Citizens of Europe

The French politician Jacques Delors is often cited as proclaiming “We have created Europe, now we must create Europeans!”, a statement which suggests that belonging within Europe is not simply a series of trade agreements but requires something more from its citizens.

In one sense, the concept of a European Citizenship is something that is relatively new and discussion relating to its meaning and definition are gaining popularity as a basis for research across a range of social science disciplines. Within education, the growth of programmes for teaching citizenship in schools and in tertiary education has seen a sharp increase and this pattern is prevalent across Europe (Education Audiovisual & Culture Executive Agency 2012). This wide scale inclusion of an education for citizenship can be partly attributed to the European Framework for Key Competences (2006) which proposed that schools provide education for citizenship that encourages skills and knowledge development based in social and civic contexts – in essence, an active, engaged approach to citizenship. The competences challenged education policy makers in EU member states to take citizenship seriously as a core part of school curricula.

Teaching ‘Europe’

Part of the goal for citizenship education as directed by the Council of Europe (European Parliament and of the Council of Europe 2006) was to encourage a sense of belonging not just within each person’s nation state, but within a wider, European context. However, a consistent ‘problem’ is that of teaching about Europe – it is common for the European Union (EU) and Europe (the continent) to be combined and teachers often admin they lack confidence in their knowledge of both topics. It is a significant task, to create a curriculum that includes complex issues such as identity, citizenship, diversity and political frameworks. In addition, when and where to teach such topics is also problematic.

The idea of ‘active’ citizenship underpins the Council of Europe’s recent (2011) approach to teaching and learning, and the claim that those who teach democratic citizenship should be active in practicing such ideals. This approach has challenged educators and education policy makers across Europe to develop models of Citizenship Education that not only teach children about being a citizen, but also facilitate ways of being an active citizen. Central to the promotion of an active model of citizenship is the development of a shared understanding of its meaning and the importance of effective communication amongst citizens. Within citizenship curricula across Europe, citizen identity has been commonly linked to a national or regional focus, and, as Davies (1996:52) argued, this limited focus reveals suggests an “idea and reality of Europe itself are not clear”. So how might teachers tackle this thorny subject?

Creative Connections: Exploring school-based education for European citizenship

It was the aim of Creative Connections to challenge young people to think about what being European in the twentieth century means to them. We wanted to explore ways of encouraging pupils in schools to challenge their ideas about citizenship identities and, in doing so, experience a collective learning experience which attempted to transform preconceived ideas and stereotypes. Transformation through collective learning is, Delanty (2007) claims, a core task of citizenship therefore, Creative Connections experimented with online blogs linking different schools across the partner countries – through online interactions it was hoped that pupils would ‘talk’ and share ideas. The current political tensions within the European Union and across Europe are portrayed in the mass media as a state in crisis and a union which is coming apart at the seams. However, it was with the echoes of such negative depictions in mind that the collaborative work bringing six European partners together in Creative Connections has sought to explore ways to promote citizenship understanding through art and digital media. Central to the research was the goal of a fresh exploration of European citizen identities seen through a range of educational and cultural lenses; the partners have worked towards the exploration of citizen identities which are complementary rather than competing. Pupils have been encouraged to talk and to listen; to consider the lives and ideas of others. Such skills are the foundation to strong citizenship understanding – the evolution of a collective learning capacity within society. This cultural focus on citizenship can only serve to promote more positive attitudes towards our fellow citizens within Europe.

The Portuguese Perspective

In the Portuguese National Curriculum (MEC, 2012), resulting from the 2012 reform, Citizenship Education is defined as aiming at contributing to raise responsibility, autonomy, solidarity, respect for others, and is linked to active citizenship and to human rights’ values. However, contrary to the previous curriculum (ME, 2001), there is no specific schedule attributed to Citizenship Education. Considering that this area cut across the whole society, Citizenship Education is set as a cross-curricular subject since preschool to secondary. Thus the aims of Citizenship Education must be met within subjects and in other activities and projects developed in schools.

This cross-curricular design for Citizenship Education, which is accompanied by an increasing focus on curricular subjects like Portuguese Language and Mathematics, has been criticized for the risk of teachers neglecting Citizenship Education (see for example the reports from the National Council of Education and from the Schools’ Council on the 2012 curricular reform).

Additionally, another concern is related to the excessively broad scope of Citizenship Education which comprises:

• education for road safety;
• education for global citizenship;
• education for gender equality;
• education for Human Rights;
• financial education;
• education for national safety;
• education for volunteering;
• environmental education;
• health education and sexuality;
• education for entrepreneurship;
• consumer education; and
• multicultural education.

In the curriculum, the area of Citizenship Education emerges as an umbrella for multiple agendas, risking not having a clear identity or coherence.

Since 2010 a group of experts was mandated by the Ministry of Education to review Citizenship Education in Basic and Secondary Education (comprising processes, areas, students’ competences).The experts’ proposal of curricular orientations for Citizenship Education (Brederode Santos et al., 2011) constitutes the main orientation for teachers in this field. However the 2012 curriculum reform has not included these recommendations.
Although Citizenship Education was a curricular area in the national curriculum previous to the late reform, most teachers in Portugal feel ill-equipped and hence unwilling to deal with questions about citizenship and constitutional rights and duties (Moura & Fernandes, 2006).

The teachers who participated in Creative Connections understand that art can enhance critical, creative and participative behaviours of individuals; they also realize that it can contribute to individual development and to the establishment of a cultural identity, both because art favors the construction and sedimentation of affections, and because it empowers men and women, helping them understand themselves as individuals within a sociocultural group, broadening the grasp they have on their place in the world.
All this emphasized the need to find answers to key issues in Portuguese society, most specifically in education for and within citizenship, namely regarding the issue of civic illiteracy, lack of professional training and the need to evaluate the meaning of some strategies which have already been used successfully in other countries, and also in Portugal.

 

References

Convery, A. (1997). Pupils’ Perceptions of Europe. London: Cassell Educational Series.

Davies, I. (1996) The Teaching of History and Education for European Citizenship. The European Legacy (3) 1 872-877

Delanty, G (2007) Citizenship as a learning process: Disciplinary citizenship versus cultural citizenship. URL: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-06-30-delanty-en.html. Downloaded: 3/12/2013

Education Audiovisual & Culture Executive Agency (2012). Citizenship in Europe. P9 Eurydice and Policy Support. Brussels, Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency.

European Parliament and of the Council of Europe (2006). Key Competences for Lifelong Learning A European Framework: annex of a Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of Europe 18 December Official Journal of the European Union.