‘They are like us’ – teaching about Europe through the eyes of children

Abstract

For some time the theme of the ‘European dimension’ in education has had a prominent place in school curricula across Europe. In practice the implementation of a European dimension in primary-school education still shows significant shortcomings. In some school systems Europe is not taken into consideration at all, while other school systems focus rather on formal aspects concerning Europe such as facts, names and figures. Compared to this, the ideas, preconceptions and experiences of children concerning Europe or other European countries are rarely taken into account. This paper, therefore, aims to provide an up-to-date contribution to European education taking into account the voices of children. Based on research results about children's perceptions of the world and of European countries, the paper offers perspectives on and suggestions about the implementation of a ‘European dimension’ in education, with special attention given to peer-learning. Methods of intercultural group learning and peer assessment are thereby used to underpin the co-operative learning environment for children.

Keywords:

• Europe
• European dimension
• peer-learning
• children's perceptions

Notes

† The paper presents results of a study published by the Julius Klinkhardt publishing house under the title ‘Wie Kinder die Welt sehen. Eine empirische Ländervergleichststudie zur räumlichen Vorstellung von Grundschulkindern’, as well as of the COMENIUS 2.1 Project: ‘The Implementation of a European Dimension by Peer Learning in Primary School (E-PLIPS)’. Grant Agreement number: 128766-CP-1-2006-1-DE-Comenius-C21.

1. The SOCRATES programme, named after the Greek philosopher Socrates, was an educational initiative (in the meantime replaced by the Life-long Learning Programme 2007–2013) aiming to strengthen the European dimension of education at all levels and to encourage transnational cooperation between schools.