Learning to Speak as a Listener: Teaching European Citizen Identity through Art

Gary Granville and Mary Richardson National College of Art and Design, Dublin and University of Roehampton, London

Abstract

This chapter is concerned with the relationship of art education to citizenship education in the context of the Images and Identity project. Some dominant themes in contemporary literature on citizenship education are introduced and issues pertaining to teaching and learning about European citizenship addressed. Then the tensions and potentials inherent in collaboration between art and citizenship education are examined with particular reference to artwork produced by children in participating schools across Europe. The experience of the Images and Identity project is investigated in this context, in terms of both citizenship and art education. Using examples drawn from the participating countries, the chapter concludes with reflections on the implications of the Images and Identity project for future educational policy and practice.

Keywords: art education, citizenship, european identity

The idea of a social Europe, a community of solidarity and support linking diverse peoples and traditions, first emerged from the crisis of warfare in the early twentieth century; and as Anderson (2006) argues, building communities is an invaluable means of underpinning our need for fraternity. Arguably, social Europe is receiving its greatest test in the current economic crisis, which is causing trauma across the world and notably within the European Union. The collaborative research and curriculum development project Images and Identity, was initiated before Europe stumbled into the current economic recession but its significance is further emphasised by this crisis. The very future of the European Community appears to be in doubt and as individual member states seem to place national self-interest above communal responsibilities, a schools project aimed at fostering mutual respect and understanding across Europe is all the more important.

The Council of Europe's (2010) promotion of citizenship has challenged educators and educational policy makers across Europe to develop models of citizenship education that not only teach pupils about being a citizen, but also facilitate ways of being an active citizen within a community of countries. This chapter addresses some implications of this challenge from the dual perspectives of citizenship and visual arts education. Based on the experience of the Images and Identity project, it examines the potential of art education to engage young people in active exploration of their citizen identities, with special reference to European citizenship.

Kymlicka (2002), amongst others, argues that modern democracies are reliant upon virtues such as tolerance and social cohesion for their citizens to thrive not simply as individuals within the nation state, but as part of a global community. It is this shared understanding of a broader sense of community that is vital both to building and the maintenance of bonds between nations. Within Europe, the significant increase in EU member states has kept education for citizenship high on the political agenda, because, as the Eurydice survey stated, it takes place in schooling in the interests of 'social cohesion in Europe' (Eurydice 2005: 7).

Although citizen identity is a central focus within citizenship curricula across Europe, educators are well aware of the problematic nature of understanding citizenship identities. Ross (2003: 129) points out that the relationship between identity and citizenship is problematic where the former is acknowledged as a personal concept and the latter is immersed in a 'discourse of "belonging"' – typically to a nation-state. 'Education for democratic citizenship' (with an emphasis upon the nation) and promoting a shared European identity have been Council of Europe priorities since the mid-1990s and were preceded by a proliferation of writing from political policy domains that examined the difficult relationship between citizenship and personal identity (see, for example, Meehan 1993). Although citizenship education is well-established as a curriculum theme across Europe, its prominence within national school curricula has varied and its status as a 'real' subject is problematic (Edye 2003, Pike 2008). Longitudinal studies such as the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study in Europe (Kerr et al. 2010) which revealed a lack of common understanding amongst teachers about European citizen identity and other research (e.g. Savvides 2008) suggest there has long been a lack of enthusiasm for evolving a 'European dimension' within the education systems of member states. It is rather disheartening therefore to find that whilst the Council of Europe (Council of Ministers of Education 1988) recommended they should be encouraging deeper engagement with all aspects of European identity some 23 years ago, there has been little positive change in this regard.

This chapter considers issues of European citizenship identity formation from the perspective of the Images and Identity project approach to combining citizenship and art education practice. The project explored ways in which dialogue about and the production of visual images pertaining to identity might contribute to Education for Democratic Citizenship. This chapter starts with a discussion of citizenship education in Europe and the complex issue of creating particularised citizen identities. It also considers some of the problems that arise when the practices of specialist teachers in art and citizenship...