Opportunities to learn about Europe at school. A comparative analysis among European adolescents in 21 European member states

Abstract

In this article, we investigate the relationship between different learning methods and the formation of European identity among adolescents. The analysis is based on the European module of the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (2009), with 70,502 respondents in 21 European member states. The results show that offering opportunities for cognitive learning is more strongly related to European identity than social learning opportunities, i.e. opportunities for interactions with citizens from other European Union member states. The occurrence of an interaction effect between cognitive and social learning strategies, however, suggests that jointly offering both learning strategies can be considered the most effective tool for the formation of a European identity. The multilevel analysis reveals the impact of a more Eurosceptic climate on the country level, suggesting that living in a Eurosceptic member state is related to a weaker European identity among adolescents. We close with some observations on how curricula can contribute to a strengthening of European identity.

Are cosmopolitan dispositions learned at home, at school, or through contact with others? Evidence from young people in Europe

“…At the national level, the models included a measure of average public perceptions of the EU, 5 to control for the possibility that public attitudes towards the EU may frame the debate and trickle down to influence youth attitudes (Diez-Medrano 2003;Verhaegen, Hooghe, and Meeusen 2013). The fruits of this analysis are presented in the next section.…”

“…Empirical tests of this theory often focus on the educational level or qualifications of respondents and their general education (Pattie, Seyd, and Whiteley 2004), but recent research has started to try to identify which specific educational and/or life experiences foster the development of cosmopolitan dispositions (Bellucci, Sanders, and Serricchio 2012). For example, Verhaegen, Hooghe, and Meeusen (2013) suggest that schools provide cognitive resources not just through general education, but also by providing 'cognitive', classroombased opportunities for learning about other countries. This latter finding thus leads us to the first hypothesis, namely that young people are more likely to report cosmopolitan dispositions if they attend schools that provide opportunities to acquire information about social, political, and cultural issues in other countries (H1).…”

European identity as a unifying category: National vs. European identification among native and immigrant pupils

“…Other researchers have identified various determinants that can inform whether people feel a sense of European identity, such as gender and social class (e.g. Citrin and Sides, 2004;Medrano and Gutie´rrez, 2001;Verhaegen et al, 2013). Barrett (1996) found that the sense of European identity tends to emerge when children are between 6 and 10 years old.…”

“…The role that an immigration background plays in whether -and to what extent -an individual identifies with Europe is increasingly being studied. In a cross-national study among adolescents in 21 European countries, Verhaegen et al (2013) report that first-generation and second-generation immigrants exhibit lower levels of European identity than native young adolescents. Similar results are shown by Agirdag et al (2012) who find that in Belgium children with Moroccan and Turkish roots identified less strongly with Europe than native Belgian children.…”

The Intergenerational Transmission of European Identity: The Role of Gender and Discussion within Families

“…In this article, we will investigate the relation between the European identity of parents and that of their children. Earlier studies have highlighted the role the education system can play in the formation of a European identity (Agirdag et al, 2012;Datler et al, 2008;Verhaegen et al, 2013). Most often, however, these studies have shown that the impact of the education system remains limited (Faas, 2007;Thorpe, 2008).…”