History education has been continually challenged by political competition in Cyprus. The education systems on both sides of the divide reflect the ongoing ethnic conflict and suffer from ethnocentrism. In particular, the history textbooks are used to convey and legitimise official narratives and reinforce identities defined "vis-à-vis"…

The accession of the Republic of Cyprus to the European Union in 2004 was anticipated to be a "catalytic" factor in developments towards a solution of the Cyprus problem at the political level. Within education, it was also seen as an opportunity for addressing diversity in a historically ethnocentric educational system through the…

In "Educations in Ethnic Violence", Matthew Lange explores the effects education has on ethnic violence. Lange contradicts the widely-held belief that education promotes peace and tolerance. Rather, Lange finds that education commonly contributes to aggression, especially in environments with ethnic divisions, limited resources, and…

'Europe' has been increasingly 'invented' and 'reinvented' in discussions about education, curricula and identities over the last five decades. The 'European dimension in education' was a term increasingly used by the European Union and the Council of Europe to denote their educational policies encouraging national educational systems to endorse a…

This article explores the possibilities of shifting ethnocentric bias in curricula and pupils' constructions of national and European identities using the concept of "Europe" as a tool. The European dimension was conceptualized as a subtle approach, within the deeply divided society of Cyprus, to alleviate the ethnocentrism of history…