Developing a European identity: a case study of the European School at Culham¹

1. Given the fact that the European School, Culham is the only European School in the UK, it is not possible for the school to remain anonymous. The school was informed of this prior to the research process and this was considered acceptable.

Abstract

Encouraging pupils to develop a sense of European identity is one of the implicit aims of the ‘European Schools’. This paper reports on a small case study that was carried out in 2004 that investigated how the European School at Culham attempts to develop in its pupils a sense of European identity. In particular, the study looked at the secondary school’s organizational features, its curriculum, extra‐curricular activities and teachers’ conceptions of European identity. The research findings reveal that above all else, pupils’ sense of European identity is encouraged indirectly through the many opportunities the school provides for these children from diverse European backgrounds to integrate and interact with one another. Teachers at the school believe that it is through such interactions, which take place both in the classroom and through extra‐curricular activities, that pupils learn about each others’ cultures and languages and develop a feeling of being European.

Notes

1. Given the fact that the European School, Culham is the only European School in the UK, it is not possible for the school to remain anonymous. The school was informed of this prior to the research process and this was considered acceptable.

2. The European School at Culham opened in 1978 and was the ninth European School to be set up (there are currently thirteen European Schools in seven EU countries with another scheduled to open in Brussels by 2008). It was originally established for the children of parents working at the Joint European Torus (JET) research centre, though it has increasingly taken in children from multilingual and mobile families. According to a member of senior staff, Culham is one of the smallest schools with a total of 889 pupils and 113 teachers. The school provides nursery, primary and secondary education in a variety of buildings on one campus and has five ‘language sections’ (English, French, German, Italian and Dutch). scheduled to open in Brussels by 2008.

3. A multiple case study of three European Schools is currently being conducted that will expand on the research undertaken for this small study.

4. Each pupil would belong to the language section corresponding to their mother tongue. Today, each European School has a different number of language sections ranging from 4 to 12.

5. This means any school other than a European School.

6. These classes are composed of students of different nationalities and languages. The teacher communicates mostly in their national language, but occasionally has to use other languages spoken by the pupils in order to make themselves understood.

7. This is the pupils’ first foreign language, which they start learning in primary school. So, for example, pupils from across the language sections whose first foreign language is French would be taught a social science subject in French by a native teacher.

8. This quotation is from one of the senior members of staff.

9. This is a combination of History and Geography and is taught in Years 1–3.

10. This is evident in the syllabus documents and was also mentioned to me by several teachers.

11. This information has been drawn from the recently revised Human Sciences curriculum, which came into effect in September 2004.

12. This information was gathered from interviews and was supported by classroom observation.

13. International schools typically offer bilingual education.

14. It is interesting that the slogan ‘mother tongue plus two’ has been adopted by the European Commission for its language policy (for further information, see the Commission’s recent Action Plan on languages, available on the EU website).

15. One teacher estimated that about 15 students per year participate in these programmes.

16. What is interesting is that these celebrations could equally and/or additionally be viewed as reinforcing pupils’ national identities.

17. Many teachers tried to prepare their students for this day by giving them quizzes in class.

18. This list does not mean that each teacher agrees with all the points. It is simply a list of their different ideas.

19. Although the extent to which these topics are focused on depends on the subject, the syllabus (e.g. the year of study) and the commitment and interest of the teacher.