Greek-Cypriot pupils' representations of national others : a study of the impact of 'Europe' in a primary school curricular intervention

Abstract

Over the last three decades the term ‘European dimension in education’ has been used by the European Union and the Council of Europe to denote some of their educational initiatives to prepare young people for an increasingly integrated Europe. Cyprus, a country at the margins of Europe and characterised by ethnic conflict and division, has had to respond to such demands as a condition of EU membership. The ‘European dimension’ was conceptualised as a subtle approach for a curricular intervention, to alleviate the ethnocentrism of primary curricula and to shift Greek-Cypriot pupils’ extreme views. This study showed that there were some interesting shifts which point to the potential of curricula in providing children with a wider range of ‘tools’ with which to represent national others.