Civic Education as an Intercultural Phenomenon

Muna Golmohamad Linkova, University of Roehampton, London, UK Lecturer in Education, School of Education e-mail: [email protected] Civic Education as an Intercultural Phenomenon Abstract: Civic, or Citizenship, Education, continues to draw interest among policy makers and those in the field of education, be they practitioners, parents or young ‘future’ citizens. The value of civic education cannot be underestimated. Its currency in a climate of change and social and cultural diversity sustains an ongoing discussion, often charged with complex and controversial challenges. This article aims to draw from the rich debate the significant potential for civic/citizenship education with the suggestion to look to the intercultural phenomenon, more closely, when considering school curricula; as a means to addressing some of the necessary competences to supplement potential knowledge and life skills gained to create democratic, empathetic and active citizens. Keywords: Civic education, Intercultural dialogue. Intercultural education, Citizenship, Curriculum, Competencies Civic education and intercultural education have many points of interception and differences. By nature they are controversial concepts. Consequently, it is impossible to cover all relevant aspects in the space of this article. This article aims to consider some distinctions from the theoretical and practical evidence available. The interpretations made will lean towards a conjecture that there remain further gems to mine in understanding the potential for civic education. Discussing the intercultural aspect is a suitable beginning to explore some causes to argue for further examination. Laying down the foundations of civic education systematically, in a spirit of global democratic values, is among the conceptual educational priorities in most countries in Europe and across the world. Looking to how the terms ‘civic’ and ‘intercultural’ are defined, with respect to education, facilitates the process of making such distinctions as are necessary to provide some initial interpretations from which to proceed in conceiving possible approaches for implementing programmes of study. When venturing to come to terms with established conceptualizations, in its broadest definition, “civic education” refers to: ‘all the processes that affect people's beliefs, commitments, capabilities, and actions as members or prospective members of communities’.1 How civic education may be related to intercultural education may be understood in the following way. 1 http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/civic-education/ According to Ivanov: “Civic education is basically defined as systematic institutional-political socialization of young people. It familiarizes people with their rights and duties, and cultivates civic consciousness, skills and virtues”.2 In a wider sense, Ivanov confirms and extends to the definition from the Stanford Encyclopedia, given above, reaffirming that: “Civic education is also associated with the identity of individuals – group, ethnocultural, national, global – and solves the problems caused by their differences from the identities of other people (intercultural aspect). That is precisely where it overlaps with intercultural education as a trend in contemporary educational systems”.3 In terms of Civic Education, what is apparent is that, in order for citizens to be responsible and active members of a community, the intricacies of the: social, political and moral nature of society need, and must, be engaged with to be understood and appreciated. These strands compose the web of relations that constitute citizenship and necessitate holistic pedagogical implications for civic education. Failing this would result with an inadequate, partial and insufficient approach to satisfying needs of peoples and, ultimately, society. What is also clear is that there is no strong consensus about civic education. In keeping with clarifying some definitions, it is important to bear in mind that, transnationally, how terms are used seems to vary. For example, where Civic Education may be common usage in mainland Europe, in Britain, and most specifically for England and Wales in terms of the National Curriculum, it is referred to as Citizenship Education. Likewise, how terms are understood may vary also. With reference to the literature and in practice, Intercultural Education and Multi-cultural Education may suggest some overlap in understanding and, subsequently, seem interchangeable in use and meaning, varying from one context to another. This mention is not merely a point of semantics but to claim that what is needed is some consensus. Briefly, multicultural and intercultural may be characterized in the following way, in terms of what is common and distinct of each. In the main, what does seem common to both is the intent to value the development of understanding for differences, giving recognition to the emergence of multi-ethnic, multi-cultural societies on the basis of: backgrounds, values and experiences and advocating its identification and inclusion in the curriculum for civic education in some way in order to promote social cohesion and challenge antiquated notions which may threaten this. As far as Multicultural 2 Ivanov, I.P. (date of publication unknown) Civic Education and Intercultural Education. Electronic resource. File:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/Grajdansko-obrazovanie-i-Interkulturno-obrazovanie.pdf (Date of usage: 10/3/2014). 