欧州評議会における相互文化的対話を用いたシティズンシップ教育への新展開

―社会的分断の中での社会統合に向けた手立てとして―

抄録

This paper examines a new common framework for citizenship education in Europe, where social integration is pursued in the time of social fragmentation caused by globalization. Our study mainly focuses on “The Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture”, proposed by the Council of Europe in 2018.Through an analysis of three reports on the framework, we identified the following characteristics regarding the content construction and development process. We used the concept of intercultural dialogue as an analytical perspective.

In the background of the study, there are two dilemmas in the curriculum development of citizenship education in Europe that previous studies have not focused on. The first is how to include shared values in education while respecting diversity. Education in Europe has emphasized shared values, as they can mediate the chaotic situation over the two world wars and the Cold War. However, it is pointed out that the interpretation of these shared values can be different in different contexts and even contradict the values of each country. The second is how to design a common framework for transnational citizenship education that can guide flexible curriculum making rather than constraining the national curriculum. These dilemmas relate to the larger question of how to mediate respect for diversity and social integration.

Interculturalism has focused on educational policy in Europe since around 2010, when multiculturalism was criticized for causing polarization and social fragmentation. Interculturalism emphasizes constructive ideas of culture and identity, individual rights, shared values, and intercultural dialogue. Intercultural competencies, including intercultural dialogue, were proposed by Council of Europe’s educational experts. Critical cultural awareness, which is the ability to critically evaluate perspectives and practices of one’s own and other cultures and countries, is the central concept of intercultural competencies.

In the framework, intercultural dialogue was used as a criterion for content selection and as a principle for the development process in order to make it possible to combine respect for diversity with social integration. While shared values are emphasized in competency models and descriptors in the framework as a basis for intercultural dialogue, they are not treated as universal. Instead, they are introduced as something constructed in specific cultural contexts and that can be critically examined and reconstructed in dialogue. In the competency model, values include contradictory concepts, namely “valuing human dignity and human rights” and “valuing cultural diversity,” which is the premise of intercultural dialogue. These concepts can mediate the importance of cultural diversity while respecting the human rights of each individual. Furthermore, the inclusion of “knowledge and critical understanding” as components fosters a critical reflection on one’s own culture.

In addition, the framework has been developed through intercultural dialogue between different education stakeholders in member countries. This development process ensures that the framework is comprehensive, transparent and coherent for all concerned, and opens up the possibility of reconsideration. In this way, it can be appreciated that the content and process of preparation, based on intercultural dialogue, attempted to combine respect for diversity with social integration.

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