Context

Canada is second in the Western countries, just after Australia, regarding the proportion of its population born in another country (Statistics Canada 2007). According to the National Household Survey conducted in 2011, nearly 20.6 % of the population in Canada was born outside the country, 12.6% in the province of Quebec and 3.9% in the province of New Brunswick (Statistics Canada, 2014). These newcomers increase the ethnocultural, linguistic, and religious diversity, and consequently the one of its educational institutions. However, some communities welcome fewer students from immigrant families than others. Nevertheless, Ouellet (2000) mentions that intercultural education “not only concerns schools located in areas where ethnic and religious diversity is more pronounced, but in all schools, including those located in relatively homogeneous communities as regards of their culture, ethnicity and religious beliefs” (free translation,  p. 377). Indeed, all students must learn to live in a society characterized by cultural, linguistic and religious diversity. To this end, many scholars argue that school principals must possess an intercultural competence and should respond to this diversity by promoting inclusion, equity, and social justice (for example: Dinnan, 2009; Ouellet, 2010; Potvin, 2014). However, few authors define this competence for school principals (Lindsey, Robins, & Terrell, 2009; Wilson Cooper, 2009) and even less clearly indicate its components and indicators (Gélinas Proulx, 2014). Gélinas Proulx (2014) developed a model of this competence, named the Model of the Intercultural Competence for School Principals.

Research objectives

Although relevant, this Model needs to be validated with a larger sample and adapted to each Canadian province since each context is different and education in Canada is a provincial jurisdiction. The objective of our research is therefore to adapt this Model specifically to Quebec and New Brunswick provinces. Also, in this paper, we will attempt to show the possibilities of those models for European context.

Conceptual framework

Following an extensive review of international literature about the intercultural competence (for example: Deardoff, 2009; Abdallah-Pretceille, 2011; Landis, Bennett, & Bennett, 2004) and interviews with six school principals and one future school principal of Francophone public schools in Canada, Gélinas Proulx (2014) defines the intercultural competence as “the capability to define oneself, to be clear about one’s identity and to build dynamic and positive relationships with people from other cultures; this means that each time people interact, they have to make adjustments and to adapt the ways in which they communicate. Adaptation, transformation and mutual understanding are the results of those relations that also have to be characterised by inclusiveness, equity, social justice and social cohesion. This “know-how” requires that school principals mobilize internally their own resources to accomplish complex intercultural tasks in their school contexts” (Gélinas Proulx, 2014, p. 52). These resources refer to the three components of intercultural competence: attitudes, knowledge and skills. The attitude component includes: 1. Self-awareness (knowing oneself; self-respect and respecting one’s culture); 2. Openness (openness to diversity; respect of others; cultural curiosity; changes in belief; dedication, friendship, sense of closeness to people from other cultures; tolerance to ambiguity); 3. Self-efficacy in a diverse context. The knowledge component includes knowledge about: 4. Different cultures; 5. Different educational systems; 6. Ways to support teachers; 7. Theories in the intercultural fields and in social justice. The skills component consists of: 8. Putting in practice strategies to learn about other cultures (observing, listening, questioning, etc.); 9. Analyzing/self-analyzing; 10. Adapting oneself; 11. Including (responding to immigrants needs, opening one’s community to diversity, fighting discrimination); 12. Ensuring the vitality and the sustainability of the French language.

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