3 Ibid education is concerned: “… One of its important goals is to help all students to acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to function effectively in a pluralistic democratic society and to interact, negotiate, and communicate with peoples from diverse groups in order to create a civic and moral community that works for the common good”.4 Similarly, Intercultural education is about: “… developing an understanding of and valuing others and about understanding of and valuing self. It provides opportunities to gain an insight into one’s own knowledge, limits, doubts and attitudes by confronting, interacting and negotiating with other cultures. This requires developing an understanding of why we see the world in the way we do”.5 At the same time, one key difference seems to be that, where Multicultural education is considered a separate subject, intercultural education is essentially concerned with developing competencies in citizens with which to develop skills of communication, interaction and therefore understanding of self and others. This is suggested to be something that can be, or should be, ‘embedded within the curriculum and be a way of thinking and action’6. The focus is on exploring where cultures meet and developing knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that enable interaction and negotiation between cultures. This process of coming to an understanding of others requires self-reflection and the confrontation and deconstruction of sometimes deeply embedded stereotypical views. It challenges both pupils and teachers to understand how views are constructed and to appreciate that views about oneself are constructed in relation to how we see others7. Banks and Banks (1995) define multicultural education: “… as a field of study designed to increase educational equity for all students that incorporates, for this purpose, content, concepts, principles, theories, and paradigms from history, the social and behavioral sciences, and particularly from ethnic studies and women studies”.8 It is interesting to note here that, implicit to its effectiveness, intercultural education presents the idea of intercultural dialogue. Taking into account the varied national differences and interpretations of Intercultural Dialogue (ICD), a working definition prepared and agreed by 4 Banks and Banks 1995, cited by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/presrvce/pe3lk1.htm (accessed 20 April 2014) 5 Visualising Europe: Visual Culture in Intercultural European Education http://ve.ese.ipcb.pt/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&lang=en (accessed 20 April 2014) 6 Ibid 7 Ibid 8 Banks and Banks 1995, cited by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/presrvce/pe3lk1.htm (accessed 20 April 2014) researchers in preparation for the year of Intercultural Dialogue and commissioned by the European Commission in 2008, suggests: „Intercultural dialogue is a process that comprises an open and respectful exchange or interaction between individuals, groups and organizations with different cultural backgrounds or worldviews. Among its aims are: to develop a deeper understanding of diverse perspectives and practices; to increase participation and freedom and the ability to make choices; to foster equality; and to enhance creative processes“. 9 The process of ICD seems complimentary and supplementary to conceptions of civic education. The report continues to claim: ‘ICD is seen as one tool for governance of cultural diversity in Europe.’ and ‘Education is positioned as: “the means to provide the basis for understanding and respecting diversity.”’10 European countries are no exception to the reasonable need for citizens to be involved in public and political life; not only to ensure that core democratic values flourish, but also to foster social cohesion in times of ever growing social and cultural diversity. This is where the overlap of needs between civic and intercultural education occurs. To increase involvement and participation in civil society, people have to acquire and develop appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes. Civic skills may enable citizens to participate fully in public life, but these skills must be based on a good understanding of social values, political concepts and structures; coupled with a commitment to take an active part in public democratic life. Therefore, social and civic competences are of great importance to European cooperation in the field of education and, arguably, beyond the European context as well. Social and civic competencies are among the eight key competences identified in 2006 by the Council and the European Parliament as being essential for citizens who live in a society of knowledge. Essential competencies identified, in terms of ICD, further demonstrate the significance of the ways, all things considered, in which to appreciate the context of civic education as an intercultural phenomenon. According to the AONTAS report the competencies required for successful ICD require: ‘… skills and attitudes that ensure we can operate effectively in situations that involve negotiating cultural difference and use it as a resource’, involving the following elements of intercultural competence: • Awareness of yourself as a cultural being and the impact of your own culture on your thoughts and actions; • Critically exploring the assumptions that inform our behaviour; • A positive orientation to new experiences and different ways of thinking about the world; 9 European Institute for Comparative Cultural Research. (2008). Sharing Diversity: National Approaches to Intercultural Dialogue in Europe. ERICarts: Germany. 