Changing Geographical
Understandings of Europe
amongst 10-year-old Greek-Cypriot Pupils:
A Study of the Impact
of a Primary School Curricular Intervention
Stavroula Philippou
Assistant Professor (Curriculum Studies)
Department of Education Sciences
Cyprus College
stavroula@cycollege.ac.cy
‘Europe’ and education:
the political context



European enlargement, integration, constitution:
discussion and debate
‘Europe’ invites complexity, as it has been defined
from various perspectives (geographical, political,
cultural, religious, economic etc) at different
historical periods
EU’s and Council of Europe’s educational policy
aim: constructing a European identity and
citizenship amongst young people though
education: key role for Geography, History and
Languages
Questions


How are these concepts understood by
children and what kind of geographical
understandings does or could education
contribute towards?
More importantly, how do geographical
understandings of Europe relate to
children’s adherence to a European identity,
an identity which the EU and the Council of
Europe have increasingly sought to develop
through their educational policy?
Children’s development of
geographical understandings


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Scarcity of research into geography as a subject-area
(Biddulph & Adey, 2003) or into children’s geographical
understandings of other countries (Barrett & Farroni, 1996;
Barrett, 2005)
Early research (Piaget & Weil, 1951) and critique (Jahoda,
1964)
Descriptive and a-theoretical research until 1970s
focusing on attitudes rather than knowledge
Resurgence after 1990s as geographical knowledge of
own, other countries & Europe are included in definitions
of national and European identities (Barrett, 2005)
Exploration of relation between geographical knowledge
and adherence to national and European identities
(Barrett, 1996; Barrett & Whennell, 1998; Barrett, 2005)
The curricular intervention in
Geography



Europe as content in 5th Grade (10-year-olds) Geography
at Greek-Cypriot primary school national curriculum
Single-textbook policy: critiqued as factual-based (Kadis,
1999); encyclopedic & utilitarian approach to Europe
(Philippou, 2004; 2007)
Intervention: critical and constructivist approach to
Europe (Philippou, 2005)




Europe and EU as changing, multiple and diverse through
exploration of geomorphology, frontiers, ecology, economy,
culture, colonisation and stereotypes
Europe as a resource rather than a ‘fortress’, as a tool to reflect
on identity
Interdependency with rest of the world
Pedagogy: critical study of multiple sources and maps, the
construction of concepts and collaborative work.
Research Design




Research strategies

Case-study and Curriculum development

Action-research and Quasi-experiment (December-June 2000-2001)
Sampling

4 schools (2 semi-urban, 2 rural) and 8 teachers (opportunistic)

140 pupils Greek-Cypriot 10-year-old pupils (63 exp. & 77 control)
Research instruments

Pre and post (tests, individual and focus group interviews of pupils)

Items investigating self-categorisation, degree of importance and relative
subjective importance of national and European identities

Items investigating geographical understandings of Europe:

Representations of Europe and the EU

Configurational knowledge (of the spatial relationships which exist between
different landmarks in terms of the direction and distance between them) of
Europe (map of world and Europe)

Landmark knowledge (that specific spatio-geographic locations exist) of
Europe and EU

Geographical understandings of Cyprus in relation to Europe/EU

Geographical understandings of Europe in relation to world
Data analysis

Atlas.ti

SPSS.10
Findings:
Children’s representations of Europe & EU
Statement
Europe means European Union
Europe is a country
Europe is a group of countries
Europe is a union of countries
Europe means common culture
Europe is a continent
Europe is a river
Europe means a way of life
Experimental
Pre
Post
1.36 1.12
0.74 0.46
1.53 1.67
1.28 1.50
0.83 1.01
1.48 1.80**
0.38 0.17**
0.79 0.85
Control
Pre Post
1.56 1.19*
0.90 0.65
1.45 1.38
1.32 1.32
0.77 0.98
1.21 1.32
0.32 0.37
0.97 0.84
Capital of EU is Luxembourg.
The currency of EU is euro.
Many types of climate in Europe.
The EU has 12 member-states.
0.85
1.70
1.62
1.18
0.81
1.84
1.51
0.88
0.80
1.95**
1.77
0.59**
1.01*
1.82
1.62
0.76
Representations of Europe & EU





Pre
Europe=EU: emphasis on
economic aspects
Misconceptions: Europe as a
city, country, state, continent
(difficulties with spatial
inclusion)
Cyprus in Europe: cultural
affinities-Greek
Cyprus not European because
not in EU yet
Turkey not in Europe: Asia





