Skip to main content
  • Special Section: Open Educational Resources Initiatives in Oceania
  • Open access
  • Published:

University Lecturers’ Conceptions of Ethics and Citizenship Education in the European Higher Education Area: a Case Study

Concepciones del profesorado universitario sobre la formación ética y ciudadana en el Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior: un estudio de caso

Abstract

Ethics and Citizenship education has become the focus of considerable debate since the launch of the European Higher Education Area. That this is the case is interesting, as it is a type of education that forms part of the educational mission of universities, as its history plainly demonstrates. Ethics and Citizenship education cannot be analysed solely in terms of its pedagogical requirements, the skills and competencies that it seeks to develop, or the type of students and professionals that the world needs today. Its success also requires that we explore what university lecturers understand by this type of education, the context it currently finds itself in, and how students perceive such an education. This paper presents a case study conducted on university lecturers in Education, Philosophy and Humanities at several European institutions.

Resumen

La formación ética y para la ciudadanía está siendo objeto de debate desde la implantación del espacio europeo de educación superior. Resulta interesante que así sea, pues se trata de un tipo de formación que forma parte de la misión formativa de la universidad, tal y como su historia se ha encargado de demostrarnos. Este tipo de formación no puede ser analizada sólo desde la pedagogía que requiere, las competencias que se deben fomentar o el tipo de estudiantes y profesionales que la contemporaneidad necesita. Su buen desarrollo también necesita adentrarse en qué entiende el profesor universitario por dicha formación, en qué estado cree que se encuentra y cómo concibe a sus estudiantes al respecto. Este trabajo presenta el estudio del caso de profesores de diferentes universidades europeas de las áreas de educación, filosofía y humanidades.

References

  • Beck, U. (1992). Risk Society. Towards a New Modernity: Theory, culture and society. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bentham, J. (1996). Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berube, M. (2007). What’s Liberal about the Liberal Arts? New York: W. W. Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bok, D. (1986). Higher Learning. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bok, D. (2007). Our Underachieving Colleges. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duke, C. (2008). University Engagement: Avoidable Confusion and Inescapable Contradiction, Higher Education Management and Policy, 20, 1–11.

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • European Commission (1995). White paper on Education and Training. Teaching and Learning: Towards the Learning Society. COM (95) 590. Brussels: European Commission.

    Google Scholar 

  • European Commission (2006, 5 September). Implementing the Community Lisbon Programme. Proposal for a Recommendations of the European parliament and the Council on the establishment of the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning, COM, 479 final.

  • European Council (1996). White Paper: Conclusions on the “Teaching and Learning: Towards the Learning Society”, 3 (96/C, 195/01, in OJEC 6.VII.1996).

  • European Council (2007). On the new skills for new jobs. Official Journal of the European Union. 2007/C 290/01. Brussels: European Commission. Retrieved from http://www.eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2007:290:0001:0003:EN:PDF.

    Google Scholar 

  • European University Association (2005). Trends IV: European Universities Implementing Bologna, S. Reichter & C. Tauch. Brussels: EUA. Retrieved from http://www.eua.be/publications/.

    Google Scholar 

  • European University Association, 2010. Trends VI: A decade of change in European Higher Education Area, A. Sursock & H. Smidt. Brussels: EUA. Retrieved from http://www.eua.be/publications/.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forbrig, J. (Ed.) (2005). Revisiting youth political participation. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. London: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giroux, H. (2007). Academic repression in the first person. The advocate, February, 1

  • González, J., & Wagenaar, R. (Eds.) (2003). Tuning Educational Structures in Europe. Final Report. Phase One. Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerr, C. (2001). The uses of the University. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohlberg, L. (1981). The Meaning and Measurement of Moral Development. Worcester, MA: Clark University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohlberg, L. (1984). Essays on Moral Development. The Psychology Moral Development. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lapsley, D., & Clark, F. (2005). Character Psychology and Character Education. Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacIntyre, A. (1984). Tras la virtud. Barcelona: Editorial Crítica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, S. (2008). Practical approaches to ethics for Colleges and Universities. New Directions for Higher Education, 142.

  • Newman, J. H. (1852). The idea of a university. New York: Longmans Green & Co, 1927.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nucci, L., & Narváez, D. (2008). Handbook of Moral and Character Education. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD (1997). DeSeCo Project. Definition and Selection of Competencies: Theoretical and Conceptual Foundations. Paris: OECD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ortega y Gasset, J. (1930). La misión de la universidad. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pelikan, J. (1992). The idea of the University: a Re-examination. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pérez-Díaz, V. (2010). Universidad, Ciudadanos y nómadas. Oviedo: Ediciones Nobel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Procario Foley, E., & Bean, D. (2002). Institutions of Higher Education: Cornerstones in Building Ethical Organizations, Teaching Business Ethics, 6, 101–116. doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1014214909390

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rüegg, W. (1992). A history of the University in Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saha, J. L., Print, M., & Edwards, K. (Eds.) (2007). Youth and Political Participation. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandel, M. (2011). Justicia. ¿Hacemos lo que debemos? Barcelona: Random House Mondadori.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, J. (2006). The Mission of the University: Medieval to Postmodern transformations. The Journal of Higher Education, 77(1), Winter, 1–39. doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/jhe.2006.0007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stanley, F. (2008). Save the World on Your Own Time. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steiner, G. (2004). The idea of Europe. Tilburg: Uitgeverij Nexus.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wyattt, J. (1990). Commitment to Higher Education. Seven West European Thinkers on the Essence of the University. Max Horkeimer, Karl Jaspers, F. R. Leavis, John Herny Newman, José Ortega y Gasset, Paul Tillich, Miguel de Unamuno. Buckingham: SHRE and Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francisco Esteban Bara.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits use, duplication, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Esteban Bara, F., Mellen Vinagre, T. & Buxarrais Estrada, M.R. University Lecturers’ Conceptions of Ethics and Citizenship Education in the European Higher Education Area: a Case Study. Int J Educ Technol High Educ 11, 22–31 (2014). https://doi.org/10.7238/rusc.v11i3.1778

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.7238/rusc.v11i3.1778

Keywords

Palabras clave