2. Cited in the AONTAS Report (2009) 10 ibid • Creating combined mutually beneficial action11, and • Learning languages, either the mother tongue or of cultural minorities in order to support intercultural dialogue.12 Considering the above competencies, contemporary schools and educational systems are, currently, lacking socialisation mechanisms, characteristic of past societies. Notwithstanding, they have also failed to adequately replace existing systemic educational provisions with new mechanisms suited to the emergent diverse societal contexts. In this context, something essential seems to have been forgotten – that it is at school that a young person is prepared for life; school is his/her social model over a long period of time13. ‘As a rule, intercultural dialogue is not devised within Civic and Intercultural Education curricula in schools as a competence that should be obtained by pupils (nether in elementary or secondary school)’14. European studies and projects commissioned to examine national approaches and practices across European communities on Intercultural Dialogue and development of educational competences into national curricula attest to the range of various interpretations and experiences of young citizens15,16. Undeniably, European reports and projects present very interesting data and observations. However, there is an apparent disconnect between the social skills young people acquire during their time at school and the application of those skills and knowledge for life beyond school. The experience across European countries, and arguably within national contexts, is variable and potentially confusing. The difficulty arises with political influence and interference with civic education to the point of obscuring its relevance and value, making civic education vulnerable to political rhetoric. This is something to be wary of. Civic education, as a common paradigm, forms the basis of almost all national curricula across Europe. In its national strategic documents, each country places special emphasis on the acquisition of social and civic competences, applying to all school levels. However, the way civic education is valued and implemented varies in different countries. While it may be reasonable, on the one hand, to suggest context appropriate understanding of the subject in its implementation in education; nevertheless, there are common concerns to enable a potentially dynamic social process for diverse intercultural interaction and individual involvement, also understood as Intercultural Education (IE). How this is shaped is determined by the way in which the phenomenon of civic education is interpreted and to what 11 Antal, A.B. and V. Friedman. (2003). Negotiating Reality as an Approach to Intercultural Competence. Wissenchaftszentrum Berlin for Sozialforschung. Berlin. (cited in AONTAS Report 2009) 12 AONTAS Final Report March (2009) (Electronic resource) 13 Valchev, V. The Essence of Civic Education. Electronic resource. Http :/ / www.pghht.com / educparents / stuff / Za% 20grazhdanskoto% 20obrazovanie: (Date of usage: 10/2/2014). 14 Katunaric, V (2005) Civic (and intercultural education in the EU countries), European Institute for Comparative Cultural Research (ERICarts) http://ec.europa.eu/culture/archive/sources_info/studies/pdf/final_annexes_en.pdf (accessed 20 April 2014) 15 Katunaric, V (2005) Civic (and intercultural education in the EU countries), European Institute for Comparative Cultural Research (ERICarts) http://ec.europa.eu/culture/archive/sources_info/studies/pdf/final_annexes_en.pdf (accessed 20 April 2014) 16 European Commission EURYDICE (2012) Developing Key Competencies at School in Europe: Challenges and Opportunities for Policy http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/documents/thematic_reports/145EN_HI.pdf (accessed 20 April 2014) extent values of: freedom, equality and autonomy are encouraged. Here lies the challenge for the role states play and the subsequent curricula devised. The question is to ask how at one time to establish a coherent sense of a national narrative while also providing teaching and learning of competencies that promote a sense of self and others, appreciative of the diverse intercultural aspects? In 1952 Jean Monnet, regarded as one of the fathers of the European Community, stated: 'We do not unite countries, we unite people.' Today one of the biggest challenges which the EU institutions face is to raise public awareness of the EU and involve citizens in its activities. Programmes like “Lifelong Learning” and “Youth in Action” help citizens to develop civic knowledge, and the “Youth for Europe” initiative is dedicated to increasing the civic involvement of young people. In 2005, the Council of Europe, at the suggestion of Bulgaria, declared The Year of Citizenship through Education. The goal was to draw public attention to how instrumental education is in the development of a democratic culture. Unfortunately, despite all these programmes, there is, as yet, no unified strategy or policy on conducting civic education in the EU17. “…Civic education consists in organized, systematic educational activities, which aim to provide young people and adults with the necessary knowledge and skills to participate in political and social life. Civic education is a powerful tool for democratisation of the state… Civic education is education, training, raising the awareness, giving information and conducting activities so that students will acquire not only knowledge and skills but will also shape attitudes and behaviour as regards the core values and mechanisms of democratic society and the constitutional state: the rights and obligations of citizens, respect for diversity, as well as active participation in a democratic society in the name of democracy and the rule of law”18. Here lies another example of the ambitions of political rhetoric and the challenges faced in their realization. Civic education establishes a particular interpretational relation with a close concept, contextual by nature, like “intercultural education”. Intercultural education is directly related to the formation of specific, precise intercultural skills. Usually, but not necessarily, it takes place in an intercultural environment as typically found in many modern educational institutions today. Therefore, intercultural education is among the priorities of international organisations such as the Council of Europe. Not surprisingly, then, 2008 was declared the Year of Intercultural Dialogue19. 