Discussing School Policy: Responses to Citizenship, Belonging and Collective Identities in Education

Conference: The European Conference on Education (ECE2021)
Title: Discussing School Policy: Responses to Citizenship, Belonging and Collective Identities in Education
Stream: Education, Sustainability & Society: Social Justice, Development & Political Movements
Presentation Type: Live-Stream Presentation
Authors:
Emma Carey Brummer, University of Antwerp, Belgium
Noel Clycq, University of Antwerp, Belgium
Heleen Touquet, University of Antwerp, Belgium

Abstract:

Increasing ethno-cultural diversity is common to most urban areas in Europe and debates on social cohesion, national identities, and citizenship are prominent in contemporary society (Bauböck, 2018). Education plays a key role in promoting a shared sense of belonging. Emerging interest in citizenship education is therefore perceptible in research, policy and practice. Substantial literature has explored the normative, ‘fact-based’ nature of citizenship education (Joris & Agirdag, 2019). Yet, previous research has shown that ethnic minority students in Europe construct different collective identities than ethnic majority students and national identities appear to be less attractive to ethnic minority youth (De Vroome, Verkuyten, & Martinovic, 2014; Fleischmann & Phalet, 2018; Jugert, Šerek, & Stollberg, 2019). These results imply that civic knowledge and attitudes are not able to bind ethnic minority students emotionally to an ‘imagined national community’ (Alba & Foner, 2015). Little is known about how the enactment of citizenship education and other policies aiming to create connectedness affects the emotional attachment and identifications – dimensions of belonging – of pupils with diverse backgrounds. In this study, I examine how schools in Flanders – the Northern part of Belgium – construct, interpret, and negotiate belonging, citizenship, and collective identities within existing discourses and political pressures targeting education. Drawing on interviews with headteachers and policymakers as well as analysing policy documents on citizenship education, this paper presents a variety of notions on how national and political discourses on citizenship, belonging, and social cohesion affect policies and practices of secondary schools in Flanders.

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