ISJ April 2015: Intercultural understanding and national contexts – bicycle needs frame

Boris Prickarts

Abstract:

   Admittedly, the metaphor of the bicycle is a rather Netherlands-centric one, for anyone who has been to the Netherlands knows how much the Dutch love their bicycles. It could, however, be used quite conveniently to explain the advancement of intercultural understanding within national contexts through education, as they belong together like the two wheels of a bicycle moving education forward into the same direction.

  They belong together because, like a bicycle, both intercultural understanding and national contexts are framed. A strong frame makes a solid, sturdy bicycle, ready to cover distances as required and to handle obstacles as they happen along the way.