17 Kovachev, А. European Civic Education in the EU – Status and Ideas of Development. Electronic resource http://www.andrey-kovatchev.eu/bg/news/view/2/1665: (Date of entry: 8/2/2014) 18 Council for Europe FINAL CONFERENCE OF THE MODERN LANGUAGES PROJECT Strasbourg, 15-18 April 1997 19 Slavova, Е. Integration of the Different: Intercultural Education. Electronic resource. http://priateli.info/wpcontent/uploads.pdf: (Date of circulation: 5/3/2014) According to Hicks (2008), at the beginning of the 20th century there was an idea in many countries of Western Europe to build a model of school education that addressed directly the subject of international understanding, raising at the same time the question of solving current issues associated with aspects of formal education – steady development, human rights, peace and conflict resolution. He uses one general term, “global education”, to name all initiatives dealing with one or another aspect of education, under conditions of increased globalisation20. The USA, a multinational country with democratic traditions, has many years of experience in the field of civic education. Currently, in the USA, there is an intensive process of searching for scientific approaches associated with possible renewal of the systems of civil education. The reason for this lies in the growth of political apathy among most American youths, and parallels made with an increase in the overall rate of youth crime. The political administration, under President G.W Bush senior, passed a number of official documents in 2001 – in particular the law, “No Child Left Behind” (“No Child Should Be Left Without Care”), directed, as a whole, towards education reform and inclusive educational policies in the country. These initiatives were to appropriate a political response to social and civil deficits identified in disaffected young people. Interestingly, similar concerns and policy initiatives have been implemented in Europe. One such example was in Britain in 2005, the ‘Every Child Matters’ government policy, which was aimed at focusing on safeguarding the interests of and giving a voice to young people up to the age of nineteen in the UK. It should be noted that, transnationally, the problems related to civic education having clearly been seen as a priority for policy makers as well as academics across many specialist fields and educational practitioners. The plethora of literature and media attention reaches widely across disciplines attesting to the interest in, and concern about, civic education. Materials pertaining to the problems surveying and seeking relevant interpretations concerning civic education and its intercultural phenomenon are seemingly, and frequently, addressed on an international scale, with global interest, by various organisations, including different public associations and internet web sites: “American Federation of Teachers”, “American Political Science Association”, “The Center on Education Policy”, “Constitutional Rights Foundation”, “National Commission on Civic Renewal”, “National Education Association”, International Association for the Evaluation of Education Achievement (IEA), Citizenship Foundation, Oxfam, UNESCO, NGOs, National Government websites, just to mention some sources. During 2000 to 2005, a long period of policy initiatives and change, the paradigm of civic education in the USA developed the following functional points: 1. Civic education was established as part of an entire social cycle called “social studies”. The aim is to increase civic competence by studying sciences of humanitarian and social nature, 20 Hicks, David. 2008. Different Views, Origins of Global Education. the United Kingdom: presentation at the Conference on Education for Steady Development. Quote by Krasteva, L. Global Education at School – Necessity, Approaches and Possibilities. http://www.cie-bg.eu/userfiles/file/Lilia%20Krasteva%20Conference%209_5.pdf: (Date of circulation 11/2/2014). including: anthropology, archeology, economics, geography, history, law, philosophy, and economic sciences. 2. The aim of such training is to help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good of citizens in a culturally diverse democratic society, in an interdependent world. Supported by the participation of extensive institutional representation in its preparation, the National Civic Education Standards of the USA (National Standards for Civics and Government) were published in November 1994. The standards were intended for all students (from kindergarten to the 12th grade) and are structured around five fundamental questions: (1) What is a government and what does it do? (2) What are the basic values and principles of American democracy? (3) How does a constitutional government apply the objectives, values and principles of American democracy? (4) What are the relations between the United States and the other countries around the world? (5) What roles does a citizen have in American democracy? The topics covered by students, above, meet many of the fundamental values and principles laid out in European policies of frameworks for civic education. According to the Council of Europe’s programme, the education for democratic citizenship is: “… a set of practices and activities aimed at students in order to help them, as well as young and mature people, to participate actively and responsibly in the processes of decision-making in their communities. Its purpose is to support