Koppen, Jan Karel, Lunt, Ingrid & Wulf, Christoph (Eds.). (2002). Education in Europe. Cultures, values, institutions in transition. Münster: Waxmann, 320 pp., 19,50 €. [Rezension] (original) (raw)

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

A European Politics of Education

A European Politics of Education, 2016

If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination, volume/issue, and date of publication details. And where the final published version is provided on the Research Portal, if citing you are again advised to check the publisher's website for any subsequent corrections.

Ways of Thinking about Education in Europe

Fabricating Europe, 2002

A decade ago, when I first began addressing issues of education policy in Europe, I was obliged to justify my inquiry 1. Why should one speak of these matters if there is no unified European education policy? Why speculate on topics that are the full responsibility of each Member State? Although I respect my interlocutors, our conversations failed to acknowledge one important link in the analysis of education policies. We need a closer understanding of the European layer. This is the collective education policy defined, individually and jointly, by decision-makers at all levels in Europe-from local to national, from regional to global-that establishes a basis for a European education. Today, no justification is needed to discuss Ways of Thinking about Education in Europe 2. In a short time, important changes took place in the so-called "European educational space", opening to new perceptions of intertwined and overlapping levels of policy formation. A recent statement by Anders Hingel, head of the education policy unit at the European Commission, clearly stated: "What is presently happening in cooperation in the field of education tells us, that not only is a European Space of Education in its making, common principles of education are being agreed upon between Member States, leading logically to a European Model of Education" (2001, p. 4). Furthermore, there has been a significant development in the recent and wide growth of European studies. A quick search on the Internet displays thousands of titles that try to explain this new "political entity". It is true that they mainly address economics, law, and the social and political sciences; education remains an understated topic. Regardless, such studies do provide a theoretical ground to enlighten educational issues and avoid "non-overt debate" and "semi-clandestine policy" (Nóvoa, 2000), which had characterized European Union attitudes and decisions for a long time.

Understanding Education in Europe-East

International Journal of Educational Development, 2004

This paper suggests possible frames of reference for understanding education and educational policy in the Eastern part of Europe. (a) According to the geographical frame, the concept of 'Eastern Europe' and its education reflects a struggle for political power and self-identity. (b) According to the political frame, the transition of 1989/1990 opened up a 'third political way' between capitalism and socialism for a few decisive years. (c) According to the cultural anthropological frame, the distance between Western and Eastern European education is not only a modernization gap, but also a cultural gap which needs comparative cultural analysis. #

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 ...

Scales, Discourses and Institutions in the Governance of Educational Trajectories in Europe

Introduction purpose of this chapter is to analyse the different ways that national systems are governed and show how that shapes their focus, their and their approaches, as these combine to form their 'education i and in particular how they shape the forms taken by educational transiand trajectories through the opportunity structures that they offer. These are approached from two directions: the institutional forms and legacies the different systems and how they shape what is possible for education and the different ways that the purposes of education systems are and experienced at national level.