Session Information
07 SES 05 B, Teachers' and Parents' Views on Multilingual and Intercultural Education
Paper Session
Contribution
This paper questions possible tensions between the aims of national and European policies and the perspectives of vocational education teachers and principals on European Citizenship. Within the wider concern about the way in which young people of different ethnicities and backgrounds position themselves in their belonging and identification with European Citizenship, this paper questions i) the existence of asymmetries in what concerns the promotion of European Citizenship in school, while unveiling the possible prevalence of social injustice and exclusion; and ii) to understand the European and national context of policy production with regard to citizenship, education and youth ethnicity.
As a unifying concept (Nóvoa & Lawn, 2002) European Citizenship (EC) is based on a constructive perspective of shared futures within the European space. While revealing that these are concerns in EU policy agendas (Lister et al., 2007; Dale, 2009), official documents produced in the EU (European Council, 2008; COM, 2010; European Parliament, 2000; Eurydice, 2012) give emphasis to the relationship between EC and national citizenship in a complementary way (Macedo & Ferreira, 2014). They produce guidelines to promote growth, namely, for employment, seeking for social and professional inclusion (Araújo et al., 2014). European citizenship goes beyond a set of rights and obligations that make up the coexistence between people of different backgrounds. In a different vein, Keating (2009:136) asserts that “European education policies have evolved from an ethnocentric ‘national’ model of citizenship education towards a post-national model in which the citizens of Europe are united not (only) by a common culture or history, but also civic values, educational skills, and a shared future”. Despite of the bewildering diversity of interpretations of EC, such debate allows the matching up between citizenship on a national basis and European citizenship (EC) as a reality that is to be closer. Leeman (2008:50) argues that “citizenship is the new socio-political issue. In essence it is about the balance between diversity and commonality”.
In the intention of the law, citizenship is a transversal area that can be addressed in the different curriculum areas, enabling schools to decide on its offer in accordance with their subjects. International policies involve promoting citizens´ participation in political, social and civic life (Eurydice, 2012) as dimensions of citizenship. In a third of the European countries, the national curriculum and norms that rule education refer the need to promote a school ethos or culture that leads to fostering citizenship, particularly at the level of compulsory education. These documents do not clarify what is the concept of citizenship in use. Are they talking about national citizenship, European citizenship or a combination of the two?
Following the concerns referred, the paper focuses the perspectives of educational agents in order to understand their perspectives as well as their practices – in context - on European Citizenship. They are seen as educational agents of the training settings that may have an important role in establishing bridges between the political discourse on how citizens, especially young people should be encouraged to participate in political and social life (Eurydice, 2012), at national and European level, as agents of citizenship with a view to social justice. The research emerges in a vocational school on the basis of the contribution of Bernstein (1996) who argues that the school has the possibility to promote education through the construction of knowledge and the involvement of students by the provision of conditions for the pedagogic democratic rights of enhancement, inclusion and participation. It is in school that children and young people can experience, live and relate to one another as actors of the construction of their citizenship (Macedo, 2012).
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Amado, João & Freire, Isabel (2013). Estudo de Caso na Investigação em Educação. In J. Amado (Ed.), Manual de Investigação Qualitativa em Educação (pp. 121-142). Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra. Araújo, Helena Costa (2007). Cidadania na sua polifonia – Debates nos estudos de educação feministas. Educação, Sociedade e Culturas, 25, 83-116. Araújo, Helena C., Magalhães, António M., Rocha, Cristina & Macedo, Eunice (2014). Policies on Early School Leaving in Nine European Countries: A Comparative Analysis. Antwerp: University of Antwerp. Bernstein, Basil (1996). Pedagogy and Symbolic Control and Identity - theory, research, critique. Londres: Taylors & Francis. Dale, Roger (2009). Contexts, constraints and resources in the development of european education space and european education policy. In Roger Dale & Susan Robertson (Eds.), Globalisation and europeanisation in education (pp. 23-43). Oxford (UK): Symposium Books. European Council (2008). White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue: “Living Together As Equals in Dignity”. Strasbourg. Retrieved January 2, 2016 (http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/intercultural/source/white%20paper_final_revised_en.pdf). European Commission (COM) (2010). A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Brussels. Retrieved December 1, 2015 (http://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/index.cfm/knowledge-bank/other-sepa-information/european-commission-communication-europe-2020-a-strategy-for-smart-sustainable-and-inclusive-growth-march-2010-/european-commission-communication-europe-2020-a-strategy-for-smart-sustainable-and-inclusive-growth-march/). European Parliament (2000). Lisbon European Council 23 - 24 March 2000. Presidency Conclusions. Retrieved June 6, 2013 (http://www.europarl.europa.eu/summits/lis1_en.htm). Eurydice (2012). A Educação para a Cidadania na Europa. Lisboa: Direção-Geral de Estatísticas da Educação e Ciência. Retrieved February 20, 2015 (http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice). Doi:10.2797/21471. Keating, Avril (2009). Educating Europe's citizens: moving from national to post-national models of educating for European citizenship. Citizenship Studies 13(2), 135–151. DOI: 10.1080/13621020902731140. Leeman, Yvonne (2008). Education and Diversity in the Netherlands. European Educational Research Journal V. 7(1), 50-59. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/eerj.2008.7.1.50. Lister, Ruth; Smith, Noel; Middleton, Sue & Cox, Lynne (2007). Young people talk about citizenship: empirical perspectives on theoretical and political debates. Citizenship Studies, 7 (2), 235-253. Macedo, Eunice (2012). (Re)Constructing feminities and masculinities: Northern portuguese students speak about their lives, desires, and dreams. Educação, Sociedade & Culturas, 35, 67-88. Macedo, Eunice & Ferreira, Pedro (Eds.) (2014). Construindo Pilares do Projeto Europeu com Jovens nas Escolas: Informação, Reflexão e Ação. Porto: CIEJD – Centro de Informação Europeia Jacques Delors & CIIE. Nóvoa, António & Lawn, Martin (Eds.) (2002). Fabricating Europe – the formation of an Education Space. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publications. Young, Iris (1997). Intersecting Voices - dilemmas of gender, political philosophy, and policy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
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