THE ROLE OF EDUCATION AND CULTURE IN THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION* Ozet (original) (raw)

Role of education and cultural policies in the social constructon of the european union

2007

As a dynamic and ongoing process European integration has faced many difficulties so far. Nevertheless through widening and deepening policies the European Union (EU) tries to expand its competence in different policy areas. Two of these areas, namely education and culture have close links within today's highly debated subject of 'integration of the people' within the EU project. The aim of this thesis is to analyze the role, the effects and the aims of the education and cultural fields in creating the 'peoples of Europe' project. While in the field of education the EU pursues the aims of Bologna Process to establish European Higher Education Area until 2010, closer cooperation and protecting the common cultural heritage that Europe owns are the main concerns of the cultural policy. Besides these aims, these two policy areas also support the efforts to create the 'peoples of Europe' project which was for the first time introduced in the Tindemanns report. The programmes introduced under education and culture such as the student exchange, student mobility and cultural action programmes are opening the way for intercultural dialogue, harmonization of the people, making them feel belonging to the same Community and to spread the 'we' feeling across Europe. That is to say these two policy areas interact with the aim of supporting the social construction of the EU. This thesis has also focused on the external dimension of education and cultural fields such as the cooperation with third countries to highlight the global actorness of the EU. Since the future aim and goals of the Union were stated clearly in the Lisbon European Council as 'creating a knowledge based economy and society'. It seems that education and cultural policy fields will become more and more important for the future of the EU particularly in achieving these goals.

Education in Europe - Cultures, Values, Institutions in Transition

SSRN Electronic Journal

come to know the other inside of oneself is an important prerequisite to cope with the other in the outside world. A mimetic approach towards the other is suggested for further elaboration. In the process of migration and immigration, the other, such as people belonging to different ethnic groups and cultures, is of central importance. Schools are confronted with the task of helping students from different ethnic backgrounds find their way into the society they live in (Leeman). Preparatory arrangements for new arrivals, language programmes, multicultural policies, compensations and enrichment strategies are offered. In spite of these common efforts, approaches to dealing with students from various minorities may vary largely. In the Netherlands there is a strong tendency to allow multiculturalism and to stimulate intercultural education. This has created a shift in the focus of intercultural education, from 'getting to know' immigrants to 'learning how to associate with others'. In this situation multiculturalism is the result of a process of negotiation on cultural and ethnic differences in an ethnically heterogeneous society. Here, major issues are the policy of the school, the school climate, the communication and the contact between school and parents. The problems of 'communication in the school' and of the 'relationship between school and parents' are dealt with in detail. In the context of intercultural education, school motivation, hture perspectives and the well-being of high school students play a central role (Peetsmal Wagenaarlde Kat). In the reported research on pupils in segregated and integrated schools in the Netherlands the findings are evident. The students' motivation and well-being rate higher in an integrated or a black segregated situation in comparison to a segregated white situation. With regard to pupils' motivation, the black segregated situation offers the most positive results for migrant children, whereas native pupils are better motivated in an integrated situation. With regard to well-being, on the other hand, the integrated school offers the best conditions. With regard to 'motivation' and 'well-being', ethnic self-description was of no influence, a finding which calls for M e r research. To develop a positive hture perspective black girls seem to need school more than black boys. On the whole, migrant youngsters adapt easier to their new country than older people. This and other research show that in intercultural education the historical perspective is of central importance. Social phenomena like racism, xenophobia and nationalism can only be dealt with in their historical context (Gundara). History helps to come us to be aware of the development and specificity of different cultures and to perceive their commonalities and differences; art history is an especially important field for intercultural learning, since it allows a non violent mimetic assimilation of a specific culture and permits one to grasp its beauty and value. The production of textbooks, maps and monuments must take this into consideration. What is required in this context is therefore an education oriented towards social integration (Lenzen). Social integration has to cope with four types of disintegration due to national dispositions, ethnic, religious and cultural bonds, physical characteristics and characteristics that stem from social statuses that threaten European integration. Integration as the state of being of a societal system may be distinguished from integration as a social act integrating people in a society. Furthermore, discourse on European integration concerns systemic integration, which can only be observed but not be created. Finally, discourse on the integration of underprivileged groups in the European nations refers to integration as a social act of integration. To achieve European integration the societal system requires at least one code which can be used to decide whether an operation is affiliated to the system or not. Moreover, the participants of the system need a common system of symbols, in which the system can be communicated; they have to be prepared to refrain from those options which are not affiliated with the operation licensed by the system code. A system code communicated through a shared system of symbols must therefore be developed, in which participants are prepared to refrain from certain options. The system must also be self-reflexive. Finally, the question of whether pedagogy has a role to play in establishing these conditions is examined. In intercultural education, as well as in education in general, values play an important role. Issues related to values and value conflicts are central within a pluralistic society. They result from the cohabitation of different ethnic and social groups and are related to the freedom of individuals. What and how something is to be taught are controversial issues in education. This raises the problem of to what extent values can be taught and how value differences and conflicts can be dealt with? All societal and educational transformations imply value changes. To understand them requires sociological imagination (Whitty). Drawing on this, societal and educational alternatives can be conceived and developed, which implies a challenge to many school effectiveness studies that do not pay sufficient attention to alternatives to the existing school system. More than ever must the goals, methods and contents of education in transition be discussed. European unification and globalisation constitute challenges to education by which the traditional character and values thereof might be changed. From the perspective of market-oriented education, values of individualism, competition, performativity and differentiation play an important role. The growth of self-managing schools and the promotion of a decentred market identity go hand in hand. Deregulation of the economic field produces new demands and values for education, engendering changes of 'foreign', as well as the history of relation between them. If to question othemess is necessarily also to question one's self, and vice versa, then understanding the other necessarily involves processes of selfexamination, self-recognition and development. As the 'foreign' becomes more familiar, there is an increased sense of self-estrangement or self-for-References

Constructing the European Education Space

Uluslararası İlişkiler / International Relations, 2012

This study analyses the European education policy and traces its evolution, specifically focusing on the Bologna Process that was launched in 1999. The study aims mainly at answering the following two questions: How is the European education space constructed and on which narrative is it built upon? In answering these questions, the article also discusses how the concept of European citizenship is defined in educational documents. The paper argues that the narrative of education policy initially had a regional focus, which later gained an international dimension.

