Elements of intercultural competence: a documentary analysis of the supranational educational policy of the European Union

The socio-political context in the European Union has changed due to globalization, European citizenship and migration. To deal with this situation, European citizens need new competences to live in increasingly plural societies. For these reasons, this article aims to analyse the educational policy of the European Union with regard to intercultural education and, to identify the elements which compose intercultural competence in the European framework. The methodology used to develop this mixed research has been the Documentary Analysis. The units of analysis have been obtained from the EUR-Lex platform of the European Union. These policies, composed by 81 documents, refer explicitly to intercultural or multicultural education. Also, all of them are in force. Besides, a coding process was carried out using the mixed (quantitative-qualitative) analysis software MAXQDA Analytics Pro 2020. It allows to identify the essential qualities of the documents and the elements that composed intercultural competence in the European framework. Results showed that most of the regulations are soft policies, mainly resolutions, and that the European Council is the most frequent issuing institution. In addition, 12 elements have been identified to compose the intercultural competence in the educational policy of the European Union. The most recurrent are: intercultural dialogue; mutual understanding and respect; citizenship and democracy; equality and social cohesion; and cultural expressions and creativity. In conclusion, it has been confirmed that the EU develops its educational policy mainly through soft policies and through the European Council. Finally, it has been proved the close interrelation between the different elements which compose the intercultural competence and the policies analysed.