UNESCO Chair in Intercultural Studies and Teacher Education, Institute of Education, University of London (2000)
Purpose/Objectives of the Chair
An increasingly significant problem within the field of education is the need to address intercultural educational challenges in more and more complex multicultural societies, where globalisation and marginalisation of groups is adding pressures in denying access to good education to the poorer social classes and different types of minorities.
The UNESCO Chair in Intercultural Studies and Teacher Education was established in recognition of the need to deepen this work in educational institutions by implementing measures in the areas of: curriculum, teaching methods, teaching materials, language teaching, school life and governance, teacher education and school and community relations.
Chairholder Professor Jagdish Gundara
Address: Department of Learning, Curriculum and Communication, Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AL, UK
Email: j.gundara [at] ioe.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)202 7612 6722
Fax: +44 (0)20 7612 6177
Quick Link to this page: http://www.unesco.org.uk/IOEChair
Professor Jagdish Gundara is an Emeritus Professor of Education, Institute of Education at the University of London. He has been Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair in International Studies and Teacher Education at the School of Culture and Lifelong Learning since September 2000. He is the founding member and the current President of the International Association of Intercultural Education which is based in Brussels. He was the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Scarman Trust, based in London and following the death of the first President of the Trust – Lord Leslie Scarman, he was elected as the second President of the Trust.
Professor Gundara is a founding member of the International Broadcasting Trust (IBT), and Vice-Chairman of the Board of IBT and was a Commissioner of the Commission for Racial Equality before its closure in August 2007. He is the President of the Evens Foundation, Antwerp, Jury on Intercultural Education Awards. His research interests include intercultural social and public policies, curriculum studies; development studies; comparative education; citizenship education; multilingualism and asylum and refugee issues. He is the author of Interculturalism, Education and Inclusion (Paul Chapman, 2000) and co-editor of Intercultural Social Policy in Europe (Ashgate, 2000) and has published extensively in the fields of human rights and education in multicultural studies.
Select Activity
- KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Professor Jagdish Gundara gave a plenary paper on ‘Modern Multicultural Democracies: Intercultural Education and Paideia' at the ‘Intercultural Education: Paideia, Polity, Demoi’ Conference (Athens, 22-26 June 2009). The Conference was organised by International Association for Intercultural Education and IMEPO.
- KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Professor Jagdish Gundara gave a plenary paper on ‘Intercultural and Citizenship Education: Reconciling Differences’ at the Convegno di studi internazionaie, Educazione Interculturale Alla Cittadinanza (Universita Degli Studi di Verona, 15 May 2009).
- KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Professor Jagdish Gundara gave a plenary paper on ‘Intercultural Education in Small States: Sustainability, Citizenship and Democracy’ at the 2nd International Education Research Conference (Reduit, 15-18 April 2009). The Conference was organised by the Mauritius Institute of Education in collaboration with the University of Brighton.
- PUBLICATION: Gundara, Jagdish “Complex Societies, Complex Schools and Curriculum: Separate is not Equal” in International Review of Education 54, Springer 2008, pp 337-352.
- PUBLICATION: Gundara, Jagdish and A. Portera, Guest Editors, Intercultural Education, Vol 19, No. 6, December 2008. Routledge. Joint Editorial: ‘Theoretical Reflections on intercultural education’ pp. 463-468. Article: ‘Civilisational knowledge, interculturalism and citizenship education.’ Pp. 469-479.
Institute of Education, University of London 
Chairholder Professor Jagdish Gundara