Towards a European Supranational Policy of Education based on the European Dimension on Education

Bordón. Revista de Pedagogía, 2015

INTRODUCTION. The European Union (EU-28) and the Council of Europe (COE-47) are two supranational political organizations that coexist within the region of Europe. Both organizations have developed a unique cooperation policy in the area of education since their beginnings in mid-20th century. METHOD. More than 60 years later, based on historical-comparative research studies undertaken ad hoc, both organizations maybe considered as leading playersin a novel way of the understanding the fundamentals of education policy beyond national borders. The precision of their policies based on the unique historical-political development and the existing analogies between them, make it possible to place them in a comparative perspective, as comparison units, and to be analyzed through the political-educational concept of the European Dimension in Education, developed by both of them as tertium comparationis. RESULTS. The existence of both policies, the number of relationships, their complementary divergences and their prominent convergences will make it possible to understand it as a single European supranational policy; that is, as a new field of political analysis, the core of which is located within the European Dimension in Education as a primary political-educational paradigm. DISCUSSION. However, the characteristics and idiosyncrasy inherent to the concept, the analysis of the related documents and their historical sequence enable us to understand the European Dimension in Education, based on Roselló’s definition, as an educational movement within the European supranational educational policy, which originatesat a specific period of time, is developed and becomes established within the framework of their policies and ends up disappearing just after the European Year of Citizenship through Education (2005). In conclusion, this article aims to discuss the importance, to reclaim the sense and to clarify the concept of the European Dimension in Education, as a substantive component of the European educational policies, capable of regenerating Europeanism, European identity and citizenship from the educational dimension.

Editorial. Europe as an Educational Framework: Cultures, Values and Dialogues

The reality of Europe is that it comprises diverse cultures, with different ways of thinking, feeling and behaving. However, over and above these characteristics, there is common ground which is accepted, in theory at least, by its citizens and politicians. This basis may be summarized as: human rights and universal citizenship. This common base allows for and facilitates that frequently controversial political, social and civic dialogue which is the foundation on which a common European identity may be built. European identity synthesizes and integrates the national feeling of the individual into the wider element of being Europeans, and, more generally, into being citizens of the global village. This national, European and international confluence and coexistence can only be possible if, in addition to personal references and the standards of our own nations, we accept those superior values which are common to all human beings by the mere fact of being a person with dignity: such ...

The Educational Policy of European Union

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2015

Since its foundation EU aims to increase the number of members, to make the collaboration among its members. EU having the economic characteristics at this point has focuses its politic in some areas such as agriculture, social politics and economics. In order to arrive to its economical targets the education has been considered as instrument.In the field of education EU education cooperation initiatives carried out in accordance with economic objectives of the community. After the Second War, the knowledge, the developments in the communication technologies and the globalisation fact have played great role in the education approach of EU. According to respond the growing expectation of indviduals, EU has been forced to develop education policy with quality and efficient. Education is one of the fundamental rights of individuals. Therefore All member states perceive a need to increase the quality of their education, develop accessed to learning at all stages of life. Its clear that Life-long learning has become the basic point in EU's educational strategy. This concept includes in itself all the stages and forms of education and besides combines them. The aim of this study was to focus on the educational policy of European Union which has the goal of maintaining collaboration and integration among the members of the union within the framework of common cultural values. And also with this study was stressed historical perspective of EU education programmes.

Educating Europe: An Analysis of EU Educational Policies

Implementing European Union Education and Training Policy, 2003

This chapter analyses educational policies in the European Union. Because the Unionization 2 process is taking place on so many different levels-ranging from the local to the national, and the national to the global (and vice-versa)-it is possible to undertake this project with reference to any number of dimensions. This task is also complicated by the interconnected processes of Europeanization and globalization, as well as the temptation to oppose nation-states to the European Union, "localism" with "cosmopolitanism", etc. (Bauman, 2001; Breckenridge et al., 2002). The layer which we have chosen intends to build the European Union as the main explanatory level of analysis. In fact, it is necessary to determine the nature of this unprecedented political entity, in order to apprehend its influence in the formulation of educational policies. Adopting this perspective, we hope to displace and replace ourselves in the European political debate, opening the possibility for new questions and understandings.

Pedagogy, not Politics as the Real Stabilizer of Europe as the Home for Many Nations.

European Ideas in the Pedagogical Thought: From National to Supranational Points of View. Some Totalitarian Aspects, 2013

The process of European integration is specific and different form the one that happened once in United States. The difference is that in USA the cultures of all nations that built modern America were melted in a melting pot, while in Europe the cultures and nations are trying to coexist without the process of acculturation of ant culture. It is possible with the intercultural education. The paper is defining the types of education from cultural perspective and pointing out the difference between multiculturalism and interculturalism. It describes the role of intercultural education and trying to prove that politics is not interested in the syncretic model of United Europe but prefers homogenic model as it is much more easy to govern. But the pedagogy is not only interested in syncretic model that can enrich European culture by synergy, but is also able to establish such model. As an example, the Inclusive Education as a tool is described.