Ebook: Education in Europe: Policies and Politics

While analysing what it means to be European, Ortega y Gasset pointed out that European culture is defined by human's desire to find the most perfect way of being, a way that must be both firmly founded in history and clearly projected into the future. Ortega's idea had perhaps less currency when what European unity meant still boiled down to an economic community. Today, however, things have changed, and after a long, complex process, we now face a new scenario ambitiously named European Union, one whose foundations, competencies, and aims are no longer simply economic, but seek to foster a life in common without losing respect for the national identities of the member States. The legend -in fact, Jack Lang confessed that this statement was invented by him, and perhaps is true- says that near the end of his life, Jean Monnet once answered a journalist's question affirming that, if he had to do it all over again, he would start with culture rather than with the economy.

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The treaty signed in Maastricht in 1992 made education a jurisdiction of the European Union, albeit one under the principle of subsidiarity. This development has opened up a series of educational challenges for the EU and its member states which require critical assessment. This book aims to provide a wide ranging analysis of these challenges from an international group of specialists in the fields of educational theory, philosophy of education, politics of education, comparative education, and gender equal opportunities. The book focuses particularly on pedagogic issues. It is essential reading for those engaged in educational research, for students of education, for those working with European Union institutions, and for the general public.