Does E urope Matter? A Comparative Study of Young People's Identifications with E urope at a State School and a E uropean School in E ngland

This article explores the extent to which young people in predominantly middle‐class environments identify with E urope and considers the influence of E uropean education policy, school ethos and curricula. We compare data drawn from individual and focus group interviews with students aged 15–17 at a state school and a E uropean School in E ngland. The empirical analysis was informed by post‐structuralism and found that young people at both schools developed multidimensional, multifaceted identities. Students at the E uropean School, which has an ethos of developing both national and   E uropean identities, identified themselves more as E uropean than their peers at the state school, which integrated students on the basis of a common B ritish citizenship. The findings suggest that the policy on the E uropean dimension in education contributes towards developing students’ identification with E urope and to their knowledge of E urope, though not at the expense of their ethnic and national identities, which were stronger than their E uropean identities. Lack of a E uropean dimension in education (both in and out of school) seems to result in a lack of identification with and knowledge about E urope.