A uniting Europe, a dividing education? Euro‐centrism and the curriculum

Abstract

The European Union's activities constitute a relatively new influence on educational policy-making. It has generally been argued that this influence is both weak and politically progressive. It is purported to be 'weak' because Member States are supposed to jealously guard the autonomy of their national education systems. In addition, it is argued that the key concern of Brussels remains vocational training, despite the specific reference to general education in the Treaty of Maastricht. It is considered to be a 'progressive' influence because the so-called European dimension in education sets out to foster 'European' values such as democracy, respect for human rights, pluralism, multiculturalism and respect for ethnic minorities. This paper will explore these generally held assumptions and will argue that the EU's influence in the field of education is much greater than normally acknowledged, that this influence is exerted through a variety of mechanisms, and that the current construction of 'European education' signals contradictory messages through its agenda for 'unity in diversity'. More specifically, this paper will analyse the way in which the EU has set out to facilitate and promote a strong 'European identity' through the medium of education. Initiatives and policies in Member States setting out to Europeanise their curricula are interrogated in terms of their manifest and latent meanings and value systems, and the extent to which 'learning for and about Europe' - i.e. identity through difference - entails processes of exclusion and distancing of the non-European. It is argued that educators, as cultural intellectuals, must refuse to accept the politics of identity as given, but must rather critically examine how representations of Europe and Europeans are constructed, for what purpose, by whom, and with what components. ; peer-reviewed