With the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UNESCO, 2016), international communities should committ to ensure quality, inclusive and equitable education for every individual worldwide and for life. By 2030, it should be possible that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and nonviolence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development. Moreover, international comparative studies from European countries show that educational systems develop their own strategies for intercultural education and promotion of linguistic and socio-cultural diversity in schools (Allemann-Ghionda, 2002; Bežen, 2013; Gomolla, 2005; Göbel & Hesse, 2004; Kramar, 2022). As part of the german Primary School's general educational mission, Foreign Language Education should also contribute to a fair and positive perception of social, ethnic, national, cultural and linguistic diversity and contribute in terms of  development of Intercultural Competence in classes (KMK, 1996, 2013).

The introductory part of this paper comprises international models of Intercultural Competence (Bennett, 1993; Erll & Gymnich, 2007; Allemann-Ghionda, 2014; Göbel & Buchwald, 2017), relevant definitions of curricula and a review of European documents related to the development of Curricula for Foreign Languages. The focus of this research lies on the Qualitative Content Analysis of the Curriculum for German as the first foreign language (2019) in the Republic of Croatia and Curriculum for English at the Primary Schools (2021) in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia from the first to the fourth grade of Primary Schools. The main goal of this research is to present the similarities and differences in the framework of implementation of the Intercultural Competence in the Curricula for the analysed foreign language subjects in two European school systems. This research presents the results of the Qualitative Content Analysis based on Intercultural Competence in three categories: (1) Educational goals of learning and teaching, (2) Educational outcomes and (3) Evaluation.

This research is presenting a Qualitative Content Analysis according to Mayring (2015) of the Curriculum for German as the first foreign language (2019) in the Republic of Croatia and Curriculum for English at the Primary Schools (2021) in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia in three categories: (1) Educational goals of learning and teaching, (2) Educational outcomes and (3) Evaluation. These categories were developed within deductive approach based on Göbel and Hesse (2004). Their research presents development of Intercultural Competence in English Language Subject Curricula for the ninth grade in sixteen federal states of the Federal Republic of Germany. The central model of presented Qualitative Content Analysis of international Curricula is the Model of Intercultural Competence according to Erll & Gymnich (2007), which includes the broad definition of Intercultural Competence and consists of three components (cognitive, affective and pragmatic-communication "subcompetences").

The Curriculum for English at the Primary Schools (2021) in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia elaborates Intercultural Communicative Competence in the first two categories of the Qualitative Content Analysis: (1) Educational goals of learning and teaching and (2) Educational outcomes. Curricula of both countries contain didactic guidelines for encouraging three dimensions of Intercultural Competence according to Erll & Gymnich (2007) in foreign language teaching: cognitive, affective and pragmatic-communicative. However, the Curriculum for German as the first foreign language (2019) in the Republic of Croatia describes Intercultural Competence in more detail in the first category (1) Educational goals of learning and teaching. In the category (2) Educational outcomes, differences were identified in the presentation of educational outcomes of learning and teaching that are associated with the introduction of structural educational reform in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, on the basis of which the English language subject will be introduced, from the school year 2022/2023, only in the third and fourth grades of Primary Schools. Furthermore, Curriculum for English at the Primary Schools (2021) in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia does not address the evaluation of Intercultural Competence in the last category (3) Evaluation, but refers to the legal provisions on the evaluation of student achievements defined in the Education Act of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (§ 48 SchulG) and other regulations for Primary Schools. The progress of the Curriculum for German as the first foreign language (2019) in the Republic of Croatia in relation to the German Curriculum (2021) was observed in the framework of the integration of Intercultural Competence in the evaluation guidelines, which include knowledge about one's own culture and other cultures, as well as intercultural communication skills.

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