and strengthen democratic culture, based on the awareness of and commitment to certain basic values like human rights and freedoms, equality in difference, the power of law, one’s own good and the good of society as a whole. The education for democratic citizenship focuses on providing opportunities for the acquisition, implementation and dissemination of information, values and skills, related to democratic principles and procedures in a wide range of formal and informal learning environments”.21 One way to understand the standards, principles and values, as outline above, is in addressing the institutional aspects of civic education. Currently the subject of Civil Law, for example, is compulsory only for the schools in England. In Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, it has the status of an optional subject, reflecting national interests in a very characteristic way. For instance, problems related to conflict resolution and human rights prevail 21 Council for Europe FINAL CONFERENCE OF THE MODERN LANGUAGES PROJECT Strasbourg, 15 – 18 April 1997 in Northern Ireland; Scotland favours independent civic culture; in Wales special attention is paid to issues related to cultural diversity22. In order for its objectives to be met, the education for democratic citizenship must be conducted in three dimensions: • • cognitive – the acquisition of ideas, concepts, systems; social – the ability to exercise democracy in various forms and in all areas and stages of life – childhood, adolescence and adult life; in schools, interest study groups and universities; in the workplace and in voluntary organisations. • emotional – recognition and acceptance of the values of democratic society and its behavioural patterns. In the UK, civic education, within the bounds of its possible relation to intercultural education, raises an important issue to be resolved, pertaining to the following postulation: should citizenship be understood as a particular set of planned learning outcomes, which may be useful to students in the future, or should citizenship be understood as a process that takes place in educational institutions?23 The problems are mainly related to the fact that England is diverse in terms of ethnic, as well as in terms of national, religious and regional, representation. Compared to countries like France and the USA, where political and social life is very active due to the long traditions of republicanism, in England the process of training teachers to teach civil law is hampered by the lack of a unified educational and national strategy for this. An advisory group was established in 1997, called an Advisory Group on Education for Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in Schools, to solve two basic programming tasks: 1. Providing a working definition of civic education; 2. Developing an educational and methodological strategy for schools. The advisory group, chaired by Bernard Crick, confirmed that there had been no civic education traditions in the UK. Considering the importance of the problem and the extent of its solution in other countries with a similar complex multicultural educational environment, it was recommended that civic education should become a “mandatory component of school curricula” in England24. A new subject, called Citizenship Education was, subsequently, created and introduced in 1999, in response to the commission’s recommendations made, accepting the basic educational 22 Andrews, R. and Mycock, A. Citizenship Education in the UK: Divergence Within a multinational State.Citizenship Teaching and Learning.-Vol.3 No1 April.2007-http://www.citized.info- 2007 citiZED. 23 Arthur, J & Croll, P Editorial: Citizenship, Democracy and Education. British Journal of Educational Studies, Vol. 55,N0. 3, 2007.pp 233 – 234. 24 Education for Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in Schools. Report of Advisory Group on Citizenship. London: Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.1998. prerogatives of programme modules and three strands, or curricula pillars, of: Social and Moral development, Community Involvement and Political Literacy. This was further refined and, in 2002, the school subject related to citizenship studies was incorporated into national curricula for children aged 11 – 16 as a statutory subject (QCA 1998). Further revisions in 2006, with the curriculum review on Diversity and Citizenship, led to a Report commissioned by the government, chaired by Sir Keith Ajebo. The Ajebo Report (2007), reviewed teaching specifically of ethnic, religious and cultural diversity across the curriculum to age 19 in relation to Citizenship, exploring whether or not 'modern British social and cultural history' should be a 4th pillar of the Citizenship curriculum.25 More recently, under the current coalition government, the subject of Citizenship has been reaffirmed as ‘a crucial academic subject’26, after a brief spell of facing uncertainty about its inclusion on government proposed revisions of the National Curriculum for England and Wales. Recent promotion of youth-led social action has meant that the British government, under the Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove, has given formal recognition to the value of citizenship education in schools by reinstating its status. The implication for this does mean that the aim to have citizenship as an examination subject that: ‘…compliments a call for schools to offer the knowledge, skills and practical experiences to develop the next generation of effective citizens’…‘youngsters leave school as confident, bold citizens…’27 must also take into account the intercultural phenomena more explicitly and be more proactive to engage ICD in school among young citizens and not postpone this for further or higher education to