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Education: A Complicated Policy Field

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Education and Solidarity in the European Union

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Abstract

This chapter brings together the content of the previous chapters to make suggestions on the role of the state in developing EU education policy, and the tensions at play between the national and supranational level when it comes to exerting power in the field. The theoretical framework adopted to test task expansion in education was that of the opposing neofunctionalist and intergovernmentalist theories. Tracing the development of activities in education at the European level during the construction of Europe shows that while spillover has occurred in policymaking relating to education, states have ultimately maintained control over the level and scope of policy development. Factors that emerge to demonstrate why education policy does not fit neatly into one these theoretical explanations are: statism and the function of states as individual entities; the cultural and economic motivations for developing an education policy; and the significance of time and context in policy development.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The European Cultural Centre was established in the Italian city of Venice, where it continues to exist as a centre operated by the European Cultural Foundation and registered in the Netherlands. The EBAE was established in 1953 by representatives from European states and now exists as a non-governmental organisation. The College of Europe remains one of the most successful initiatives since its creation in 1949 as it continues to be a thriving institution carrying out teaching, training and research on European Union issues and although it works closely with the European Union, it is not subjected to supranational governance. The European University project later materialised in 1976 in the form of an intergovernmental institution, the European University Institute in Florence, for doctoral students and research on areas of a European nature.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. European University Institute, Florence, Italy

    Sarah K. St. John

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  1. Sarah K. St. John
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Correspondence to Sarah K. St. John .

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St. John, S.K. (2021). Education: A Complicated Policy Field. In: Education and Solidarity in the European Union. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63042-3_6

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