Educational and Vocational Policy and Construction of the European Union

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Abstract
This paper explores the ways in which European education and training policies are used in the construction of the European Union. Two central dynamics of tension are identified which are then explored within the education and training related discourses of the European Commission and the Member State governments. The first is the European Union‐Member State dynamic, the second is the economic‐social dynamic. From within this focus on educational and vocational policy the broad underlying themes of pluralism, values and curriculum change are considered. Three levels of pluralism are identified within the current construction of the European Union. Each level displays differing aspects of the power relationships existing between differing groups, institutions, nation states and economic interests. The exploration of the three levels of pluralism suggest that both educational and vocational policies reflect the concerns and contradictions of both dynamics, and at the same time are important discourses maintaining the effects of the underlying ideology of liberal‐democracy.

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