European Citizenship and European Union Expansion: Perspectives on Europeanness and Citizenship Education from Britain and Turkey

Abstract

This article discusses some perspectives on citizenship education in Turkey and Britain in the context of current contested discourses on the nature of European identity and of the European Union (EU). It is based on data collected during an EU-funded student teacher exchange programme between three universities in Turkey and Leicester University in the United Kingdom. The programme facilitated participants' investigations of their understandings of citizenship and citizenship education in Britain and Turkey. Data was collected by questionnaire from 581 Turkish student teachers and 85 British student teachers involved with citizenship education and, during the exchange visits, through focus group interviews with 14 British and 14 Turkish students. Both groups thought citizenship education was key to creating ‘good citizens' in their countries, but the nature of this citizenship was perceived to differ between countries. The Turkish students placed a strong emphasis on national identity and Turkish citizenship, whilst the British students focused more on democracy, social justice, global citizenship and human rights. Students from both countries questioned the efficacy of the pedagogical approaches that they observed during school visits in each other's countries.