Brussels, 04/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - On 31 May, the European Commission published a report on citizenship education in Europe (the 27 member states of the EU plus Iceland, Norway, Croatia and Turkey). The report, which was put together via the Eurydice network, shows that all member states have included this principle in their primary and secondary education, but each has done so in its own specific way. Additionally, much remains to be done to improve the knowledge and skills required to teach this subject, with only two countries (United Kingdom and Slovakia) offering training for future specialist teachers. In conclusion, the authors of the report take stock of a general consensus on the purpose of citizenship education: developing critical thinking and the analytic skills and attitude required to encourage active participation in school and social life. “Citizenship education endows pupils with the necessary knowledge, skills and values to actively engage in our society. … Active participation is at the root of our democratic values in Europe”, said the commissioner responsible for education, culture, multilingualism and youth, Androulla Vassiliou.
More specifically, although all countries have set in place guidelines to guarantee pupils' involvement with the functioning of their school, more than half of them have since 2007 had at least one programme or project funded by the public authorities designed to cultivate values and attitudes related to citizenship outside the school. The report highlights measures aiming to motivate pupils from different socio-economic backgrounds or ethnic groups to engage in joint activities (Latvia, for example, has launched this kind of project), or to enable primary school children to meet elderly people at retirement homes (France). Eurydice also stresses that active involvement plays an increasing part in the assessment of the pupils: more than one third of European countries (Bulgaria, Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia and Turkey) now take account of an assessment of participation in school or community activities. (IL/transl.fl)