The concept of competency is considered both in relation to the educational competency of the short-cycle student described in the "Dublin Descriptors" of the Bologna Process and in the European Commission's European Qualifications Framework, and in relation to the legal competency that the European Commission has within the field of…

In Italian secondary schools, it is not literature that is studied but the history of literature; it is not philosophy that is studied but the history of philosophy. Similarly, in higher education, history students even have to take an exam in the history of historiography. This is to say that in Italy, history plays a key cultural role. That is…

When the author first heard that Italy wants to adopt the American model of education, his immediate reaction was, "Why would you want to do that?" American schools can scarcely teach students to read and write. American students are abysmally ignorant about history, geography, and world affairs. In international assessments of…

This collection of 24 articles explores how educational research, programs and policies in several countries are related to the issue of children's rights. Several of the collected articles focus on aspects of children's experience and development. Group membership, children's right to happiness, the development of an optimistic outlook among…

Italy's approach to political decision making, increasingly a process of trying to reach collective agreement without changing anything, has paralyzed higher education and is moving it out of the mainstream of European higher education. (MSE)

Examines church-state relations in educational matters in Italy from 1922 to the outbreak of World War II. Unlike Nazi Germany which could boast of nazified schools, Fascist Italy was compelled to recognize the considerable influence of Catholicism on education. (Author/KC)

This article presents seven reports on the interviews about reception and use of international indicators among respondents from Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and United Kingdom. The first report is based on interviews with 5 respondents occupied with different aspects of the macro level of the Flemish educational system.…

This article makes a contribution to discussion on the neo-liberal reshaping of education in Western Europe. It argues for a greater attentiveness on the part of education researchers to collective social actors such as trade unions and social movements. Making use of concepts from Gramsci and from Poulantzas, it suggests that such actors had a…

This paper describes intercultural education in Italian elementary through secondary schools, examines intercultural education in teacher education programs, and raises disciplinary questions about the multicultural approaches now favored in Europe. A discussion of multicultural society and intercultural education touches on increases in foreign…

This document contains the agenda and papers presented at the Agora IX meeting in Thessaloniki, Greece in June 2000 on alternative education and training processes. The papers are "Integration of Migrant Pupils in the Danish Education System" (Bang); "Support Services for Inclusive Education" (De Vroey); "Single Sex…