implement this, as seems to be initiated by AONTAS or the Commission for Europe. The significance for recognition of the intercultural aspect of civic education cannot be overstated. This acknowledgement and need to develop practices in school for specific competencies, implemented from early years with holistic pedagogical approaches, determine the lifelong competencies to realize aims aspired for democratic citizenship; not to mention a democratic, inclusive and cohesive society of communities, nationally and internationally. On reflection, the vision of Jean Monnet, stated earlier, 'We do not unite countries, we unite people’, requires a unified vision with a general consensus as how civic education may be valued and conceptualized. Conceptual coherence and holistic pedagogical approaches, that incorporate the intercultural phenomena of civic education need not undermine the uniqueness of individual contexts but rather prepare: cognitive, social and emotional capacities required in citizens to meet the challenges of establishing equitable conditions and evaluating what is in the interest and well being of individual citizens and society to flourish. To conclude, the proposition that civic education be understood as an intercultural phenomenon presupposes and urges responsibility on the part of all active agencies, such as: sovereign states, educational 25 http://resources.cohesioninstitute.org.uk/Publications/Documents/Document/Default.aspx?recordId=48 Citizenship Foundation (2014) http://www.citizenshipfoundation.org.uk/main/news.php?n1094 (accessed 20 April 2014) 27 Ibid 26 institutions, civic and community organizations at all levels for greater recognition and implementation of developing strategies for cultivating competencies such as ICD suggests both within the subject of citizenship or civic studies and across curricula areas. References 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. Andrews, R. and Mycock, A. Citizenship Education in the UK: Divergence Within a multinational State.-Citizenship Teaching and Learning.-Vol.3 No1 April.2007http://www.citized.info- 2007 citiZED. AONTAS Final Report March (2009) (Electronic resource) Arthur, J & Croll, P Editorial: Citizenship, Democracy and Education. British Journal of Educational Studies, Vol. 55,N0. 3, 2007.pp 233 – 234. Banks and Banks 1995, cited by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/presrvce/pe3lk1.htm (accessed 20 April 2014) Citizenship Foundation (2014) http://www.citizenshipfoundation.org.uk/main/news.php?n1094 (accessed 20 April 2014) Civic Education in Europe. Electronic resource. http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/documents/thematic_reports/139BG_HI.pd: (Date of usage: 12/2/2014). Council for Europe FINAL CONFERENCE OF THE MODERN LANGUAGES PROJECT Strasbourg, 15 – 18 April 1997 Education for Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in Schools. Report of Advisory Group on Citizenship. London: Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.1998. European Commission EURYDICE (2012) Developing Key Competencies at School in Europe: Challenges and Opportunities for Policy http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/documents/thematic_reports/145EN_HI.pdf (accessed 20 April 2014) Hicks, David. 2008. Different Views, Origins of Global Education. the United Kingdom: presentation at the Conference on Education for Steady Development. Quote by Krasteva, L. Global Education at School – Necessity, Approaches and Possibilities. http://www.ciebg.eu/userfiles/file/Lilia%20Krasteva%20Conference%209_5.pdf: (Date of circulation 11/2/2014). http://www.aontas.com/download/pdf/creating_intercultural_communities_final_report.pdf (accessed 14 April 2014) Ivanov, I.P. (date of publication unknown) Civic Education and Intercultural Education. Electronic resource. File:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/Grajdansko-obrazovanie-iInterkulturno-obrazovanie.pdf (Date of usage: 10/3/2014). Katunaric, V (2005) Civic (and intercultural education in the EU countries), European Institute for Comparative Cultural Research (ERICarts) http://ec.europa.eu/culture/archive/sources_info/studies/pdf/final_annexes_en.pdf (accessed 20 April 2014) Kovachev, А. European Civic Education in the EU – Status and Ideas of Development. Electronic resource http://www.andrey-kovatchev.eu/bg/news/view/2/1665: (Date of entry: 8/2/2014) 15. Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) (1998). Education of Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in Schools (Click Report) (London, QCA). 16. Recommendation (2010) 7 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the Charter of Education for Citizenship and Human Rights Education, adopted by the Council of the European Committee of Ministers on 11 May 2010 during the 120th session. 17. Recommendation 2006/962/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, dated 18 December 2006, on key competences for lifelong learning, OB L 394, 30/12/2006. 18. Slavova, Е. Integration of the Different: Intercultural Education. Electronic resource. http://priateli.info/wp-content/uploads.pdf: (Date of circulation: 5/3/2014) 19. The National Adult Learning Organisation (2008) Creating Intercultural Communities Conference Report, Ireland: AONTAS 20. University of Stanford Encyclopedia http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/civic-education/ (accessed 14 April 2014) 21. Valchev, V. The Essence of Civic Education. Electronic resource. Http :/ / www.pghht.com / educparents / stuff / Za% 20grazhdanskoto% 20obrazovanie: (Date of usage: 10/2/2014). 22. Visualising Europe: Visual Culture in Intercultural European Education http://ve.ese.ipcb.pt/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&lang=en (accessed 20 April 2014) View publication stats