The following is a short interview conducted by Euractiv with English teacher Ernesto Bellucci from Petrarca Classical-musical high school (Arezzo) on the need to integrate EU concepts into the high school curriculum.
E: What were the topics covered in the first module of EUPress Teacher Training that stood out to you the most?
EB: The most striking part of the course, however, was a procedure rather than a topic. I was impressed by Roberto’s lesson on EU-related “Concepts and Categories”, it brilliantly shows how such an important step in the world’s history went through different, sometimes contrasting, phases. Realism first: it was (is?) very tough for member States to overcome their individual consciousness. Realism came back and forth, it was alternatively defeated and victorious, to show how hard to find a way out can be. Functionalism was a first attempt: it was difficult to handle and unify Institutions, let us unify services first. Post offices, transportations, food chains. Federalism, the last phase and final accomplishment, is now EU’s driving force and greatest result, though it turned out much easier to unify currency than institutions. However, The European Council, European Parliament and European Court of Justice certainly stand out as crucial, priceless steps towards the birth of a real European Union. And this struggle, its outcomes and conquests through difficulties, can effectively turn into a fascinating part of a syllabus.
E: Which topics do you consider incorporating into your syllabus?
EB: As far as we have reached in the course, I am not really sure any of the topics would perfectly fit my subject’s syllabus. And this may possibly highlight one the flaws in the Italian school system: it changes from school to school, of course, but we might say that our courses tend to focus on history, rather than present reality. I am not criticizing, I love it! As poet Maya Angelou once said, “You do not know where you are going, until you know where you have been”. And the school I teach in makes a threefold focus on this: history, literature, and careful study of classical (ancient) languages. True, the subject we call Civics, the closest to the point, is part of many schools’ syllabus, and has recently been introduced into ours. But it is crosswise meant, not technically, that is we point out at connections between parts of our syllabus and the social context around us.
E: How do you plan to integrate your acquired knowledge of the EU into your subject?
Although the history of the EU was thoroughly covered, the focus of the discussion was mainly technical. However, due to its close relevance, it is difficult to perceive the topic as merely historical. As a consequence, I have been trying to derive sparks from it, that I could possibly use for a syllabus. Like the way Lagarde changed bond issuing during the pandemic, considering the extent a Country’s life was affected by Covid and not the Country’s capital in the EU Central Bank. I do not exactly how, but I would love to include this point in a syllabus, maybe joining it to Dickens’s sense of solidarity that underlies all, or most, of his novels.
