Using Education as a Tool for Promoting a Common European Identity: Lessons from Different Educational Paradigms

In a time of increasing debates regarding the future of the European
Union and Europe in general, the questions regarding ways to promote
common identity gain in popularity. In such a time, the responsibility of
the educational systems to provide answers to those pressing issues
becomes very important because education can serve as a tool for
promoting tolerance and understanding as well as a drive towards
commonality and togetherness. In order to do so the educational
interventions need to be carefully planned and based on a well
developed paradigm.
However, such paradigm is still not well defined. Therefore, this paper
will start by exploring the Social Identity Theory to provide a baseline
understanding on how identity is conceptualized and developed. It will
then move towards discussing the educational paradigms aimed at
promoting multicultural education in different contexts. By doing so, the
paper will try to provide a unique cohesion of different approaches to
promoting mutual identity. As a result, the paper will try to uncover
certain conclusions from each paradigm that can be of help when trying
to design a program that can help in promoting a common European
identity through education.