Journal of Educational Sciences

11

Authors: Claudia BORCA, Calin RUS, Simona SAVA

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.

14

Authors: Agostino PORTERA

The paper summarizes the results of a qualitative study that aimed to identify the positive outcomes and opportunities, as well as the risks related with the identity building in migration and living in a multicultural context. Research consisted of a 7-year longitudinal case study, during which the life-stories, conflicts, crises, and problem-solving strategies of 23 young people of Italian origin with migration experiences – some of which were still living in Southern Germany and some of which had returned to Southern italy – were observed. The sample was composed of both adolescents with intellectual disabilities or other psychological and social disorders and adolescents who seemed to have benefited from living and growing up in different cultures. From the biographies it was possible to identify the main risk and protective factors related to migration and life in a multicultural context, and the adequate coping ability associated with their development. Based on the main findings of the study it was also possible to hypothesize that migration can inhibit or facilitate the fulfillment of fundamental human needs. So, the qualitative data was analyzed in order to identify the needs which seemed to be related with the harmonious development of the personality and a tentative theory of fundamental needs of human development was proposed. Finally, the results suggest that intercultural education can play an important role in determining whether subjects experience enrichment and growth or increasing difficulties or mental illnesses and social disorders. Therefore the paper takes the position that education can be an effective measure for fostering stable, flexible and multiple European identities. Given the research results, intercultural education, as developed and applied in a European context, can be considered as the most appropriate approach.

15

Authors: Atalia ONIȚIU

The fourth grade represents the first year of study of the discipline History for students in pre-university education. Before being a matter of civics, the European identity is a historically grounded construct; therefore, we naturally wondered whether the issue that we have not only an ethnic or national identity, but also a European one is, even incipiently, raised when teaching history. Our analysis started from the definition of the concept of European identity, to the general perception of Romanians regarding Europe according to Eurobarometer data, to reach the analysis of the school syllabus in the History discipline and then to the textbooks constructed starting from this syllabus. The conclusion we reached following our approach was that, as the school syllabus supports the formation of the national identity first and on a secondary place, the sketching of elements of European identity (through the elements related to the history of the national minorities in Romania, the location on the map of Europe of the events in the history of Romanians, discussing in different topics subjects such as the European Union or presenting some important personalities for the history of Europe), the three existing textbooks, available and at the decision of the teachers have an accordingly approach, that we consider to be correct. The European identity cannot be built before the national identity, historically speaking, and for the age category to which we refer (9-10 years), in the condition of one course hour per week, the simultaneous construction of the two types of identity (in other words teaching the history of Romanians and universal history at the same time) is difficult to achieve. Therefore, we believe that the choice for national history and identity before the European one is properly substantiated. The national and European identities cannot be constructed from the simple enumeration of historical names or data. The well-built explanation, accompanied by carefully chosen examples is essential in teaching history to this age category and, of course, in the solid construction of one's own identity (national and European).