European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE EUROPEAN IDENTITY IN THE SCHOOL ... 245integrated in different ways in civics education in different educationalsystems across the world as is clearly shown in the study of IEA “Civiceducation across countries: Twenty-four National Case studies from theIEA Civic Education project 41 .International organizations such as UNESCO 42 and Council ofEurope 43 and several NGO 44 have produced very useful material on thepromotion on education for active citizenship. The activities of educationfor democratic citizenship of the Council of Europe are particularlyinteresting.Any school that wants to become a learning community willdevelop and give importance to democratic, participative structuresallowing each member of that education community and localeducation to take part in the development of that learning community.Parents’ councils, class councils and staff councils are but some of theindispensable structures.Democratic participation will also be expressed by the choice ofpedagogical methodologies and approaches that place emphasis oneveryone’s potential. The implementation of differentiated educationand training that bears everyone’s specific nature in mind is an elementof vital importance to the promotion of citizenship. The concept of‘peer education’ is a pedagogical method that should be stronglyencouraged in schools that are learning communities. Other elementsthat have already been mentioned, such as participation in associations,have a direct effect on active citizenship.Democratic participation will also express itself in the choice ofpedagogical methodologies and practices focusing on using thepotential of every pupil. Implementing differentiated teaching andlearning paths for the pupils is an approach which definitely enhancescitizenship education. The use of a socio-constructivist pedagogy and apedagogy of the dialogue is also contributing to the same effect. Peereducation approaches are yet another pedagogical approach withgreat citizenship education potential.41IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement);Civic education across countries: Twenty-four National Case Studies from the IEA CivicEducation Project, Amsterdam, 1999, 624 pages.42UNESCO: Education for citizenship (a CD Rom with educational materials); Paris,2002; http://www.unesco.org/education43Council of Europe: Education for democratic citizenship:http://www.coe.int/T/E/Cultural_Co-operation/education/E.D.C/44CSV Ibis Trust; Active citizenship: a teaching toolkit, Oxon, 2000, 242 pages.