European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

DILEMMAS AND TASK IN THE FORMATION OF EDUCATION-BASED ... 169open discussion of controversial issues —for example, racism,xenophobia and minority rights.How will it be different? The tendency for identities to be multiplewill become even greater and more evident than it is today: people willselect, from a wide range of possibilities, whom they will be in relationto the various groups amongst which they move. Being a citizen ofstate X will still be an identity, but so will being a citizen of region Y,and of Europe, and of the world. Which citizenship is expressed at anymoment of time will be contingent on the location, the time and thereference group. The heterogeneity of social life in contemporary anddeveloping Europe will mean that movement between these identitiesoccurs more often. We encounter different groups of people more often—different languages, cultures, religious beliefs, national affiliations,ethnic groups— and different social locations more often, such asmultinational shops and employers, and international web-sites.We do not suggest that any single approach be used across allcountries or all universities and colleges, but we do wish to see morecoherent approaches to citizenship education. There is a wide range ofpractice and variety in the levels of activity across Europe in the waysthat higher education institutions prepare students to work withchildren and young people in this area. There have been changes inpractice, matching the rapid changes in European society and economy,but there is also inertia. The process should be one of continuousreflection, change and flexibility. The maintenance of diversity is critical:we do not think that there is a single “best way” to train social educators,and local needs and imperatives must always be recognised. Howeverwe do wish to see many more systematic attempts to share experienceand practice between university and college departments, and a muchwider dialogue between practitioners in higher education and thevarious school systems about the meaning, purposes and practices ofcitizenship education and the development of social understanding.ReferencesANDERSON, B. (1991) Imagined Communities. London: Verso.CRAWFORD, K. (1991) “Power in primary classrooms: the rules of engagement”,Primary Teaching Studies, 6, 1, pp. 92-106.DAVIES, N. (1999) The Isles: A history. London: Macmillan].DAVIES, N. (1996) Europe: A history. London: Oxford University Press.DURKHEIM, E. (1897). Le suicide. Paris: F. Alcan. English translation by J.A.Spalding (1951). Toronto, Canada: Free Press/Collier-MacMillan.