---
_id: '66664'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: 'This article critically examines three persistent pitfalls that undermine
    the transformative potential of intercultural education: cultural uniformity,
    pedagogical neutrality, and presumptions of competence. These interconnected tendencies
    are rooted in essentialist conceptions of culture, the depoliticisation of educational
    practice, and the instrumental reduction of intercultural competence to a measurable
    skill. Drawing on critical pedagogy and decolonial scholarship, as well as empirical
    studies on monolingualism, assimilationism, and institutionalised hierarchies,
    the article demonstrates how well-intentioned initiatives often reproduce structural
    power asymmetries, symbolic violence, and epistemic marginalisation. It thus advocates
    an intercultural education grounded in critical reflexivity, political responsibility,
    and a sustained commitment to epistemic and social justice. Moving beyond reductive
    frameworks, the article advances dialogic, participatory, and decolonising approaches
    that interrogate dominant norms, recognise the pluriform and situated character
    of knowledge, and foreground the relational dynamics of interculturality. Intercultural
    learning is thus reframed as an ongoing, power-conscious process of negotiating
    difference within structurally unequal conditions rather than as the transmission
    of predefined competencies.'
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Andreas
  full_name: Pöllmann, Andreas
  id: '77437'
  last_name: Pöllmann
  orcid: 0000-0002-9090-2547
citation:
  ama: 'Pöllmann A. Three pitfalls in intercultural education: Cultural uniformity,
    pedagogical neutrality, and presumptions of competence. <i>Globalisation, Societies
    and Education</i>. Published online 2026:1-11. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2026.2636566">10.1080/14767724.2026.2636566</a>'
  apa: 'Pöllmann, A. (2026). Three pitfalls in intercultural education: Cultural uniformity,
    pedagogical neutrality, and presumptions of competence. <i>Globalisation, Societies
    and Education</i>, 1–11. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2026.2636566">https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2026.2636566</a>'
  bibtex: '@article{Pöllmann_2026, title={Three pitfalls in intercultural education:
    Cultural uniformity, pedagogical neutrality, and presumptions of competence},
    DOI={<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2026.2636566">10.1080/14767724.2026.2636566</a>},
    journal={Globalisation, Societies and Education}, publisher={Informa UK Limited},
    author={Pöllmann, Andreas}, year={2026}, pages={1–11} }'
  chicago: 'Pöllmann, Andreas. “Three Pitfalls in Intercultural Education: Cultural
    Uniformity, Pedagogical Neutrality, and Presumptions of Competence.” <i>Globalisation,
    Societies and Education</i>, 2026, 1–11. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2026.2636566">https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2026.2636566</a>.'
  ieee: 'A. Pöllmann, “Three pitfalls in intercultural education: Cultural uniformity,
    pedagogical neutrality, and presumptions of competence,” <i>Globalisation, Societies
    and Education</i>, pp. 1–11, 2026, doi: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2026.2636566">10.1080/14767724.2026.2636566</a>.'
  mla: 'Pöllmann, Andreas. “Three Pitfalls in Intercultural Education: Cultural Uniformity,
    Pedagogical Neutrality, and Presumptions of Competence.” <i>Globalisation, Societies
    and Education</i>, Informa UK Limited, 2026, pp. 1–11, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2026.2636566">10.1080/14767724.2026.2636566</a>.'
  short: A. Pöllmann, Globalisation, Societies and Education (2026) 1–11.
date_created: 2026-08-05T11:36:52Z
date_updated: 2026-08-24T06:11:19Z
doi: 10.1080/14767724.2026.2636566
language:
- iso: eng
page: 1-11
publication: Globalisation, Societies and Education
publication_identifier:
  issn:
  - 1476-7724
  - 1476-7732
publication_status: published
publisher: Informa UK Limited
quality_controlled: '1'
status: public
title: 'Three pitfalls in intercultural education: Cultural uniformity, pedagogical
  neutrality, and presumptions of competence'
type: journal_article
user_id: '77437'
year: '2026'
...