Educating Youth To Make Sense Of Europe: Case Studies On Teaching And Learning About The EU
Chair(s): Philip Murphy (Department of Government and Politics, University College Cork.)
This panel centres on tools, methodologies, and resources utilised for teaching about the EU. With an emphasis on active and critical approaches to learning, it applies frames of critical understanding, ludic pedagogy, political socialisation and citizenship education to explore teaching practices.
Panel papers explore and reflect on the capacity of experimental curricula, field-trips, boardgames and simulations to meet the information and engagement requirements of active European citizenship in different national settings. They address theoretical and practical questions in the design and delivery of active-learning artefacts across educational level (primary, post-primary, and third level). In doing so they chime with discussions in educational and political fields on the need to unwind the perceived complexity of EU policy and decision-making.
More specifically, they explore; a framework of political knowledge for active European citizenship at primary level, a field trip to EU institutions for critical understanding of EU decision-making at postgraduate level, boardgames and simulations for overcoming salience and engagement hurdles associated with the EU at third level, and the role of efficacy and experience in teaching socio-political topics at post-primary level. In the panel discussion, it is hoped that these papers stimulate a wider conversation on theoretical and practical concerns of teaching and learning political topics, along with the frames applied to the EU as an entity and Europeanness as a strand of citizenship.
Presentations of the Symposium
Car Crash Or Crash Course? Reflections On A Brussels Field Trip And Students Understanding Of The EU
Viviane Gravey
School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, Queen's University Belfast.
When teaching about the European Union, a multi-level system of governance which an overwhelming number of primary school students know little about, it is understandable that the main focus of an educational programme on Ireland and the EU be on substantive knowledge gain. However, most academics specialised in curriculum theory and education, agree that this is not enough to develop active citizenship. Keating (2009, p.163) contends that the three dimensions of citizenship education - namely educating about citizenship, through citizenship and for citizenship – need to be present when conceiving a programme of education on European citizenship, with ‘a multi-faceted (and critical) approach to teaching about Europe’. Using an experimental PAR approach as well as a pre and post questionnaires with the students, this paper uses the framework of powerful knowledge (Young & Muller, 2013) to develop an argument around the type of civic knowledge required and the shortcomings knowledge itself brings in fostering and empowering active citizens.
Expertise And Efficacy: A Study Of Post-Primary Teachers' Experience Teaching European Politics
Philip Murphy
Hub in Active European Citizenship, Department of Government and Politics, University College Cork.
Experiential learning as a form of active learning 'on the ground' is conventionally considered a critical tool to both solidify and nuance understanding of course material. But does it live up to those hopes and under what conditions? This paper draws on surveys of students going on a trip to Brussels as part of their postgraduate studies and a debrief with coordinating staff to reflect on the learning objectives of the trips, whether they were met, what worked and did not and how design changes may improve a cost/benefit analysis of trips for both staff and students.
Ludic Pedagogy And Boardgames About EU And Brexit
Jan Grzymski
Jagiellonian University, Poland
This paper focuses on how board games and roleplay activities can be used as tools in teaching and learning about the European Union, relating to the concept of ludic pedagogy. In general, games might supplement traditional classroom learning in three ways, especially relevant to teaching European Union affairs. First, games offer an element of entertainment which invigorates students who can be intimidated or uninterested in learning more serious topics (i.e. EU law, decision-making). Second, games participants inform their immediate decisions, creating an immediate experience that fosters reflective pedagogical processes. Third, games function as counterfactuals, especially as used in teaching history, to demonstrate that the EU policy-making is not predetermined but results from a combination of institutions and decisions. In this respect, games can demonstrate political alignment and political knowledge to students. In all three dimensions, board games are shown to reveal to students’ contributions to and reflections on the complexity of the European Union. This paper showcases board games based on a particular case study of Brexit negotiations
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