Citizenship can be defined simply as being a member of political institutions. Citizenship, the first evidence of which is encountered in ancient Greek city-states in history, is found in the Roman state constitutionally for the first time. National citizenship, which became more important with the importance of nation-states, was supported by the concept of human rights after the French Revolution. Events and phenomena such as Reform, Industrialization, Democracy, Globalization, Digitalization, International Trade and Migration have given different dimensions to the concept of citizenship. Today, all states have determined the rights and duties of individuals as their citizens in their constitutions and convey the rights and responsibilities of citizenship to the students in school education. Societies with good citizens who know their rights and responsibilities are thought to develop and advance more in any area.

This book examines the evolving relationship between the nation-state, citizenship and the education of citizens, exploring the impact European integration had on national policies towards educating its citizens and citizenship.

The study makes an analysis of the legal framework which Member States must take into account when designing their policies on citizenship education. The Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education of the Council of Europe and the international right to education are read in conjunction with EU law. Suitable content for the EU dimension in mainstream education is explored. A method for objective, critical and pluralistic EU learning is proposed, based on the Treaties and on case teaching (stories for critical thinking). Member States are invited to take more action to ensure quality education. The EU has the legal competence to support the EU dimension in education. In the present state of EU law, quality education is no longer conceivable without an EU dimension incorporated in various key competences. At present the author works at the implementation of the ideas developed in the book as an Affiliated Senior Researcher at Leuven University (Case4EU-project in Belgium and other EU Member States).

This book applies a number of different disciplinary and geographical perspectives to ascertain whether and how European youth identify with the EU, trust EU institutions and engage in EU issues. It investigates the factors and processes that predict the different ways in which young Europeans engage (or do not engage) with social and political issues and become active European citizens. The volume is based on results from the first two years of the Horizon 2020 CATCH-EyoU project (“Constructing AcTive CitizensHip with European Youth: Policies, Practices, Challenges and Solutions”). It addresses different dimensions of active citizenship in the EU and different processes and contexts that explain the construction of youth active citizenship, including societal-level factors such as policy context and media; interaction-level contexts such as school and family; and individual-level factors. The final chapter emphasizes the impact of the current historical context on the development of young Europeans’ civic identity and their understanding of the social and political reality. With contributions from a variety of disciplines including psychology, political science, communications and education, and spanning geographic contexts across Europe, this book will be of interest to researchers studying contemporary European youth and the construction of young people’s identity. This book was originally published as a special issue of the European Journal of Developmental Psychology. Chapters 1 and 5 are available Open Access at https://www.routledge.com/products/9780367236557.

In the framework of the EU-funded project TEESAEC, an instructional research project was conducted in six European countries (Austria, Estonia, Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, United Kingdom). In the quasi-experimental study, an innovative series of lessons on the European Union was introduced into politics lessons in the form of a WebQuest. The intervention study aimed to determine whether the problem-based learning environment WebQuest leads to greater cognitive outcomes as compared with traditional lessons in politics. Knowledge increase was assessed in 14 to 16 year-old students by means of a knowledge test applied before and after the intervention. The test items employed in TEESAEC cover basic (literacy) competences which are of use in situations in which concrete political knowledge is to be applied. The reports from the six countries involved present the gains associated with lessons in politics, revealing not only strengths but also weaknesses of politics lessons. The current volume presents the main results of the study.

On cover: Modern languages

Being online, well-being online, and rights online: information, tools and good practice Digital citizenship competences define how we act and interact online. They comprise the values, attitudes, skills and knowledge and critical understanding necessary to responsibly navigate the constantly evolving digital world, and to shape technology to meet our own needs rather than to be shaped by it. The Digital citizenship education handbook offers information, tools and good practice to support the development of these competences in keeping with the Council of Europe’s vocation to empower and protect children, enabling them to live together as equals in today’s culturally diverse democratic societies, both on- and offline. The Digital citizenship education handbook is intended for teachers and parents, education decision makers and platform providers alike. It describes in depth the multiple dimensions that make up each of ten digital citizenship domains, and includes a fact sheet on each domain providing ideas, good practice and further references to support educators in building the competences that will stand children in good stead when they are confronted with the challenges of tomorrow’s digital world. The Digital citizenship education handbook is consistent with the Council of Europe’s Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture and compatible for use with the Internet literacy handbook.

Exploring a key aspect of European integration, this clear and thoughtful book considers the remarkable experiment with common rights and citizenship in the EU. Governments around the world traditionally distinguish insiders (citizens) from outsiders (foreigners). Yet over the past half-century, an extensive set of supranational rights has been created in Europe that removes member governments' authority to privilege their own citizens, a hallmark of sovereignty. The culmination of supranational rights, European citizenship not only provides individuals with choices about where to live and work but also forces governments to respect those choices. Explaining this innovation--why states cede their sovereignty and eradicate or redefine the boundaries of the political community by including "foreigners"--Willem Maas analyzes the development of European citizenship within the larger context of the evolution of rights. Imagining more than simply a free trade market, the goal of building a "broader and deeper community among peoples" with a "destiny henceforward shared"--creating European citizens--has informed European integration since its origins. The author argues that its success or failure will not only determine the future of Europe but will also provide lessons for political integration elsewhere.

Teachers have the challenge of teaching for equity, justice and solidarity in plural and fast-changing societies where their students are well aware of inequality and injustice. How much does government policy encourage understanding of global interdependence and skills for democratic participation? How can schools integrate issues of citizenship, human rights and multiculturalism and what support do they recieve? Drawing on case studies from England, Ireland, Denmark and the Netherlands, this text examines the institutional support provided in educating for global citizenship. It looks at the contradictions students and their teachers face when they compare what is learned in school with the messages from politicians and the media about refugees and asylum seekers, young poeple's rights, environmental issues and the impact of globalization.