Post
Distinction between Europe & EU:
continent vs 15 countries
Europe: neighbours but not united
like EU
EU: peace, cooperation, help,
economy (euro), criteria of
entrance, democracy, human
rights
Cyprus European but more so
when in EU (economy-political
problem)
Turkey: only one part European
geographically-BUT can change
Configurational knowledge:
location of Europe in world
Statement
11. Colour Europe in world map
12. Asia is . . .…. .of the North pole
Asia is.... . .. . .. . .of Greenwich
Asia is . . . .. . .. …....of Equator
Europe is.... .. . …….. of Africa
Experimental
Pre Post
1.14 1.50*
0.49 0.55
0.60 0.65
0.58 0.54
0.46 0.67*
Control
Pre
0.53
0.30
0.38
0.45
0.30
Post
0.57
0.39
0.47
0.49
0.47*
Findings:
Configurational knowledge
Statement
Correct
Wrong
France
Cyprus
Switzerland
Germany
Greece
Italy
Britain
Experimental
Pre Post
2.51 4.96**
4.48 2.03**
0.23 0.63**
0.90 1.00**
0.06 0.51**
0.10 0.51**
0.56 0.78**
0.46 0.83**
0.18 0.66**
Control
Pre Post
1.83 2.76**
5.16 4.23**
0.08 0.32**
0.94 0.98
0.00 0.01
0.01 0.10*
0.33 0.66
0.25 0.38*
0.18 0.35**
Landmark knowledge: countries of Europe
Statement
Correct
Wrong
France
Brasil
Marocco
Turkey
Iceland
Kazakstan
Australia
Austria
Georgia
Algeria
Greece
Russia
Cyprus
Lithuania
Israel
Lebanon
Finland
Switzerland
Experimental
Pre
Post
5.41
8.04**
1.58
1.41
0.70
0.95**
0.69
0.77
0.69
0.83
0.74
0.80
0.43
0.82**
0.11
0.09
0.77
0.75
0.40
0.80**
0.30
0.54**
0.82
0.69
0.83
0.95*
0.67
0.79*
0.75
0.91**
0.22
0.50**
0.79
0.88
0.91
0.87
0.37
0.83**
0.58
0.83**
Control
Pre
Post
4.53
5.79**
1.76
2.01
0.60
0.75**
0.76
0.72
0.76
0.79
0.62
0.68
0.31
0.57**
0.15
0.15
0.73
0.67
0.42
0.55*
0.11
0.15
0.81
0.84
0.88
0.89
0.50
0.66*
0.68
0.77
0.17
0.25
0.71
0.61
0.81
0.61**
0.28
0.46**
0.46
0.57
Landmark knowledge of EU
Statement
Experimental
Pre
Post
Correct
2.91
4.31**
Wrong
2.08
1.50*
France
0.66
0.93**
Malta
0.87
0.83
Turkey
0.75
0.93**
Iceland
0.68
0.51
Austria
0.42
0.66*
Switzerland 0.38
0.63*
Greece
0.77
0.91*
Italy
0.64
0.90**
Cyprus
0.61
0.85**
Lithuania
0.84
0.85
Slovenia
0.73
0.88*
Finland
0.42
0.90**
Control
Pre
Post
2.77
3.43**
1.86
1.90
0.67
0.79*
0.67
0.75
0.86
0.87
0.70
0.54*
0.37
0.62**
0.50
0.50
0.82
0.89*
0.53
0.72*
0.64
0.79*
0.86
0.86
0.82
0.77
0.32
0.39
Cyprus and Europe

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
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Pre
European identity as a
threat to national
Non-European because
of geography (proximity
to Asia)
Postponed to future (EU)
Rarely accepted and only
due to ‘Greekness’



Post
Cyprus =European due to
geography: Mediterranean,
not Greece
Political and economic
advantages
greater adherence to a
European identity in selfcategorisation item
BUT
Degree of identification with
European identity
Statement
Cypriot
Christian
Girl or boy
Human being
Pupil
10-year-old
Greek
Greek-Cypriot
Child
Mediterranean
Larnacian
European
Experimental
Pre
Post
3.91 3.91
3.90 3.88
3.83 3.83
3.70 3.79
3.53 3.72
3.62 3.67
3.61 3.37*
3.70 3.30**
2.80 3.11
2.38 2.85**
2.77 2.79
1.95 2.51**
Control
Pre
Post
3.81 3.83
3.87 3.89
3.83 3.80
3.78 3.83
3.10 3.40*
3.35 3.49
2.96 3.02
3.03 3.00
2.74 2.63
1.81 2.18*
2.01 2.38*
1.46 1.88*
Relative subjective importance
of European identity (1-12)
Statement
Greek Cypriot
Human being
Christian
Child
Cypriot
Girl or boy
Pupil
Greek
10-year-old
Larnacian
European
Mediterranean
Experimental
Pre
Post
6.29
1.77**
3.45
3.18
3.93
3.36
6.62
4.80**
4.36
5.11*
5.37
5.14
6.59
6.13
5.54
6.77**
7.86
7.44
8.50
9.03
9.31
9.88
10.16
10.21
Control
Pre
Post
6.81
7.60*
2.41
2.90
3.14
3.26
5.74
5.02
4.41
5.10*
5.57
4.50**
6.74
6.26
6.27
7.10**
6.94
6.30
9.12
8.89
9.84
9.85
10.93
10.97
Europe and the world



Test: ‘European countries treated the
colonies in a nice way’
Europe as one of the most developed
continents=example for imitation
Vs
Being critical of role of Europe,
colonisation and economic progresslink with EU-Third World countries
Discussion

Curriculum implications

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Possibility of constructing Europe’s frontiers as
arbitrary, constructed, changing and multiple
Suitability of the primary school context
despite single-textbook and national
curriculum policies
Space for action research-role of teachers
Discussion

Pupil identities and education
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Social constructivist argument to support role of school
and teacher (Axia et al., 1998; Harrington, 1998)
Conceptual changes in understandings of Europe as
an indicator of impact of intervention: ‘enriched’ with
EU discourse and geography
Two opposite constructions of Europe/EU
Link to European identity: further adherence but no link
to geogr. knowledge: is it a matter of what kind of
knowledge-representations?
Discussion

Limitations
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short period of implementation-difficulties of
research (11.42% of total school hours)
Europe as a small part of intervention/evaluation
Use of standard-syllabus for intervention
non-generalisable to GC pupils: insights
Future research


Temporal dimension: which changes in
understandings of Europe at different ages and
periods?
Spatial dimension: comparisons with TC pupils
and other European pupils(Barrett & Farroni, 1996;
Axia et al., 1998)