultural education”, the recent changes in the Greek educational law system, the educational needs that modern educators feel they have as regards new innovative teaching methods, their participation in new programmes run in school like the European Programmes and finally how productive the use of the English Language as a common medium (lingua franca) can be. It has been found that education in Greece today promotes and defends multilingualism and multiculturalism. However, more valuable efforts seem necessary to be made so as to pinpoint the causes of foreign students’ learning disabilities, the factors that enhance their self-confidence, the core values that teachers have to promote, the exact context of the European dimension of Lifelong Learning and of European programmes applied in other European countries which they are trying to develop for their students as well as the educators’ own educational needs in best teaching practices and teaching methods aimed at more effective learning, and lastly, in order to determine the duration of teachers’ education along with its appropriate frequency. This route will make it possible for the Greek school and its teachers to become the body of the development of multilingualism and, at the same time, of interculturalism.