The Development of Intercultural Competence in Japanese Supplementary Schools: Parental Perspectives on Children’s Learning Experiences in Austria

This study investigated how Japanese supplementary education abroad fosters intercultural competence, focusing on parents’ perspectives from a supplementary school in Austria. Previous research has shown that Japanese children living overseas navigate dual educational settings that support both language maintenance and cultural continuity. However, few studies have examined how learning contributes to the development of specific intercultural competencies or how parents perceive such processes. Addressing this gap, this study explored how parents perceive their children’s growth in cognitive, motivational, strategic, and behavioural dimensions of intercultural competence, based on Earley and Ang’s (2003) framework. While a small-scale questionnaire ( n =16) was used to provide contextual background, the core analysis draws on five in-depth semi-structured interviews. The findings reveal that parents view the supplementary school as a mediating space where linguistic, cognitive, and socio-emotional learning intersect, sustaining Japanese language and cultural identity while also promoting adaptability, empathy, and self-regulation through interaction with peers from diverse educational and linguistic backgrounds. The study suggests that, if results from the school in Austria were to be considered representative of all such schools worldwide, it could be argued that supplementary education abroad plays a dynamic role in cultivating intercultural competence and global-mindedness, offering new insights into how heritage language institutions contribute to transnational children’s development as globally competent individuals.