Teaching and Learning the European Union in Romania: Traditional and Digital Tools

Abstract

This chapter investigates how and to which extent the European Union (EU)-related content is taught in Romania, by analyzing the school curricula and the teaching and learning methods at undergraduate level (primary and secondary school). It distinguishes between formal and non-formal education on European issues and emphasizes the role of teaching and learning the EU in building European identity and the sense of belonging to the EU. Both textbooks (as traditional learning tools) and various educational activities and learning methods using digital technologies (digital platforms, databases, simulations, games, etc.) are taken into account. The examples of non-formal activities presented in this chapter help to better understand the EU, its regions, its institutions, and their functioning. This chapter suggests the need to focus more the school curricula on skills training, participatory learning, education of values and attitudes, and less on mechanical transmission of information. The examples of good practice presented show the role of the European education, whether classical education or that one based on the use of new communication technologies, in the formation of an European consciousness, in the better understanding of the present by learning the past and in the development of participatory attitudes.

Citation

Matiuta, C. (2021), "Teaching and Learning the European Union in Romania: Traditional and Digital Tools", Visvizi, A., Field, M. and Pachocka, M. (Ed.) Teaching the EU: Fostering Knowledge and Understanding in the Brexit Age (Emerald Studies in Higher Education, Innovation and Technology), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 137-148. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80043-274-120211009