The future of European education: A political strategy & four action areas
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
The future of European education: A political strategy & four action areas Alfonso Diestro Fernández
Received: 15 October 2014 / Accepted: 17 November 2014 / Published online: 16 December 2014 # The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Abstract The European integration project is confronting one of the greatest challenges in its recent history. The profound current financial crisis is jeopardising both trust in the process of integration and the support of European Union citizens. This paper aims to show the need to find transversal solutions to the immediate and future challenges that the European integration project faces. These solutions could emerge from the retrieval of the idea of including a European Dimension in Education, as a joint political strategy of the European Union and the Council of Europe, given that two separate, but convergent, trends have been identified. Special importance will be placed on the four action points that the European dimension could adopt (curricular and teaching materials; creation of school networks and extracurricular activities; initial and on going teacher training; and styles of centre management, leadership and administration). A firm commitment to embed a great deal of Europeanism into the education of the younger European generations (from the earliest age possible) would favour both a greater, and better, understanding of the process, and the active, participative and critical development of European citizens. It is here where the future challenge for European Education lies.
Keywords European dimension in education . Education for citizenship . European Union . Council of Europe . Educational policies . Supranational strategy . European challenge This article is part of the Topical Collection on The Future of Europe, guest-edited by Markus Pausch. A. Diestro Fernández (*) Departamento de Teoría de la Educación y Pedagogía Social, Facultad de Educación, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Despacho 281. Calle Juan del Rosal, nº 14, CP. 28040 Madrid, Spain, EU e-mail: [email protected]
Introduction Nobody can now ignore that Europe is currently facing a huge predicament; this obliges Europe to reinvent itself once again if the region wishes to realise the original aspirations that motivated the current project of building and integrating Europe, establishing a closer union between its peoples and its regions. In the present context, characterised by the economical crisis, the political programmes of only one way and the political disaffection of the citizens with the European project, it is a matter of urgency to find new proposals, also for educational politics, across a new process of deliberation between institutions and Members States. That is, the countries that make up the European Club, both the Council of Europe (COE, 47) and the European Union (UE, 28), do not seem to understand this as an urgent challenge, if they wish to continue cooperating and consolidating the project, with
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