Education has to play an important role in the cultural development of individuals, groups, and societies, but this paper argues that education has failed to play this role due in part to inappropriate teacher education. The introduction discusses cultural development and the contribution of the school. The second section proposes that an equal opportunity policy and intercultural education remain marginal in most of the schools in western society. The third section summarizes the purposes of formal education in democratic societies. The fourth section delineates the criteria for intercultural education: (1) balance of different educational purposes; (2) account of the knowledge and skills of all children; (3) curriculum as a reflection of the multicultural society; (4) curriculum presents knowledge from different perspectives; (5) equal opportunities at classroom level; and (6) evaluation and assessment. The fifth section describes the international basis for intercultural education by presenting parts of international legislation. Section 6 suggests the importance of cooperative learning in intercultural education. The final section supports the importance of preservice and inservice teacher education to develop the proficiency and the professional attitude of the teacher and presents a description of the organization of teacher training institutes. (CK)