ABSTRACT
How do the European Schools define and create European pedagogic identities? Drawing on key educational research publications and policy documents, this chapter uses a combination of discourse analysis and social theory to consider the role of the European Schools within the contemporary European project. It begins with an examination of the original aims and ideology of this unusual schooling system. It then describes the European Schools’ pedagogical approach, before linking this to the political, legal, and financial structures that underpin its operation. Next, the chapter examines the relation of the European Schools to higher education as an elite form of social reproduction, before investigating the overarching problem of sustaining Europeanization during a period of intense political scrutiny. This symbolizes to some extent the wider difficulties of Europeanization faced by the education sector itself. The chapter concludes by arguing for a more open structure in the future.
