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Building up European identity in primary education
Authors: Claudia BORCA, Calin RUS, Simona SAVA
Number of views: 212
Building up the personal identity is a lifelong process, as identity can change, according with
the groups of belonging, with new knowledge and changes of beliefs and contexts. There are
more stable components of identity, like the values and attitudes, but there are contexts and
experiences that sharpen different aspects of the identity. The article argues that education
systems in Europe have responsibilities in supporting learners to develop their competences
to act as citizens at local, national and European levels and thus have also the legitimacy to
contribute to the development of a European identity and of a sense of belonging to Europe.
Furthermore, it argues that such a process can and should start already in early ages.
Therefore, teachers in primary school need appropriate competences to foster a positive
identification of children with Europe and European values. They need to master
intercultural competence, appropriate pedagogical and methodological approaches, they
need to reflect on how to design teaching and learning contexts meant to stimulate, in a
joyful, playful, attractive and consistent manner the building up of a European identity. The
article mirrors the training needs of primary school teachers of 3rd and 4th grade in Western
Romania, to develop these competences and be able to foster such process. The assessment
of the training needs of primary school teachers involved covered all aspects of the
competence, including values, attitudes, as well as the knowledge about EU, and their
reflection on their teaching practices. The conclusions of the analysis can be useful for
further training programs and reconceptualization of (initial) teacher education.