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Equality in education is one of major concerns in culturally diverse societies like Indonesia and New Zealand. To achieve it, implementing multicultural education in senior high schools is an option. This research aims to reveal the students’ crosscultural competence and to investigate the schools’ strategies in implementing multicultural education in senior high schools in Yogyakarta, Indonesia and Auckland, New Zealand. The study used a concurrent embedded mixed-method design. The participants were 110 students and 24 teachers from 4 senior high schools in Yogyakarta, and 110 students and 10 teachers from 2 senior high schools in Auckland. Data were collected through questionnaires distributed to students, interviews with teachers, and class observations. The data collected were those related to the practices of multicultural education in these schools. The results show that the cross-cultural competence of Indonesian and New Zealand students is quite similar even though the practices of multicultural education are different in these countries. These differences occur due to the higher social and cultural diversity experienced by Indonesian students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HRD professionals increasingly need to develop skills to work within multi-cultural settings. This often requires a fundamental shift in World View. We might hope this shift would happen naturally with internationisation of campuses and increasing numbers of courses on Diversity. The nature of academic life often means that it does not. Paradoxically, students taking courses on diversity resist working in diverse groups themselves, because of perceived increased workload and threat to their grades. The ‘Community of Practice’ concept suggests that social context is central to learning. Transformational learning can occur when people seek to develop relationships with others in a community of shared interest. The Massey Kiwi Friend Programme (MKFP) is an initiative designed to create a Communities of Practice in which future managers have high-intensity cross-cultural experiences and engage in a variety of reflective exercises aimed at transforming world views. At the same time, MKFP provides international students with an induction to life and study in New Zealand. This paper will describe the innovative design of the MKFP and examines whether the program is having a transformational impact on those involved. Data from reflective exercises indicates that the program has shifted attitudes of domestic students in the areas of: appreciation for the challenges of teaching and facilitation; sensitivity to learning needs of international students; awareness of international students as individuals; recognition of peculiarities of home culture; personal growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]