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The Europeanisation of Schooling

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Abstract

In 2001, Anders Hingel, head of the education policy unit at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Education and Culture, observed the gathering coherence of the section’s work. He observed a novel development: rather than ‘holding forth on their [national] differences’, education officials were ‘beginning to give thought to common objectives’. Something new was taking place: ‘common principles of education’ were being agreed to between member states, ‘leading logically’ to something quite momentous, ‘a European Model of Education’.1 This chapter, which shares Hingel’s appreciation of the significance of current events, is about the emergence of this model of education, as it is expressed through the policies and discourses of the European Union. We aim to trace the origins and trajectory of the model, to sketch its terms (which draw much, if not all, from the international policy orthodoxy discussed in chapter 1), to identify its impact on the EU’s member states and to discuss its problems.

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Notes

  1. Anders Hingel, Education Policies and European Governance: contribution to the interservice groups on European governance (Brussels: European Commission, 2001).

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  2. See the summary in J-L Demeeulemeester and D. Rochat, The European Policy Regarding Education and Training: a critical assessment, Skope Research Paper no. 21, Autumn 2001. ESRC funded Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance, Oxford and Warwick Universities.

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  5. See the discussion in Jacky Brine, ‘Lifelong Learning and the Knowledge Economy: those that know and those that do not — the discourse of the European Union’, British Educational Research Journal 32.5, pp. 647–66, 2006.

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© 2008 Ken Jones, Chomin Cunchillos, Richard Hatcher, Nico Hirtt, Rosalind Innes, Samuel Johsua and Jürgen Klausenitzer on behalf of the Colectivo Baltasar Gracián

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Jones, K. et al. (2008). The Europeanisation of Schooling. In: Schooling in Western Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230579934_2

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